TruGym DD Fraud?

Legacy_user

Hello,


I am currently in a dispute with budget gym "TruGym" - "Non-contact gym".

• [FONT=&quot]I signed up to True Gym gym in August August, 2016 for £10.99 a month when I lived around the area – It was positioned as a non-contract gym[/FONT]

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• [FONT=&quot]Mid 2017 i moved areas which didn't make it viable to to continue training at Trugym but i maintained the membership as I had a lot of friends in the area and at the gym. For £10.99 a month it was worth having incase i decided to train with anyone i knew at the gym. I never did get to go back but there was no bother but I hadn’t cancelled it so assumed payments were still coming out of my account.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]I completely lost track of what direct debits were coming out of my account and when i decided to move country in November i noticed a payment from "Harland" of £22.99 a month coming out of my account. I did not recognize this payment nor company.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]As any normal person would do i cancelled the DD as I assumed some form of fraud had happened.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I received no calls or emails notifying me that I had cancelled any direct debit and thought I would look into this at a later [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Several months later I get a from a debt collection agency, CRS - I was confused.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]When I opened the letter they informed me that due to me cancelling my TruGym membership the incorrect way in November I was now being charged in excess of £210. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I was confused because if I had cancelled £10.99 per a month, this is only 4 months which should make it £44 (November, December, January, Feb). I've suddenly accumulated a debt collection letter. I was adamant that I did not cancel any £10.99 DD's so this must have been a mistake also, I signed up to a non-contract gym, there was no contract.
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• [FONT=&quot]If I didn’t make a payment or missed a payment, first point of call I believed would be to call or email me if there are any problems.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]After numerous calls with CRS I found out that my gym membership direct debit had been increased from £10.99 to £22.99. It made sense now that the MISC £22.99 DD that I cancelled was for TruGym. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I informed them that I had not received notification of a price increase, no email, letters or calls and I had not been to the gym for over a year at this stage.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]They informed me that there were signs up at the gym – this is useless for me.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I have contacted TruGym to say that they have committed fraud. When a previous gym changed their terms I received full notification by email alerting me of this. I’m under the impression that legally I need to be provided with 10 days notice. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]CRS/Harlands/TruGym keep sending me threatening emails, calls and letters.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I have told them that I now want my money back from when the DD was increased as this was not done legally and the reason that the DD was cancelled incorrectly was due to a MISC payment being cancelled.[/FONT]

When I contacted TruGym to provide me with a copy of my contract with my signature attached they could not do so, they sent me copy and pasted terms and conditions.



[FONT=&quot]I appear to be going in circles with them, any suggestions? [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Thanks.[/FONT]
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[Deleted User]

flamewipe wrote: »

I never did get to go back but there was no bother but I hadn’t cancelled it so assumed payments were still coming out of my account

I completely lost track of what direct debits were coming out of my account and when i decided to move country in November i noticed a payment from "Harland" of £22.99 a month coming out of my account. As any normal person would do i cancelled the DD as I assumed some form of fraud had happened.
Several months later I get a from a debt collection agency, CRS - I was confused.
CRS I found out that my gym membership direct debit had been increased from £10.99 to £22.99. It made sense now that the MISC £22.99 DD that I cancelled was for TruGym. I informed them that I have contacted TruGym to say that they have committed fraud. When a previous gym changed their terms I received full notification by email alerting me of this. I’m under the impression that legally I need to be provided with 10 days notice.
When I contacted TruGym to provide me with a copy of my contract with my signature attached they could not do so, they sent me copy and pasted terms and conditions.

You make an awful lot of assumptions here.

Cancelling the Direct Debit without any reference to the payee was your biggest mistake. You say you assumed it was fraud, so did you inform your Bank of this?

You should have investigated who you were paying and complained that they were apparently doubling your subscription without first telling you. You can't just withhold payment and expect no repercussions.

I can't see any "fraud" I'm afraid.

I do recommend you keep a tighter reign on your bank account in future. Checking your statements and Direct Debits each month should be routine. Do not assume anything..find out for certain.

System

I didn't recognize a £22.99 payment and i didn't recognize Harlands.



The payment increase from £10.99 to £22.99 is the problem. I was not aware of any £22.99 DD i was paying, nor of any increase in any of my DD's to £22.99 . Surely it isn't legal to increase the DD amount without notifying the person?



Also, when taking the membership out on my bank statement I expected to see TruGym, not Harlands. At first point of call when I see sometime I don't recognize I cancel it to stop future payments.

shaun_from_Africa

flamewipe wrote: »

The payment increase from £10.99 to £22.99 is the problem. I was not aware of any £22.99 DD i was paying, nor of any increase in any of my DD's to £22.99 . Surely it isn't legal to increase the DD amount without notifying the person?

It all depends on what you agreed to when you initially took out the membership.
It may have been a discounted price for the first year then it would revert back to the full price.

When you moved out of the area, did you give your new address to the gym or did you set up a mail redirection service? as it's possible that they wrote informing you of the change in cost but you never received this mail.

Aylesbury_Duck

flamewipe wrote: »

I didn't recognize a £22.99 payment and i didn't recognize Harlands.

The payment increase from £10.99 to £22.99 is the problem. I was not aware of any £22.99 DD i was paying, nor of any increase in any of my DD's to £22.99 . Surely it isn't legal to increase the DD amount without notifying the person?

Also, when taking the membership out on my bank statement I expected to see TruGym, not Harlands. At first point of call when I see sometime I don't recognize I cancel it to stop future payments.

It depends what you signed up to. You may have agreed to them varying the price with minimum notice or to an introductory rate with a planned increase? Did they have your new address at the time of the price increase and if not, is it possible that they sent the letter to the address you gave them at sign-up? Whenever I've had company changes to things like life insurance, pensions, etc I am always written to to explain the change in name on the direct debit.

I don't see any fraud. I see a company that has perhaps been negligent in not informing you formally of the price increase and change of name, and a consumer who has been negligent in your account management.

calleyw

Did you ever change your address with the gym?


Did you ever think to google who harlands are?


https://www.harlandsgroup.eu/markets/budget-gyms/ makes it very clear who they are and they are at the top of the search.


Yours


Calley x

[Deleted User]

flamewipe wrote: »

At first point of call when I see sometime I don't recognize I cancel it to stop future payments.

But you will have instructed your Bank to pay this Direct Debit, so why would you immediately cancel rather than investigate where the payment was going?

I'll ask again, did you inform the Bank that you were cancelling a DD due to "fraud"? If so, what did they say?

There is no fraud, just an apparent series of assumptions and ill-informed decisions on your part.

Check your statements in future and contact your bank and/or the payee if you detect anything suspicious or unfamiliar.

System

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

It all depends on what you agreed to when you initially took out the membership.
It may have been a discounted price for the first year then it would revert back to the full price.

When you moved out of the area, did you give your new address to the gym or did you set up a mail redirection service? as it's possible that they wrote informing you of the change in cost but you never received this mail.

No, it was always a £10.99 membership, I have all the emails to prove this too.
I had all letters and post to be sent to my parents address even when i lived in other places, keeps things a lot easier.

System

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

It depends what you signed up to. You may have agreed to them varying the price with minimum notice or to an introductory rate with a planned increase? Did they have your new address at the time of the price increase and if not, is it possible that they sent the letter to the address you gave them at sign-up? Whenever I've had company changes to things like life insurance, pensions, etc I am always written to to explain the change in name on the direct debit.

I don't see any fraud. I see a company that has perhaps been negligent in not informing you formally of the price increase and change of name, and a consumer who has been negligent in your account management.

My address always remained the same (my parents address), i just moved where I lived personally.
It states that it is £10.99 a month, this is a fixed price. It was a non-contract, 30 day rolling gym membership.


I'm used to companies notifying me of a price increase too which is fine whether it is email or post. More so email now.



There has been no change of name from their front, just who they have to take their payments for them. Yes, I was negligent in my account manager which i'm not disputing, there are many reasons behind this but they aren't an excuse but this shouldn't make a difference for a price notification and poor business tactics, surely?

System

calleyw wrote: »

Did you ever change your address with the gym?


Did you ever think to google who harlands are?

****************makes it very clear who they are and they are at the top of the search.


Yours


Calley x

No, never changed addresses with the gym.
When you are given less than a week to pack your whole life in in one country and move to another, things are slightly more manic than they normally would be.



It may just take a few minutes to check who Harlands were but honestly, right then things were manic.



Previously when a DD has been cancelled by mistake I get a call from the company asking me what has gone wrong as a first point of call.

System

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

But you will have instructed your Bank to pay this Direct Debit, so why would you immediately cancel rather than investigate where the payment was going?

I'll ask again, did you inform the Bank that you were cancelling a DD due to "fraud"? If so, what did they say?

There is no fraud, just an apparent series of assumptions and ill-informed decisions on your part.

Check your statements in future and contact your bank and/or the payee if you detect anything suspicious or unfamiliar.

I've had DD come out of my account previously which I didn't not instruct the bank to pay. I assumed that this may be the same.


I told them that I did not approve a payment of £22.99 to be taken out of my account and this has been done against my will. They advised me to speak to Trading Standards.