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.
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. The advisor I had seen was
not there, so I left a message to that effect for her. I rang again on
Sunday 5th and left another message.

Anyway, I didn't hear a thing until 8th August,- a letter from them saying
that I was a member, and they had written to me twice already for payments
(they hadn't). I sent a letter on 12th August (pasted at the bottom for
those with time to read it..) essentially saying that I had made a mistake
and did not want membership anymore.

I heard nothing more until 24th October - a letter from a 3rd party credit
company asking for unpaid membership fees to the tune of £220. The most
recent one stated that I have 3 days to pay before court action.

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

Cheers

James
------------------------
"It is with some concern that I read your letter dated 8th August, in which
you state that I am now a member of David Lloyds, and also that you have
written to me on two previous occasions for payments. I have not received
either of these letters.

I visited your club on Tuesday 31st July to have a look around, and after
spending well over an hour with one of your sales advisors agreed to sign up
for membership. I was apprehensive about doing this and wanted time to think
about this first, but felt under some pressure, and proceeded to give my
bank details, agreeing to return the following Monday to complete the
application. However, the next day I received a message from the advisor
that my bank details were incorrect. I was actually quite relieved by this,
as I had given membership further thought and was not happy to proceed. I
called the club back on Thursday 2nd August, and left a message to this
effect. I then called again on Sunday 5th August to reiterate this, and left
a message for Becky, the advisor I spoke to when I visited the club.

As my verbal instructions do not appear to have been acted on, I would
therefore like to further state in writing that I do not wish to proceed
with my membership. I am extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused, but I
do not feel that membership at this time would be good value for me. "

-------------------

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.

Mike wrote in
ton.net:

[snip]

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.

"they" appear to have sold the debt:

I have no idea what information is given by the original creditors to debt
collection agencies.

On 30 Oct, 21:05, "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.
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. The advisor I had seen was
not there, so I left a message to that effect for her. I rang again on
Sunday 5th and left another message.

Anyway, I didn't hear a thing until 8th August,- a letter from them saying
that I was a member, and they had written to me twice already for payments
(they hadn't). I sent a letter on 12th August (pasted at the bottom for
those with time to read it..) essentially saying that I had made a mistake
and did not want membership anymore.

I heard nothing more until 24th October - a letter from a 3rd party credit
company asking for unpaid membership fees to the tune of £220. The most
recent one stated that I have 3 days to pay before court action.

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

Cheers

James
------------------------
"It is with some concern that I read your letter dated 8th August, in which
you state that I am now a member of David Lloyds, and also that you have
written to me on two previous occasions for payments. I have not received
either of these letters.

I visited your club on Tuesday 31st July to have a look around, and after
spending well over an hour with one of your sales advisors agreed to sign up
for membership. I was apprehensive about doing this and wanted time to think
about this first, but felt under some pressure, and proceeded to give my
bank details, agreeing to return the following Monday to complete the
application. However, the next day I received a message from the advisor
that my bank details were incorrect. I was actually quite relieved by this,
as I had given membership further thought and was not happy to proceed. I
called the club back on Thursday 2nd August, and left a message to this
effect. I then called again on Sunday 5th August to reiterate this, and left
a message for Becky, the advisor I spoke to when I visited the club.

As my verbal instructions do not appear to have been acted on, I would
therefore like to further state in writing that I do not wish to proceed
with my membership. I am extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused, but I
do not feel that membership at this time would be good value for me. "

-------------------

Since you approached them, and went to their premises, there will
probably be no cooling-off period. The question is whether you
completed the contract - did you sign a contract as well as completing
the direct debit? If you did not complete the contract, then you
should be able to withdraw by notifying the supplier immediately, as
you appear to have done.
If the contract was completed, then cancellation might be possible
with the service supplier only entitled to retain any charges they
have actually incurred - it depends on whether the payment was made
under an unfair term. In some cases non-returnable prepayments are
considered unfair.
You'd need to show the contract to a consumer expert; I'd suggest you
contact your local CAB or local authority Consumer Advice, and
arranging an appointment with a specialist to look at the contract.

Toom

Type

"David LLoyd"+membership+cancel

into Google, for details of experiences of others. One entry leads to

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_res...traders/249/1/

Which indicates that David Llloyd were required to reduce minimum
membership/cancellation period from 6 months to 3 months, presumably
because six months was a unfair term. That may mean a minimum of three
months, if you've actually contracted to join, may have been deemed
'fair'. I'd still suggest confirming this, and your actual contractual
situation, with Citizen's Advice.

Toom

On 31 Oct, 00:10, bealoid wrote:
Mike wrote pston.net:

[snip]

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.

"they" appear to have sold the debt:

Quote:

I heard nothing more until 24th October - a letter from a 3rd party credit company asking for unpaid membership fees to the tune of £220. The most recent one stated that I have 3 days to pay before court action.

I have no idea what information is given by the original creditors to debt
collection agencies.

Just because he received a letter from a third party credit company
doesn't mean they have sold the debt. This is more likely (IMO) to
just be a debt colection agency acting on behalf of D.L.

You'd need to show the contract to a consumer expert; I'd suggest you
contact your local CAB or local authority Consumer Advice, and
arranging an appointment with a specialist to look at the contract.

Toom

Many thanks for that. Unfortunately, I dont have a copy of anything - I had
arranged to return at a later date to complete the rest of the paperwork so
I haven't a clue what I signed. Sounds daft, but I was really timed and
wanted to leave

I'm going to email the manager at the club and hope for a reply, and as you
say speak to a CAB person

Cheers

James