Gym claims I am massively in arrears

CashHound

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help with a predicament I am in. I went to my gym yesterday and upon handing over my membership card the staff member swiped it and then seemed all perplexed, called over their supervisor, etc,... eventually they explained to me that someone else claims they'd been paying my gym membership direct debit and have put in a refund claim.

I got home and found a letter from the gym's head office saying my membership is in arrears to the tune of close to £1000! :eek:

The letter itself doesn't give any details about how or why I am in arrears, it just informs me that I need to call up and pay the bill. In the meantime my membership is frozen.

I've only managed to find two of my bank statements so far, and if I did indeed enroll using my main bank account, then they are correct, it has somehow not been me being billed. I have no idea how they have managed to mess that up. I can also log in to my gym account and see that the payments are all billed as normal each month (though it gives no details about which account paid it).

Obviously if it's my bill then I need to pay it. I don't want to mess up my credit file. However I also don't have £1000 just laying around at this time of year. Has anyone been in a situation like this before and can offer any advice?

I guess my first steps will be to look through all my old bank statements and to call up the gym's head office to see how this situation has arisen.

Andy_WSM

You may be able to negotiate repaying the debt over a period of time (if indeed it is your debt.)

It sounds to me like you are not checking your bank statements regularly enough. It is really important that you do so in future. If someone has been paying your gym membership in error, it's entirely possible at some point in your life you will end up paying someone else's bills in error - and it sounds to me like you'd know nothing about it!

whitewing

If you should have been paying by direct debit, ask to see a copy of the DD instruction that you filled in. That will show the bank details.

suicidebob

CashHound wrote: »

I've only managed to find two of my bank statements so far, and if I did indeed enroll using my main bank account

Online banking.

stator

If you filled out the DD form incorrectly then all you can do is beg to pay in installments.
If you filled it out okay and they made a mistake you can ask them to write off part of the debt because it was their mistake.

OhReally_2

CashHound wrote: »

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help with a predicament I am in. I went to my gym yesterday and upon handing over my membership card the staff member swiped it and then seemed all perplexed, called over their supervisor, etc,... eventually they explained to me that someone else claims they'd been paying my gym membership direct debit and have put in a refund claim.

I got home and found a letter from the gym's head office saying my membership is in arrears to the tune of close to £1000! :eek:

The letter itself doesn't give any details about how or why I am in arrears, it just informs me that I need to call up and pay the bill. In the meantime my membership is frozen.

I've only managed to find two of my bank statements so far, and if I did indeed enroll using my main bank account, then they are correct, it has somehow not been me being billed. I have no idea how they have managed to mess that up. I can also log in to my gym account and see that the payments are all billed as normal each month (though it gives no details about which account paid it).

Obviously if it's my bill then I need to pay it. I don't want to mess up my credit file. However I also don't have £1000 just laying around at this time of year. Has anyone been in a situation like this before and can offer any advice?

I guess my first steps will be to look through all my old bank statements and to call up the gym's head office to see how this situation has arisen.

How can you not notice you have never paid your Gym membership fees? :huh: :huh: :huh:

Not just the odd month, but £1000 worth, you say.


If you really are that lax with money managment, then presumably the money that should have gone to pay the fees is still sitting in your account.

So just pay the gym, apologise for the mix up, and ensure they have your correct bank details for future subs.

dawyldthing

Don't you do online banking? I check every other day at least and know to the penny what's due out/ in and everything

maas

dawyldthing wrote: »

Don't you do online banking? I check every other day at least and know to the penny what's due out/ in and everything

This!

I think the OP knows he hasnt paid any DDs and probably thought he'd got away with it. If I was in my gym and they never took the monthly DD, I wouldnt be shouting about it lol

But getting back to the issue ask for a copy of the DD instruction form and see what number is on it. If its their mistake you might be able to pay it in installments .

InsideInsurance

Only if matters get to court and you dont pay the court within 28 days is anything likely to make it onto your CRA file as unlike banks or mobile phone companies I am not aware of any gyms that report the status to CRAs

Ultimately you need to negotiate with them a payment schedule and agree if you have access or not to the gym whilst the debt is being repaid

bryanb

Andy_WSM wrote: »

It sounds to me like you are not checking your bank statements regularly enough

Sounds to me that the person paying it is the one not checking regularly enough.

whitewing

In fairness to the OP, I know plenty of people that don't reconcile their bank accounts. They may notice a transaction that comes out in error but they are less likely to notice something that has never been claimed (although the longer the non-claiming goes on, the more they may well have the odd pang about it, but then do an ostrich and not check at all on the basis that someone should be shouting for their money).

Yes, it is the OP's responsibility but very, very few people would query it in my experience.