Bannatynes gym cancellation of membership

amo25

Has anyone had any dealings with cancelling their 12 month membership with bannatynes gym, these have got to be the worst gym to deal with ever!
I joined the gym end of january and stupidly agreed and signed for a 12month contract thinking i will use the gym for a year and shift some weight, i then found out in february i fell pregnant. My midwife advised me not to use the gym (personal reasons) wrote this in my maternity notes to which i showed the gym to see if i can cancel my membership (£58pcm) the manager said it could of been anyone writing in my notes so at his request and companys terms and conditions ,i got a doctors letting stating this information with her signature. I then recieved an email saying i owe an outstanding balance of £116 which i accepted i needed to pay as cancelling my direct debit whilst sorting out a doctors letter as i cant financially afford to pay out that amount a month and not be using the gym. (i dont have money to waste now i have a family to provide for).
Bannatynes are now saying i need to pay £116 outstanding balance, £58 for 30days notice to cancel and £25 admin fee totalling to £199 they want this to be paid within 14days and if not done in this time my membership wont be cancelled and still rolling until end of feb next year. All this has stressed me right out worrying over money does anyone have adivce on whats best for me to do obviously i dont have that large amount to pay in the next 14days and it does not state in the T&C's outstanding balances to be paid within 14days of cancellation?

hollydays

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/family/2013/03/gyms-contract-cancellation-rights-oft-investigation

unholyangel

Have you written to them to cancel or just spoken to them?

In other words, your 30 days notice should be going from when you first notified them by doctors letter.

At present, it doesnt seem like they're asking you for the full contract price rather just the months you've missed and also 30 days notice. By all means argue over the admin fee and if they havent taken your cancellation date from when you gave them your doctors letter....i'd perhaps argue that should be when the 30 days starts as well.

mattyprice4004

You should be thankful they have let you out of contract at all - they were under no obligation to. With all due respect, it's not their doing that you because pregnant.

I'd bite their hand off - even when I moved 40 miles from my gym, they held me to contract!

bris

Take the deal, the only thing you can have a gripe with is the admin fee but tbh that's fair too. They are letting you go, that's more than can be said for most.

unholyangel

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

You should be thankful they have let you out of contract at all - they were under no obligation to. With all due respect, it's not their doing that you because pregnant.

I'd bite their hand off - even when I moved 40 miles from my gym, they held me to contract!

You might be interested to know that both small claims and the high court have sided against gyms who don't allow people to cancel regardless of circumstances and who try to hold them to the remainder of the contract/chase them for the full contract price regardless of actual losses incurred.

ConsumerGuy0016

bris wrote: »

Take the deal, the only thing you can have a gripe with is the admin fee but tbh that's fair too. They are letting you go, that's more than can be said for most.

You do realise this is a forum dedicated to money saving, right? A cursory glance at a majority of your posts is at odds with this fact.

amo25

why does everyone seem to be so negative on this forum and get their backs up jesus christ i was just asking if anyone had a similar problem.
Im not complaining at the fact i owe an admin fee and the outstanding balance i said in my post i accept i owe them this money, what im getting at is in their terms and conditions it states about cancelling and ive done what they have asked and now they want me to pay all the amount within 14days which does not state this in their terms and conditions. im not rich to pay this sum upfront within two weeks and even if i was i get paid monthly!
i thought i was posting on consumer right forum and wanted to know my rights on this as it seems unfair ive provided all that is asked and if money isnt paid in two weeks my contract wont be considered for a cancellation!

hollydays

I guess once a company says you have to pay them a sum of money , to do something that's going to help you financially, you can't really blame them for putting a time limit on it. Or have I got that wrong?

amo25

No you have it wrong, yet another pointless reply on my post. not really got advice i wanted!

hollydays

amo25 wrote: »

No you have it wrong, yet another pointless reply on my post. not really got advice i wanted!

I stand to be corrected.

I was really looking for comments from other mse members with experience.


As has already been said, when you ask for advice you can't demand the answer you want.
Mind you I have a general rule never to argue with a pregnant woman..