Xercise4Less Nightmare

PHARR

Hi MSE,

My partner and I joined Xercise4Less as a 12-month contract. 12 months passed and we didn't miss a payment. We didn't use the gym for a further 4 months but still paid for it. When I went in to ask how to cancel my membership I was told to just cancel my direct-debit as we were not under any contract. We canceled the direct debit and moved into our first home the month after. Now, 4 months on my partner received a letter through the door from CRS stating that we owe them £110 and with added charges it came to £220. We rang them and explained our situation and they offered to reduce it to £110 if I paid then. Can anybody help at all?

What are my options. I have no problem paying any sort of reasonable exit fees but not charges like this.

sourcrates

Hi,

Oh heck, this sort of thing crops up on here every now and again.

Basically cancelling the DD just cancels the payment, not the contract, although this should not of been a problem as you were out of contract.

I believe there standard terms state you need to cancel in writing or similar.

I think you were given incorrect cancellation information however, so you should write stating this, you were out of contract, you asked a member of staff how to cancel, you were told, just cancel the DD, so you did.

The fact you were given incorrect info by there staff member, is not your problem, you owe them nothing, tell them so, and you will not be paying any further fees.

PHARR

Once I approached the Gym manager about this he said that it states on their website how to cancel and we should of done it that way. He gave me a number to their head office where we were talked to like utter rubbish and told to pay £160 through them.

There is quite a big amount of issues with this similar company on the web. I just want to know how I can deal with it correctly and without such charges.

It seems nobody cares about being misinformed.

EssexHebridean

Write to them as Sourcrates advises. It's not reasonable of them to presume that everyone has access to the internet - simply going in and asking a member of their staff how to proceed should give the same effect - ie the correct information should be given.

Put everything in writing. Tell them to reply to you in writing to confirm that the matter is now concluded and that nothing is payable.

sourcrates

To be honest, these kind of companies try things like this all the time.

You should not worry about it, 9/10 all will go quiet.

But there is a chance they will sell the debt on to some bottom feeder DCA who will pursue you for it, they will not know or care about the debts origin.

Do as previously advised, but keep an eye out for it reappearing in the future, if it does, come back for advice on what to do then.

PHARR

Thank you all for your advice. Would somebody kindly create me a letter format that I can change the details to? We are struggling to compose a letter and worried to use generic ones online.

We want this resolved as my partner is stressing a debt collector will come knocking at our door.

I will kindly donate to a charity or your PP for the help.

sourcrates

PHARR wrote: »

Thank you all for your advice. Would somebody kindly create me a letter format that I can change the details to? We are struggling to compose a letter and worried to use generic ones online.

We want this resolved as my partner is stressing a debt collector will come knocking at our door.

I will kindly donate to a charity or your PP for the help.

Don't worry about debt collectors, they very rarely do house calls, even if they did, you can tell then to leave, they are not bayliffs, and have no more rights than you or I do.

Your original post seems good enough to me as a complaint letter.

sourcrates

Dear CRS,

Re ref number : xxxx xxxx

COMPLAINT

I write in response to your recent letter regarding an alleged debt to xercise4less.
My partner and I joined Xercise4Less on a 12-month contract.

12 months passed and we didn't miss a payment. We didn't use the gym for a further four months but still paid for it. When I went in to ask how to cancel my membership I was told to just cancel my direct-debit as we were not under any contract.

We canceled the direct debit and moved into our first home the month after. Now, four months on my partner received your letter through the door stating that we owe you £110 and with added charges, a total of £220.00.

A call to your office was met with an immediate discount of £110.00, this gives me the impression the entire amount you are claiming is unenforceable.

We were not under any contract, we cancelled as per there employees instructions, we do not owe them, or yourselves, any money, and we will not be paying it, as we believe nothing is owed on this account.

Unless you can prove otherwise, do not contact me again about this matter.

Yours sincerely

PHAAR

PHARR

So thanks to all whom responded here.

Sourcrates we used your template and sent a letter recorded. Today we received a letter saying:

Further to your recent correspondence regarding your account balance.

We have been passed your file by Xercise 4 Less in regards to unpaid arrears due under the terms of your membership agreement.

On XX June 2013 you entered into a Membership Agreement with X4L. You agreed to pay £9.99 a month and give a months written notice when you wished to cancel.

As your payments were not honoured and you failed to rectify your breach of Agreement charges were applied to your account and your file was referred to ourselves.

X4L have not received the relevant notice from you to cancel your membership. A cancelled Direct Debit would not constitute correct cancellation of your membership.

Please contact us within 7 days to discuss repayment of your balance.

We cannot believe the cheek. A few things:

We cannot even remember signing such a contract and if we did the cancellation policy was not at all made clear to us.

We do agree with but do not mind paying for the gym fee's that are present due to cancelling the DB. We do not agree at all with the extra £100+ charges.

Where can we take this next? I've had to block their phone number due to receiving calls everyday.

Saver-upper

Hi Pharr,
What a nightmare.I was with exercise4less a couple of years ago,and they are pretty strict on how you go about cancelling your membership.I had to give a month's notice in writing,and I think I was told not to cancel the direct debit.
I have just been on their website,and found this page,which has at least two tick-boxes saying you won't cancel the DD:
https://www.xercise4less.co.uk/membership/cancel-your-membership/

Regardless,I think their demands are out of proportion.I don't think they will care that you didn't use the gym for 4 months that you paid for,but I think it is definitely worth telling them that their own staff advised you to cancel the DD,and you are willing to pay a "fair charge",but not "pulled-out-of thin-air" figures such as these.

I am told that kicking up a stink on Facebook can be worthwhile,as well.

sourcrates

Hi again,

Complaining to the DCA will, as you have discovered, get you no were.

Send the complaint to the original creditor, exercise 4 less, it's up to them to deal with it, not the DCA.