David Lloyd membership freeze question

jenjen123123

We have been members at the David Lloyd gym for well over a year, and back in mid March, we received an email saying 
"We have been listening and I’m pleased to confirm that in light of these unprecedented times you can now freeze your membership for free, for as long as you wish. Simply email the Club should you wish to freeze your membership."
We emailed saying we would like to freeze our membership until further notice, but back in July they change their mind about the free freeze offer and demand a 25% monthly fee to freeze from 1 October.  Can they do that?   How can they not honour what they promised?  A free freeze for as long as we (the members) wish does not translate to a free freeze until David Lloyd change their mind?  It is not like we are covid free now... we really do not feel safe going back to the gym, but we do not want to pay 25% to freeze either.  Cancelling is not really an option as they ask for 3 months full fee - which equates to over 700 pounds for a family of three.  

Is anyone here in a similar situation, and what are you doing about it?   

[Deleted User]

You'd contact them and show them the letter.

Doesn't matter what anyone else does.

Thrugelmir

If you want out. Pay the £700. Better than an ongoing commitment for facilities they you have no intention of using. Covid isn't going away anytime soon. 

scrimpin

  😂
They don’t care .. There not interested in your situation, the tide is turning 

Just pay the cash ..be rid of them 
Just laugh they’ll go under 😉 

Martyn1981

Hi, similar situation in Cardiff. My wife spoke to them today, and asked them to discuss the matter with me, regarding a suspension of membership.
They told her that it was no longer free and she would have to pay 25% per month when suspended. She asked to suspend for 4 months, but they said the maximum allowed was 2 months, and then the policy might not allow any further suspensions.
She explained that she cares for her elderly parents and is therefore concerned for them (as well as her), but they said it was a national policy.
She asked about cancelling (she has 6 months membership remaining) and they said she had to give 3 months notice, and NO that could not include the suspension period, even though she would be charged (25%) during the suspension.

I then spoke to them and asked if there were local considerations, but was told no it was a national policy. I pointed out that we (and they) were based in Cardiff with travel restrictions now in place, and half of S. Wales under lockdowns. She then explained that 'of course' those in locked down areas didn't have to pay, and I explained that there were then local considerations to the national policy, based on Covid developments, and she kept saying 'of course'!

From the start she explained that absolutely nothing could be achieved from discussing the matter as the policy was national, and repeatedly stated that 'she had already spent a lot of time on this matter'. Not great customer service, in fact quite a good way to escalate an issue. When I stood my ground and asked for head office details she explained that we had to write to the Cardiff Branch (but I thought it was a national policy). She then took an interesting tack and said that she couldn't speak to me anymore as I'm not the member and that I was getting annoyed. I pointed out I was perfectly calm, polite, had said please and thank you to all her comments, and was not at all annoyed - so she then said she could hear in my voice I was becoming irritated ......... didn't know that wasn't allowed, and sounds suspiciously like a trick way to end calls.

She did then let slip that she had a supervisor, and I asked if I could speak to her (attempt 1), she explained that she wasn't available. I asked when she would be back (attempt 2) and she told me she wasn't in work today. I then asked when she would be in work (attempt 3) and she finally let me know ....... not sure that that was really such a tricky question.

So overall, I got the impression that they were doing everything possible to be as difficult, or perhaps unhelpful as possible, whilst hiding behind 'it's head office guidelines'.

Horrific customer service, but not at all surprising I have to say for David Lloyd.

Martyn1981

scrimpin said:

  😂
They don’t care .. There not interested in your situation, the tide is turning 

Just pay the cash ..be rid of them 
Just laugh they’ll go under 😉 

Hiya, didn't quite understand that post till I popped onto Trustpilot and saw that 43% of reviews gave them bottom marks. Also enjoyed the 5* reviews that appeared to be cut and paste including "many diversity" as a whole sentence! I'm convinced