On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:05:03 +0000, "James"
wrote:

I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of a pickle with membership at a
David Lloyds fitness club. I was interested in joining, and booked a time to
go and see a sales advisor on 31st July on my way home from work. When I got
there the advisor showed me around then spent some time explaining
memberships. I was tired, and said I wanted to go home to think about it and
discuss it with my wife. However, to cut a long story short, I ended up
signing a direct debit form for membership, signing up to a 'gold' package.

Did you sign only the direct debit form or did you also sign a
contract agreeing to join and to pay the membership fee?

The following day, the sales advisor rang, and left a message asking to get
back in touch because my bank details were incorrect.
I regretted taking out membership, so I rang back explaining that I had made
a mistake and no longer wanted the membership.

If you'd already signed a contract, you wouldn't have been entitled to
cancel it. If you hadn't signed a contract, the position is less
clear. The fact that you'd signed a direct debit form could be
regarded as evidence that you'd entered into a verbal contract. If
you intend to argue that it wasn't your intention to do so, it'll be a
little difficult offering a convincing alternative explanation for
signing the direct debit form.

Any ideas / suggestions? I would have thought that a 14 day 'cooling off'
period would apply. Is this correct / required by law?

Unfortunately, not. As I understand it (but I'm not a lawyer),
there's no cooling-off period when you enter into a contract on a
trader's premises.

Fitness clubs make a lot of money from people who sign up and then
change their mind or don't turn up very often. The industry has a
reputation of enforcing minimum contract terms when people try to
cancel.

You may have to write this off as an expensive lesson never to be
coerced by sales people into entering into a contract despite having
doubts.

You could, of course, wait and see if they try and sue you for the
membership fee before deciding whether to pay. If they don't have a
signed contract, they may drop the matter.

Mike.