Personal Trainer Owes Me a refund

S25g09

Hello,

I'm wondering if someone can help me with what my next steps should be.

In August I started to looking into getting a personal trainer at my gym. After having a free session with one of the PT's endorsed by the gym he told.me.what he could offer. Long story short I opted to pay for 3 months up front for 2 sessions a week, costing £530. I played this straight into his account as he said if I paid him through PayPal this would incur extra charges. I never received a contract from him or any terms.

His sessions were questionable, he never wrote anything down and in 3 weeks we only managed 4 sessions due to him cancelling last minute and taking up to two days to respond to making appointments. In my final two sessions I had with him, bare in mind I'm a small mod twenties female completely new to this he asked me to complete 50 kettle bell swings with a 16kg weight. This was only my 3rd and 4th session. 3 days later, when playing hockey, I bent over to stop a ball and my back completely went and I couldn't move. I'm now 14 weeks into this injury, signed off work and awaiting an MRI scan.

On the 30th October I met with the PT to explain my injuries and that I would not be able to train like that for a long time. He kindly offered to refund the sessions I had not used, this amounted to £440. He said he was refund this by the end of the week. A week passed and I hadn't heard anything so I messaged him asking if he could complete the payment in the next few days. I didn't hear from him and another week passed so I messaged again. Still no reply so I went and spoke to the manager at my gym. They said how he is self employed and so can't take responsibly for the payment but said they would speak to the PT. After this he got in contact and said he would send the payment that weekend. Another week passed and I still had no payment. I messaged again but did not get a reply. I decided to go down to the gym and confront him when I knew he would have clients. When I did this he said he had sent the payment and that he would send me confirmation later that evening when he was home as he apparently needed his card reader.
Immediately I knew he had lied to me, everyone nowadays has mobile banking and so he could easily have just showed me that on his phone. Likewise if it was completed it made no sense at to why he wouldn't contact me to say so. Also, there was still no money in my account!
Another couple of days passed and he ignored my messages again and no confirmation has turned up. He messaged me to say he was chasing the bank as it had been confirmed it had left his account and was waiting on them to send him confirmation. A few more ignored texts later and he messages asking for email address to send the confirmation to. I have still not received this confirmation and he has gone silent again.

I have warned him that I am now going to have to take this further as it is clear he is just lying but not to sure where I stand without a contract. However through this I do have confirmation over text that he is meant to be sending me this payment.

Although it is quite clear he was responsible for my injury, I get that his hard to prove, I just want my money back for the sessions I did not use.

Hope someone can help

rachel6188

Just to let you know hun with some banks to set up sending to a new account you do need your card reader I'm with barclays and have the issue. Im not sure where you stand but I wish you luck getting back what your owed xx

S25g09

Yes I know. But by this point he was saying he had made the payment. You don't need a card reader to show me confirmation.

Takeaway_Addict

Send a letter before action, in writing and make it more formal. Will probably scare him into paying

gettingtheresometime

My mum doesn't have mobile banking .....in fact she doesn't do internet banking

elsien

I'd be more concerned about making sure the gym are aware of his dubious training methods so he doesn't injure any more of their clients.
Although I'd have said no to that exercise in the first place - you must have an idea yourself what your body is/isn't capable of.

Letter before action then small claims is probably your only option now.

pmduk

If it's a gym chain, a complaint via their head office might have more effect on his future conduct.

S25g09

I did say no when it started to hurt and moved be back down to a 12kg. But then the next session gave me a 16kg again. I would keep saying the weights are too heavy but he would insist. I have fair knowledge but at the end of the day I'm not a PT so put trust in him.

S25g09

I did say no when it started to hurt and moved be back down to a 12kg. But then the next session gave me a 16kg again. I would keep saying the weights are too heavy but he would insist. I have fair knowledge but at the end of the day I'm not a PT so put trust in him.

And with regards to head office, when I Phoned their customer service, again they didn't really take responsibility or care. Says he's nothing to do with them. When I explained they endorse him, he wears their uniform and works in their gym and that I wouldn't have been trained by him of he didn't work there they still didn't get it. Worrying really.

Potbellypig

This is why exercise is no good for you. Stick to cakes.

ThumbRemote

Sod the refund. Contact a no-win-no-fee solicitor and see what they say about the injuries. The whole thing smacks of his negligence in assessing what training exercises to give. It may now be too late, but you've nothing to lose.