Bannatyne Fitness - £75 Cancellation Fee for member diagnosed with cancer!

garyjohnson55

Hello,

Having joined the local Bannatyne Fitness centre a few months back my mother was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer and was advised that she would need to undergo a full mastectomy amongst other treatment and after spending a period in hospital would be able to do very little in terms of movement and the recovery process with would involve chemo and radiotherapy would take months.

Due to the above and also the fact that due to the nature of her job she would also be off work for a long period, it was decided that she would cancel her membership with Bannatyne Fitness until she is hopefully recovered. However, despite personally handing in a letter to the manager at the gym with medical support (letter from hospital) confirming that she had been diagnosed with cancer and would need to have surgery, she heard nothing for a few weeks and only after chasing a few times did she receive an email from their head office containing the following text...

"…Having reviewed the correspondence received and the medical evidence kindly provided it has been authorised for your membership to be cancelled on receipt of a payment of £75 cancellation fee, as per ‘Section 6, Paragraph (f)’ of the terms and conditions of membership. We will accept your September 2010 fees as the 30 days notice required for cancellation.

This offer is applicable for a period of 14 days and if accepted must be paid within that time. If this should be declined or unpaid your membership and fees payable will continue as normal…."

I find this response totally unacceptable referring to terms and conditions and requesting a cancellation fee almost as if she is simply requesting that the membership be cancelled out of choice.

Having been sent a copy of the email by my mother I forwarded this on (copying her in) expressing my dissatisfaction and requesting that the matter be escalated and the membership be cancelled without penalty however despite sending this Thursday last week, I have not yet heard a response.

What I also find amazing is that my brother and I were both due to be in the USA next month and after providing the same medical evidence, due to the fact that a member of the family is ill and we will need to offer support and care, the Airline is offering 'Full Refunds' for the tickets yet Bannatynes want to charge for cancellation of the gym membership when it is clear she will simply be unable to go. I also find it especially disgusting that the Bannatyne website states “Duncan Bannatyne and The Bannatyne Charitable Trust help make a difference to the lives of children and adults in the UK and around the world” and lists ‘against breast cancer’, ‘breast cancer care’, and ‘breast cancer campaign’ as some of their nominated charities however the company clearly does not care in reality.

I am not going to accept this £75 charge as this is not morally right and completely unacceptable. On the Bannatyne website Duncan Bannatyne mentions "I make a point of having my personal contact details on the noticeboards in my clubs and encourage customers to contact me directly if they have a concern or complaint. It is my name above the door, so customers should be able to reach me if they wish."

If this is indeed the case, does anybody go to Bannatynes and if so would they be kind enough to provide me with these contact details?

Your comments and advice would be appreciated.

regards


Gary

Chimpofdoom

Similar sort of thread on another forum:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?178861

The last post on that page has some good pointers.

hartcjhart

try here

(01325) 356677 not 100% sure?

or here

http://www.duncanbannatyne.co.uk/contact/

garyjohnson55

Thanks guys.

I sent Duncan a message on his personal website. Will let you know if he bothers to respond.

Cheers

musicmaker29

very sorry to hear.

if he refuses, go to the press - 'Multimillionaire Dragon demands £75 from cancer sufferer' is not publicity he would want and would at least be a kick in the face for him - that kind of publicity will cost him way more than £75.

garyjohnson55

Update!

Hi guys, I just thought I’d let you know that neither the email which I sent to Bannatyne Fitness head office (Thurs 23rd Sep) nor the message I sent to Duncan Bannatyne himself (Tues 28th Sep) through his personal website were responded to. So much for "If a customer complains to me, I get it sorted, and the same principle of easy access should apply to all businesses". It's amazing how he still finds time to post Twitter updates however.

I am going to send an email to his agent Stuart Skinner [EMAIL="Stuart@pha-media.com"]Stuart@pha-media.com[/EMAIL] referring him to this thread ask him to forward the email on to Duncan Bannatyne to ensure that he's fully aware of the situation.

Monday will mark the end of the so called '14 day period' available to pay the £75 and end the subscription. Seeing as the company has not responded to my messages, I simply feel like just cancelling the Direct Debit for her, however whilst I am adamant that the company should not apply penalty fees in the case that somebody has been diagnosed cancer and cannot attend the gym, I am torn because my mother's main focus should be on recovery, and not worrying about any comeback from Bannatynes or any debt collection agencies which they may forward their claim on to.

This just doesn't feel right at all.....

custardy

forget emails
do it in ye olde written form and send the letters recorded

dmg24

Whilst I can see the moral issue, legally I don't see that they are doing anything wrong (although I don't have a copy of the contract so could not say for sure). Any agreement you come to will be relying on goodwill, I cannot see that you could pursue this through legal channels.

dmg24

garyjohnson55 wrote: »

Monday will mark the end of the so called '14 day period' available to pay the £75 and end the subscription. Seeing as the company has not responded to my messages, I simply feel like just cancelling the Direct Debit for her, however whilst I am adamant that the company should not apply penalty fees in the case that somebody has been diagnosed cancer and cannot attend the gym, I am torn because my mother's main focus should be on recovery, and not worrying about any comeback from Bannatynes or any debt collection agencies which they may forward their claim on to.

This just doesn't feel right at all.....

This would be a really silly move. As you have stated, debt collection procedures (and ultimately, a ruined credit file) would do her no good at all. If I was in your position, I would pay the £75 to avoid any inconvenience to mum, and then try to get it back (and she doesn't need to know anything more about it, other than that the situation is sorted).

garyjohnson55

The message to Stuart has failed as his inbox is apparently full so I have once again sent a message to Duncan.

garyjohnson55

Thanks for the messages btw.