VAT increase on gym membership

hannahkav2002

I have the same issue, although my gym wants to increase my payments from £25 per month to £30 per month, that's a 20% increase! When I joined 2 years ago my contract stated that it was a credit agreement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for the yearly fee of £240, inclusive of VAT which would have been 17.5% at the time. It was at an APR of 0% based on monthly payments of £20 per month. In December last year when the 12 month term was up, under the clause in the contract it continued on a monthly basis but they said that they were increasing my payments to £25 per month, something I didn't question at the time and again, under a clause in the contract (i think) they can do this. My issue now is that they want to increase my payments by £60 a year which is not 2.5%!!! There was no decrease in my repayments in 2009 when VAT dropped to 15% so why am I now paying more to cover a VAT increase to 20%??? Interestingly they've worded the letter with the slogan 'We can't change the budget, but we can offer you more for your money. Guaranteed.' Cheeky !!!!!!s! LA Fitness, incase you're wondering.

hannahkav2002

Just noticed it says 'This increase is inclusive of an annual membership increase and will be reflected in your next direct debit payment on 32st December, 2010.' The letter is dated 14th December, don't they have to give me more notice than that? It does say in the contract that they can increase the charges at anytime, maybe I should read the small print more closely next time....

DVardysShadow

If the increase is the tiniest bit more than the change in VAT, then the change is to your detriment and you are entitled to leave without penalty. It does not matter how little notice they give you as long as you have a reasonable period in which to change your mind. In this case, it would be reasonable to give you 3 or 4 weeks, which could mean changing your mind retrospectively

mountainofdebt

Of course the point you've all missed is that VAT doesn't increase until 04/01/11