After not going to the local council gym for some time (12 months ish…) I cancelled the direct debit via my internet banking.

I’ve been a member for about 5 years so well outside of the initial 12 months contract and so I naively assumed I could just cancel via my bank and that would be that.

I’ve just received a letter from the direct debit company saying I need to pay the 1 months missed installment, plus a £10 late fee, plus a further months fees if it is my intention to cancel (as apparently I was paying in arrears and need to give 1 months notice).

Does anyone know where I stand on this? Obviously it’s pretty ****ing stupid of me to have paid for a gym membership for a year and not used it! But the fact that they want another 2 months cash out of me plus a tenner is frankly taking the piss. How could they get the money from my bank without authorisation? Could I just ignore or is there a parking fine/genuine pre-estimate of loss route I could take?

Cheers in advance for any advice/comments on my stupidity!

Yeah, typically you need to actually cancel a contract rather than just stop paying it. Cancelling direct debits like that is almost certainly a bad idea.

If I were you, I’d talk to them and try to appeal to their better nature (if they have one). I don’t think you’ve got much of a leg to stand on legally, and the debt collection people don’t care for excuses they just want your money. If you went in and explained, and apologised, you might elicit some sympathy. Maybe.

Asking them nicely to overturn it might remove a black mark on your credit score too, of course.

Cheers Cougar – I’ll give them a call tomorrow and try to appeal to that better nature (should it exist..). If that doesn’t work then I’ll try and meet somewhere in the middle – If they’d just asked for 1 months (the amount of notice I was meant to give) I probably would have just paid.

Hmmm.. Hadn’t considered the credit score aspect of it. Bollocks.

In Edinburgh their recommended way to cancel a council gym membership is to cancel the direct debit.

I’ve heard a few time that gyms are very aggressive when it comes to pursuing members who try and cancel without giving the correct notice. But what happens if it is the gym who cancels your membership?
Perhaps for bad behaviour, such parking in staff spaces, being loud and obnoxious, being particularly smelly or even crapping in the urinals.
But a member wouldn’t actually have to resort to such behaviour, just threaten to 😉

Looks like they are only asking for 1 month’s notice, plus a 10 quid fee for the inconvenience of dealing with your behaviour. Doesn’t sound too unreasonable to me.