David Lloyd’s membership freeze question

hb2

Have you taken annual membership, paid in monthly instalments, or a monthly contract with a minimum term of 12 months? If the former, you are in the same position as those of us who paid for a year up-front and have had that term extended once gyms have re-opened (I'm not a member of DL but of a different gym).

discoddm

fish_fingered said:

jon81uk said:

dnicu26 said:

Thank you all for the replies and for further clarifications unholyangel.
Hopefully, this thread will be able to help other people as well.

EDIT:
To everyone saying that I am looking to escape the contract, that is not true. However, I was outraged at their latest email on how they have decided to extend the contract without consulting with any of their members. 12 months is 12 months. It is common sense that you cannot just extend it out of nowhere. What happens to the people who still have to shield or those who are not on the shielding list but still have pre-existing conditions and would prefer not to expose themselves to unnecessary risk? We all know that gyms make money from exactly these kind of memberships that are not used. If DL really valued their members and if they knew they're selling a genuinely good product, then they would not have to extend the minimum term and keep people locked in - these are shady tactics. They would instead rely on people renewing their membership regardless of whether they are tied in to a contract or not. So yes, I am glad to be out of a contract from a company that obviously put profits ahead of members' satisfaction.

I don't think there is any shady tactics or trying to "lock people in" any further than you already are locked in on the 12 month contract.
You agreed to pay 12 amounts of £XX and you are still being expected to pay 12 installments, just with a four month gap. If they had consulted members I think everyone would have taken the current situation of a freeze, rather than continuing to pay while the gym is closed.

As others point out there may be ways to get out of the contract due to covid causing breaches, but there is nothing shady about what they are doing.

If you didn't want a 12 month minimum term you could have taken their flexible membership with a three month minimum instead but a higher cost each month, or chosen a different gym (Puregym and The Gym both offer no minimum term, Virgin has a flexible membership at a higher price). You were not forced into paying 12 payments, there is other options.

Despite repeated attempts to get a copy of a contract in writing David Lloyd have refused to provide me a copy, even though they repeatedly advised me they would. Having been a member of every major gym chain you mentioned and more over 25 years  that ranks fairly highly on my shadiness scale.

I agreed to pay for 12 instalments from January 2020 to January 2021 on the basis that I would receive a contiguous service , not when David Lloyd decided and/ or based on the consensus of other members. If they don't provide that service (for whatever reason) and as a result the terms of that contract are not met the contract is no longer valid. I unfortunately cannot provide you the terms as  reference since David Lloyd won't provide me a copy of the contract denying me my right to challenge the contractual terms on an informed basis. 

I have since managed to find the duplicate of my signing sheet (not a full contract, just a summary of terms) and as a result I am able to exit the contract as a result of Covid 19 triggering some of those clauses. I will still likely have to go to court because they having already contrived to pass me to a debt collect agency instead of sending me a contract (for which conveniently the agency has a 2 week query response period despite it stating that within 2 weeks its progressed to legal action), I doubt very much they will listen to reason. 

And its for this reason I have taken the time to highlight these issues because having been a frequent user of gym services, I feel that they have not only provided an incredibly poor service to me, they have acted in bad faith. Case in point the membership team are not taking calls (only by appointment which they they then cancelled without telling me), phone lines direct you to the reception which can rings out, despite this are able to efficiently pass you to a debt collection agency.  I suspect that before long David Lloyd's treatment of members will be spilling onto these forums (wait it already is).

Hi, not used the forum before. Wondered if you had any luck with DL?  I'm struggling too with them and have contacted them about 15 times with regards to a request to freeze my membership due to medical grounds, but they did not. When open they continued to take the DD every month. I went in in person to enquire but no-one will respond. They are still retaining new membership staff, showing people around and taking calls for them, but not for existing members. I had 2 days use since March last year. The club refuse to respond about my query. I had an email saying stop emailing and a call asking if I wanted to cancel, from a lady at the Chelsea Harbour club who knew nothing about the club I attend.
One of the issues I highlighted before Covid, which hasn't changed is the lack of cleanliness, when I take a tissue over the floor in the toilets, below the hand drier and in changing room it's black with dirt.  Even straight after they've 'cleaned' the floor. It does not fill me with confidence to return when its so dirty and class sizes are so small I would struggle to get in.
Any advice on getting my money for the months I requested them to freeze my membership on medical/personal grounds?

dade1984

OP is right 

the terms are as followed from the T&C 4.1c & d: The ‘initial period’ is the full 12-calendar month period from the 1st of the month after the date you made your membership application, together with the part of a month as mentioned in A5d ‘Starting your membership’. This means that for Standard Annual membership and Standard Monthly membership your minimum commitment is to pay for the first 12 full calendar months of your membership with us (together with the part of a month as mentioned in A5d ‘Starting your membership’). This applies even if you have Standard Monthly membership and cancel your direct debit before then.

It says first 12 calendar months not the the first 12 payments there is a difference as such the months with no payments was what David Llyod charged for those months due to not being able to provide the service they do not have in the terms the right to freeze the membership only the member has that right 

David Lloyd could have said that all member have to contact us to freeze their memberships as per the T&C but they didn't.