David Lloyd taken direct debit payment without permission??

zogbog

Hi all! A little help for the noob please?
We were looking into our options for renewal at our local club this year. We have always paid for the year upfront in cash.
At the start, we also paid our children swim classes in advance in cash too. After a year or two, the club said they were changing policy and this had to be done by card payment and we set up a direct debit for these. It turned out to be a nightmare though because when lessons were cancelled we had to fight to get the missed lessons refunded, some months we were charged for too many classes etc. So we stopped before covid and didn't start back up again.

So our membership comes up for renewal. We called the team to discuss our options again; is paying upfront still saving us enough money to take on the risk for us, or are we better paying monthly etc. They gave us prices, we said we would discuss it and get back to them.

We then received an email to say "A gentle reminder to renew, If you would like to renew click here..." etc. We were, maybe naively, under the impression that this would mean that as we had been long standing members we would be able to have a moment to decide and get back to them. It was worded in such a way that it gave the impression that no decision would be made until we clicked on that button to renew and pay the full yearly amount as we had previously done (although we had always done it in cash, in club)

Anyway, we were surprised to see that an amount had been taken without permission from our account. The membership had been automatically renewed, because we hadn't given three months notice otherwise (this isn't what we are disputing btw... this seems to be an oversight on our part apparently!), and it was taken via a Direct Debit that we hadn't given permission for.

Am I right in thinking that this shouldn't be allowed? We did give permission for them to take money for the purposes of swim lessons, and even those had been cancelled over two years ago, but definitely not for taking monthly payments for membership fees!

Ive been onto the head office number who referred me to my local club, the local club referred me to online chat function (but helpfully arranged a callback from someone NEXT TUESDAY, 7 days wait!!?), and online chat has said they can't deal with it... plus they were so hell bent on telling me I couldn't cancel without notice that they totally overlooked my concerns regarding their financial conduct.

Its totally shocked and thrown me... we were actually going to renew our membership anyway, we were only wobbling over whether to take the risk and pay cash in advance in one sum if the savings were great enough, or pay monthly if the savings weren't significant. But now im really reluctant to give my details to a company that aren't transparent about how they use my bank details.

Im not sure what im asking for here, you'll probably see this is my first post lol! I guess some advice on how to deal with a call back, what my rights are, can I cancel if im not sure of their conduct etc? be gentle with me please!

[Deleted User]

Did you actually cancel the direct debit with the bank and inform the gym to cancel your membership.  From reading your post you never cancelled your membership with the gym so in effect your membership was still open.

TELLIT01

It would seem that the OP hadn't given formal notice to terminate their agreement so DL has continued to take money using the DD.  Most DDs will continue to be taken until the bank and the recipient are informed to stop.

zogbog

Deleted_User said:

Did you actually cancel the direct debit with the bank and inform the gym to cancel your membership.  From reading your post you never cancelled your membership with the gym so in effect your membership was still open.

I took out a direct debit for swimming lessons, not for membership, so its a bit of grey area for us all, DL included

[Deleted User]

You have to be a member to book the swimming lessons, so you couldnt have cancelled your membership.

zogbog

TELLIT01 said:

It would seem that the OP hadn't given formal notice to terminate their agreement so DL has continued to take money using the DD.  Most DDs will continue to be taken until the bank and the recipient are informed to stop.

Youre correct, I was hoping to renew! but I can't help but feel a little bit weird that they're allowed to take money from an old direct debit where the original use was cancelled two years ago

zogbog

Deleted_User said:

You have to be a member to book the swimming lessons, so you couldnt have cancelled your membership.

Im sorry, maybe I haven't been clear. Im having the same misunderstanding from DL too.

The issue here is nothing to do with membership and whether or not its been cancelled. 
My issue is are they allowed to use an old direct debit that was opened for swim classes, that were cancelled two years ago, to pay for something else that we usually pay cash for (and would have again this time too, had I not been spooked by this). 
How long is a direct debit open for without being used?
Im asking for advice because I don't know this... should I have cancelled the direct debit or should it have been cancelled by DL when the contract for swim lessons ended?

[Deleted User]

zogbog said:

TELLIT01 said:

It would seem that the OP hadn't given formal notice to terminate their agreement so DL has continued to take money using the DD.  Most DDs will continue to be taken until the bank and the recipient are informed to stop.

Youre correct, I was hoping to renew! but I can't help but feel a little bit weird that they're allowed to take money from an old direct debit where the original use was cancelled two years ago

If you didnt cancel the direct debit with your bank regardless how old it is its still open. 

zogbog

im trying to reply but they keep disappearing, so apologies if im multi posting here!

I thank you for your replies and valuable insight.

so, are DL now allowed to keep using these direct debit details for reasons other than the one I originally opened it for? 

[Deleted User]

It doesnt matter what the reasons are the payments are made to David Lloyd wether its for the gym, swimming etc. Check with your bank in case there are two direct debits set up.

zogbog

Deleted_User said:

It doesnt matter what the reasons are the payments are made to David Lloyd wether its for the gym, swimming etc. Check with your bank in case there are two direct debits set up.

thanks def not two direct debits, DL have confirmed that it was first opened for swim lessons, we had it open for approx five months, then the lessons were cancelled in 2019. Now we are charged for something unrelated in 2022.
I guess its figuring out if direct debits are attached to a particular subscription (in our case swim lessons) or whether they are open to be used by the Company in any way they chose (as in our case, actually three years after the last use, for a membership subscription)