Pushed to sign a contract - NEED HELP

shahzadamir

I am a female in the '50s with health issues and desperately seeking help to reduce weight. I came across this advertisement on YouTube from a fitness trainer who claims that his program is specially targeted to help females over  '40, and he sounded highly convincing. I arranged a telephone call with him on 19/09/21 to discuss this in detail. As expected, he promised how his program would accelerate my metabolism and reduce my weight. After a detailed discussion, he asked me to sign the 90 days program, with a reduced offer of £2,500, otherwise available approximately at £2,900. I asked for some time to think and arrange for finance, obviously on credit, to which he said I must pay a deposit of £250 to hold the place at that moment and call him back after a few hours to go ahead with the deal. I will call it my stupidity or foolishness or vulnerability on my part!  I carried as instructed and agreed to pay in three monthly installments, the first installment of £800 paid.   I signed the contract, which clearly states that if the member/client decides to quit before the 90day program, the service provider will refund no money. The member/client must clear any outstanding installments to avoid legal action.  After getting access to the website and the App, I could not find anything specially designed to improve metabolism drastically. It has a usual list of foods to eat or avoid and few workout videos readily available on YouTube.  My concern is that the services promised are in no way worth £2500; I firmly believe that this is to con by pushing to sign a deal.

 If I am not wrong, although I have signed the contract for services /products purchased over the phone, I have the legal right to come out of the contract within 14 days of signing. Kindly advise on this. I would say that media should be highlight such issues to educate people in my position.

 I desperately need your advice

Sandtree

shahzadamir said:
If I am not wrong, although I have signed the contract for services /products purchased over the phone, I have the legal right to come out of the contract within 14 days of signing. Kindly advise on this. I would say that media should be highlight such issues to educate people in my position.

The statutory cooling off periods for services arranged remotely is 14 days however if you asked for the service to start within the 14 days then its not a fee free cancellation - they are entitled to charge you both for the services received to date plus any administration type fees for the cancellation. 

This is fairly straight forward for a solicitor or accountant as they just bill you for the hours they've worked at the rate you agreed to but when the service is access to information it gets more difficult to quantify... assuming the fee is just for accessing the data/videos in theory within a few hours you could have harvested the whole site and stored a local copy that you can use forever more. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Where is the fitness trainer based?  In the UK?  Do you have a name and trading address for him?

Hopefully, people on here can help you try and get some of your money back, but depending on the answers to the above, it may be impossible.

On the weight loss issue, well done for taking positive steps to tackle it, but please, please don't spend a load of money.  Your GP will be able to suggest or signpost a sensible weight loss plan.  You don't need these stupid fad diets or elaborate exercise regimes, it's simply a case of moderate increases in physical activity over time, with simultaneous moderate decreases in calorie intake.  Crash dieting or suddenly rushing out running is not a healthy way to do things, it needs to be gradual to allow your body to adjust, and should be done with medical consultation if you are particularly overweight or have underlying health conditions.

That's all there is to it, yet there is a whole industry out there whose existence relies on it being dressed up as much more complex than it really is.  It's not easy - willpower and determination are required, but you don't need to be spending lots of money.  A good, qualified personal trainer can help with motivation and discipline, but with encouragement from friends and family even that might not be necessary.  There are also loads of free apps to help you record and track progress.

bris

He still needs to send the correct information to you, if he didn't send any cancellation rights then there is no properly formed contract. This information has to be in durable means, a hard copy to your home or an email you can keep, just terms on his website or YouTube channel don't count.

If he did send you this information and you started the service then the cooling off period ends and it's a lot harder to get out of it. 

You stated this is on finance so it's time to give them (finance company) a call and tell them you have not been given the prescribed cancellation rights so no opportunity to cancel and want to cancel and get a full refund. 

born_again

shahzadamir said:

I am a female in the '50s with health issues and desperately seeking help to reduce weight. I came across this advertisement on YouTube from a fitness trainer who claims that his program is specially targeted to help females over  '40, and he sounded highly convincing. I arranged a telephone call with him on 19/09/21 to discuss this in detail. As expected, he promised how his program would accelerate my metabolism and reduce my weight. After a detailed discussion, he asked me to sign the 90 days program, with a reduced offer of £2,500, otherwise available approximately at £2,900. I asked for some time to think and arrange for finance, obviously on credit, to which he said I must pay a deposit of £250 to hold the place at that moment and call him back after a few hours to go ahead with the deal. I will call it my stupidity or foolishness or vulnerability on my part!  I carried as instructed and agreed to pay in three monthly installments, the first installment of £800 paid.   I signed the contract, which clearly states that if the member/client decides to quit before the 90day program, the service provider will refund no money. The member/client must clear any outstanding installments to avoid legal action.  After getting access to the website and the App, I could not find anything specially designed to improve metabolism drastically. It has a usual list of foods to eat or avoid and few workout videos readily available on YouTube.  My concern is that the services promised are in no way worth £2500; I firmly believe that this is to con by pushing to sign a deal.

 If I am not wrong, although I have signed the contract for services /products purchased over the phone, I have the legal right to come out of the contract within 14 days of signing. Kindly advise on this. I would say that media should be highlight such issues to educate people in my position.

 I desperately need your advice

OP who is the finance with?
Something you sourced yourself, or was it supplied by the trainer?

Grumpy_chap

shahzadamir said:

I am a female in the '50s with health issues and desperately seeking help to reduce weight. I came across this advertisement on YouTube from a fitness trainer who claims that his program is specially targeted to help females over  '40, and he sounded highly convincing. I arranged a telephone call with him on 19/09/21 to discuss this in detail. As expected, he promised how his program would accelerate my metabolism and reduce my weight. After a detailed discussion, he asked me to sign the 90 days program, with a reduced offer of £2,500, otherwise available approximately at £2,900. I asked for some time to think and arrange for finance, obviously on credit, to which he said I must pay a deposit of £250 to hold the place at that moment and call him back after a few hours to go ahead with the deal. I will call it my stupidity or foolishness or vulnerability on my part!  I carried as instructed and agreed to pay in three monthly installments, the first installment of £800 paid.   I signed the contract, which clearly states that if the member/client decides to quit before the 90day program, the service provider will refund no money. The member/client must clear any outstanding installments to avoid legal action.  After getting access to the website and the App, I could not find anything specially designed to improve metabolism drastically. It has a usual list of foods to eat or avoid and few workout videos readily available on YouTube.  My concern is that the services promised are in no way worth £2500; I firmly believe that this is to con by pushing to sign a deal.

 If I am not wrong, although I have signed the contract for services /products purchased over the phone, I have the legal right to come out of the contract within 14 days of signing. Kindly advise on this. I would say that media should be highlight such issues to educate people in my position.

 I desperately need your advice

What did this "fitness trainer" say he would deliver for the £2.5k?

You mention the outcomes - accelerated metabolism and reduced weight - but what did he say he would actually do / provide for that outcome to be achieved?

You mention that, after paying, he provided the app and website access plus some links to regular online content.  Did you see information about this before signing up to the programme - sufficient to understand that the access to the app was what you wanted and worth the money?

Over 90-days, and £2.5k, I'd be expecting a one-hour contact session at least 4 times per week - that works out to around £50 per hour.  Is this fitness trainer located sufficiently close to you that personal training sessions are a realistic outcome?
Even £50 per hour when buying a bulk "lot" is at the higher cost range.

Does he have a Ltd Co. that you can check out, or online reviews?

Did you pay the £250 deposit by credit card?  That may offer you a route to recover costs.  OR, via the credit to pay the £2.5k of that was arranged by the trainer.

Sorry that I cannot bring any good news but, looking ahead, if you think that slow metabolism is causing weigh gain, then (and I'm not an expert or qualified in the subject area but lay-comments) I would suggest the following type of approach:

• Medical review with GP first to rule out any medical condition affecting your metabolism
• Diet - ensure you eat the correct level of protein and drink more water (less tea / coffee / alcohol)
• Aerobic exercise - walking, swimming, cycling
• Some strength building activities
• Good level of rest and sleep

I use MyFitnessPal (free app) to log all my calories, Garmin fitness tracker (but choose whichever brand / model you like) and daily weigh-in, then combine the three tools to achieve the desired results.

MalMonroe

Hi, there is some information here, from this very website - scroll down to 'how long do I have to cancel'.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange/#accordion-content-769627712-1

I would also advise you to contact Citizens Advice. Their details - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

information in this link -

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/changed-your-mind/cancelling-a-service-youve-arranged/

I do agree with the people who are advising you to see your doctor for help with weight loss. If you have other health issues, then that is the way to go since signing up with rogue miracle workers like the one on YouTube could be detrimental to your health as well as to your finances.

I also think that you should report this person to Action Fraud because it's obvious that he is operating a con. You don't have to spend thousands of pounds to lose weight. 

bris

Dieting is a simple process to understand but extremely hard to do.

Find your daily required calorie intake https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html#

Eat the calculated amount to stay the same, eat more you put on weight, eat less you lose weight, it's not rocket science and it's as simple as that but watching the calories is where we all fall down.

JJ_Egan

OP do you have a You Tube link ??

born_again

So OP been back @ 

Today at 11:17AM
Yet not answered a single question...