David Llyods Gym membership price increase?

tuk

In November, I signed up to 1 year membership.
It was agreed it would be £50 per month for the year.
DL agreed this amount on the phone, in person and over e-mail:

I would also like to confirm that you authorise me to set up a direct debit payments of £50 per month in your account ending ***. This bank account will be used to settle any membership fees starting on the 1st January.

The next thing I know I receive an email saying their is a problem with my direct debit and need to pay January's payment on their site, but the amount they want me to pay is more than the agreed amount of £50.

I contact DL and point out we agreed on £50 per month for the year and they replied back with:

I just had a chat with ***** who helped set your membership up at the beginning of November. When you joined on 7th November over the phone ***** had no information yet as to a potential price increase, hence of course he had quoted you the current membership rates at the time.

Existing members were informed of the membership price changes by an email sent centrally on 3rd December. The reason again why you have not received this is because your membership had not been active for more than a month to generate a price increase correspondence, making it purely a timing issue.

Our new membership rates do mean there is an increase to the existing member fees. We do try to avoid passing on cost increases to our members as much as possible but there are some unavoidable increments we have to make. We believe our Clubs are better than they have ever been and that the revised membership rate still provides excellent value for money.

So my question is, do DL not have a legal obligation to provide the years membership at the agreed price?

Otherwise how as a consumer can you compare Gym prices and choose the right one if they can just up the price straight after you've joined and signed up to a years membership?

JJ_Egan

T&C of your membership probably had a we may increase prices clause /.

unholyangel

They should be giving you the right to cancel without otherwise being worse off for having entered the contract, are they doing this?

And just to clarify, do you have a minimum term?

dj1471

JJ_Egan wrote: »

T&C of your membership probably had a we may increase prices clause /.

Doesn't make it valid or enforceable. The terms of a contract cannot be varied without the agreement of both parties.

bris

dj1471 wrote: »

Doesn't make it valid or enforceable. The terms of a contract cannot be varied without the agreement of both parties.

It's probably in the terms of this contract. Whilst your right you have not seen this contract so can not say whether they are right or not.


Op will need to read the contract and see what it says about price increases and whether they are within the permitted levels or not.

tuk

unholyangel wrote: »

They should be giving you the right to cancel without otherwise being worse off for having entered the contract, are they doing this?

And just to clarify, do you have a minimum term?

The deal was 12 months minimum term, 12 x £50 monthly payments. Which DL refer to as: Standard Annual membership.

---

The price increase is 4%.

From what I understand of the T&C, the best I can hope for is that DL allow me to exit the contract due to the fact they didn't give me the 3 months notice or any notice for that matter?

18 Changing your membership fees and this agreement
a
We may increase membership fees automatically each year by up to either 1% above the rate of inflation
according to the Retail Prices Index or 3%, whichever is higher. If we do this, the new fees will come into
force on 1 January each year.
b
If we plan to increase the membership fees by more than the higher of these amounts, we will give you at
least three months’ notice if you have Standard Annual or Standard Monthly membership, or at least one
month’s notice if you have Flexible membership. We will give you notice of the change by writing to you
(as described in A2e and f ‘Notice’) and by displaying a sign on the noticeboard in your club.
c
As well as the increase described in A18a above, we have the right to increase membership fees at any
time to take account of any increase in the rate of VAT. We will make every reasonable effort to give you
at least three months’ notice of the increase (either in writing or by displaying a sign on the noticeboard
in your club).
d
We may make reasonable changes to this agreement, to these terms and conditions in Part A and to
the rules and regulations in Part B or displayed in your club, at any time, as long as we give you notice
before we make the changes.

https://www.davidlloyd.co.uk/-/media/db83fec2936e4f129549618b4af69cfd.ashx

Les79

tuk wrote: »

The price increase is 4%.

4% of £50 is £2....


Can't you just pay it? Personally, if I was forking out £50(!) on a gym membership then I wouldn't begrudge an extra £2 in a situation like this!


I've just googled David Lloyds gym and they have some in my local area, so it is not necessarily a London thing either! There are at least 3 gyms in my local area which charge SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than £50 a month. Average is about £30 and lowest is £25.


Or are you looking to get out of the contract at this stage? Potentially for other reasons..


Either way, the Ts and Cs you provided do seem to suggest that you could argue for the contract to be terminated. If they disagree, though, it could involve refusing to pay and having to deal with the court action they take against you.


HOWEVER the "rate of inflation" bit is interesting. Potentially didn't tip 3% (plus the 1% = 4%) but you never know?

tuk

Les79 wrote: »

4% of £50 is £2....Can't you just pay it? Personally, if I was forking out £50(!) on a gym membership then I wouldn't begrudge an extra £2 in a situation like this!

In a situation like this? ...do you mean where a company are going back on what was agreed? ...how do you think DL would react if I decided to pay 4% less than what was agreed?

& It's not just £2 it's £24.

I'm not looking to get out of the contract but I am annoyed that they've increased the agreed price without even giving me notice(as per their own t&c) after confirming on the phone, in person and in writing what the costs would be over the 12 months.

Les79

tuk wrote: »

In a situation like this? ...do you mean where a company are going back on what was agreed? ...how do you think DL would react if I decided to pay 4% less than what was agreed?

& It's not just £2 it's £24.

In a situation like this I think you are off your rocker for two reasons:


1. Paying £50 for a Gym in the first place (though you may be from London which sort of makes sense, however DL have gyms around me too and £50 would be disgustingly overpriced).


2. Quibbling over an extra £2 a month when you can afford £50 to begin with.


BUT that does not affect your statuary rights which, if you carefully read my post, I did address. To reiterate:

me wrote:

Either way, the Ts and Cs you provided do seem to suggest that you could argue for the contract to be terminated. If they disagree, though, it could involve refusing to pay and having to deal with the court action they take against you.


HOWEVER the "rate of inflation" bit is interesting. Potentially didn't tip 3% (plus the 1% = 4%) but you never know? [which is an invitation for you to check as, if it was 3% last year (plus the 1%), it may fit with their Ts and Cs and weaken your point]

I'm not looking to get out of the contract but I am annoyed that they've increased the agreed price without even giving me notice(as per their own t&c) after confirming on the phone, in person and in writing what the costs would be over the 12 months.

Well, firstly you need to address the "1% above inflation" bit; does 4% qualify? If so then I don't think they needed to give notice...


Aside from that, I appreciate that you are annoyed. But realistically what do you expect as an outcome? You can't actually *force* them to allow you to have the membership under those terms. But you *may* have some recourse in the courts, but you'd likely either need to do your own research on that (loss of bargain is a phrase which MAY fit here) or pay for a solicitor (no win no fees wont touch this whatsoever). Or you can try and angle for a goodwill gesture by being NICE and PERSISTENT.


You also have a strong case for having the contract cancelled, because of the Ts and Cs you pointed out (if the "inflation" point isn't valid here).


Aside from that, I have no idea what you want?

dj1471

FWIW I don't think the clause saying that they may increase the price annually would be judged as fair, especially when they don't commit to even informing customers of this increase, never mind giving notice.

If it was a straight "we will increase..." then that's fine - the customer knows what they're going to be paying when they enter into the contract.

The terms around a more than 4% increase are more reasonable, though they should really mention that such an increase would give customers on a fixed term contract the right to cancel.

hollydays

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