David Lloyd 3 month cancellation

G8311374

Hello,

After just over two years, I have decided to leave David Lloyd for a variety of reasons.
I put my notice in yesterday to the club assuming one full months notice would be required taking me to the end of February. They wrote back saying my membership would end on the 30th May. I then wrote back citing section 2a of their contract

“Anywhere in these terms and conditions where we ask you to give notice of one calendar month or more, if you give notice during a month, we will treat it as if we received it on the rst day of the following month and the notice period will run from that day. For example, if you need to give us one month’s notice to end your membership and we receive your notice on 23 May, your notice will start from 1 June, it will run out on 30 June, your membership will end on 30 June and you will pay one more direct debit (on 1 June) after giving notice. The only exception to this is if you give us notice at the beginning of a month. This means that if we receive notice from you up to and including the fourth day of a month, we will treat it as if we received it on the rst day of that month and the notice period will run from that day“

They wrote back today citing another part of the contract section 4 1b which totally contradicts this,

“ Your membership will run for the initial period, which is at least 12 full calendar months and will continue then indefinitely until you give us at least three full calendar months' notice in writing in line with A2 'Notice'.”

I feel this is extremely unfair. I was not told I would need to give 3months notice when I joined, otherwise I never would have joined in the first place. Also I pay my membership every month, not every 3 months so surely I shouldn’t be obliged to give more than one payments notice? Finally even if I did wait the three months, I still can’t use the facilities because as I rely on a wheelchair I often need help in and out of the pool and for over 6months there has been no pool hoist meaning I often have to rely on a member of pool staff to help me out which I feel is a health and safety risk for both myself and the guard. The gym has a major lack of disabled facilities, apart from a disabled toilet there is no disabled changing facilities although one of the showers has a broken pull down stool. The doorways into the changing area have not been widened to allow wheelchair access making it difficult to get in and out without damaging myself or my wheelchair which has sustained quite a lot of cosmetic damage to its wheel frames purely from scuffing it’s way through the doors, making my chair look scruffy and unkempt which I think reflects on my self presentation and unfortunately I am not in the position to be able to have my wheels replaced.

So that’s the situation. What can I do?

Thanks

sheramber

Which membership did you buy?

Standard is what they have quoted.

Flexible is what you have quoted

https://www.davidlloyd.co.uk/memberships

Manxman_in_exile

If you are cancelling because of the lack of disabled facilities I would be pointing this out very strongly to them because that could be seen as a breach by them. Is this why you are cancelling? (BTW - if I were a wheelchair user I would not be happy!)

unholyangel

Their dates don't match their own terms.

Their terms state where you need to give a month or more notice, any notice received by the 4th day will be taken as served on the 1st. So it should be (assuming that the contract works on calendar months which seems likely given what you quoted) ending on 30th April under their terms.

However as above I would definitely raise the lack of disabled friendly facilities. Especially if there is any indication in promotional materials/the contract that they are disabled friendly.

smilliebop

Did you get this resolved? I have a similar issue with David Lloyd, we are a family of 2 adults and 2 children - 11yrs & 12yrs and they do not run classes for our 12yr old. So we've tried cancelling our membership, to be told that we have to give 3 months notice, which seems ludicrous when you pay your bill monthly. Cancelling our membership will save us close to £950 over the 3 months, which is money we now very much need to

Any advice would be really appreciated

[Deleted User]

smilliebop wrote: »

So we've tried cancelling our membership, to be told that we have to give 3 months notice

Unfortunately, the three month notice period is standard across David Lloyd. You will have been informed of this from the outset and it is part of the contract you signed. The only time they allow a shorter notice period is if you've been made unemployed suddenly or if you are injured. In both cases you'll need to provide proof.

The Office of Fair Trading investigated Fitness First, David Lloyd and Bannatynes in 2013. Following that investigation, it managed to persuade these chains to allow clients to cancel early if they had a severe change of circumstances.

The only other way to circumvent the three month notice period is if you can show that facilities have been downgraded or repairs are not being carried out in a reasonable time period. For example, has the swimming pool been closed for more than 24 hours? Is the sauna/Jacuzzi available for use?

To be honest, I'd fully expect the OP of this thread to still be in the three month notice period, although his complaint about the disabled facilities may have swung it for him.

Caz3121

smilliebop wrote: »

we have to give 3 months notice, which seems ludicrous when you pay your bill monthly.

this seems correct if you have 'standard' membership...DL also offer 'Flexible' membership that has one month notice (but is more expensive per month)

IanMac60

David Lloyd are reopening on 25th July without full facilities, but are taking the full membership fee starting in August. Is this allowed, and could I cancel my membership without the 3 months grace as they are not providing the facilities I signed up for?

Ectophile

IanMac60 said:

David Lloyd are reopening on 25th July without full facilities, but are taking the full membership fee starting in August. Is this allowed, and could I cancel my membership without the 3 months grace as they are not providing the facilities I signed up for?

I suggest you read the Terms & Conditions.  But unless they are permanently removing a facility, the answer would be "no".

jazbee

Me and my husband are members of David Lloyd Gym in York. Just before lockdown and because of the Coronavirus situation we were sent an Email from them saying " we can freeze our membership for free for as long as we wish". My husband and I both being in our early 70's and in the vulnerable age bracket as stated by the government sent a reply just after lockdown on the 23rd March saying that we wanted it freezing until 1st April 2021 as the experts were saying there may be a second wave of Covid. David Lloyd has now sent us an email to my friend who how is on her late 60's saying what they said previously offering to freeze membership as long as you wish free of charge has now been superseded. I am expecting the same email soon from them. Now they are saying we can only have it suspended free until the 1st September but if we still do not wish to go they will charge us 25% of our membership fees. Are they allowed to do this?

Aylesbury_Duck

jazbee said:

Me and my husband are members of David Lloyd Gym in York. Just before lockdown and because of the Coronavirus situation we were sent an Email from them saying " we can freeze our membership for free for as long as we wish". My husband and I both being in our early 70's and in the vulnerable age bracket as stated by the government sent a reply just after lockdown on the 23rd March saying that we wanted it freezing until 1st April 2021 as the experts were saying there may be a second wave of Covid. David Lloyd has now sent us an email to my friend who how is on her late 60's saying what they said previously offering to freeze membership as long as you wish free of charge has now been superseded. I am expecting the same email soon from them. Now they are saying we can only have it suspended free until the 1st September but if we still do not wish to go they will charge us 25% of our membership fees. Are they allowed to do this?

Just to clarify the last part:  are they saying that although your membership would be frozen until 1st September, and then reactivated between then and 1st April, if you don't attend in that period they'll only charge you 25% of the monthly fee for those seven months?

If so, that sounds quite reasonable.  What does it say in your contract?  If what they're offering is above and beyond what you're contracted to, I don't see that you have an argument.