I set up a gym membership last june. cancelled it with the company in august last year. discovered a week ago that they’re still taking money from my account. Phoned the gym up and they said “oh you need to cancel it with your bank not us, sorry should have told you that”. well they didnt. As i pointed out i dont enjoy giving £30 a month for a service I dont use.

I havent been on the inhouse ‘system’ for the 7months that they have been taking money. so they know i havent been going.

I have asked for a copy of what i have signed with them emailed to me, just to make sure there was no small print. ( its only a small independant company so i doubt it).

Does any one have any advice on this?

This was on watchdog about a week ago. The conclusion was that the gyms are buggers.

(iPlayer I suppose of you really wanted to watch it)

Phone up bank. Say that payments have been taken on DD in error, explain cirumstances, ask for it to be charged back under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

My bank has always been very helpful when some scumbag organisation has taken payments after contract cancellation. The most notable one was Tiscali – I was getting nowhere with them so turned it over to the bank and the money was just transferred back.

read and absorb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jan/27/la-fitness-knockout-blow-gym-contracts

Isn’t this a large part of the business case of most gyms?

Get loads of people to sign up during a pique of good intentions, then lock them into contracts for services they never use. If they leave, keep taking the money and hope they don’t notice or are too timid to complain.

Gyms have nowhere near enough capacity for the number of members because they know that most of them will never show up!

Dave

Interesting read Stoner.

Phone up bank. Say that payments have been taken on DD in error, explain cirumstances, ask for it to be charged back under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

This, assuming the payment was by DD. If it was by Standing Order, it was up to you to cancel it, you’ll need to badger the gym for a refund (and cancel the standing order)

If it’s a regular credit card payment, contact the credit card company and explain what’s happened, they should refund you and chase the gym.

If it’s a regular debit card payment, all you can do is badger the gym to cancel taking any payments and refund you. The bank can’t do it, as it’s a guaranteed form of payment.

it was a standing order. BUT i never set it up…

informed the bank of this and they’re looking into it

On a positive note I was a member at Nirvana in Wokingham;

The membership is generaly a bit cheeper than the website claims (guess the threat of £1000+ joining fees keeps the plebs out :P), the gym is generaly quiet, and even though the contract is basicly a credit agreement splitting the 12months into 12 monthly repayments they let me cancel with 30 days notice 7 months in as I was moving away with work, having already taken the first 3 months free and not paid any joining fee.

The gym must have given you a standing order form to fill out, which they forwarded to the bank. So they’re right in that it was your responsibility to cancel it (and the bank would keep paying them until you did), but it sounds like they should have been clearer about it.

it was a standing order. BUT i never set it up…

Unless the gym staff have been raiding your bins, how would they have your bank details? You must have agreed to some payment mechanism when you joined?

cancelled it with the company in august last year.

Does any one have any advice on this?

Advice – Keep a closer eye on your finances

Isn’t this a large part of the business case of most gyms?

Get loads of people to sign up during a pique of good intentions, then lock them into contracts for services they never use. If they leave, keep taking the money and hope they don’t notice or are too timid to complain.

Contrary to popular belief, no. Gyms actually work very hard to encourage people to use the gym and renew membership – cost of doing so is much less than the cost of acquiring a new customer to replace one who never attended and then left.

This happened to me too….. but it was a direct debit.
The gym in question was very reasonable about it, their first approach was the whole “it’s your responsibility to cancel your direct debit” line, but when challenged with my “it’s a direct debit: I am not sending you this money, you are taking it” arguement they imediately capitualated and sent me the 3 months of fees that they owed me.

If it’s a standing order though… you are sending them money. They cannot cancel YOUR standing order (is my understanding)

Go back and nick loads of towels

it was a standing order. BUT i never set it up…

Yes you did, even if the gym did most of the work for you.

Were you under a contract for a minimum time period?

(asks the former membership sales consultant at a gym with a two year/no cancellation clause in the contract 😳 )

Not so much advice but, my rules are never allow a company to collect payments either on your CC or debit card as it out of your direct control to cancel

A standing order would be preferred but I expect a lot of companies would not accept that and they would prefer a pull collection mechanism rather than a push mechanism from the customer for obvious reasons.

So all in all I would always expect to pay by direct debit, which you can cancel very easily through an online account. No written notice to the company, blah blah blah etc. If I wish to cancel the DD mandate then I will, if the company think I owe them money then they can come chasing me.

I am not trying to be dishonest, but I would never agree to a payment mechanism that I could not cancel solely by my own direct intervention. Online banking serves people very well in this respect.

Serves you right on two counts: One – for assuming they would stop taking your money unless you cancel the payment yourself and; Two – for not actually checking your bank statements properly for so long.