Cancellation of Virgin active gym membership

LondonManc

I've had issues with VA since being a member over a year ago - mainly because the staff don't seem to know what day of the week it is.
They had my name down as my surname repeated twice, the wrong email and phone number. We were told we had free locker use, so imagine my surprise when I found the contents of my locker spilling out of an open locker with my lock chopped. I at least got a free lock off them and a profuse apology.

Had some quibble over the deal I got with my membership, but to be honest I use it all the time because it's opposite my office. I will certainly be getting out of my contract with them as soon as I move jobs on principle.

I had previously been a member at a different VA, cancelled very early, and was told it was probably a good idea to write in again just so they were reminded that they needed to cancel my membership. I sorted that out with no problem.

It's awful that VA seems to have a complete disregard for your hard earned money - but having been through a similar situation in the past with another company, I've come up with a few rules that I now stick to whenever I'm thinking of signing up for a service that involves DDs or other fees. Sorry - they're not as helpful as the advice in the other posts in the immediate term, but they've been useful for me to follow now that I'm once bitten twice shy!

Scan and file all your membership documents and correspondence onto an external hard drive.

Don't assume you've been told the whole truth about how to cancel, or the ts and cs of your membership - get an email address from the sales manager, and ask them to confirm to you, in writing, the answers to any questions you might have BEFORE signing up for membership. Perhaps even ask for a copy of the contract before you sign. Be really explicit in the questions you ask and don't be afraid to challenge or ask for further details if you still aren't clear after a reply.

Ignore the pressure from sales people to sign there and then. Remind yourself that you work really hard to earn your money, so they should work just as hard to get it off you. Don't be afraid to say no if you have any doubts. Even if you can't quite put your finger on what's bothering you, listed to your gut. Particularly when a sales person doesn't seem to know the answer to pretty basic questions. If they're not informed, you won't be.

Don't be afraid to pile it on thick when you want to cancel - better to hit them with all the info you can in one go, rather than let it drag on. So, I always cancel in writing. I send a letter of cancellation, scanned copies of the contracts I signed, tell them that I am cancelling in accorance with their policies and within the stated notice period, inform them that my DD or standing order has been cancelled and that my bank have been told not to process any payments requested after the notice period has ended.

In short - I'm afraid it means being super organised from the beginning - but having been stung by similar scenarios to the Virgin Active situation in this thread, it's much less hassle to spend that bit of time at the start :-)

willsmith01

tomosul wrote: »

I can't believe I didn't think to check here earlier - I'm in the same boat, at the moment I've been putting off dealing with it because of how poor their customer service has been. I was given the monthly terms and conditions, even though I had 'diamond' membership on the application form. I didn't even know there was a difference until they told me I couldn't cancel my membership!

I tried emailing the bit about the VAT decrease not being passed on, but I got a reply saying that they didn't pass on the savings because they were planning to increase the membership fee that year to invest in the club (?!)

What should I do now?

Same here, I got a reply saying the same thing;::rotfl:

cdalter

Here is a list of CEO's of major brands.

http://www.!!!!!!/

Including Richard Branson's e-mail address, you can find him under Virgin Atlantic.

Hope this helps :beer:

I have used this after a dreadful 7 months with T-Mobile and gave up and e-mailed the CEO who had it resolved within days, even though it was over the bank holiday period.

emmal87

Hi I'm new here and couldnt find where i made a new post i recently joined virgin active in denton, manchester a month ago to be precise after some finacial changes its going to unaffordable to me i only joined a 6 months contract as im under 25 is their any way i can get out off this they didnt give me any Terms and Conditions when i joined just a membership card which wasnt filled in either
Thanks
Emma

VirginConmen

Virgin have now tried to cancel Diamond Membership for all 500+ "Price for Life" members at Great George Street, Leeds. They are doing this by closing the club as it was not commercially viable to have 2 clubs in Leeds subject to the acquisition of Esporta. The Great George Street one with the 500+ members being the obvious one to close as they can't increase the prices on us!

Their legal argument for doing so is terrible, indeed the contract states that I have signed up for a rolling 12 months (which everyone has been complaining about before on this string), but they are terminating my contract with only 1 month notice.

I have been mis-sold Diamond Membership, I will be taking legal action to recover all fees paid since 2004 and I will seek to recover the lost benefit of "Price for Life" membership - I'd still be there if 45 years time if they hadn't terminated my contract, so I'll be reclaiming the Present Value of that (£5k at 2% inflation, £21k at 5% inflation).

Virgin Active need to be stood up to, especially now that they are owned by a Private Equity house who just want to screw members to try to make the books look better so they can flog it for a quick profit.

If Diamond Members weren't being screwed here, then why would such a ruthless Private Equity firm being taking this course of action.

Virgin Active is a horrible firm, who treat members with disdain. Avoid like the plague and use your local community pools and gyms - I visited a few of the local ones recently and they've been heavily invested in recently and are of a comparable standard to Virgin. Given the number of undesirables in Virgin anyway the clientele will probably be of a similar standard too!

Looks like Virgin Angry on Twitter and RippedOfByVirginActive on Men's Health are also pretty frustrated by this treatment. The great thing here is that Virgin Active don't have Contract Law on their side this time!

shizer

Quick question, Just joined Virgin 3 weeks ago on a 6 month contract but due to new surprising commitments, is looking to possibly cancel it. Is it possible?
Reason why I ask is that because I remember reading somewhere that I can cancel a gym contract within a month of me signing it. This was a long time ago so I could be wrong.

Thanks

sosos

BUMP.

VA are cheeky gits! I signed up for a year contract last May, letter in the post today saying my monthly fee is going from £72 to £75 per month as of April.

Couldn't they wait till my contract expires before changing the terms!

Tomby1

sosos wrote: »

BUMP.

VA are cheeky gits! I signed up for a year contract last May, letter in the post today saying my monthly fee is going from £72 to £75 per month as of April.

Couldn't they wait till my contract expires before changing the terms!

They gave you 6+ weeks notice and the increase is around 4.2%. Seems pretty reasonable to me!

Fire_Fox

sosos wrote: »

BUMP.

VA are cheeky gits! I signed up for a year contract last May, letter in the post today saying my monthly fee is going from £72 to £75 per month as of April.

Couldn't they wait till my contract expires before changing the terms!

They can't change the terms whilst you are in a fixed term contract. Ether they have made an error or you agreed to increases within the terms and conditions, ergo it's not a change simply invoking a clause. Reread the small print, plenty of contracts permit increases - for example, it's commonplace with media packages to have a few months at one price and the remainder at another.

Art_2

Yes they can change the subscription rates. Read the contract!!