Cancellation of Virgin active gym membership

LJ80

Just to let you all know, I cancelled my membership today with no problems. I joined on 20-02-09. As I havent been attending my gym (due to pure laziness!) I rang up this weekend (28-02-10) with the hope of cancelling my Diamond Membership, and spoke to a very helpful receptionist who pointed out that I was on my thirteenth payment therefore into the next 12-month "rolling contract" , but that she would get the Manager to contact me on Monday (today). I did ask her if there was any point as I was aware I had signed the contract tying my into the "rolling contract"......her reply was "It's worth a try!"

So this morning I recieved the phonecall and I decided to use the calm approach and apologised that it was entirely my fault I hadnt let them know by the 17th Feb and that i wished to cancel due to lack of motivation on my part, and that I had always been happy with the attitudes of staff, cleanliness, facilities.......blah blah blah! Anyway, the Manager ended the phonecall saying that she would ignore my pro-rata payment which i paid when i joined last year, so therefore as long as i let them know in writing by 17th March my membership would be cancelled.

I do think that something is to be said by approaching them in a calm manner, as it seems (especially in this case) that it may be down to the discretion of the Management.....maybe if I had gone in there all guns blazing she would have been well within her rights to tell me I had another 11 months to pay, as per my contract. Good Luck!!

esoteric-London

I have a lot of sympathy for anyone who has been taken in by Virgin Active 12 month rolling contract tricks.

The problem most of you will have is proving that you were tricked into signing up for a rolling contract with only a 17 day window to cancell.

However - I may be able to help :j

I went into one of their gyms and had a nice tour round and discussed membership options and I was provided with a printed "Membership Price Guide" which had 4 categories of membership; Full Monthly, Diamond, Off Peak, Junior. I was told that if I wanted to sign up for a year I should take the diamond membership. Being a good Money Saving Expert reader the Diamond Membership sent the alarm bells ringing!

When I queried the terms of the Daimond Membership I was told there was a 5th option of signing up for one year and then I would only have to give one months notice to quit. I queried why this option wasnt on the published list and I the salesman said head office instructed them not to tell people about it

If you contact me I will email you a scanned document of the tariff as this will help you demonstate that information was withheld. Also I know of no known cases where its gone to court.

fragglepants

I believe that it is an unfair contract term (UCTA) and advised my boyfriend to write to them qutoing the legislation. We also noted that although he had not consented to be contacted with 'marketing mailshots' they continued to do so - meaning that there was a breach of contract and so the contract was unenforcable.

Although they didn't concede that they were in the wrong, they did cancel his contract!

I believe that he is entitled to a full refund to the previous months he had paid for under the roling contract terms, (having not used the gym since the renewal date) but he was happy with what he received and didn't push it

Hope this helps - it is possible!!

mjpx

Hello - Looks like I'm also in a similar position as most on here. The story is.
I joined VA in May 2008 - the middle of 2009 I decided to cancel my membership as I was working away and wasn't sure when I'd be able to use their facilities again, They told me that I missed the cancellation date and was locked in for another 12 months. I was never notified by letter that it was due for renewal, So I asked what my options were. They were stay as is and cancel next time round. pay 50% of the remaining contract to get out or freeze the account. I decided to freeze the account. I wasn't sure how long I was going to be away, but they said they can only freeze for 3 months, unless I can get my manger to prove i was away longer. So i agreed to that. It turned out that I was no longer needed to work away, decided to leave the freeze on for 3 months as was too busy to get down the gym, I never sent them a letter of proof for longer as this was not needed now. Some months after the 3 month freeze was up I remember about this and checked my bank account, they were still only taking the £5 out. ( I was into the 5th/6th month when I noticed ) - This brought me into March the following year ( 2010 ) at the end of March I emailed them request cancellation of my contract ( 14/5 ) giving just over a months noticed., Received a reply back stating I still had 7 months left of my contract. Basically what I can gather, when the account is frozen ( even though you still pay £5pm ) they seem to think they can move the contract start date back. so according to them it's no longer 14/5 but some point in November now. very annoyed at this, there was no mention of the contract date moving when it's being frozen., also I never sent the final details through for them to freeze it over the 3 month period. I have yet to respond as only received the letter yesterday. Not sure if anyone else has been stung by VA in this way.

Amblikai

I have contacted Virgin Active also to see if i can cancel my membership. I have been a member for 3 years and was regular (4-5 times a week) for the first 2 years. I called up and asked (basically begging) if they could cancel it since i know it is at the discretion of the branch. Hopefully it will be ok, i became friends with the staff when i was going regularly but other commitments meant i haven't been in a while and now i can't afford and will be moving away.

I'd hate this to make me think badly of VA as i have to admit to being a happy customer for the most part while i was going regularly.

I'll reply here with what the outcome is.

sandhum

Amblikai wrote: »

I have contacted Virgin Active also to see if i can cancel my membership. I have been a member for 3 years and was regular (4-5 times a week) for the first 2 years. I called up and asked (basically begging) if they could cancel it since i know it is at the discretion of the branch. Hopefully it will be ok, i became friends with the staff when i was going regularly but other commitments meant i haven't been in a while and now i can't afford and will be moving away.

I'd hate this to make me think badly of VA as i have to admit to being a happy customer for the most part while i was going regularly.

I'll reply here with what the outcome is.

How did you get on?

Im moving house next week and have a VA gym within a mile of my new home and have been interested in joining. Thought id have a search on reviews and what they're like. Quite worried now whether to join etc!

They do sound like rip off merchants but thats the way alot of these companies are now days - leeches sucking you dry. But if im made aware of when I need to cancel if I ever do want to in the future, then thats good enough for me. You can't claim forgetfullness or I didn't know because you didn't read the contract properly. Thats why they make these contracts unfortunately.

RedSoleShoes

Haven't had a chance to read all these posts but I'm glad it has made me aware of the 12-month diamond membership at Virgin. I think it is disgusting that you get signed up for another 12 months if you don't cancel in time. It's bad enough when gym's have 3 month cancellation policies but a full 12 months after you have already been a member for a year has put me off ever even considering VA.

I know it is not always possible, but if you can find a non-chain gym (such as within a golf club etc) then you get treated much better and they are generally less hitler-like about the contract.

m33r4

I bought a family membership [Diamond] from VA and was unhappy to find out I could not terminate the membership as they had automatically renewed our memberships under their rolling contract terms. I also was unhappy about no letters being sent out close to the 12 month of the membership to remind members that this date was coming up.

Bryno

Hi all

How much are you paying per month for these memberships?

I was quoted £75 if paying monthly and £65 if I sign up for a year, in the Cricklewood Gym.

Its all a bit scarey really


x

lilkizc

hey peeps, there is a few ways if i can remember rightly .....and they are if you have a note from your doctor saying you carnt attend the gym or if you are leaving the country and you can prove that you should always read a contract be it a phone .gym membership etc etc.... it does state it a rolling contract and ifit was unfair some authorities should have dne somthing by now the end of the day you hadnt read the t&c's and there is nothing watchdog or others could help with ......you could always forget the managers at v.a and go straight to head office in milton keynes your choice!!