On Tue, 9 Jan 2007 09:30:10 +0000, "Tommo"
wrote:


tiscali wrote:
11 months ago I took out what I thought was a one year membership of a gym.
I signed a contract and a credit agreement which asked for payments to be
made monthly by direct debit for 12 months. I have made payments without
fail. I want to cancel it due to us not using it very much. Now the gym say
they need three months notice, even though my credit agreement is for 12
months. I checked the back of the contract and sure enough it says three
months in the small print.

I don't think that's fair, as it was never highlighted to us by the sales
person when we signed the contract initially.

I have written a letter offering one months notice, which takes me up to the
end of the 12 month period. I have quoted
Statutory Instrument 1999 No. 2083, The Unfair Terms In Consumer Contracts
Regulations 1999, Schedule Two, Regulation 5(5) Section 1 (h) "automatically
extending a contract of fixed duration where the consumer does not indicate
otherwise, when the deadline fixed for the consumer to express his desire
not to extend the contract is unreasonably early".

Do you think that my cancellation is reasonable, and will the gym be able to
sue me for two more month's payments? Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,

David

There is another point you could argue, which is that any onerous terms
should be specifically drawn to the attention of the contracting party
(i.e. you) when you sign the agreement. It is arguable that 3 months
notice is excessive, and therefore that this clause should have been
drawn specifically to your attention.

However, as the clause clearly states that 3 month's notice should be
given it seems that the cause of the problem is your failure to read
the terms and conditions before you signed and/or when you wanted to
cancel. Whilst you could put forward various legal arguments, I fear
that if this circumstance you are unlikely to get much sympathy from a
Judge if the matter does escalate further and go to Court.

If you learn nothing else out of this, let it be this: always read what
you are signing.

I suppose you could spend every spare moment you had over the three
months sitting in the gym - occupying their most expensive and popular
machines while reading a newspaper. Clearly explaining to anyone that
asked that as they had conned you into paying for these three months,
you were getting your money's worth out of them.

Eventually they might decide to cancel your membership and refund it.


--
On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk

(Waterways World site of the month, April 2001)
My Reply-To address *is* valid, though likely to die soon

"Nick Atty" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 9 Jan 2007 09:30:10 +0000, "Tommo"
wrote:


I suppose you could spend every spare moment you had over the three
months sitting in the gym - occupying their most expensive and popular
machines while reading a newspaper. Clearly explaining to anyone that
asked that as they had conned you into paying for these three months,
you were getting your money's worth out of them.

Eventually they might decide to cancel your membership and refund it.

Actually, there is nothing in my contract about exercising naked. They might
even give me a refund to leave!

Peter Crosland wrote:
11 months ago I took out what I thought was a one year membership of
a gym. I signed a contract and a credit agreement which asked for
payments to be made monthly by direct debit for 12 months. I have
made payments without fail. I want to cancel it due to us not using
it very much. Now the gym say they need three months notice, even
though my credit agreement is for 12 months. I checked the back of
the contract and sure enough it says three months in the small print.


Cancel the DD as soon as the 12th payment has been taken. I doubt you will
hear any more. They are unlikely to want the bad publicity that you can
generate.

Peter Crosland

That may well be so, but I think that since the OP has signed a
contract requiring three months notice then he should honour it. He
should take the lesson from it one should never sign a contract
without reading and understanding it.

Robert

Owain wrote in news:1168987000.53435.3
@despina.uk.clara.net:

Robert wrote:
11 months ago I took out what I thought was a one year membership of
a gym. ... Now the gym say they need three months notice, even
though my credit agreement is for 12 months.
That may well be so, but I think that since the OP has signed a
contract requiring three months notice then he should honour it. He
should take the lesson from it one should never sign a contract
without reading and understanding it.

On the other hand, perhaps the gym should take the lesson one should
never issue contracts to customers that break the Unfair Contract Terms
Act. I'm not saying this one does, but 12 months *and* a 3 month notice
period might do.

Owain





I puzzled that a 12 months contract can be for 15 months. Surely the
original contract for 12 months must be binding?

--
gbh
gbh04 is a spamtrap
all post is deleted

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:55:03 +0000, gbh wrote:

Owain wrote in news:1168987000.53435.3
:

Robert wrote:
11 months ago I took out what I thought was a one year membership of
a gym. ... Now the gym say they need three months notice, even
though my credit agreement is for 12 months.
That may well be so, but I think that since the OP has signed a
contract requiring three months notice then he should honour it. He
should take the lesson from it one should never sign a contract
without reading and understanding it.

On the other hand, perhaps the gym should take the lesson one should
never issue contracts to customers that break the Unfair Contract Terms
Act. I'm not saying this one does, but 12 months *and* a 3 month notice
period might do.

Owain





I puzzled that a 12 months contract can be for 15 months. Surely the
original contract for 12 months must be binding?

What 12 month contract might that be then?

These contracts are not normally fixed length contracts at all. They
are indeterminate length, with a minimum contract length of 12 months.

And I don't understand why you think it is 15 months either. If the
notice period is tree months, then that just means that notice has to
be given at 9 months if you actually want the term to end at 12
months.

Whether three months notice is reasonable is open to debate, but if it
is, then there is nothing wrong with enforcing it.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
In God we trust; all else we walk through.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

Alex Heney writes:

And I don't understand why you think it is 15 months either. If the
notice period is tree months, then that just means that notice has to
be given at 9 months if you actually want the term to end at 12
months.

15 months comes from the claim that the 3 month notice cannot be given
until the end of the initial 12 month period.

Graham Murray wrote:
Alex Heney writes:

And I don't understand why you think it is 15 months either. If
the notice period is tree months, then that just means that
notice has to be given at 9 months if you actually want the term
to end at 12 months.

15 months comes from the claim that the 3 month notice cannot be
given until the end of the initial 12 month period.

If that were actually what the contract says, but they represented the
contract as being for a minimum term of 12 months, the two things could
not both be true. So enforcement of either that provision or the 90
day notice provision, would, it seems to me, be unreasonable.

Stu

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:25:02 +0000, Graham Murray
wrote:

Alex Heney writes:

And I don't understand why you think it is 15 months either. If the
notice period is tree months, then that just means that notice has to
be given at 9 months if you actually want the term to end at 12
months.

15 months comes from the claim that the 3 month notice cannot be given
until the end of the initial 12 month period.

Which is not a claim that has been made.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
There is no such thing as bravery; only degrees of fear.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

"Alex Heney" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:25:02 +0000, Graham Murray
wrote:

Alex Heney writes:

And I don't understand why you think it is 15 months either. If the
notice period is tree months, then that just means that notice has to
be given at 9 months if you actually want the term to end at 12
months.

15 months comes from the claim that the 3 month notice cannot be given
until the end of the initial 12 month period.

Which is not a claim that has been made.
--

The claim is this: -

I signed a fixed term 12 month credit agreement. Yes that's right a fixed
term credit agreement. I did not imagine membership would automatically roll
on after that period so never checked the small print properly. 3 months
notice could have been given at the 9 month point to cancel after the
"commitment period" (their term) of 12 months. The OFT have stated that they
feel 3 months notice is excessive for a 12 month contract.

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:35:03 +0000, "tiscali"
wrote:


"Alex Heney" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:25:02 +0000, Graham Murray
wrote:

Alex Heney writes:

And I don't understand why you think it is 15 months either. If the
notice period is tree months, then that just means that notice has to
be given at 9 months if you actually want the term to end at 12
months.

15 months comes from the claim that the 3 month notice cannot be given
until the end of the initial 12 month period.

Which is not a claim that has been made.
--

The claim is this: -

I signed a fixed term 12 month credit agreement. Yes that's right a fixed
term credit agreement. I did not imagine membership would automatically roll
on after that period so never checked the small print properly. 3 months
notice could have been given at the 9 month point to cancel after the
"commitment period" (their term) of 12 months. The OFT have stated that they
feel 3 months notice is excessive for a 12 month contract.


Thank you. Exactly as I thought.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
Nobody home but the lights, and they're out too.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom