Help!! Gym membership cancellation 31 May 2018 at 2:32PM in Sports & fitness MoneySaving 10 replies 5.4K views

Olive2017

Hi, I am looking for some advice on cancellation of gym membership.
My local gym run a dance class twice a week which I attended. Instead of paying weekly for the classes it was cheaper to join at a cost of £31 a month fixed for a year.
I joined on 3/5 and then on 7/5 the classes were cancelled without notice and moved to a local school down the road!!
I asked if I could cancel my gym membership and was advised although I am in the cooling off period I could not cancel as I had used the facilities twice in the week. I checked the t and cs and it does state this clause.
I have been back and forth with the gym but they will not budge and I have now cancelled my direct debit.

I feel they are being so unfair not letting me cancel after just 7 days because the classes I joined for are cancelled!! I have offered to pay for the 2 classes I went too but they will not accept and said I will now be sent an invoice for the next 12 months even though I won't be using thier services and going down to the local school for the brilliant dance classes that they introduced me too!!!

Can anyone give advice as to where I stand? Will I have a chance to argue any kind of CCJ they put on me??

Thanks

DCFC79

Olive2017 wrote: »

Hi, I am looking for some advice on cancellation of gym membership.
My local gym run a dance class twice a week which I attended. Instead of paying weekly for the classes it was cheaper to join at a cost of £31 a month fixed for a year.
I joined on 3/5 and then on 7/5 the classes were cancelled without notice and moved to a local school down the road!!
I asked if I could cancel my gym membership and was advised although I am in the cooling off period I could not cancel as I had used the facilities twice in the week. I checked the t and cs and it does state this clause.
I have been back and forth with the gym but they will not budge and I have now cancelled my direct debit.

I feel they are being so unfair not letting me cancel after just 7 days because the classes I joined for are cancelled!! I have offered to pay for the 2 classes I went too but they will not accept and said I will now be sent an invoice for the next 12 months even though I won't be using thier services and going down to the local school for the brilliant dance classes that they introduced me too!!!

Can anyone give advice as to where I stand? Will I have a chance to argue any kind of CCJ they put on me??

Thanks

Apologies but I dont see you mention whats wrong with going to the classes at the local school ?

Cancelling the DD is a bad idea, a really bad 1.

suejb2

Surely your gym hasn't complied with their own contract by changing venues or is it in the very small print

Nasqueron

Cancelling the direct debit doesn't stop you owing them money if you signed a contract, they will simply bill you and you'll end up with various charges and expenses

indesisiv

As you have joined the gym and not the classes I am not sure what there is to be done.
As you state they have stated that they are within their contract to not allow you to terminate.
If they went down the CCJ route then there is nothing that I can see that will allow you to defend, ie. You signed the contract, you used the facilities and they abided by the terms and conditions in not allowing you to cancel.

Whilst it may be unfair that the classes you want have moved, they I suspect are subcontracted and the gym still provides all of the other classes and services etc.
Don't cancel the direct debit! But do try and go to some other classes or use the gym a bit .. you are paying for it afterall.

lildoonbuggy

Sometimes I feel like people are too quick to shout 'computer says no on here'. We don't know the full story (i.e. If classes were sold as part of the service verbally or in writing), so I think it's fair to say the OP still has some options if they are unhappy. Whether they will be successful is another matter but to just say there's nothing they can do is incorrect. I also feel as a community we should be doing what we can to empower consumers to know their rights (especially as this is clearly not about compensation and the OP is trying to amicably resolve the issue in what is clearly an unforseen change to service provisions).

Assuming they are a small gym with no big head office to escalate the complaint to, I would recommend contacting the Citizens Advice Bureau. The following may be worth questioning depending on the circumstances:

Information about the trader or service is legally binding.
This means that anything said or written down by a trader (or someone acting on their behalf) about their business or the service forms part of the contract, if you take the information into consideration before you agree the contract or if you make a decision about the service after the contract is made. For example, if a gardener told you that they would use a certain type of high quality wood preserver to paint your fence and you relied on this statement when you decided to go ahead, then it forms part of the contract.

If they aren't able to help you, I would be trying one more time with them to try and negotiate a figure that seems fair as you don't want to be leaving a negative review, and then follow with an accurate review of your experience accordingly.

I wish you luck OP.

Nasqueron

^ Threatening to leave a bad review unless you get your own way is passive aggressive silliness, it won't help anyone. If OP signed a contract and nothing in there guarantees this class will be held in the gym then he said she said arguments are not going to outweigh the signed contract. OP will no doubt be back in a few months after the gym have trashed their credit rating as they think stopping a direct debit will solve their issues which it clearly won't

lildoonbuggy

It is not passive aggressive if it's being truthful, Nasqueron. Reviewing is also a tool that can be very effective in cases where businesses are acting on unreasonably as seems to be the case here, and indeed is the right thing to do for others looking for such a service.

As pointed out above, a verbal contract is just as valid as a written contract so if the gym sold its classes as part of the package and they are no longer there, they are not delivering up to the service agreement. This is of course a big 'if'.

As for assuming the OP is going to knowingly trash their credit record by stopping payments...you know what they say about assume...

NeilCr

I think it's pretty unlikely that specific classes are included in the contract. I've used a number of gyms that have had class programmes but there has never been a guarantee that all classes will run as in the programme. That would be a pretty difficult thing to do. Teachers leave, you can't get replacements, they aren't getting enough people in them

To be honest sounds like the teacher may have decided to branch out on their own if it's moved to a school. If the gym were still running it, presumably the OP would be able to attend within their membership.

Nasqueron

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

It is not passive aggressive if it's being truthful, Nasqueron. Reviewing is also a tool that can be very effective in cases where businesses are acting on unreasonably as seems to be the case here, and indeed is the right thing to do for others looking for such a service.

As pointed out above, a verbal contract is just as valid as a written contract so if the gym sold its classes as part of the package and they are no longer there, they are not delivering up to the service agreement. This is of course a big 'if'.

As for assuming the OP is going to knowingly trash their credit record by stopping payments...you know what they say about assume...

THREATENING to leave a bad review in order to try and get out of a binding contract is passive aggressive.

Verbal contract isn't worth anything if you have no evidence of it, it is he said / she said and nowhere does the OP say they were told the class would continue at the gym (it sounds like they didn't ask given the classes stopped a few days after joining which would put me off joining if I knew that would happen! You're the one assuming that conversation happened and can use that as leverage).



If this conversation did happen, OP has no proof it did and we only have the OP's word on what they were told, they might have misunderstood. Getting out of the contract on the basis they claim they were told something isn't going to happen. If OP joined the gym to use the class and told the staff this was the reason and they never mentioned it was moving or was told specifically it would continue they might have some leverage though again they can't prove it.


I'm also not assuming anything, OP has already stated they cancelled their direct debit for the membership. The gym will get notified by the bank and will quite happily leave late/non-payment markers on the OP's file trashing their rating

theoretica

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/changed-your-mind/cancelling-a-gym-membership/

From your point of view, the gym facilities have changed significantly - not sure if the change is significant in law, but the wording here might be worth checking.