Problems With DFC Finance

Hoob87

Hi All,

I am after some help and wondering if anybody can assist as it's starting to really cause me stress.

I recently signed up to a local gym under one of these month to month rolling non-contract type of memberships.

Upon signing up online, I received en email from a company known as DFC who were handling my direct debits for my membership. However I did not receive an email or welcome pack from the gym themselves.

As there was no information as to when I was able to start using the gym, I emailed the gym directly to ask and they advised me that I was required to book a induction PRIOR to being able to use the facilities. This came across to me as being mandatory so I called them to arrange one and had one booked for 7pm the following evening.

Afterwards, I decided that I had changed my mind about my induction and wanted to cancel. I tried to call them the following afternoon to cancel but they did not answer, so I sent an email instead saying I was cancelling and would try calling them again when I wanted to re-book.

I received no response back from the gym, so I resent the email and once again tried to call but there was no answer.

After a couple of days, I decided I was no longer interested in joining the gym. I sent them a final email to cancel but had no response back. I then took the decision to cancel my direct debit, this was done well within the 14 day "cool off" period as outlined.

A few weeks later I received a sms text message from "DFC" telling me that my account was over-due and needed to log into my account online using a reference code. Curious, I did so and was shocked to see that not only was account not cancelled, but they had also slapped a £15 late payment fee on top.

Furious, I emailed DFC straight away to advise I had cancelled my membership and DD within the 14 day period and to ask why it was still active.

They came back to me and said that the gym had not notified them that my membership was cancelled nor had the gym received any emails from me. After some investigating, I found out that the last email I sent to the gym had not been received by them, I checked my sent items but the email had vanished, it appears some kind of technical issue. However as far as my mail account tells me, they had received my previous emails that they did not reply to.

DFC are contesting this and have been applying late payment fee's onto my account even though I have told them over and over that the membership never commenced, I never visited the gym, I cancelled the mandatory induction but had no reply, so that forced me to cancel my DD and that I wanted the whole thing cancelled altogether.

After many emails to and from DFC, they asked me to show them the emails I did send to the gym (bearing in mind I had already told DFC my final cancellation email did not send for some reason).

I thought great! some progress finally, but no, they emailed back still demanding the final amount which is now nearly £100!!!!! For a gym I never used or never even set foot inside!

I advised them that I was not paying that amount, I came to a compromise and offered to pay one months membership to cover the first month, as long as they wavered the late payment fee. They rejected my offer and slapped another £30 on to my account! (Can you believe it!!?)

I'm not sure what else to do now, I have advised them that I will be escalating this matter to the correct authority / institute EG Ombudsman ETC and that a representative will now be dealing with the matter on my behalf.

I feel like DFC have intentionally dragged this out, given me false hope when they asked me to forward emails to them and then just rejected them straight away. I have even offered to pay the month's membership to which they have refused to accept. They have not worked with me to resolve this matter and are still demanding this ridiculous final sum. Oh and by the way, they never sign their emails so you don't actually know who it is you are speaking with.

They are also claiming I did not contact the gym, which to an extent is true in the respect that my final cancellation email did not send, but the gym did receive emails from me but failed to respond, they are telling me they did not receive any at all. They also did not answer the phone after trying to call them twice.

Any help or advise with this would be much appreciated.... It really does feel like they are doing this on purpose just to make an example out of me.

Thanks in Advance.

T

ItsJordannn

The email you sent to cancel your membership 'vanished' therefore it likely wouldn't have been received by them therefore they would assume you still wanted to use the gym so they are correct in saying your account was outstanding. They asked you for proof of the email you sent and presumably if you could provide proof you sent it they were going to accept the cancellation. As you could not provide proof then they would have no idea you wanted to cancel.

Also, as far as I'm aware the contract commences when you agreed to make a payment to use their gym, cancelling your induction or not attending the gym doesn't change that.

Have you now contacted the gym regarding your cancellation? If not they may try and charge you for next months membership.

I would probably be trying to contact the gym and see if they could either provide proof that you didn't go for an induction and subsequently didn't use the gym or ask them if they could contact DFC to explain this which should help with your case that you intended to cancel.

Unfortunately, because you do not have any proof of cancelling within the 14 day cooling off period and the gym didn't receive anything off you, I think legally you are liable to pay the membership fee and possibly late payment fees too.

I'm sure someone else will be along soon to say for definite but that is my view on it.

Anyway good luck and I hope you get a positive outcome.

matttye

You need to read the gym's terms and conditions to find out whether they even permit cancellation by email first of all, because many will insist on a phone call.

Whether they received the emails or not is a moot point if you have to call to cancel.

wealdroam

OP, you mention at the start of your post that the first email you received was from DFC.

When you were unable to get a response from the gym, why didn't you try contacting DFC?

Have another read of that first email from DFC.
Did it not tell you how to terminate your contract?

What gym company are we talking about here?

Hoob87

Thanks for all your replies

To answer some of your questions...

The email from DFC I received after applying online said I could cancel for ANY reason within 14 days by contacting the gym with the contact details (for the gym) supplied.

NO contact details were supplied for the gym, I actually had to google their contact details which is how I initially asked the question about my induction. I called them on 2 seperate occassions but the phone just rang out, so that prompted me to send an email.

I was only made aware that the gym had not received my cancellation email when DFC text me (Which I never gave them permission to do) to tell me my account was over due.

I then contacted DFC and said OK fair enough, not sure what has happened there, apologies but please accept the payment for the first month's membership and CANCEL it from now on as I was not intending to use the services. I kindly asked them if they could waiver the £15 late payment charge as it was a genuine mistake. They refused to accept the payment I had offered them, refused to cancel my account and have been adding late payment charges on top ever since. I barley even had chance to respond before they were adding yet more chrages.

I had advised them MANY times about the fact my cancellation email had not sent to the gym, they knew this and could quite clearly understand it was an honest mistake. I told them about the emails I had sent and received from the gym, they asked me to provide them, I took screenshots, they asked me to forward to emails, so I did, and then they came back SEVERAL days later and dismissed them (even though they had specifcially asked for them) and oh what a surprise, yet another late payment charge added.

I have contacted the gym directly now, explained politely the situation and asked if they could contact DFC on my behalf as I was actually intending to sign up again at a later date.

Gym has failed to respond to me.

I have asked DFC to stop contacting me until I have passed the case on to a legal adviser (still in the process of doing) but once again today I have received another sms text message saying my account is over-due and 3 guesses what they have added on top!?

Regardless of "The Contract" I personally feel their treatment of me is utterly disgusting, I have offered a payment which would have settled my first month's membership, but they have refused to accept (which I'm pretty sure isn't going to go in their favour)

I feel like they have intentionally wasted my time and created delay's just so they can keep charging me late payment fee's. They could have easily just said from the start "Ok but in future please make sure you contact us and let us know" and accepted the payment I have offered.

When I ended my direct debit with my bank, I'm pretty sure their systems get notified I had done so (as many company's do). They could have contacted me promptly to ask why I had done so, I would have explained there and then I had intended to cancel, but as this was still within the 14 days, they have clearly and blatantly just left it running, charged me a late payment, and then decided to contact me afterwards.

I'm getting to the point now where I am feeling harrased and slightly uneasy about the whole situation.

The gym are ignoring me, DFC won't even listen to me and I really don't know where this is heading. If they wan't to drag this out and through court over the sake of £33 (Which has now magically turned into over £100 within the space of several weeks) I will fight my case and create the biggest fuss imaginable. I suffer with quite complex mental health problems including severe anxiety disorder, I don't really fancy playing that card as I like to feel I'm stronger than that, but if it comes down to it, I have no choice but to do so.

Sorry I took so long to reply, I have been quite busy and forgot my log in details.

Surley there must be something I can do? I have tried everything in my power to satisfy their needs but it's thrown back in face everytime.

I would also like to mention that at no point have DFC advised me to refer to their terms, advised me to contact the gym, provided me with any evidence they have even spoken to the gym regarding my membership nor do they sign their emails, so you have no idea who you are speaking with. For all I know I could be discussing this all with a rouge member of staff that's doing this for kicks.

Many Thanks

T

Hoob87

I just found this on their corporate website:

"Our mission is to help you improve your relationships with your customers so that they stay longer. You can leave us to collect your Direct Debits, while you concentrate on running – and growing - your business"

The absolute cheek of it, I'm never even going to go anywhere near this gym with a 10ft barge pole ever again. So much for improveing relationships with the customers.

Anyway, I have found details about their CEO and Managing Director. So they will be getting a nice letter regarding this very soon.

T

tomtontom

How much is the monthly payment and how much did they ask for when they first contacted you?

Do you have a support worker or someone else that can help you with this? The problem you have is that the original error is yours and whilst you are arguing a somewhat weak point your costs will continue to rise. I'd be looking to resolve this sooner rather than later.

unholyangel

matttye wrote: »

You need to read the gym's terms and conditions to find out whether they even permit cancellation by email first of all, because many will insist on a phone call.

Whether they received the emails or not is a moot point if you have to call to cancel.

And they'd be hard pushed to explain to a court why they ignored clear instructions by durable medium.

Just because it says something in the T&C's (especially when those T&C's belong to a gym) does not mean its legally enforceable.

unholyangel

OP I admit I skimmed through your posts so excuse me if I cover anything you've already given the answer to.

1) Ask them why you didn't receive confirmation of the contract by durable means - as required by the consumer contract regulations (since you signed up online).
2) Also when they keep adding on charges when you have cancelled within the cancellation period.

From CCR's

(2) To cancel a contract under regulation 29(1), the consumer must inform the trader of the
decision to cancel it.

(3) To inform the trader under paragraph (2) the consumer may either—
(a) use a form following the model cancellation form in part B of Schedule 3, or
(b) make any other clear statement setting out the decision to cancel the contract.

(5) Where the consumer informs the trader under paragraph (2) by sending a communication,
the consumer is to be treated as having cancelled the contract in the cancellation period if the
communication is sent before the end of the period.

But this is nothing new - the DSRs were the same - with regards to being taken to have been send on the day it was posted or (if sent by email) sent electronically.

Hoob87

tomtontom wrote: »

How much is the monthly payment and how much did they ask for when they first contacted you?

Do you have a support worker or someone else that can help you with this? The problem you have is that the original error is yours and whilst you are arguing a somewhat weak point your costs will continue to rise. I'd be looking to resolve this sooner rather than later.

The first months membership was £33 and actually (looking at the email) a small ad hoc / pro rata fee to cover the last week of that month (I did actually offer to include the ad hoc fee in my offer that they declined)

So that would make it about £40.

They then contacted me requesting £65.

A couple of weeks later they were asking for something like £78.30

Then they were asking for £99 plus a few random pence.

Now they are demanding I pay £130 and still refusing to cancel this account.

Please explain what you mean by "Weak Point"?

I do not consider my case to be weak when I have offered to settle the minimum membership of 1 x month, they have rejected it and upon numerous requests for the account to be ended, have continued to apply charges. They have wasted my time by asking for copies of emails when they knew for a fact that what they wanted to see wasn't there, thus wasting more time and giving them an opportunity to add yet more charges.

I have sent a very polite and informative email directly to the gym, and they have failed to respond to me. I have also asked DFC to stop contacting me until I can find an adviser to deal with it on my behalf because I was starting to feel harrased, they have also failed to acknowledge this and continued to contact me.

From where I currently stand, I have made a notable effort to resolve this case. Whereas they seem to have done diddly squat, all they had to do was waiver the extra £15 they intially charged me, which can be easily done and that initial payment of £40 would have been paid that very same day (I couldn't afford anymore than that).

So to me, they are the ones who are avoiding the resolution, not me

Cheers

T

tomtontom

They have given you a chance to provide evidence of your cancellation - you are not able to do so. That's not a delaying tactic, that was them trying to resolve the matter.

There is no point in you trying to contact the gym, they no longer have an interest in this.

From an outsider's point of view, you're not helping yourself. The fact is that you didn't cancel, you are liable for the outstanding fee (£40) plus reasonable costs for their work. The more you argue the point, the more the costs will rise.

Please get someone to help you with this, if you continue you're going to end up with a CCJ against you and more costs.