fittness first

highguyuk

Think yourself lucky - Esporta it's 3 months notice!

It's all in the contract you signed when you joined, there is no getting out of it. If you want to cancel, at Esporta, bang on your 12 months you need to advise them on your wish to cancel in the 9th month.

Yorkielass

I was with Next Generation for a while (on student membership) and they have 3 months notice - so I cancelled at the end of November but still had to pay at the start of December, January and February. They sent a form to fill in and you could ask for a shorter notice period, e.g. if you had been made reundant, and then you had to send proof off. I'm just glad I'm out of it now and have started using the swimming pool at the local council leisure centre in the town I've just moved to, and I'd have to go 15 times a month to make it more expensive than I was paying at Next Gen (and the most I ever managed there in a month was 12).

I'm never ever signing up to a gym contract again (and I'm glad the public swimming pool is a lot better here than where I lived before)

RibenaBerry_2

I am afraid that I agree with Lynsayjane. Papito would be totally right if it was a 12 month contract, but it's not. As Lynsayjane says, it's an ongoing contract with a minimum term. If you want to cancel you can either (i) give notice during the initial term some time, so that it ends at 12 months; or (ii) give notice at any other time, giving the notice required in the t's and c's.

It's a bit like a lot of tenancy agreements. They last for an initial 6 months and you can't terminate during that time without paying out the balance, but they keep going after the initial 6 months unless someone gives notice.

Sorry to back up Lynsajane's bad news...

gingeremmie

If you want to cancel your gym membership then cancel your direct debit and then move house. Tis what I did anyway!! Maybe a bit extreme to avoid paying £35 or whatever it is (I was moving anyway).

sooti1

hi,

i joined fitness first on 18th january 2007, got a corporate discount for £29 a month, they visited my work and offered us a good deal and i dont want to be fat and 40 next year, so i joined.

the contract says monthly payments to be collected form my account on the 18th of each month but they always take them out on 1st of each month, and instead of the £29 corporate discount they are charging me £31 a month. also with the package i got 2 free personal trainer sessions, but i have tried many times to book the PT and he is never available when i am! i have time to go 2 mornings a week when my toddler is at preschool, but the PT doesnt start work til 11 which is too late for me, as i have to get back to collect my child from the preschool, so i try on a sat or sun morning and he isnt available until afternoons which i cant do as i have no babysitter as my partner will be going to work that time!

does this give me the right to cancel, the reason being, although i would like to make the use of the membership, im a working mum with a toddler and i have no one to look after her so i can go to the gym. my mum has her while im at work, and at the end of the day i cant leave her with my mum for any longer while i visit the gym as my mum is exhausted at the end of the day and also has her own things to do some days. my partner works really long hours so he is only really around weekend daytimes but we have so many things to do that i often dont get there then.

i really cant afford the membership, money is tight anyway, and the gym dont have creche facilities so im a bit stuck!

Littlered_3

I'm with RibenaBerry and Lynsajane on this one I'm afraid. I'm still with Fitness First, and have had a look again at the paperwork I signed a year ago. It is a MINIMUM 12 month contract, which then goes on to a rolling contract. You can give notice in the 11th month, to end the contract after the 12 months. But at any point you still have to give one months notice.

On an interesting point I know someone who works for the gym, and says that if everybody who had gym membership went to the gym at least once a week, they wouldn't be able to cope!

lynsayjane

aka666 wrote: »

well i cancelled and had to give 1 month notice,,i was looking through paperwork and noticed that my directdebits were 35 pound,went to the manger and said that i told them i worked for the health authority and my directdebits should have been less,all she turned round and said it was to late and should have been brought to there attension earller,bloody cheek should i write to head office and what kind of letter should i write, its not a lot of money but its mine and i worked hard for it.

don't know if there is any point in writing to ho, as far as the club is concerned you are responsible for monitoring your dd's, if your min term was six months then you paid at least four times by dd and didn't notice the higher rate. sorry but I don't think there is anything they can do, I know we don't give refunds on it.

lynsayjane

gingeremmie wrote: »

If you want to cancel your gym membership then cancel your direct debit and then move house. Tis what I did anyway!! Maybe a bit extreme to avoid paying £35 or whatever it is (I was moving anyway).

that can't be guarenteed to work every time. some clubs don't go as far as they could, ie just send out a letter to say dd cancelled and need to pay in club, but other big name clubs will actually take you to court over this and I'm not sure that moving house will prevent them doing it.

kazprincess

You can put your membership on hold which reduces the montly cost down to around £7. You could do this every month untill your year is up, but you have to give a full months notice before they will cancel your membership completley. This means a full month at your full montly cost.

Just tell them that your going traveling or something and tell them how long for (or how long you would like it frozen).

lynsayjane

sooti1 wrote: »

hi,

i joined fitness first on 18th january 2007, got a corporate discount for £29 a month, they visited my work and offered us a good deal and i dont want to be fat and 40 next year, so i joined.

the contract says monthly payments to be collected form my account on the 18th of each month but they always take them out on 1st of each month, and instead of the £29 corporate discount they are charging me £31 a month. also with the package i got 2 free personal trainer sessions, but i have tried many times to book the PT and he is never available when i am! i have time to go 2 mornings a week when my toddler is at preschool, but the PT doesnt start work til 11 which is too late for me, as i have to get back to collect my child from the preschool, so i try on a sat or sun morning and he isnt available until afternoons which i cant do as i have no babysitter as my partner will be going to work that time

does this give me the right to cancel, the reason being, although i would like to make the use of the membership, im a working mum with a toddler and i have no one to look after her so i can go to the gym. my mum has her while im at work, and at the end of the day i cant leave her with my mum for any longer while i visit the gym as my mum is exhausted at the end of the day and also has her own things to do some days. my partner works really long hours so he is only really around weekend daytimes but we have so many things to do that i often dont get there then.

i really cant afford the membership, money is tight anyway, and the gym dont have creche facilities so im a bit stuck!

you can certainly corner them on the price your paying and the date of the dd, did you keep a copy of the cntract you signed? if it states on these the cost and date then speak to the manager asap, I'm not sure if they'll give a refund on the extra but they certainly aught to change the future payments.

as for the pt being a way of getting out of the contract, am afraid not. It's not the clubs fault your not free when he is. they provide one on a regular basis so I can't see them being at fault on that one.

as for you not being able to afford it or get time due to your child, again thats not the clubs fault, you knew the circumstances when you signed up so unfortunatly it's again not a way to get out of your contract.

Sorry for the bad news, all I can suggest is getting your cancellation in bang on your earliest oportunity to cancel.