Have i been scammed?

Poorstudent_3

Hello everyone, in the summer I signed up for a membership at Total Fitness, a 12 month contract at £30 per month, for the gym's facilities this is very good. I chose t his because as a student it allows me to freeze my membership when i am at University so I can resume my membership at home without wasting money. Whilst signing up this took place;

Me "So is there anything I should know about my membership being frozen?"
Membership office (over phone) "No, just tell us a few days in advance and it will all be sorted"

Come end of summer, they tell me there is a £25 freezing fee and I can't freeze for longer than 6 months, so i would effectively need to pay £55 to use it for a month over christmas or £50 to freeze it for the year, i simply cannot afford this.

I have no physical proof this conversation took place but is there anything I could do/be entitled to?

Many thanks,
a poor student

McKneff

Read your T&Cs on the form that you signed

What was said is irrelevant, what you hve signed up for is.

Poorstudent_3

there was no T&C, it was arranged all over the phone, nothing was read out to me

McKneff

Not sure where you stand in tht case

Have you spoken to them since.

Im sure more people will be along later to clarify.

You really should have had some paperwork, have you had none at all even from the beginning when you first joined.

melancholly

http://www.totalfitness.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

can't see anything about freezing in these T&Cs but i'd be surprised if they didn't send you something with them (they should tell you in writing what you've signed up to). although this is a 'student' issue, you may get better replies on the consumer rights board - gym memberships usually have really tight T&Cs but i don't know what to say if you never saw any.

YoungBaker

I used to work in a health club like this and I would be very surprised if you didn't formally agree. You need to formally sign documents to even allow you into such places and to use the facilities and say you abide to their health and safety requirements, as well as agree for a dd to be set up - so surely you must have physically signed something??

RosieBee_2

Hello,

As other people have said, to join a gym you'd need to sign some sort of agreement. especially a chain gym like Total Fitness. I was with Total Fitness one year back and had to sign a contract. Although the contract didn't contain any freeze fee. I was told to give 30 days notice before I wanted to freeze the account and it would be frozen without charge until the start of another month that I chose.

If you havn't signed any contract, It would seem that you're under no obligation to pay a fee to stop or freeze the account (this is not always the case).
I would contact the manager at the gym and explain the situation to them.

Hope this helps