Total Fitness - Adding extra onto months notice

paulh1983

Hi,

I've trawled through the archives to find something similar but haven't managed to come up with anything - apologies if it's something that's been raised before.

In brief, I've had a contract with Total Fitness for a few years and decided to cancel (various and largely unimportant reasons).  I gave written notice on the 16th March which is per their own terms and conditions "8.2. If the Member wishes to bring the Agreement to an end either at the end of the Minimum Period or at any time thereafter once the first 12 months has passed the Member must give no less than one month’s written notice, the Member can initiate the cancellation within the Members App."

I got an automatic response to this "We’ve actioned your request and your membership will be cancelled on 08/05/2024, this is when your access to the club stops. The last payment to us will be on 08/04/2024 this completes your one calendar month notice."

8th is the day my Direct Debit is made.  I queried this back as 16th March to 8th May is far longer than one month, stating that 16th April should be my last day of membership and the payment for 8th April would need to be adjusted to reflect that it's 8 days membership rather than a full month.

Their response to this was: "When cancelling your membership, we require one month’s notice, which is one final payment. As you requested to cancel on the 16th of March, your final payment will be on the 8th of April, as this is your monthly payment date and you will be able to use the facilities until the 8th of May 2024."

Again, I queried this telling them I'd given the exact notice period as per their own T&C and there's nothing in there about giving one months full payment.

Response just come in, same theme really:

"As per the terms and conditions outlined:

1. If you wish to terminate your Agreement either at the conclusion of the Minimum Period or thereafter, you are required to provide no less than one month's written notice. This can be initiated through the Members App.

 

Given that your monthly membership payments occur from one date to another within the month, the cancellation process takes effect upon request. This means that cancellation occurs after the next scheduled payment in accordance with your monthly payment date.

 

In your specific case, since your cancellation was requested on March 16, 2024, and your monthly payments are scheduled for the 8th of each month, the one-month notice period is applied. Consequently, your final payment will be collected on April 8, 2024, and your membership will conclude on May 8, 2024, granting you access until this date."

I'm not wrong am I in that I've given enough notice, i.e. a month and they shouldn't be trying to hold onto my contract beyond that 16th April point?  

Not sure what to do now though. If I cancel my DD it'll stop the April 8th payment, which will be a breach on my behalf.  Equally so I don't want them taking the full months amount.

Any advice welcome

Many thanks
Paul 

sheramber

This means that cancellation occurs after the next scheduled payment in accordance with your monthly payment date

That means the date of cancellation is your from your next payment date, not from the actual date of of your notice ot cancel.

Your next payment date was 8 April, so that is when your month's notice commences.

paulh1983

Thank you, sorry I should have stated this too.  The actual terms and conditions (https://www.totalfitness.co.uk/terms-conditions) on this matter are:

"8. Cancellation and Freezing of membership
8.1. For memberships where the Minimum Period is 12months or more, Members may request to freeze their Membership from a minimum of one month to a maximum of three months per membership year. A fee of £5 per month shall be applied. Any months frozen will be added to the end of the current membership period. A membership freeze must be processed in the Members App five working days before the next payment day
8.2. If the Member wishes to bring the Agreement to an end either at the end of the Minimum Period or at any time thereafter once the first 12 months has passed the Member must give no less than one month’s written notice, the Member can initiate the cancellation within the Members App.
8.3. If you joined outside of the Club premises you have a 14-day cooling off period to terminate this agreement without giving any reason. If you have used the Facilities, then the refund will be limited to the amount paid beyond the cooling off period. You can complete this request online within the Members App"

No mention of all about the cancellation process kicking in upon the start of a monthly pay cycle, just that it's one-month.  The bit you've quoted is just what the e-mail response from Total Fitness says.

Alderbank

paulh1983 said:

Thank you, sorry I should have stated this too.  The actual terms and conditions (https://www.totalfitness.co.uk/terms-conditions) on this matter are:

"8. Cancellation and Freezing of membership
8.1. For memberships where the Minimum Period is 12months or more, Members may request to freeze their Membership from a minimum of one month to a maximum of three months per membership year. A fee of £5 per month shall be applied. Any months frozen will be added to the end of the current membership period. A membership freeze must be processed in the Members App five working days before the next payment day
8.2. If the Member wishes to bring the Agreement to an end either at the end of the Minimum Period or at any time thereafter once the first 12 months has passed the Member must give no less than one month’s written notice, the Member can initiate the cancellation within the Members App.
8.3. If you joined outside of the Club premises you have a 14-day cooling off period to terminate this agreement without giving any reason. If you have used the Facilities, then the refund will be limited to the amount paid beyond the cooling off period. You can complete this request online within the Members App"

No mention of all about the cancellation process kicking in upon the start of a monthly pay cycle, just that it's one-month.  The bit you've quoted is just what the e-mail response from Total Fitness says.

Your extract doesn't say that it's one month.

It says you must give a minimum of one month. It certainly doesn't say your membership expires exactly one month from the date when you give notice to cancel.

You need to refer to the membership conditions on your copy of the form you signed when you joined. You say you joined 'some years ago' so those terms might have changed since, and you would have agreed to those changes by continuing as a member.

The question that matters is 'Are the cancellation terms the club is now quoting different from the terms you have agreed to?'

paulh1983

Thank you, much appreciated.

So I've gone back through my e-mails when I joined (did it all online) and no terms and conditions were sent over as part of the sign-up.  No doubt there will have been terms and conditions but they didn't send them over with the joining e-mails.

Are you saying in effect that I'll just have to take the hit?  It feels a bit unfair that they can state 'no less than one month's notice' and then use that as they see fit.  If they can interpret that as one months full payment what's to stop them saying it's actually 3-months full payment?

On-the-coast

what's to stop them saying it's actually 3-months full payment?

Indeed… I’ve heard of 12-months.  (Some) Gyms have a terrible rep for this kind of thing.  Only defence is keeping an exact copy of what you signed up to & reading it first.  

Even then you can be caught out on the exact understanding.  

paulh1983

Thank you, more I think about it the less convinced I am regards any T&C's but hey ho.