David Lloyds problem - please advice

hackeron

In short, is it legal for David Lloyd to charge me membership fee for 3 months and deny me access to the club because I won't sign the new contract!?

I was on the 18-20 package with David Lloyds signed on 28/08/09 paying £53 per month, everything was fine, until I went into the gym 1 day mid august August (2010), my membership card wouldn't work. I went to reception and they told me your 18-20 young package is no longer valid because you are turning 21 end of October, you will need to sign a new agreement if you want to carry on using the gym.

I asked if it would be possible to still use the gym without signing the agreement? - they said well since you traveled all this way, we are willing to make this 1 exception but you have to sign the new agreement to use the gym.

I had no intention of signing the new agreement because of the much higher price and was going to join with a partner in November when her membership expires.

Since they said I can no longer use the gym without signing the new agreement and my agreement is ended due to age, surely that is confirmation enough that the agreement is ended!? - I mean I can't even use the gym!

Also said in the email correspondance: "the heavily discounted 18 to 20 package must come to an end on reaching the age of 21", I assumed that was the end of it until I sign a new agreement.

Rest assured, I was charged £53 in September despite not having access to the gym and I quickly cancelled my direct debit before they could charge me again in October.

I have been talking to all kinds of people and managers at David Lloyds and they all say, yes, your agreement is ended and yes you would've had an alert on your account and stopped at reception to sign a new agreement - but this had no effect on your access to the club, you can carry on using the club as normal and we received no written request from you that you want your agreement ended. In the same email it says: "These (alerts) would only prevent usage if you do not sign the contract requested" - Huh!? Which one of us is insane?

I don't want to sign a new contract and was under no obligation to do so until November! - Yet they clearly denied me access to the gym! - I used to go many times a week and they seem to think it's a coincidence I suddenly stopped mid August, the same day they put that "alert" on my membership card and I'm lying to them and as they say: "you clearly had access".

They agreed to waive the October bill and put my September payment towards a future month provided I sign a new contract, but after they have been harassing me with daily emails, letters, texts and phone calls and threats, I want nothing more to do with them.

I requested that September be refunded instead of the payment going towards a future month. And guess what: now they are saying I must pay membership until March 2011 if I want to cancel!

So they robbed me of 3 months of the discounted 18-20 package, robbed me of my £53 paid for September and now want to charge me December, January, February and March! - I assume since I don't want to sign a new contract and "These (alerts) would only prevent usage if you do not sign the contract requested" I won't be able to use the gym then either...

Any advice?

Mk14:37

Nuts to putting the September payment towards anything else. Visit your bank and request a refund of the Direct Debit.

And suggesting that you have to pay to March 2011 seems completely illogical - either the contract comes to an end at the age of 21, or it doesn't. You can't cancel a contract that has expired.

hackeron

Mk14:37 wrote: »

Nuts to putting the September payment towards anything else. Visit your bank and request a refund of the Direct Debit.

And suggesting that you have to pay to March 2011 seems completely illogical - either the contract comes to an end at the age of 21, or it doesn't. You can't cancel a contract that has expired.

Thank you for that.

That's what I don't understand. They claimed in the email that as per their terms and conditions they can change the terms based on age and my agreement is on a rolling basis.

It does say my agreement is on a monthly rolling basis with a 3 months notice requirement, but that they must inform me 3 months before making any changes. Also, if *they* ended the agreement and I was denied access to the gym until I sign a new contract, what do they want from me... :mad:

It seems to me they are trying to coerce me to sign a new agreement to make all this "go away", otherwise I have to pay till March and it still isn't clear if I can use the gym or not. One email says you can use the gym as normal, another says I will not have access until I sign a new contract.