Warning - cancelling The Gym Group membership

sianster

I was a member of The Gym Group for a few months, attracted by the "no contract" deal and cheap subscription (£15.99 per month). Really enjoyed using the gym - very clean, lots of new equipment etc.

At the end of the year I decided to end my membership and looked on the website to find out how to do this. Very simple - just press a button & your membership will be cancelled immediately; your entry code will be inactive within hours. As I had already paid until the end of the month I decided to cancel at the end of the month so I could get most use out of the money I'd already paid.

I did this, only to be told on the following screen that I now needed to cancel my direct debit with the bank and this would require 3 working days notice. As it was over the Christmas holidays there was not enough time & my membership fee was paid for another month but I cannot enter the gym as my code has been deactivated. Despite several emails and phone calls to customer services I have been unable to get my overpayment refunded.

Therefore if you are planning to cancel your Gym Group membership, make sure you cancel your direct debit with the bank in plenty of time and then cancel your membership online when you want to stop using it.

Hope to help prevent anyone else falling into the same trap...

BlueAngelCV

This does seem more like a problem with your bank that The Gym Group.

Do you not have internet banking? I can cancel DD immediately.

isplumm

Hi,

Have you not complained to the bank - under the dd guarantee they should refund??

Mark

Coopdivi

Considering the amount of complaints about gym membership contracts on MSE, I'd be more inclined to praise The Gym Group for their fair terms.

sianster

I'm with First Direct and used online banking. I think it was cancelled immediately online, but the DD had already been requested by The Gym Group and so it went through.

My frustration is with the terms saying cancellation is immediate, then only telling you once you've cancelled that 3 working days notice is required to prevent payment being made.

zppp

sianster wrote: »

I'm with First Direct and used online banking. I think it was cancelled immediately online, but the DD had already been requested by The Gym Group and so it went through.

My frustration is with the terms saying cancellation is immediate, then only telling you once you've cancelled that 3 working days notice is required to prevent payment being made.

The problem is, the cancellation is immediate in terms of your membership terminating. But if you cancel on a day where they are taking the money from your bank account, in much the same way you have to give notice to cancel a DD with your bank, how are they supposed to cancel the payment?

sianster

They may not have been able to cancel the payment, but they could have refunded it after.

If they had informed me I would need to cancel the DD with notice before I cancelled the membership I would have done so.

Thanks blueangelCV and Isplumm, I've contacted First Direct and had the amout refunded to my account this morning. Hadn't thought of going through the bank as the money had already left my account.