Cancelling Leisure Centre Memberships

ballisticbrian

Cancelling Leisure Centre Memberships


This has been a pain for me in the past when my OH was told they needed 6 weeks notice to cancel and she had broken her leg so effectively had to pay for 6 weeks membership for zero use.




Anyhow this time, different leisure centre, my OH though she would cancel her membership by stopping the direct debit and is now getting what she though was junk mail from the payments processing company Harlands who apparently deal with the direct debits. BTW she hasn't used the leisure centre for months.




Before we call them, this isn't going to end well is it?

gettingtheresometime

Did she actually tell the leisure centre that she wanted to cancel?

ballisticbrian

She says she can't remember but I don't think so, judging by the fact she's got the email.

gettingtheresometime

ballisticbrian wrote: »

She says she can't remember but I don't think so, judging by the fact she's got the email.

On that basis then I'd just suck it up and ensure that she cancels the membership properly, in writing (or at least followed up by an email if she phones).

LilElvis

Cancelling the payment doesn't cancel the contract. Find out their cancellation procedure and follow it, including paying the arrears before it escalates when they pass the debt on to a collection agency.

Caz3121

ballisticbrian wrote: »

my OH though she would cancel her membership by stopping the direct debit

what does the contract state about cancelling? she will be due payments until she cancels correctly.
as has been said, cancelling payment does not end the contract, it just means that arrears are building up.

DoaM

LilElvis wrote: »

Cancelling the payment doesn't cancel the contract.

Indeed. In fact, this applies for almost ANY contract, not just gyms/leisure centres (unless the T&Cs allow for cancellation by stopping payment - very few contracts do).

[Deleted User]

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Anyhow this time, different leisure centre, my OH though she would cancel her membership by stopping the direct debit and is now getting what she though was junk mail from the payments processing company Harlands who apparently deal with the direct debits. BTW she hasn't used the leisure centre for months.

Understand that rolling contracts like gym membership and subscription television are never cancelled simply by stopping a Direct Debit. The correct procedure is always to cancel in line with the terms and conditions of the contract you agreed to. In addition, not using the facilities is not any form of cancellation either. Gyms actually rely on the inertia of members who rarely go but fail to cancel.

So, just as others have said, you'll need to pay the arrears as well as for any notice period (usually a month, but can be longer) required, otherwise the gym will go down the route of Debt Collectors and ultimately a CCJ can result.

ballisticbrian

The cost was £200 in fines and fees and £80 in missed membership fees (3 months). The reason they were able to charge 3 lots of missed payment fees was because my OH email address domain shut down, (provider closed) so she didn't know what was going on.

DoaM

And she wasn't given forewarning of the provider closing, to make alternative email arrangements?

So she omitted to advise other people (e.g. the gym) that her email address had changed?

ballisticbrian

So she omitted to advise other people (e.g. the gym) that her email address had changed?

No, at the time she had just had a baby and was in a kind of depression where she didn't want to contact or speak to anyone.