HELP! Virgin Active have instructed a debt recovery agency for a cancelled contract

DistortedVision

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/health_and_beauty/health_20070321.shtml

dionizyjska

DK1bunny wrote: »

I cancelled a Virign Active month by month membership using the web form on their website at the beginning of the year.

They've now got a debt agency on to me and state that they never had a cancellation option on their website.

I feel like I've been plunged into the twilight zone, does anyone have anything that relates to the cancellation over the website so that I can prove that it actually existed.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Hi,
I have the very same problem. I used the on-line memebership termination option on 17 June and cancelled my direct debit and have since been harassed by "Client Service" Team on account of not having paid first July and now August fee.
I am able to log onto their website though and can confirm that membership termination option still exists.

cunningham72

Please find a letter template that got me an apology from Richard Bransons office and the "slate" wiped clean. I hope that this works for everyone as it did for me....

Act now and dont go through the heart ache as i did! There are specific details to my case however discard these and just add your own, i have even included the relevant addresses

Date: 2nd June 2010

Carbon Copies to:

ARC Europe Ltd (Credit management) Ref: ?????, Kent House, Churchfield Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, KT12 2TU (Via Email)

Trevor Munn Solicitors REF: ??????, P.O. Box 503, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, KT12 2XR

Richard Branson, Virgin, the School House, 50 Brook Green, London, W6 7RR

Contact made with:

Office of Fair Trading, The Citizens advice Beuro, The money Saving Expert.com, Watchdog (BBC)




Dear ??????,

RE: Cancellation of contract February 2010 - WITHOUT PREDJUDICE

As requested I am writing to you C/o Virgin Active ?????? in response to a letter from ARC Europe Credit management received on 12th May 2010 whereby it states that I am in arrears within my contract and they will seek payment through their solicitors and the courts.

I first tried to contact you on the 14th May to no avail speaking with ?????? who stated she would pass on a message to you to contact me urgently. This did not happen; I then contacted you in person on the 17th May where we eventually spoke.

Back in February I came to the gym and spoke with ?????? on reception and informed her of my intention to cancel my membership (after 15 months) I gave her my membership details and she replied “no problem, leave it with me and I’ll sort it out”. You now inform me that I did not use the correct procedure and that I should fill out forms to be able to cancel and that I should only cancel in the 11th month of the contract, I f do not, which obviously I didn’t then it automatically rolls over for a further 12 months.

At the time I signed up to VA I was told categorically that my membership was initially for 12 months and then I could cancel providing 1 months notice. You have now informed me that the person selling me the contract no longer (conveniently) works for VA. I have already made this point verbally - I WOULD NEVER SIGN UP OR AGREE TO ANY CONTRACT THAT ROLLED OVER FOR 12 MONTHS, and especially one that gave you an option of 17 days where you can cancel within the 11th month. This is ludicrous, I thought that VA would have been a professional, moralistic and have integrity as when the contract you sold me you described VA as being.

When we spoke you informed me that you would send through details of the contract showing me the alleged clauses… I am still to receive these. The reason I left VA was due to so many administrative errors…the worst being my children’s contracts being under another ???????? that lived in Derby…talk about data protection as well as the protection of Children.

Since speaking with you I have looked on various websites to find that I am not the only person that have been miss-sold contracts over the past few years…in fact there are hundreds of posts from very worried people.

I cancelled my membership with VA in good faith and left with no real opinion of completely bad service as I enjoyed the gym the classes and the surroundings, admin was a place that needed tidying up however I realized that nothing is perfect and lived with it….obviously to my demise.

I would like to highlight the following for unfair contract terms by the Office of Fair Trading

Group 8: Excessive notice periods for consumer cancellation –

paragraph 1(h) of Schedule 2

"Schedule 2, paragraph 1, states that terms may be unfair if they have the object or effect of:

(h) automatically extending a contract of fixed duration where the consumer does not indicate otherwise, when the deadline fixed for the consumer to express his desire not to extend the
contract is unreasonably early."

and..

8.1 A clause which states how long a contract has to run is likely to be among its most important 'core' terms 24 If a lesser term in small print can be used, relying on customer inertia, to extend the contract period beyond what the consumer would normally expect, it is not a core term, and is liable to be considered unfair.

8.2 Particular suspicion attaches to a term in a contract for a fixed period which, if early notice to cancel is not given, automatically commits the consumer to a renewed fixed term.

8.3 The OFT considers that an over-long cancellation notice term may also be unfair in a contract which continues indefinitely rather than for a fixed term. Consumers entering such contracts normally expect to be able to end it a reasonable time after they decide they no longer want or can no longer afford what is provided under it. If they are required to make a cancellation decision too far ahead of time, they are liable either to forget to do so when they need to, or wrongly to anticipate their future needs. In either case, the effect of the term is the same as that of an 'automatic renewal' clause – they experience an unintended extension of their payment obligations.

Within the contract that VA have provide I note following cancellation term by the customer:

Clause 8.2 States

Grounds for early terminination by you:

2. We increase your membership dues;

According to their own press release

virginactive.co.uk/VA/Content/PressRoom/ValueAddedFacts.aspx

You did not decrease the membership to take into account the VAT change to 15%.

Not passing on the VAT reduction constitutes an increase in membership fee by Virgin Active and therefore allows anyone who joined before 1/12/08 and who has not had the VAT reduction applied to their monthly direct debit the absolute right to terminate the contract early under clause 8.2.

Other notable laws and legislation that are related to these contracts are:

· Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.
· Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994.
· The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002
· Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
· Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.


I want to know the following -

1. Why was the 'rolling nature' of the contract not clearly explained to me at the time it was signed? I signed a "12 month contract" I have completed those 12 months.

2. As VA hold my telephone number and home address why was no effort made to contact me to see if I wished to be locked into another 12 month contract?

I have received a letter from Trevor Munn Solicitors stating that a case is being prepared for Northampton County Court as its is representing ARC as well as yourselves VA. I would hope that this is an unnecessary action and that you will deal with this fairly as I have been with yourselves. Again I informed Laura of my intention to cancel my contract in February and she informed me she would deal with it.

If this cannot be rectified I will have no alternative but to seek legal advice as well as speak with the local and national press including TV.

Yours Sincerely


Good luck everyone!!!

lacuna_doll

Hi

First of all can I just say what a relief it is to read that I'm not the only person who feels like they sold their soul to the devil the day they signed a contract with Virgin Active.

I moved home several months ago - prior to my move I wrote a letter and sent it by standard post to my local branch of Virgin Active. I received no notification that it had been received, so I sent a second copy and called Head Office, and was told verbally over the phone that my contract had been cancelled without any problems. I never received any written confirmation of this, but amid the chaos of moving house I did not chase this up, and just cancelled my Direct Debit.

I have now received several letters from a debt collection agency, which I ignored thinking it was some kind of administrative error. I was also called this morning by the debt collection agency; the lady was not rude or agrgessive in her manner, but obviously the threat of legal action was quite a shock to the system and I am now very concerned about the situation.

I am going to follow the advice in previous messages about how to follow this up, but I have one question - and I do appreciate how naive this may sound but I have absolutely no prior knowledge about or experience of DCAs! Aside from the information I wrote on my form when I signed up with Virgin Active, how much information about me can the DCA actually get hold of? Does the Data Protection Act protect me at all, or are they within their rights to somehow find out my new address? I don't want to risk the bailiffs turning up at my new home, or have them contacting my parents at the old address that my bank account used to be registered to!

I have no idea how much power these people have - or don't, as the case may be - and how worried I need to be at this stage.

Thanks in advance for any comments or advice you may have.

Jackdaw79

Hi all

My problem is slightly different, so I don't think I have the right to go quoting any acts etc.

It's quite a long story, and I've been going back and forth with VA since April, so it's quite a long story, sorry...


Sep 2009: I signed up to VA Regents Park - I signed a contract that states after the initial 12 month period my membership would continue to roll on on a monthly basis, which I could cancel at my home club anytime.

Sep 2010: I had forgotten that my membership rolled on (in fact I think I never knew - I probably stupidly didn't read the small print and the salesman certainly never mentioned it). I knew it was due to expire but I wanted to go for a swim at my local branch (Chigwell). I phoned Chigwell to say I wanted to visit their gym but was unsure if my membership had expired, they told me that it had and so I didn't go and I stopped using all facilities.

Dec 2010: I got around to signining up to VA again, this time Islington because I had moved offices so it was more convenient.

April 2011: I realised from my bank statements I was paying VA twice, one to Virgin Active and one to Holmes Place. I phoned my bank and cancelled the Direct Debit, I also claimed back the money dating back to Sep 2010.

April 2011 onwards: I spoke to VA Regents Park and told them I had done this, and since then I've had so many conflicting conversations... speaking primarilt to two ladies I'll call 'J' and 'N'...

Spoke to J, she wasn't too happy I had done this at first but basically told me in the end that I did not need to pay the money atall (she later denied that and so I have since been recording all of my telephone conversations since).

Whilst trying to sort this out with J I received two letters from VA demanding payment and saying I would not be allowed into their gyms, with no reference whatsoever to the discussions I had been having - the telephone on these letters led me to rude incompetent people.

J then forwarded me an email from her boss, N, which told me I had to pay the whole lot but, as a "gesture of good will" they would not make me pay back for the months of May and June (because apparently they had continued to charge me!!!)

I then had a phone conversation with N in which she stated she may be able to do something for the period I was paying two memberships but I would need to pay back the rest. I asked for a copy of my contract (which I had repeatedly asked J for but never received).

Didn't hear anything from N for a while so I phoned the club and discovered she had left, asked J for a copy of my contract.

During this time I received two letters from the debt collection agency - the first time I phoned them back and spoke to a very nice man who told me he would put a stop on it and refer it back to VA. The 2nd one I just ignored.

J sent my contract to me and I sent a long email to her explaining the conversations I had with N and asking who will pick up on those conversations, I also said I would like the payments waived for the months in which I wasn't paying another membership because I had been told by VA that my membership was no longer active. I got no response from her, in the meantime I got a letter from the solicitor.

I phoned her today (11 days after the email!) and she is just quoting that email from AGES ago saying that I had to pay the whole lot but as a good will gesture I don't have to pay back the payments from May & June!!! J has never really been able to grasp the situation, she just hasn't a clue.



... so I feel as though I don't really have a leg to stand on but, at the same time, I was told (albeit not by my home club) that my membership was expired AND I renewed my membership with them so I was paying dues to VA TWICE!

Is there anything I can do?

Holly

dancingfairy

I think I would do the following:
1) stop speaking to people on the phone as this doesn't appear to be getting you anywhere and neither side can prove who said what and when.
2) send a COMPLAINT letter - head it up with complaint to Virgin's head office - surely they must have a complaints department? Phone up your local branch and ask them to forward you a copy of the complaints prcoedure and the address to write to.
Ask that Virgin suspend the debt collectors while your complaint is investigated.
Best of Luck
df

lacuna_doll

It's a long time since my original post on here, but I just wanted you all to know that after following the advice on this thread, Including the letter templates that were kindly posted, VA have backed down, apologised and called off the hounds.

Needless to say I will never touch another of their products with a barge-pole. If anyone is reading this thread for advice mine is to use all the wisdom and experience on here and don't back down - it works!

Without the MSE forum I wouldn't have had a clue what to do and the intimidation tactics probably would have worked. You guys have saved me hundreds of pounds and I truly believe this site is one of the best things about the Internet.

Thanks!