Xercise4Less - Harlands - CRS - Zinc

Zeril

Hi all, Very sorry for the long post, hope it makes sense.

I have seen quite a few posts here regarding Xercise4Less but every case seems to be different and i just want to check what i have done is correct.

I was with the gym for approx. 2 years, i changed jobs and could no longer attend the gym so i went into the gym and spoke to a lady at the counter to cancel my membership this was around the 21st May, at this point there was no mention that i needed to go online to cancel and no mention that i needed 30 days to cancel my membership, the lady simply said that my membership has been cancelled.

on the 25th May the following months membership come out (i had no issues with this, maybe it takes a few days to go through etc) , on the 14th June i received a letter saying they haven't received payment, i ignored this letter as i had cancelled my membership and paid on the 25th (probably my first mistake?)

I dont have the letter but before the 1st July i received another letter saying i owed £34.99, i emailed them trying to explain as this way i have records, they emailed back on the 2nd saying i need to cancel on the website, which i then did (figured i had nothing to lose by trying)

I sent 4 emails sent to Harlands with Xercise4Less copied in between 13/07 and 31/08, I received no replies from them then on the 02/08 I received a reply saying they don’t have any records of me emailing them, I emailed them back explain again all the issues saying I am happy to pay the £9.99.

On the 28th July I received the next letter saying i owed £69.98, i phoned the gym, they told me i needed to speak to Harlands, Harlands said i had to pay or speak to the gym about my cancelling (i was going round in circles for a few days.

My final email to them was from your messages boards to which they didn’t reply.
If you confirm in writing that you'll accept the amount of £9.99 in settlement of all that I owe, I will pay you promptly. If you fail to accept my offer within 14 days or you demand any other payment, I will pay you nothing and my offer will be withdrawn.

On the 12 August CRS got involved sending me a letter saying i owed £104.97
On the 12th August CRS sent another letter saying i owed £171.47
On 28th September CRS said i owed them £171.47 and gave me two options, Legal Action or Outsourced to external agents if i don't pay.
On the 18th October CRS said i still owed them 171.47 saying it is now being passed to Zinc Ltd.

Suggestions on what to do now? Currently I am just ignoring them, i have received only a couple of phone calls which i didn't answer.

sourcrates

Hi,

Did you get anything in writing to say you cancelled your membership ?

Gyms are notorious for lax record keeping, and making customers jump through hoops in order to cancel.

Some interesting reading here :

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2006368/Want-cancel-gym-membership-The-legal-loophole-it.html

You should no longer be in contract after two years, so there talking rubbish.

National_Debtline

Hi Zeril,


I wouldn't suggest that you ignore this. If they do end up going to court the debt can increase further through more costs, and if you then wanted to defend it you may need legal advice and this may end up costing you even more money. Best to get involved now so you can try and resolve it with complaints for free.


You need to gather a copy of all of your emails and send it as a complaint with your timeline - as you have very clearly listed above (a clear timeline can be very useful in situations like this). I would suggest you send one to Zinc Ltd and one to the gym and explain that you are very unhappy it has progressed this far.


Consider what you believe is owed and what you are willing to pay and suggest the solution in your complaint. From your message I would argue that if the membership wasn't correctly cancelled (as the contract outlines) you may have some to pay. Check the T & C's of your membership, did you have to give 1 clear months notice? If so, and you didn't cancel correctly until the 2nd July you may owe June's and July's membership. Just consider this from all angles - there is an issue of bad service if you wasn't reminded of the cancellation policy when you went in, but if it is in the contract then there could be fault on both sides.


Laura
@natdebtline