Gym membership

Nurseymum

When Covid pandemic was first annonced I asked for my gym membership to be put on hold for 6 months (until October) as i work in the nhs and knew i would be wanting to minimise cobtact with others to protect my patients. 
Ive just had an email saying now gyms opening from 25th July then direct debit payments will restart on 24th July. 
What are my rights to ask for continuing temporary hold?
If I cancel I have to give 3 months notice and pay for the 3 months.
Im nowhere near ready to go back yet.
Can I get a legal response in clear terms please.
Many thanks in advance

sharpe106

When you emailed what did they say?

Now that it is open it is now your choice you don't want to go rather then not being able too, so your normal cancelation terms should be in place.

elsien

You can ask for a goodwill gesture but in terms of any other rights, none.
They are open for you to access if you wish. If you don't want to go, whatever the reason,  that's your decision but you still have the contract to pay.  

gary83

Nurseymum said:

Can I get a legal response in clear terms please.

If you want professional legal advice consult with a professional, however expect to pay for it.

most gyms have done the decent thing during the pandemic and stopped direct debits (although we’ve had a few people complaining that they belonged to one that didn’t) unfortunately for your case the contract & the terms you agreed to when you joined the gym are still legally binding - Although nobody predicted this pandemic contract law hasn’t been abandoned, We haven’t reached an end of days Apocalyptic scenario. you agreed to pay for a service they’re going to resume providing. 

You could try appealing to the gyms better nature emphasising your NHS role, however any freeze/cancellation would be a gesture of goodwill & as the gym has had no income for 4 months and would probably fear saying yes to you would open the floodgates to similar requests from other members then I’d expect a no.

Sooler

"then direct debit payments will restart on 24th July" applicable to members who are due to recommence payments, as the gym agreed to hold yours off to October, yours will restart in October. Just ask the gym to confirm that is the case.

gary83

Sooler said:

"then direct debit payments will restart on 24th July" applicable to members who are due to recommence payments, as the gym agreed to hold yours off to October, yours will restart in October. Just ask the gym to confirm that is the case.

Except the OP didn’t say the gym agree to hold off payments until October. They said that they had asked for the payments to be put on hold until then however did say whether or not the gym agreed to it. Way back at the beginning of March nobody had a clue what’d be going on in August or October. Id be surprised if the gyms customer service agreed & set a precedent that allowed all their customers to pick whatever date that they thought was acceptable to resume their subscriptions. That seems like the quickest way for the gym (who’ve had no income for the past 4 months) to go out of business.