Cancelled Gym Membership

eurosean

After a number of years attending the Fitness First Gym in Runcorn I moved home and therefore decided to cancel my membership.

I wrote to the gym in November of 2009 to cancel the membership but left my direct debit open to allow them to claim the final month notice of my membership.

On reviewing my bank account in February 2010 I noticed that 2 additional payments had been taken and so, under the direct Debit guarentee I request that my bank refund these.

In March 2010 I then began recieving collections letters from the head office of fitness first's debt collection agency saying that I still owed them money. I telephoned the head office and they claim that my cancellation letter was never recieved and that I would therefore have to pay the remaining 50ish pounds that I had reclaimed.

The head office state that while they do not require that cancellations are sent via registered mail they do recommend it. I of course sent the letter using good old first class.

I have a copy of the letter, I made no use of the facilities at the gym after the cancellation. Searching around the internet this almost seems to be a standard way for gyms to make some extra cash.

Any suggestions?

Regards,

Sean

davetrousers

When I left Fitness First I simply went in and said I'd like to cancel my membership, so I sat down with an assistant and we filled the cancellation form out. No problems.

Not sure what you can do now. Make sure you cancel your membership and get confirmation, by doing it in person.

jdturk

Hmmm because Royal Mail never lose a letter........I cannot see why you didn't send it recorded to be honest...lesson learned I guess!