gym being obstructive to request to cancel

SIM99_2

I have been a member of the local cannon health club (now Nuffield Health) for some years. At the end of the year contract, I requested to cancel the membership by phone. They asked me to put it in writing. I wrote to them to request the cancellation. I rang after two weeks to say that I did not receive confirmation of the cancellation. They said the person dealing with the cancellation is not there, and asked me to send a copy of the original cancellation letter.

I send a copy of the letter and also informed them that I will be cancelling the direct debit at the end of the notice period. I send this letter by recorded delivery. Finally I got a letter acknowledging the the notice of cancellation but only from the date of the second letter send by recorded delivery. I spoke to them. Again the same reply, the person dealing with the cancellation not available, but will ring me back. Right from the beginning of this sage, the person dealing with the cancellation never rings back. I got another letter requesting the I pay one month fee since I did not give one month notice. This is not true, since I gave the first notice more than one and a half months earlier. The two letters they send are standard format letters without any mention of the my previous letters.

I am quite convinced now that the gym is deliberately making it difficult for members to cancel the membership so that they are able to continue to collect a few more months extra membership. I formed this opinion from the various phone calls I made and the two standard letters I received.

I feel frustrated since I did exactly as per the terms of cancellation, but the gym was not returning the calls, nor acknowledging letters till I send the letter by recorded delivery. Due to personal reasons I was not able to go to the gym personally.

I am not very familiar with the consumer laws regarding this. I am sure there will be others who have been affected by the same problem.

I would appreciate any advice and guidance.

toxic1990

I think they can claim that the first letter never arrived, even if they just through it in the bin. Its your words against theirs.

So if the terms state you need to send in a letter to cancel than it will go by the second letter, which they will/have claimed is the first.

So its one months notice from the second letter. Is that what they have done?

SIM99_2

That is what they appear to be doing. But the letter they send do not say anything about the first letter. My second letter was just a covering letter with a copy of the first letter. I feel that it is grossly unfair. I am sure they must be using this against so many customers and thus preventing people from canceling the contract.

bazster

If there is a payment still outstanding, cancel the DD so they can't collect it. Or, if you've already cancelled the DD (and this is why they have written to you requesting another month's payment), ignore them. They will not sue you for one month's payment.

SIM99_2

Thanks very much for the replies. Yes, I did cancel the direct debit, and that appears to be the reason why they wrote to me to pay the money. I was worried that they will be sending the debt collectors and create unnecessary hassle for me. I don't know how these laws work. I have heard horror stories of people being affected through credit reference agencies etc. Is it that I am just worrying unnecessarily?

I did ring them today and today they are telling me that the terms of the contract says I should have posted the letter by recorded delivery. Something which was never mentioned in any of the two previous letters.

Once again I feel that they are really being cunning to prevent or delay people canceling the contract.

Is there anybody I could complaint about this practice?

toxic1990

SIM99 wrote: »

Thanks very much for the replies. Yes, I did cancel the direct debit, and that appears to be the reason why they wrote to me to pay the money. I was worried that they will be sending the debt collectors and create unnecessary hassle for me. I don't know how these laws work. I have heard horror stories of people being affected through credit reference agencies etc. Is it that I am just worrying unnecessarily?

I did ring them today and today they are telling me that the terms of the contract says I should have posted the letter by recorded delivery. Something which was never mentioned in any of the two previous letters.

Once again I feel that they are really being cunning to prevent or delay people canceling the contract.

Is there anybody I could complaint about this practice?

I would agree, but there is the room for doubt that they never received first letter.

Surely you would get a "settle within 14 days" letter before any legal action is taken?

pinkshoes

It's a common tactic used by gyms; ANY membership termination letter goes in the bin unless it's sent by recorded delivery!

As you can't prove when you initially sent the letter, then it's going to be very difficult to prove that you did, so it might be a good idea to pay up, and put it down to experience.

Takoda

A few people have posted on here that gyms DO chase people for outstanding payments and the advice usually is to just pay up and don't get caught out again.

It won't help you now but when I had my year's membership of Cannons/Nuffield I actually went in person and filled in the cancellation form with the manager on duty. It wasn't any hardship as I was still using the gym at that point. Just took 5 minutes.

I needed them again this winter in order to complete marathon training indoors if necessary. I took out a 3 month membership and filled in cancellation form at the time of paying up front for my 3 months. THEN I still checked with 2 months to go that the cancellation was valid and they weren't expecting me to continue after the 3 months was up.

You've got to be really shrewd when dealing with gyms and anticipate the fact that they won't want you to cancel - why would they when they make a very good living out of "the six weekers" people who sign up for a year and then simply stop going!

I would just pay up OP and don't get caught out like this again.

curlygirl1971

A similar thing is happening to me with regard to membership at a council run facility.

The terms say that it is my responsibility to ensure they receive written notice of cancellation so I handed it in at reception. Apparantly they should have issued me with a receipt for the letter - I didn't know this and it seems that neither did the person on reception at that time, so I have no receipt. The letter has since 'disappeared' and they are taking my 2nd letter as notice and are therefore claiming an additional payment. I have cancelled the DD (as it also said in the terms it was my responsibility to cancel).

It's only £21 but am LIVID and really really don't see why I should pay. However not sure how far they will take this for £21 - I would think councils are fairly keen with their debt collection? I just don't see why I should pay for their incompetence. Why is it that I have to prove my correspondence to them but they take for granted that I receive theirs? Grrrrrrr

SIM99_2

I think it is really unfair for the gyms to use this technique to steal money from customers. I wrote to them in November requesting cancellation of membership. When they did not acknowledge even after two phone calls, I send the letter by recorded delivery, and informed them that I will be canceling the direct debit.. The reply I received were just standard letters.

Now I received a letter stating that if I do not pay up, they will refer me to a debt collection agency. Why should I give in to this bullying technique? The big businesses should not be allowed to use the bullying technique to steal money like this from customers. Is there anybody who has fought against this unfair practice by gyms? Anybody familiar with the consumer laws related to this? Any advice will be much appreciated.