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Xercise4Less/Harlands

Legacy_user
Legacy_user Posts: 0 Newbie
edited 26 July 2017 at 6:37PM in Debt-free wannabe
I am a member of Xercise 4 Less and I received a letter from Harlands on 17 July regarding a non-payment of £11.99. The bank had advised Harlands Services they were insufficent funds in the account to pay the amount due.

They're expected to attempt to debit my account on the 27 July for a total of £36.99, but I changed the date to 1st August to give me extra time to dispute.

Instalment Amount £11.99
Administration Charge £25.00
Total Submission £36.99

I feel this is unreasonable, as I made a submission to Xercise 4 Less to terminate my contract on medical grounds by giving 30 days notice. This is set to be the case on 14 August 2017.

I politely requested them to remove the above charges of £25 through 'Resolver', and pay the original amount of £11.99 but they were unable to unless they got authorisation from X4L Head Office.

Has anyone had any dealings with Harlands, because all I have read on the Internet is customers having bad experiences with them.

Any help would be grateful because I don't know where that figure of £25 came from, maybe it was pulled from the sky :D.

Comments

  • Walz
    Walz Posts: 1 Newbie
    I wish I could offer you good news, but I don't think I will be able to. I'm going through the same problem, but a couple of months further down the line. Like you I think the charges are totally unfair and unreasonable.

    My situation is that I defaulted on my membership in May due to insufficient funds - I had a change in circumstances and had to significantly drop my hours at work due to ill health. I now don't earn enough to pay bills, food and petrol, never mind a gym membership. Anyway what was £9.99, is now over £170, and it has taken less than 3 months to get to that level.

    The situation at the moment is that I'm refusing to pay the charges, and they are refusing to drop the charges. We are at an impasse.

    They haven't cancelled the membership because the account is in default.

    The £25 is detailed in their terms and conditions. In my case the T&Cs were attached to the welcome email. You have to dig around for them as they are embedded in the blurb about direct debits - to me this is a bit dodgy as they can been easily missed and in my case, they were. Another thing is that there is nothing to say I have seen them or acknowledge them. I certainly haven't signed anything agreeing to them.

    As charges keep getting added rather than sort it out, I've lodged a complaint with X4L and sent an Account in Dispute letter to Harlands/Credit Resolution Services (CRS) for them to cease debt collection whilst the complaint is being handled. CRS have already ignored the Account in Dispute letter and bunged another charge on. I'm feeling harassed by them.

    I also feel like they are using me as a cash cow. There is no incentive for them to sort the situation out, because all they will do is add another charge. It's difficult dealing with X4L and Harlands as they each abdicate responsibility to the other.

    All I can do for you is to keep you updated on how it pans out.

    One thing is certain, I'm never going to join another X4L gym!!
  • System
    System Posts: 178,185 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 24 August 2017 at 11:40AM
    Just an update:

    I have received a letter from Harlands. I contacted them today saying my letter stating "If I do not call you by 14 Sept you will be charged an admin fee". This is because the bank has instructed them that my Direct Debit instruction has been cancelled.

    X4L told me to cancel on the 14 August 2017, so I did yet am receiving letters like this, threatening to charge me fees when I don't wish to a member of my local club any longer.

    When contacting Harlands they bizarrely had no record or emails to say my cancellation request has been accepted, even though I filled out the membership cancellation form out myself on the X4L site saying I have a medical condition with attached evidence. This shows they're just money grabbing in all their glory, in my eyes.

    cpKYK5
  • I'm sorry for the long post , but I'm adding my experience with Xercise4less and Harlands in case it is helpful to anyone else. I quite liked the gym - but their attempts to profit out of people not sticking to a strict administrative procedure, when the failure of a customer to do so does not seem to have any negative impact on them, is unreasonable and arguably illegal. This is my exchange of emails with them - over about a week in late March 2018.

    I was very relieved and kind of grateful that xercise4less withdrew the penalities and charges - but there's a lot to suggest that it wasn't particularly an 'act of goodwill'.

    Me:

    Dear Sir or Madame

    Membership number: ********

    I have been advised to contact you by the membership support line.

    By January this year I had not attended the gym for some time due to an injury. Given the chronic nature of the injury I reluctantly came to the decision to cancel my membership.

    Unfortunately I made the mistake of cancelling my direct debit without properly cancelling my membership. I had intended to follow this up but forgot about it. I then received on the 13th March a letter from Credit Resolution Services stating an outstanding balance of £104.97.

    This was the first I heard that there was a problem. Unfortunately I had changed mobile number some time ago and so did not receive text messages - if these were sent - and again i accept that I am at fault for not updating my contact details. But as far as I am aware I did not receive a letter from Harlands.

    This is an amount that would be difficult for me at the moment to afford - as would the £54 that was offered when i phoned the membership support line. Additionally, given that i acted in good faith, and that i generally kept my account in good order during the course of my membership, and that I had not attended the gym for some time prior to my cancellation of my direct debit, and did not use the service at all afterwards, I would be very grateful if you would consider wavering this penalty.

    Best wishes

    *******


    xerxise4less

    Good morning

    Thank you for your email

    I am afraid we are unable to remove or reduce the charge to less than what has been offered by the membership support team.

    Please call them on 0113 203 8602 to resolve.

    Kind regards

    **********

    Me:

    Thanks you for your reply.

    Are you able to let me know what the reasons are for why you're unable to remove or reduce the charge further please?

    Kind regards

    **********

    xercise4less:

    Good afternoon

    We are unable to remove any charges applied as you had unfortunately not followed the correct cancellation procedure as advised in your terms and conditions, therefor this has put your account in to default.

    You will need to contact our membership support team on 01132038602 to pay the arrears owed to resolve, please see terms and conditions attached for further information,

    Kind regards,

    *********

    Me:
    Good afternoon.

    Thank you for your reply.

    I'd appreciate that I did not follow the correct cancellation procedure, but you have not indicated how this has impacted your business operation in any substantive way. Given that you purport to value your customers I trust that you would not wish me or anyone else to think that it is an arbitrary and unfair way of making money out of your customers.

    Furthermore, would you please send me a breakdown of the amount I owe, and a breakdown of the costs (administrative or otherwise) that you have incurred as a result of late payment.

    Kind regard

    **********

    xercise4less
    Good afternoon

    These processes are in place so that the cancellations are actioned accordingly, all members are required to follow these that have been applied as agreed to in your terms and conditions, Please see these attached for further information.

    Please contact our membership support team on 01132038602 for a breakdown of your arrears as they will be able to assist you further with resolving this,

    Kind regards,

    **********

    Me:
    Good afternoon

    Thank you for your reply.

    I note that you have not stated how my failure to follow the correct cancellation procedure has impacted negatively on your business or service. It seems reasonable from this to assume that it therefore hasn't.

    Thank you for your reference to the members help line.

    However, I would like you to provide in writing a breakdown of my arrears and of any costs incurred by you as a result of the cancellation of my direct debit or late payment. I understand this to be a basic legal requirement. I will then make use of the help line if need be.

    I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that it is not possible for terms and conditions of a contract to overwrite the law. In short it is not possible for a customer to sign away their consumer rights.

    I looking forward to receiving in writing the break down of the monies you claim are owed to you.

    Kind regards

    ***********

    exercise4less:
    Good morning

    As a goodwill gesture, we have cancelled your membership down with all charges removed and no further payments to make, It can take Harlands up to 5 working days to receive and action our requests, please ignore any correspondence regarding arrears within this time frame.

    Please take this email as confirmation for the cancellation of your membership.

    Kind regards,

    **********

    !!!59154;
  • Slytherin
    Slytherin Posts: 57 Forumite
    This is just me thinking out loud but only a few days ago I was considering why gym memberships still exist. The gyms that have no contracts seem to be out performing the ones that do. When you say you feel used as a cash cow by this particular company, it really just highlights that gym contracts seem to serve little more than to trap people.
  • sourcrates
    sourcrates Posts: 30,218 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts I've been Money Tipped! Name Dropper
    edited 22 April 2018 at 2:10PM
    Excellent letter jon7519

    You left them with no where else to turn, and they could not back up there claims with a single piece of legislation.

    Default charges for credit accounts have been set at no higher than £15 by the FCA.

    Any company, regardless of the contract you may of signed, attempting to charge more, must be able to justify it, and obviously they cannot do so.

    Well done sir, i would like your post 1000 times if i could, this is a prime example of how to deal with these people.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free wannabe, Credit file and ratings, and Bankruptcy and living with it boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.For free non-judgemental debt advice, contact either Stepchange, National Debtline, or CitizensAdviceBureaux.Link to SOA Calculator- https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php The "provit letter" is here-https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter
  • thanks sourcrates!

    It's amazing that they are allowed to get away with this kind of thing. I wonder if Trading Standards lack the legal power and/or the resources to do more about it.
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