Help! Trying to cancel gym membership.

emmyroo_2

My son goes to a karate club who had their direct debits managed by Belmont Finance. I was told when he joined that we would need to give 3 months notice to leave.

I gave notice to the club on June 1st and was told I didn't need to put anything in writing, just cancel the DD after the August 1st payment.

I have since found out that Belmont finance are no more and Harland Group have taken them over.
I contacted Harland Group to confirm cancellation on June 16th even though I was told I didn't need to, I thought I should.

I had a reply today to say my last DD would leave my account on October 1st and no earlier.

I have responsed to ask why as this is obviously more than 3 months. I am awaiting a reply.

Does anyone know where I stand? Should I just cancel my DD in August? I'm not really sure what to say to them. I could talk to the karate club but they're not very helpful, we hadn't even been informed that Belmont Finance had been taken over. My bank statements still say Belmont finance so I had no idea.

Thanks

unholyangel

emmyroo wrote: »

My son goes to a karate club who had their direct debits managed by Belmont Finance. I was told when he joined that we would need to give 3 months notice to leave.

I gave notice to the club on June 1st and was told I didn't need to put anything in writing, just cancel the DD after the August 1st payment.

I have since found out that Belmont finance are no more and Harland Group have taken them over.
I contacted Harland Group to confirm cancellation on June 16th even though I was told I didn't need to, I thought I should.

I had a reply today to say my last DD would leave my account on October 1st and no earlier.

I have responsed to ask why as this is obviously more than 3 months. I am awaiting a reply.

Does anyone know where I stand? Should I just cancel my DD in August? I'm not really sure what to say to them. I could talk to the karate club but they're not very helpful, we hadn't even been informed that Belmont Finance had been taken over. My bank statements still say Belmont finance so I had no idea.

Thanks

I'm pretty sure you would be best discussing this with the karate club rather than Harland as you have a contract with the karate group and not Harland (unless you signed a contract stating otherwise). If there was a change in the terms, they should have notified you and i - believe - given you enough notice to cancel - otherwise it could be deemed unfair contract terms

4743hudsonj

unholyangel wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you would be best discussing this with the karate club rather than Harland as you have a contract with the karate group and not Harland (unless you signed a contract stating otherwise). If there was a change in the terms, they should have notified you and i - believe - given you enough notice to cancel - otherwise it could be deemed unfair contract terms

If the DD is being taken by the Finance company there is a contract with them too. Sounds like the OP is on shakey ground, OP you should definitely get on to the finance company to find out whats what.

unholyangel

4743hudsonj wrote: »

If the DD is being taken by the Finance company there is a contract with them too. Sounds like the OP is on shakey ground, OP you should definitely get on to the finance company to find out whats what.

Yeah but surely that would depend on the set up? Or maybe memberships just work different here. Like the local council collect my gym membership fee even though its a private gym. But its the actual gym i have a contract with and its their terms i have to abide by. But my membership is part of a scheme offered by the local council.....hence why it makes sense they collect the payment.

About the notice period, is it possible the contract says 3 whole months? If it just said 3 months i personally would take it to mean 90 days, but if it said whole months/calendar months then it would make sense if you gave your notice on the 5th, it would be closer to 4 months notice (not sure if i've explained myself properly there).

Optimist

A lot of telling and not much in writing. You have signed a credit agreement and the terms you signed should give you cancellation details. More than likely to be three complete months. You really should cancel in writing keep a copy and preferably send it recorded to be safe

emmyroo_2

Yes, I believe it's 3 complete months, so from June 1st that's June, July, August.
Not October.
I could just about understand a final payment on Sept 1st if they claim that I haven't given the whole month of June as notice, but not October.

The agreement was originally with Belmont Finance. I have had no notification or change of contract when they were taken over in January.

The club have told me to ignore any further correspondence from the finance company which doesn't really help as I don't want the DD to continue to October.

unholyangel

You could cancel the DD from when you believe the DD should stop and tell the finance company you would like to dispute the remaining 2 months.

Then get a copy of the membership Terms and Conditions and see what it says EXACTLY (wording can imply one thing but actually mean another - i've posted before about how i think they do this deliberately in order to confuse and dupe people).

As advised previously, and especially due to the way things are shaping up, its a good idea to send them a letter of cancellation by way of recorded delivery. Even word the letter "I am writing to confirm that i would like to cancel my membership as discussed and accepted by xxxxxx(name of person if you have it and if not, company) on xxxxx (date). Although i was assured my contract could be cancelled over the phone, this letter is to serve as an affirmation of my request. As per my membership agreement terms and conditions, i shall expect the final direct debit to be taken from my account on xxxx (date) for xxxx (amount).

Of course there is always a possiblity they will reply the cancellation needs to be in writing but if this is the case, at least your cancellation date will be from the letter date and not 4 months down the line when you discover they've also taken a november payment.

You could also try putting the date of the final DD as september or august and see if they correct you? Not entirely sure this would stand up in a court but without actually looking at your contract, i fail to see how 3 months stretches to october. Unless, are your payments for the month they are taken or the month previous?