Cancelling gym membership before end of contract

Doorstep_2

Hello all,

My wife and I joined a gym back in around May 2006 and signed up for 12 months. It does stipulate that you must sign up for 12 months but says there are exceptions say for example if you moved where you were not within 10 miles radius of their nearest gym.

We have not been able to visit the gym for a couple of months now as I rely on my wife to transport me there and back as she uses our only car and we are about 9 or so miles away from the nearest gym. Whilst I could say use a bus or train to get to the gym this would work out expensive very quickly as the train for example is £3.50 return per day. I signed up on the basis I could get there and back in our car as alternative methods are too expensive.

My wife's hours at work changed so if we carried on visiting the gym we would get there late in the day (8pm if lucky) and would not be able to have a proper meal or do anything else in the evenings. I tried to cancel on this basis but was told no as this explanation for cancelling is not covered/stipulated in their terms. They say if I cancel before the 12 months then I must pay the remaining months otherwise they will pass the debt to a collection agency that will pursue me and my wife for the owed amount.

I am therefore wondering if anyone can advise on this issue please. Can I just cancel a 12 month contract without explanation? Am I within my rights to cancel due to my explanation above? The only thing I am mindful of when using my reasoning is that we do not know if my wife's employers would co-operate with explaining on the change of hours.

Any advice here is much appreciated.

stugib

Doorstep wrote:

My wife's hours at work changed so if we carried on visiting the gym we would get there late in the day (8pm if lucky) and would not be able to have a proper meal or do anything else in the evenings. I tried to cancel on this basis but was told no as this explanation for cancelling is not covered/stipulated in their terms. They say if I cancel before the 12 months then I must pay the remaining months otherwise they will pass the debt to a collection agency that will pursue me and my wife for the owed amount.

I am therefore wondering if anyone can advise on this issue please. Can I just cancel a 12 month contract without explanation? Am I within my rights to cancel due to my explanation above?

Sorry to be blunt, but IMHO 'no' and 'no' in answer to your questions.

It's a contract, and the contract didn't give you get outs for if it was just inconvenient for you, otherwise it would be worthless because everyone would just use any old excuse. The one get-out they have built in is one they can verify by checking your new address if you did move house. You've tried to appeal to their better nature by explaining your genuine reason but if they're not prepared to let you out of your contract there's not much you can do I'm afraid.

Not paying may end up a lot more expensive than continuing to pay. Are there no other alternatives? Go less often via train? Share a lift with someone who goes? Sell-on your membership privately to a friend (probably also against the contract)?

dmg24

stugib is right I'm afraid, as you signed up to the contract and do not fulfil their conditions for earlier cancellation, then you are tied to the contract.

Doorstep_2

Thanks for the advice. I would never just want to pull out of a contract normally just for the hell of it but thought I had a reasonable argument.

If they say moving out of the area is acceptable as you are, in effect, out of reach then I wondered if my argument might be reasonable as I am also now, technically speaking, reasonably out of reach of the gym as well.

gyzmo

You could arguing that the contrct falls fould of the regualtions regarding unfair terms in consumer contrat, but the onus is a heavy one. Look under http://swarb.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2021&highlight=gym+membership for a possible solution.

achtunglady

do you have a friend who doesnt live within 10 miles of their gyms? If so ask if you can use their address and write to the gym saying you have moved more than 10 miles away!!

olly300

Doorstep wrote:

My wife and I joined a gym back in around May 2006 and signed up for 12 months. It does stipulate that you must sign up for 12 months but says there are exceptions say for example if you moved where you were not within 10 miles radius of their nearest gym.

We have not been able to visit the gym for a couple of months now as I rely on my wife to transport me there and back as she uses our only car and we are about 9 or so miles away from the nearest gym. Whilst I could say use a bus or train to get to the gym this would work out expensive very quickly as the train for example is £3.50 return per day. I signed up on the basis I could get there and back in our car as alternative methods are too expensive.

So you can still get to the gym even if it's by a more expensive mode of transport. The gym doesn't care how you get to them to use their facilities and otherwise they would have something in the signing up form to indicate this.

Doorstep wrote:

My wife's hours at work changed so if we carried on visiting the gym we would get there late in the day (8pm if lucky) and would not be able to have a proper meal or do anything else in the evenings.

Quite a few people exercise at later or early times just because the gym is not busy then. When I use to be a gym member at one gym I would often time my gym visits for 8.30pm in the evening because it was quiet. One of the people I shared a house with went the earliest at 7.30pm and the latest at 9pm depending what pieces of equipment he wanted to use. (The gym closed at 10.30pm on weekdays). We both worked office hours 8-5 in my case and 8-6 in his case.

Doorstep wrote:

I tried to cancel on this basis but was told no as this explanation for cancelling is not covered/stipulated in their terms. They say if I cancel before the 12 months then I must pay the remaining months otherwise they will pass the debt to a collection agency that will pursue me and my wife for the owed amount.

Unfortunately every year loads of people sign up for gyms normally in January, they get bored and stop going within 2 months. (This is what your explanation sounds like to the gym.)

Someone in the media (I can't remember if Martin has done this) always make a big noise about how hard gym memberships are to cancel and you should check the small print in case your circumstances change or you become bored.

Doorstep wrote:

I am therefore wondering if anyone can advise on this issue please. Can I just cancel a 12 month contract without explanation?
Am I within my rights to cancel due to my explanation above?

No you can only cancel if you give a legit reason, as stugib said.

The best thing to do is to see if you can freeze your membership for a few months, or transfer your membership to someone else.

If you can freeze your membership you can use the time to save up some money to pay your contract off then cancel completely.

If you can't cancel or transfer the best thing to do is write a letter and inform them that after your contract is up you will no longer be a member.

Whatever you do, or they allow you to do make sure you put it in writing. Lots of gyms don't allow changes to memberships or cancellations unless they are in writing. Also ones that don't often dispute that someone has cancelled or changed their membership because there is no proof (I've been a member of over 6 different gyms in my life.)

Also saying you have moved house will not necessarily work as some gyms will want a utility bill or something to prove that you have done so because they are use to people trying to get out of their gym memberships. (I had to do this when I transfered my membership to someone else because I was moving to a different area.)