Email/phone agreement by a Hypnotherapist

Whittleme

I hope someone will be able to give me some advice; I really don't know what to do and don't know where I stand legally.

Before Christmas I was very depressed and wanted help with my weight loss as it was affecting my health. So I contacted a Hypnotherapist and she said for £4,500 paid over 2 years at £200 per month she could help me. It is a huge sum of money and after speaking with my husband and cutting back on things we agreed we could afford as my health was at stake and we have a young son. So we made a verbal agreement on the phone and she sent me an invoice and I paid her the first £200 just before Christmas. We made a list of dates for her to start my 'therapy' the first of which was going to be a half an hour call on the 19th of Jan. Then she started to text and emailing me 'how are you' and have you checked your email/text etc, very frequently throughout the festive period.

In the new year today to be exact my husband said that he was told that he was under risk of being made redundant, so I immediately rung this woman to tell her I could not carry on and start the therapy because my husband had been told he could be made redundant and I did not want to start something that I could not pay.

She then told me that I either carry on paying the £200 per month or I needed to pay her £1300 for the time she had spent already. By phone she had spoken to me for 1 hour which she said was free in fact it was only 45mins. Then the second call was to go through the dates for about 15 minutes. She said her hourly rate was £500 and because she had 'worked' with me for 1.5 hours I owed her £1500 minus the £200 which came to £1300. She said that every email and text she had sent was her time 'working' with me!!

Never did she mention that I was being charged for each call or email or text. Most of which only consisted of her chasing me to ask if I was ok or if I had read my emails/texts etc. We had not done any 'work' on me!

I have not signed anything but I had agreed on email and on phone I wanted to go ahead. I am not after my initial £200 back but do I really have to pay her £1300 for 'work' she has supposed to have done for me? Which amounts to 'how are you' texts and one or two line emails???

She is now threatening me to carry on paying the £200 per month or £1300 or else... she didn't say what the or else was. I am so scared I am going to be made to pay this money when I let her know asap that I could no longer continue. Can anyone advise me what my legal rights are please? And yes I know I have been very foolish and you do foolish things when you are desperate.

Thank you so much for reading this!

scheming_gypsy

Just tell her to sling it; and write off the £200. She's just trying to push you because you're depressed, she won't take you to court because she'll get thrown straight back out again.

Whittleme

Thank you so much for replying scheming_gypsy. What's really scary is she has gone from a person who seemed to care to someone who is purely money grabbing. She hasn't actually given me any advice or helped me in any way.

Her main thing was to get me to sort out the payments and to get me to write diaries which I didn't even get round to giving her. I told her about the pending redundency as soon as I put the phone down to my husband so she was aware that I wouldn't be sending her any diaries for her to 'work' on me.

I feel like I am being blackmailed for money which she hasn’t even earned yet and this person who was supposed to help me taking advantage of my low ebb.

I am scared to tell her to sling it as I don’t know what the legalities are in this case. All I have done is plead with her to keep the £200 and not continue with me (by email).

halibut2209

She is a scam artist.

Did you sign anything?

Qwiksilver

Such a shame that during your time of need this parasitical creature has taken advantage of you.

Please do not pay this verminous individual any monies until you have recieved independant legal advice. There are a number of very helpful and informed individuals on these forums who will guide you better than i can.

Good luck and best wishes

Whittleme

halibut2209 wrote: »

She is a scam artist.

Did you sign anything?

Thanks for your reply.

I didn't sign anything but I did say yes please help me on the phone and by email. Also surely by paying her money I am saying I wanted her to work with me?

I don't know what the future holds for my family now and this woman is making me feel so awful, she wants me to phone her on the 9th of this month. I know all I will end up doing is crying and begging for to keep the initial money and to leave me alone. Don't know what else to do.

Whittleme

Qwiksilver wrote: »

Such a shame that during your time of need this parasitical creature has taken advantage of you.

Please do not pay this verminous individual any monies until you have recieved independant legal advice. There are a number of very helpful and informed individuals on these forums who will guide you better than i can.

Good luck and best wishes

Thank you for that Qwiksilver I think I need all the luck I can get. I though last year was bad but this year has already started badly. I know I am to blame but I don't want this to affect my son or husband.

unholyangel

Ok, i'm going to be theoretical here as its dubious as to whether she would actually take you to court or not.

But if it were to go to court, she would only be able to claim (at most) for actual loss. What work was agreed to be carried out? If it were just the sessions, then at most she could claim for would be the one session if she failed to find someone else to take it (and she has an obligation to try to mitigate her losses.....so she cant just sit back and charge you for it).

The fact she is proposing such a large fee when it is not a true reflection of her loss would be covered by the Unfair Contract Terms Act as it would amount to a penalty.

Has she presented you with terms and conditions of any kind? What was the exact date you agreed to take her up on the service and made the first payment? How did you make that first payment? Did the invoice she gave to you give a VAT registration number?

How exactly did you come across her business? Does she have business premises or work from home?


Realistically, it is more likely to be her that owes you money. And if you wish to investigate this option further, a call to trading standards or consumer direct would not go amiss.

Qwiksilver

Your welcome Wittleme.

Let me add one thing. In no way shape or form is this your fault. You made a decision which appeared to you to be the right one at the time. This creature is exploiting you and using your vulnerabilty to extort money from you.

Do you know from any of her e mails if she is a member of any profesional organisation?

scheming_gypsy

unholyangel wrote: »

But if it were to go to court, she would only be able to claim (at most) for actual loss. What work was agreed to be carried out? If it were just the sessions, then at most she could claim for would be the one session if she failed to find someone else to take it (and she has an obligation to try to mitigate her losses.....so she cant just sit back and charge you for it).

.

The OP has paid £200 of a £4500 'invoice' for two years worth of sessions. so that's one session a month at £200 and £100 for whatever. As they paid the first instalment 'just before Christmas' then there's no session that she can claim for as they've paid it in advance.

DVardysShadow

Keep a diary of all contact with this 'therapist'. Don't contact her, wait for her to contact you. Note down the tenor of all conversations. As you have not even had the first session, you can justifiably claim that the therapeutic relationship is broken down anyway.