LA Fitness - Threatening Letters!

sparramanga

Hello to all,

I wondered if anybody had any advice on an issue I'm having with LA Fitness.

I joined their gym around 4 years ago and used it on and off, always paying my monthly membership. The gym was actually located within the same office building in which I used to work. The place I used to work had a high labour turnover so they had an agreement with LA Fitness about not being tied into long contracts and being able to cancel if you became unemployed etc.

It was actually a trading arcade I worked in, in the city and that was actually sold to a different financial organistaion around a year ago now. I had left the company by then anyway to join a different arcade but kept my gym membership at the same LA Fitness as it was just round the corner.

Recently however, I have become unemployed so I rang LA Fitness to tell them I would need to cancel the membership. I told them about the initial easy cancellation agreement but they did not acknowledge this at all and asked for a month's notice. After some arguing over the phone I said ok fine I will pay you a months notice and I want my membership cancelled (Seems like they always have the power in these situations!).

They then said as I had paid for next months membership the day before I phoned them I would now be liable for another month on top of that. So yet more arguing proceeded but they wouldn't budge. I was now living away from the gym so essentially they were getting 2 months membership which I could not use.

I said ok well I'll give you a months notice but I can't pay you any more as I'm on jobseekers allowance now. I hung up the phone, rang the bank and cancelled the next months direct debit.

Now I have had letters saying my gym membership has not been paid for last month and there will be a late payment charge and they will have to cancel my membership if I do not make payment arrangements!

I have already cancelled my membership over the phone!!

Can they dispute this? Do I need to put it in writing?

I'm not paying them out of principal.

But in the letter it says they will send a debt collection agency to retrieve the arrears. Can they do this, if a debt is in dispute?

Any advice or knowledge of rights would be appreciated.

Thanks,

R.

:mad:

powerful_Rogue

What did the contract you signed say about cancellation?

mountainofdebt

tbh I think you're on a hinding to nothing and the question you have to ask yourself is is running the risk to potentially damaging your credit rating worth it either personally or professionally.

I think your first mistake was to not give them notice in writing sent by traceable means

Personally I would write to them, sent by recorded delivery, saying that you've cancelled your membership over the phone giving the time, date and who you spoke to and wait to see if they chase you for the month's outstanding fee. I suspect they will and only you can decide whether to run the risk that non payment entails

mije1983

As above, I would say you are bound by their cancellation terms, and if what they have said is in line with that, then you may have to pay up and move on.

I imagine your chance to leave without notice disappeared when you left employment with the company who had agreed this with LA Fitness.

unholyangel

mountainofdebt wrote: »

tbh I think you're on a hinding to nothing and the question you have to ask yourself is is running the risk to potentially damaging your credit rating worth it either personally or professionally.

Do LA fitness work on a credit agreement basis?

I thought there was no credit involved in their contracts.

keyser666

unholyangel wrote: »

Do LA fitness work on a credit agreement basis?

I thought there was no credit involved in their contracts.

Exactly what i thought

mountainofdebt

unholyangel wrote: »

Do LA fitness work on a credit agreement basis?

I thought there was no credit involved in their contracts.

What I was referring to is that if the OP continues refusing to pay then I would imagine the next steps would be to either to refer it to debt collection agency or take him to a small claims court with the potential of a ccj against him.

Of course I may be wrong ......

unholyangel

mountainofdebt wrote: »

What I was referring to is that if the OP continues refusing to pay then I would imagine the next steps would be to either to refer it to debt collection agency or take him to a small claims court with the potential of a ccj against him.

Of course I may be wrong ......

Well yes but him not paying the debt collectors wont affect his credit. To affect his credit he'd need to be taken to court, lose and then fail to pay into court within the given time - usually a month - at which time said CCJ would be registered against his credit history. If he pays then CCJ isnt registered and credit history is unaffected.

The reason I posted asking is because gym companies (and debt collectors working on their behalf) often threatened peoples credit rating for non-payment when there was no risk of this happening due to no credit agreement being involved. The sole purpose being (of course) to scare/intimidate people into paying.

mountainofdebt

unholyangel wrote: »

Well yes but him not paying the debt collectors wont affect his credit. To affect his credit he'd need to be taken to court, lose and then fail to pay into court within the given time - usually a month - at which time said CCJ would be registered against his credit history. If he pays then CCJ isnt registered and credit history is unaffected.

The reason I posted asking is because gym companies (and debt collectors working on their behalf) often threatened peoples credit rating for non-payment when there was no risk of this happening due to no credit agreement being involved. The sole purpose being (of course) to scare/intimidate people into paying.

I understand what you mean but there is a risk, however small, that the course of action you outline is followed.

(and of course if he does pay to avoid a ccj then had he paid in the first place, he wouldn't have the court fees to pay either!)

unholyangel

mountainofdebt wrote: »

I understand what you mean but there is a risk, however small, that the course of action you outline is followed.

(and of course if he does pay to avoid a ccj then had he paid in the first place, he wouldn't have the court fees to pay either!)

I wasnt advising going to court over it.

I'm pedantic. Usually because I know lots of people read these forums and people have a habit to take what is written on here as true. Ergo you saying they should pay up or their credit history will be affected will give them a false representation of what companies are allowed to do and possibly make them believe any threats they receive of that nature (although companies shouldnt be saying this now as its been found to be unfair/illegal).

And while the losing party does normally pay the costs involved, they're not always awarded. It depends on the circumstances of that particular case. They can also be awarded against the winning party.

mountainofdebt

unholyangel wrote: »

I wasnt advising going to court over it.

I'm pedantic. Usually because I know lots of people read these forums and people have a habit to take what is written on here as true. Ergo you saying they should pay up or their credit history will be affected will give them a false representation of what companies are allowed to do and possibly make them believe any threats they receive of that nature (although companies shouldnt be saying this now as its been found to be unfair/illegal).

And while the losing party does normally pay the costs involved, they're not always awarded. It depends on the circumstances of that particular case. They can also be awarded against the winning party.

I think if you read what I said is that the OP runs the risk, by not paying,of potentially ruining his credit rating if LA decide to take it further .....admittedly, as you pointed out there's alot of hoops to jump through before that happens and even at the 11th hour there is still a get out clause.

Of course LA may be trying it on; equally they may not be. Only the OP can decide if he wants to take that chance.

Of course, he could equally take the advice I also gave in my 1st post and write to LA confirming when and to whom he gave the verbal notice to.