Fitlife Ltd - Associated Members Club

LarryHarry

Dear All - we would just like to let you know that we have today received a letter from AMC confirming that our membership has been cancelled and to cease any further SO's
:j :T

So after numerous emails, faxes and letters we are now free and our message to any other unsuspecting victims is keep at it and don't succumb to these people!!! We would also like to thank you all for your support and information.
:beer:

LarryHarry

Emsicles wrote: »

I've fallen for this scam too! I'm in Bristol and have joined Elite Fitness in Emersons Green. They did all the usual techniques as others have mentioned above. I have now cancelled my standing order and have received a letter from Lyle Hill stating that I signed a non cancellable consumer credit agreement and that I would be in default of this agreement if I don't pay up. It refers me to a paragraph in the agreement stating that 'The whole balance becomes payable immediately.'
Could anyone forward me a copy of their letter outlining the legal terminology and trading standards requirements so that I can forward this to Lyle Hill and Associated Members Club as I haven't done that yet?

Emsicles - just tell them 'due to the Company breaching Consumer Credit (pre Disclosure) Regulations 2004', which is that when they sign people up they do not give them prior to signing a Pre Contract Information Sheet, if like us this was craftily hidden under the top copy and we didn't find it until after we got home and that you will not be starting a standing order/direct debit with your bank.

pete1210

LarryHarry wrote: »

Emsicles - just tell them 'due to the Company breaching Consumer Credit (pre Disclosure) Regulations 2004', which is that when they sign people up they do not give them prior to signing a Pre Contract Information Sheet, if like us this was craftily hidden under the top copy and we didn't find it until after we got home and that you will not be starting a standing order/direct debit with your bank.

...but what if you have already started a standing order? (like almost all of of us apart from you) I can't understand how your SO did not automatically start up when you inadvertadly entered into this agreement in the first place????

pete1210

UPDATE: Today I recieved a letter back from Lyle Hill - as half expected they tell me that AMC are the ones to contact with reference to canceling the membership (as if I didn't already know that - hence why I 'cc'd AMC on the letter...duuh!)
But they also state "we would remind you that whilst you are corresponding with your club, you must ensure that your payments, in terms of your consumer credit agreement with Fitness Finance, do not go into arrears"

TOO BAD!:mad:

LarryHarry

pete1210 wrote: »

...but what if you have already started a standing order? (like almost all of of us apart from you) I can't understand how your SO did not automatically start up when you inadvertadly entered into this agreement in the first place????

because with it being a SO it doesnt' set up automatically until you notify your bank yourself, a Direct Debate sets up automatically once you have signed their Bank Mandate giving them permission to take the money from your account, so in actual fact you wouldn't set up a SO until you got back home and contacted your bank with AMC bank details presumably & by that time we had discussed it & decided not to continue so didn't bother setting up a SO in the first place.:dance:

opsmithswife

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! :mad:
11th Sep - we received a FINAL WARNING from Lyle Hill.
I'm just about getting fed up to the back teeth of these companies.
I feel like begging them all to take me to court so I can sue their a$$es for all their worth!

How many times do we have to tell these people that we haven't actually signed a contract. All we've signed is a Credit Act!

I'm about to contact my lawyers again and forward them the new letters!

Plus, does anyone else realise that it was made illegal in April (i think) for Survey UK to send out any slips of paper containing, "Congratulations, you've won", meaning that by the time we received this slip of paper in June, they were breaking the law. Tut tut!

My husband and I will be looking into going public. Once we have had some joy in involving newspapers etc, we will post a contact number for everyone who wishes to join in.

Best Regards

Dotsandspots

I fell foul to this scam back in May in Worcestershire. To cut a long story short the moment I got home i realised i had made a mistake, i immediately went back to the gym to cancel my membership but the silly c*w had 'apparently' placed my contract in the post already. The next day i made a few phone calls to AMC but to no avail so wrote to AMC to cancel. I have heard absolutely nothing since and have not been charged. Very strange, not that I'm complaining I have obviously had a lucky escape here. These people should be exposed ASAP, count me in for any media action!!

ClickyB

Hi All,

My partner Angelina was called by her friend to say she had won 2 x free memberships to a local gym'... (in Gloucester) back in April and offering one to her.
After that - same story as the rest of you really, except that she was also told the membership was transferable to "loads of other gym's in the area". The girl she spoke to filled in a fairly blank form with a direct debit section and slipped the carbon copies into an envelope.

Angelina came home and filed the envelope in a box file without even looking at it.

A month later her friend stopped going (she only managed one visit - lol) so Angelina went twice more, then she decided that travelling across the City was silly and emailed fitlife to ask if she could transfer the membership to another (more) local gym'.
She received a letter in reply, stating that it was not transferable to another gym', only to another person!

She tried to find another friend she could "donate" the "prize" to, but wasn't able to, so she cancelled the "direct debit" (which she then discovered was - in fact - a standing order).

Shortly afterwards the letters from Lyle Hill started to arrive and... here we are (lol)!

I got involved yesterday, following a couple of calls from Lyle Hill asking to speak to Angelina and insisting that she ring them back urgently.
Once I realised what had happened (ie: a scam), I rang Consumer Direct and was advised to write - pretty much exactly as advised by CreditExpert in this thread.

Following that call I found this forum and read all of your sad tales...
I am going to send a recorded delivery letter to (both) Fitlife Ltd and Lyle Hill and tell them to "go away", but I was interested in the address problems.

According to Companies House, Fitlife Ltd is (now) registered at:

FITLIFE LIMITED
53C MANOR ROAD NORTH
ITCHEN
SOUTHAMPTON
HAMPSHIRE
SO19 2DT
Company No. 03481044
(Interestingly enough - the same address as Lyle Hill - according to TouchSouthampton.com)

That's where I'm sending the letters... I'll let you know what happens.

Good Luck all.

pete1210

LarryHarry wrote: »

because with it being a SO it doesnt' set up automatically until you notify your bank yourself, a Direct Debate sets up automatically once you have signed their Bank Mandate giving them permission to take the money from your account, so in actual fact you wouldn't set up a SO until you got back home and contacted your bank with AMC bank details presumably & by that time we had discussed it & decided not to continue so didn't bother setting up a SO in the first place.:dance:

well your lucky then cos that didn't happen with us...we just got home & we were too late!:embarasse

I think what's happened is in your case, you were given time to read thru the terms of the contract to decide (depending on when u originally joined)

According to Fitlife, changes were made from June 15th to ensure they covered all areas of the agreements in accordance to the trading standards terms. This was brought to my attention today when I received a letter from them blah, blah, blah...they disagree etc.........however we joined June 2nd so I'm hoping this will work in our favour.

I think the new rule could be is that you can go away & read thru the agreements before going ahead with the set up of the standing order perhaps???

They're still all a bunch of exclaimation marks imo:mad:

UPDATE +++++ SORRY PEOPLE! MY MISTAKE! The letter actually states 15th July 2007, so godness knows what going on here??

MaggiePkr

Well, I emailed Fitlife 2 weeks ago now after my recorded delivery letter to them was returned 'unclaimed'. The email hasn't come back so they must have received it.
My direct debit (which i have stopped) should have, but hasn't, gone out now. I have been expecting a letter from somewhere telling me to pay up, but as yet haven't heard anything.
After reading some of the latest posts, i'm wondering if they have decided not to chase up non-payers after they write to them to cancel? Maybe they are concentrating on getting more new victims signed up? (wishful thinking I reckon)
they really do need exposing. the more I think about it, the angrier i feel. Whatever happened to good customer relations? These people really take the biscuit!
I'm actually just as angry with myself for paying the monthly amount for as long as I did. Money down the drain.
These people are crooks and I can't understand why the authorities haven't done anything to stop them trading. They surely know about them?
This country is going mad - if you drop a sweet wrapper or the like you get an instant fine. If you con thousands of people you get away with it!!!