Non-contract gym chasing payments?

Michaelmarr

Hi all, hope you are well.

This is a bit of a long one, there's a "TLDR" at the end if its easier.

So i have done a lot of reading around and a lot of threads are regarding people terminating a gym contract early, for which i'm aware of the OFT win regarding unfair terms.

My situation is a little different. I signed up to a gym, "Snap fitness market harborough" about a year ago and used it fairly regularly, however, I went to uni and no longer had a use for the gym.

What i signed up for involved NO contract, it was purely a rolling direct debit membership. I know this, because I had been caught out before, so I double checked.

Well 5 months ago, I called to cancel, I spoke to the member of staff who was on hand at the time and notified them of my cancellation. I asked him what I should do on my end, his reply was to cancel the DD to be sure. That was the main term of the membership, to notify them.

So, 5 months later, thinking all is well, I've received a letter, asking for £110 for non payment of membership fees. It is quite a friendly letter (they're insisting that a mistake from my bank has been made) so there is no threatening tone. I do have until March 14th however to call, so I am going to call today and get back to you.

Having it be so long ago, I have no records of my phone call to them prior and, i bet conveniently, neither will they. I am not going to pay 110 quid for a non contracted membership that I cancelled and notified, just because the bloke on the other end failed to resolve it on their side (it isnt a big professional chain).

What would the extent of their power be? I'm mostly afraid of the prospect of a CCJ and that the consumer can cometimes not even be notified of this... If something like that were to happen, i'd feel at rest to know that i'd be given the opportunity to pay beforehand and appeal later.

Thank you all for reading and i'll come back to let you know how the call goes.

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TLDR: cancelled a rolling DD gym membership, no contract, notified gym. 5 months later, bill for £110 for unpaid membership. Worried about prospect of a CCJ.

sourcrates

They have as much power to use the courts just like anyone else has.

However if you were not under contract, then you don't owe the money.

A written letter of complaint detailing the facts wound be the way to deal with this, under the pre action protocol they would have to write to you informing you of pending legal action, if that were to happen you could just pay up, or a better idea would be to defend on the basis no debt exists.

I get the feeling me laddo at the gym gave you incorrect information as cancelling the DD normally does not relieve you of your obligation to pay, you usually have to put it in writing.

allthe7s

With our rolling contracts we require 30 days notice in writing (email is fine) to close an account. So they might ask you to pay the months payment for the month you cancelled but can't enforce the rest. Hth

National_Debtline

Hi Michaelmarr and welcome to MSE,


I would suggest that you check the small print, even in a monthly rolling agreement, but I suspect that allthe7s makes a very good point that one months' notice was likely necessary to correctly cancel the agreement. And if there is no record of your cancellation, the 'missed' direct debits will constitute a debt I am afraid.


I would suggest a letter back highlighting when you spoke to someone, what was said and that you acted on their information to cancel the direct debit. Ask for their understanding and to write off the full debt, or even do a deal whereby they may agree to write off some of the debt.


If they were to take county court action (which is unlikely to be their first step to recover the money, but is something they can do), then the debt will increase through costs (and potentially interest). If you defend and win the matter would go away (although you would need legal advice to do this), but if you defend and lose, you could owe a lot more than £110. Check the agreement and consider things from there,


Laura
@natdebtline

Michaelmarr

Thank you all for your replies. I have called them and the guy on the other end wasn't helpful at all.

As they've already failed to cancel a membership, i'm going to ensure that any mail i send is recorded delivery. Similarly, i think i'm going to have to record future phone calls, get as much evidence as I can.

Thanks again all, i'll use your advice.