LA Fitness Contract - right of cancellation

Tombo1

My husband and I are 2 years into a 3 year contract with LA Fitness. From reading the documentation it's not a standard contract but a loan agreement with LA Fitness. There have been a lot of problems with the gym - leaking ceilings, dirty showers, blocked drains, dirty changing rooms etc, the worst being when the gents lavatories overflowed everywhere (including into Reception and other areas) and the whole place was shut for a clean up.

A few weeks after this lavatorial overflow, my husband went to the gym. Did his usual routine, drank from the mains water fountain, went in the pool/steam room and had a shower. I didn't go. He started being very ill. I was OK. He got worse and worse and ended up in hospital on an IV being treated for Giardia and Cryptosporidium. These are protozoan infestations of the intenstines and bowel, usually contracted by drinking water infected with faeces and the like. They aren't destroyed by chlorine in swimming pools. There really was only one place he could have caught this. Because they're Communicable Diseases Environment Health have been informed. We were due to go on holiday and had to cancel it.

He definitely doesn't want to go back to the gym, neither do I for that matter. Could he have any sort of case for cancelling his contract/loan agreement without having to pay back the £300 remaining for the next year? We were promised by the salesperson when we signed that we could cancel with a month's notice, but reading other threads on here that promise is worth diddly-squat.

arcon5

Two issues here really, they could be considered in breach of contract. And the 3 year term could be deemed as an unfair term as has been the case for Ashbourne gym:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/consumer-enforcement/consumer-enforcement-completed/health-contracts/#.UlRZJlOBXyY

I'd start off by writing to the gym and the finance company.

ThumbRemote

If Environmental Health can link the illness to the gym then I'd think you had an almost watertight personal injury claim against them. You'd need to speak to a lawyer to progress this, a no-win no-fee company should do the job. The damages you could claim would include the cost of your holiday, and would likely exceed the final years money owed to the gym too.

They may agree to release you from your contract to reduce the risk of you taking legal action, you could write and ask, but personally I think you'd be letting them off far too easy.

On the other hand if Environmental Health don't find a link between the illness and the gym, it's tough - though investigate the link arcon5 posted above instead.

ValHaller

Agree with arcon. Essentially, you would have to claim from the gym for breach of contract and your loan repayments would be the damages. With a damning report from environmental health, your chances look better, but the question is proving breach of contract. Essentially, with breach of contract, you need to set in place a paper trail over a period, giving the supplier a fair opportunity to rectify the breach, although in this case you could argue that the infections result from a gross breach sufficient to warrant terminating on the spot.

Whatever you do, don't stop paying the loan, because that is enforceable in court and arguments about the state of the gym will be rightly ruled out of order.

Yo do may grounds for a claim arising from the illness and for consequential losses - ie the holiday

paddyrg

Shame you didn't take water samples from the site when he became ill but it's a hard prove unless environmental health can find anything.

The loan is to distance the money from membership - 'yes you can cancel with a months notice madam, but you still owe on the loan' type of thing. 3 year contract is almost certainly unenforceable as a reasonable term, and judges have ruled against other gym contracts of similar lengths so your gym may be unwilling to go to court over that.

Tombo1

Thanks to everyone for their comments. We'll investigate more and see what we can find.