Out of gym contract - gym ignoring me

lucymae89

Hi, I was wondering if you’d be able to give me some advice?

I joined my gym in 2015, I have a long commute to work and there were two options for gyms near my office one without a contract and Sports Direct, which was 12 months. I emailed the manager before joining and said if I was to join and then move jobs would I still be held to the contract, I had a confirmation email back saying that if I relocated jobs or address I could get out of my contract under a certain clause.

Anyway I’ve stayed with the gym four years and I’m now pregnant and have moved property. I will be joining a gym closer to home eventually as I won’t be working at my current office. I was told I had to give six months notice.

I forwarded on the email to clarify I was only in a 12 month contract and that my circumstances have changed as per the clause they outlined. Since then my emails have been ignored for a month.

Can they hold me to this six month notice? Surely there are some maximum time frames they can impose? Also, I’m out of the contract by three years. My next stop is Citizen’s Advice but does anyone else have suggestions first?

Thanks,
Lucy

Aylesbury_Duck

What does your original contract say? I suspect that it has something about automatically continuing unless you cancelled after the first twelve months? Does it say anything about notice periods?

Diamandis

It says on their website 3 months notice and the relocation clause only applies if your home and work address are both 10 miles from the nearest gym.

Maybe pop in and talk to them or give them a call?

unholyangel

Diamandis wrote: »

It says on their website 3 months notice and the relocation clause only applies if your home and work address are both 10 miles from the nearest gym.

Maybe pop in and talk to them or give them a call?

1. OP may not have signed up online - in which case whatever is on the website is irrelevant
2. The T&C's on their website now are unlikely to be the same as was on their site 4 years ago.

OP, what exactly were you given at the time you signed up?

I think there may be something of relevance in OFT v ashbourne management but its been a while so I'd need to reread the judgement. Dont have time just now but if I get time over the weekend (and I remember!), I'll have a look.

unholyangel

Okay I've had look and found what I was thinking of. But how relevant it is will depend on set up (around minimum term, notice period etc).

There's quite a few things in unfair terms that might be handy though even if the facts aren't the same as in oft v ashbourne - excessive notice periods or automatically renewing contracts if you're not sent a reminder etc.