Fitness First & C.A.R.S.

Dansen

I'm now really, really worried. This morning I received a letter in the post from Creditlink Account Recovery Solutions. It had the heading "Notice of Legal Proceedings" on it and that their client is Fitness First.
It states that i owe them £54.25 and that I "have ignored previous attempts to resolve this long overdue debt", and because of this they have been left with no alternative but to consider legal action.

I cancelled the direct debit to FF in Dec 2009 (when I spoke to the manager about cancelling my membership), how does that qualify as "long overdue"? I have not received one telephone call or answer machine message from them (FF or CARS) nor any kind of written contact to request a payment or anything.

I can't find my original paperwork and really don't know what to do next. How can legal proceedings be made against me so quickly when I haven't been given the opportunity to put my side forward? Is it best to ignore this company and try and deal directly with FF?

Thank you in advance.

Tixy

Sounds like a bully/scare tactic to me. Note that they are 'considering' legal action.

Bearing in mind the fact that the debt is recent I would initially approach FF and ask if an amount is outstanding since you cancelled the DD (you do usually have to cancel in writing though, so you may need to pay this amount).

If they say they have sold the debt to creditlink and if it only relates to the last month or so you could probably report them for unfair debt collection practices. That said if after to speaking to FF you agree that you owe it, it may be easier just to pay up.

fieryleo1984

hyer, unfortuntaly you may find that you actually signed up for a 12 month contract and in the small print they will make you pay! I did the same thing, i wrote a letter saying i was with the cccs on a dmp and that the gym membership had to go but they wouldnt let me cancel and therefore passed it onto cars debt collectors.

Em

sqyiggle

I've also been contacted by C.A.R.S about fitness first.

I joined FF in 2007 and remained a member until December 2010 when moving abroad meant I no longer wanted the membership. When I tried to cancel my account, which I had had frozen for a few months they told me I had to re-activate my account, keep it active for a month, then give 30days notice. This meant paying for two more months membership.

I arranged to terminate my membership with them at whatever date they said i could, waited for the next two direct debits to go out of my bank account then cancelled my direct debit agreement with my bank (I'd heard stories of FF continuing to take payments after memberships had been cancelled).

Now C.A.R.S have contacted me. They wouldn't tell me what it was about until I confirmed who I was so I gave my old postcode. They say it was in the Ts&Cs that the DD needed to stay active for 30days after my membership ended so now I owe FF £30ish (can't remember exactly).

I'm not living in the UK so don't have my old contract but does this sound right? even if it is in the contract I paid all money owed, followed their advice and why would they need to take more money from me if I paid the last 2months? I'm not at my old address (my dads house) so haven't received any mail about this. Are they just fishing to see if I will pay up? A google search tells me FF uses CARS to chase members who break their contracts. Have I just made a big mistake by confirming my address and somehow acknowledging the debt?

Thanks