Anytime Fitness Debt Collection Threats

Haggard66

Firstly I hope I am posting in the correct place.

Basically I signed into a 12 month agreement paying £30 a month.

After 6 or 7 months I began suffering from depression and struggled to leave the house. This meant I didn't use the gym and I kept calling in sick to work, didn't really go to work and then left my job because of it.

This meant I couldn't afford the membership anymore so I cancelled the DD.

Had a phone call this morning from a Liverpool number and the company are called Daniels Silverman, trying to chase up £502!!!

I asked for a breakdown of this and they said it was 12 x £30 (so the cost of a 12 month membership) PLUS costs inferred chasing the debt.

I think this is unfair to charge this amount because I payed for 7 or 8 months so why are they trying to claim the whole 12?

If I contacted the club and explained that I suffered from depression and thus wasn't able to work, leave the house, speak to anybody or even tell anybody about my mental health issue do you think they would be willing to cancel the debt?

I have recently began to overcome the depression and managed to acquire a job and I feel like I would be able to start training again. (Anxiety was also a factor in keeping me home bound) and I think if I rang the club and spoke to the manager they surely would be understanding and possibility just let me start paying monthly again so I can use the gym? I loved the gym but just couldn't get out of the house and this can be shown as for 2-3 weeks before I cancelled I didn't visit the gym once!

I cannot prove that I had depression as I didn't seek professional advice as my dad is a therapist and Mum a nurse. But I kept it all to myself anyway, didn't tell anybody. I simply cannot afford to pay £502 as a 19 year old lad who has suffered severely from depression and I just want to get myself back on track again in terms of my career and my personal life.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks in adv.

fatbelly

From the terms and conditions:

5.2 Should any membership fees not be paid within 30 days of the due date, the full membership fee for the remainder of the Commitment Period will automatically become due and payable. During any period in which membership fees are not paid Anytime Fitness may suspend your membership and deactivate your key access card so that you cannot access the Club.
5.3 Any unpaid and overdue membership fees referred to a debt collection agency will be subject to a surcharge of no more than £30 to cover the collection costs incurred. This surcharge together with all other charges and legal fees incurred in the collection of the overdue membership fees will be your responsibility and will be legally recoverable from you.
5.4 We may appoint a payment processing agent to receive and collect your monthly or annual direct debit instalments and in respect of payments made by direct/credit card. There will be no extra cost to you for these processing services supplied by such agent.
5.5 We may charge a reasonable fee of up to £50 for any of the following events: replacing lost membership cards or key security card and transferring memberships and any other event which we consider fair and reasonable

You need to check whether you've made 7 or 8 payments. If 7, then you owe 5 x 30 plus max £30 collection costs, i.e. £180.

Ask them (in writing) to give you an itemisation (in writing) of what you owe.

Don't talk to them on the phone

newuser86

I would call up anytime fitness direct. They will probably state you owe 5 months i.e 150 and you can speak to them to arrange payment . The other company act on behalf and will add an extortionate fee on to you.
Ignore the company that called you and speak to the club direct, I cant believe they haven't contacted you before though , as the debt recovery company are normally last resort as they have to pay a fee to them

Haggard66

SOLVED

If anybody is in a similar situation and being chased by these... message me for how to deal with this.

Gaby_Richardson

I'm in a very similar position due to health reasons, I've also recently moved house to discover I still have to stay with anytime fitness because there is one 8 miles away (I don't have a car so this is so it would take me an hour just to get there on public transport). Haggard66 I would really appreciate your advice on how to get out of this. Thank you!

jimi_scruggs

Haggard66 wrote: »

SOLVED

If anybody is in a similar situation and being chased by these... message me for how to deal with this.

Was wondering if you had any good advice? Signed a 2-year contract for a lower monthly rate with them back in oct or nov of 2009 and come about may of 2010 my finaces took a turn for the worst and gym membership was the last thing I needed to be spending money on. I made an account on credit karma to see that it was still after all these years under collections and recently renewed by some other collection agency. I live in Indiana and I believe the statue for limitations is up after 7 years but im not certain and really dont wanna make contact with the collection agency to argue about it considering the phone calls stopped a very long time ago I do not wanna get that started again! Please let me know if you have any helpful info thanks!

Robin9

Sorry Jimi this is a UK site and I suggest you seek comments from the US

louisefrances

I had cancelled the membership with 14 days as i felt like i was pressured into it.. over a year later i have the debt people emailing me.. i phoned them asking for a copy of the contract as i no longer have it.. any advice please

Arthur15

How did you solve this matter bud please help im in a very similar situation need help urgently very worried

poppasmurf_bewdley

Haggard66 wrote: »

SOLVED

If anybody is in a similar situation and being chased by these... message me for how to deal with this.

I think you need to tell everyone on here how you managed to solve this situation, not keep it all to yourself.

That's the aim of this Forum.

sourcrates

This is how one poster dealt with Harland's who were chasing a supposed gym membership cancellation debt :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74191134&postcount=5