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

mountainofdebt

If it were my mum, I'd pay the £75 cancellation fee.

The point is that whilst cancer is a truely horrible disease (and btw I wish your mum a speedy recovery) what makes it different from any other medical condition that allows a member to cancel their contract early. Should cancer sufferers be treated any differently ? Again I don't mean to come across as unsympathetic and hopefully you will see the point I am making.

In some ways (and again I dont' want to seem unsympathetic) but just because a company supports a certain charity does that mean they should treat the people who that charity supports differently from others?

Yes I would complain but I think my energies would be focused on my mum and not £75 at the end of the day.

As for Twitter ......least said about the celebs and those who follow them the better.

hoyles10

I hope you manage to get it sorted out and hope your mum makes a speedy recovery.

As others have said I would pay the £75 and then try to get it back. I must admit when I got diagnosed the last thing on my mind was to cancel Gym membership but the last thing you need is financial worry on top of everything else. I would send a letter recorded delivery as it's all to easy for people to say they haven't received an email but if someone signs for a letter you have proof they have received it. I really don't think his agent will be able to do much though.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

musicmaker29 wrote: »

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.

That would be shockingly bad reporting though. It is not him directly is it its his business..

As the poster above has said though - whilst its not nice that she has cancer it doesnt absolve you from your financial commitments.

Pay the thing today as the email wont get seen till monday at the earliest anyway and then try and claim it back.

more importantly though is to be there for your mam and forget about this as its just unnecessary stress for you both

jamespir

its the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard therfore im out

Hintza

hoyles10 wrote: »

As others have said I would pay the £75 and then try to get it back.

As others have said morally this is the only way to go. Pay up then fight it if you wish.

Undisputedtruth

dmg24 wrote: »

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. .

A credit file would not be ruined if:

a) court judge against Bannatyne or

b) debt is paid within 28 days of County Court Judgement (CCJ).

I would have a thought a company, upon hearing a person suffering from cancer, would be sympathetic.

A Court would expect Bannatyne to expect reasonably in responding to correspondence. So you need to keep records of your communications and recorded deliveries.

You can also use suggest that Bannatyne have provided poor customer services and therefore have breached the consumer contract.

Anyone who suffers from Cancer is automatically covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/government/civil_rights/discrimination/218.html

Might be worth contacting Consumer Direct and EHRC for more advice and support.

Helix

Get him on twitter, I doubt he would like the bad publicity on there and sort it quickly. Well providing he sees your message.

http://www.twitter.com/DuncanBannatyne

You could also try and let the other dragons know and they might sort something - Theo: http://twitter.com/TheoPaphitis and Peter: http://twitter.com/dragonjones

barvid

If the charge is in line with the contract that was signed, I don't see why they should make a special dispensation. Yes, cancer is horrible. My own mother died from cancer, so I know how it feels. But businesses are commercial organisations, not charities. If they gave cash away to everyone who felt hard done by they'd end up bust.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Undisputedtruth wrote: »

A credit file would not be ruined if:

a) court judge against Bannatyne or

b) debt is paid within 28 days of County Court Judgement (CCJ).

I would have a thought a company, upon hearing a person suffering from cancer, would be sympathetic.

A Court would expect Bannatyne to expect reasonably in responding to correspondence. So you need to keep records of your communications and recorded deliveries.

You can also use suggest that Bannatyne have provided poor customer services and therefore have breached the consumer contract.

Anyone who suffers from Cancer is automatically covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/government/civil_rights/discrimination/218.html

Might be worth contacting Consumer Direct and EHRC for more advice and support.

Unfortunately the webpage you post up says this

Most sports clubs and gyms are not covered by the special rules,

so they are quite within their rights to claim this as they do not fall under the 'special rules' as you state.


Also as a aside to this - what about the person who breaks a limb? Do they get special dispensation from the get out of contract clause as they wont be able to use the gym either? Or someone else who has an illness that prevents them from attending the Gym? Where do you actually draw the line?

[Deleted User]

Seems like there's a simple solution to this: get everyone you know to retweet a message to Duncan Bannatyne along the following lines:

@duncanbannatyne (or whatever his username is - do you think it's acceptable for Bannatynes to chase a cancer patient for £75 non-payment on treatment? (then put a !!!!!!! link to this thread on it).

Get enough people to tweet him and he'll take notice...