Westwood 12 month contract

portiani

This is a really long post but I need a bit of advice on what I should do next?

In May this year I joined Westwood gyms because the guy who I spoke with assured me I could opt out after 3 months with 30 days notice, we chatted about how great this was. He asked where I worked, I said where it was, he winked and did the "Oracle you say?" thing and reduced membership fees because there was an offer on for Oracle staff. So I joined. And I enjoyed it but 3 months later I've not been in a while and don't want to pay anymore so I emailed asking how I leave. The below is what ensued. Now I'm not sure of what to do.

Them:

Thank you for your email, unfortunately as you joined in July 2013 you are still in a contract until July 2014, you do have options on your membership you can transfer it onto someone who may wish to take it over, alternatively you have freeze options, you can freeze from one to three months per year at a charge of 10 euro per month, and to put this in place all you need to do is come down and fill in a freeze form. I can set up your cancellation for the end of July 2014 but again you need to drop into the club to fill out a cancellation form.
As you already know you have 6 inductions with your membership if I can persuade you to take the offer up of any of these 6 induction I can book you in with one of our traniners? We also have wonderful classes etc. If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact myself or any of our customer service team.
kind regards,


Me:

I appreciate your reply however when I joined up I was explicitly told I had to join for 3 months after which time I could leave with 1 months notice.
I would appreciate if you could let me know what you need from me to do this. I definitely would not have signed up for 1 year, an opt out was one of the first things I asked about. There were issues with my account from day 1: I was told I had not paid direct debit when in fact it had been set up; my swipe did not work for the first 2 weeks; I froze 3 weeks and was still asked for payment.
Although the above are not the reasons why, please let me know how I can leave.


Them:


You need to come down and speak to Gavin our membership manager, if you need me to freeze or cancel your membership, otherwise you really need to speak to
Gavin, he is in the club tomorrow.
If you want me to do either of the above please contact me on Monday.
thanks again and have a nice weekend


I escalated to the GM:

Is it possible someone can ring me on this please? I am unable to pop by over the weekend. Also, reading back on the email I was asked if I wished to avail of one of the 6 fitness sessions, I in fact have used 3 of these: I wonder is there a mix up overall on my record between that not being noted, the mix up where it should have been listed as a 3 month sign up as well as the issues I mentioned over payments and my swipe not working.
I would really appreciate if someone could call me on this to let me know my 30 days notice has been accepted.



I then reviewed what I had and emailed again:


Further to my previous email, X mentions I joined in July 2013, I have a letter from Y dating my membership as 07/05/2013. Can you tell me please if this date is accurate on my account? The membership letter does not state the type of membership in English I signed up for but it does have it in code: "Ind Dd Full C" - As I stated previously, I was explicitly informed I had to join only for 3 months after which time I could give 30 days notice to leave. If I had seen 12 months membership on the letter I would have disputed it immediately, the first this has come to my attention is in X's email.
I did some reading on forums online and found I am not the first customer to have issues with the gym, honestly to this point I had not really tallied the issues and had quite a pleasant overall experience with the gym but now having put it all together I am sorry to say I am rather irritated.
So far it appears the following have been problems concerning my account:
The 3 month sign up with 30 days notice to leave was incorrectly entered as 12 months
My sign up date was July as per X's email when in fact it was 7th May 2013
That as per X's email I have had 0 sessions with personal trainers when in fact I have had 3
That my swipe did not work the first two weeks
That there were questions over my direct debit being paid when it had in my first month
Further to that I note in X's email there is a €10 charge per month of freezing, when I joined I was told this charge was for the first month only (I froze in June because I was away). When I check my records actually I note in May I paid €150, the first two months as I understand which would account for June as well... However I froze for 3 weeks in June and yet still paid €75 in July, August, September and October, so it seems I paid for the 3 weeks that I froze for. Does that make sense?
Again I appreciate your time on this and look forward to your confirmation that my 30 days notice of leaving Westwood has been accurately noted and the payments will cease. If my figures above are correct then it also seems I am owed €65 so would appreciate that being refunded to my account as well.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,


Them:

Thank you for your email.

I can confirm you joined West Wood on 7th May 2013 with X, on a full individual membership for a minimum 12 month contract.

Your initial payment of €150 is broken down as follows:

· €100 joining fee
· €50 for the remainder month of May

You have since paid July, August, September, October and November by direct debit at €75 per month.

You signed the contract and it clearly states that it is a 12 month contract and should you wish to cancel thereafter 60 days notice in writing by registered post must be received.
Regarding your swipe tag not working at first, this was because your photograph was outstanding along with another administration problem which at this point I can not trace back as the office message has since been removed as the problem was rectified back then.
I have no records for your gym appointments. I have no answer for that.
Regarding the charge for freezing, X is correct, there is a €10 charge per month to freeze. There are other conditions also attached to this. I can confirm that no freeze fee was paid for June.
We must stick with club policy and the membership you signed in to was a 12 month contract. Therefore no refund is considered due.


Me:

Thank you very much for getting back to me so quickly, I appreciate your answers on all of my queries. So I can give you written notice of 60 days to leave my contract? That's all I needed to hear. As I said before I have had really positive things to say about the gym, loved the facilities ad loved going there, my only criticisms are in the way this was handled and also that I appear to have signed a 12 month contract even though I was signing under the impression I could leave after 3 months - and perhaps given there is a 60 day termination notification period is true but was explained really poorly. I don't wish to leave the gym on a negative note, I would at some stage in the future potentially like to come back as a member, just not right now.
Is there a particular form or will a simple letter suffice?

Thanks again for coming back to me so comprehensively.


Them:

Apologies if my email was slightly unclear.
Just to re-confirm. The contract is a 12 month contract and thereafter 60 days notice in writing by registered post must be received.
You are committed to a minimum of 12 months.
However, in order to come out of the contract we do give you the option to transfer it over to a family member or friend and they can take over the remaining payments.
I hope I have cleared everything up.

Me:

In that case then instead of brushing aside the service issues, incorrect email information, the fact that I was explicitly told about the 3 month initial join period and the complaints I've found on other forums of people with similar issues, who by the way have been able to break their contracts, I would like to know what you intend to do to rectify this.
I am also quite baffled that there had been no acknowledgement of the mistake that was made in telling me I could opt out after 3 months when you tell me I have signed a 12 month contract.
Why was I not given a copy of this? I would have immediately withdrawn my membership, from the very first conversation I made it entirely clear I was not interested in 12 months and the guy I met with had a conversation with me about how great your gym was because I could opt out! I didn't even discuss membership options, I was never given those details. To be honest it's sounding more and more like I was manipulated into a 12 moth contract which is appalling.
I cannot let this go, I did not in good conscience sign up for 12 months, even though the facilities have been good the service has at this stage been diabolical and I want to leave the gym immediately and cease payments.

I am saddened this is getting to this point, honestly I am not someone trying to get out of a contract I knowingly signed up for, I'd grit my teeth and make use of it! I genuinely signed up for an initial 3 month stint.

I really do hope we can resolve this.



Them:

I must stick with the contract that you signed. We will always revert to the signed contract. The conditions of membership on this are very clear. All members are given a copy upon joining, it is a duplicate document for that purpose.

Kind Regards

runawaybishop

Have you seen a copy of the contact you signed?

blindside88

I was there previously and was told the same (could cancel with 30 days notice), when I went about doing it I was told that this in incorrect, just cancelled direct debit and heard no more except for a few texts offering me reduced rates to rejoin

Hatfry

Just cancel the Direct Debit with the bank, they won't ask questions it's your money and you can choose who takes it from your a/c, they can't chase you for the fees if your telling the truth, don't play their game. I would check out wether the contract is legally binding. If they can get away with being messy regarding contracts then you should too.

portiani

Thanks everyone, I thought about cancelling the direct debit alright but want to make sure I'm square before I do - I've asked for a copy of the contract. I actually never got a copy of it so have asked for their Ts and Cs too because surely there's a review/cooling period which I never got because they didn't give me a copy of the contract... Which I may well have signed but don't actually remember.

Definitely wouldn't recommend them anyway, I know my emails were quite stern but they're really horrible to deal with!

Hanley

Tl;dr

What's the contract say?

portiani

I've not gotten it form them yet, presume they're all off on a Sunday so I expect it to either be scanned to me tomorrow or in the post.

Dave 101

portiani wrote: »

I've not gotten it form them yet, presume they're all off on a Sunday so I expect it to either be scanned to me tomorrow or in the post.

more than likely your locked into a 12 month contract, just cancel standing order id be surprised if you ever here back from them

daRobot

Just cancel it, and if they send letters afterwards, ignore it.

They'll never take it any further, it's not cost effective.

I'm surprised you engaged with them to that extent. Cancel, and ignore. Simples.

Hanley

You should stop paying your mortgage too while you're at it

portiani

Honestly, an apology for misleading me and offering me something even like a month's free membership and I'd have been sold! To be clear this thread is not for the purpose of saying they're entirely bad, they have plenty of happy customers, I'm just not one of them! The gyms are brilliant, classes are great, instructors are really lovely... Loads of positive things to say! I'm a very nice person but I just can't stand poor customer service.

An email from them just now:

Following on from your posts and copies of our internal emails exchanges being posted up on boards.ie by you on 2nd November, we will no longer engage with you on this matter.

I've said:

Are you refusing to give me a copy of my contract which you say you have on file? If this is the case and you are no longer able to engage with me on the matter then I am taking this as a termination of my membership.

Gummy Panda

I can't believe you paid the 100 euro joining fee. Sales guy was a shark as the 75 euro is no special rate.

If they can't produce a contract send them a registered letter saying you consider the contract cancelled. Then ring bank and cancel direct debit

srm23

or how about you just use the gym and get fit op :rolleyes:

bohsman

blindside88 wrote: »

I was there previously and was told the same (could cancel with 30 days notice), when I went about doing it I was told that this in incorrect, just cancelled direct debit and heard no more except for a few texts offering me reduced rates to rejoin

Exactly what happened to me and I signed up again with nothing said about the previous failed debits.