a quick legal question

muttleys_girl

Myself & the boyfriend joined a gym three years ago and we were told a number of times that you had to give two months notice if you wanted to leave - for the first year - thereafter, there was no notice period required.

He sent in a letter informing them that we were cancelling the direct debit and then cancelled it.

He then got a letter from their accounts dept saying that we owed two months membership each as we had not given sufficient notice.

He called the Accounts Dept a few times but couldnt get through to the person who sent the letter, so he emailed them saying that we were told three or four times that there was no notice required etc.. and didnt hear from them again until yesterday. He got a letter from a debt collection agency looking for the money.

He doesn't want to end up with a screwed up credit rating but we dont want to give them a cent either - do we have a leg to stand on? Has this happened to anyone else?

Chalk

do you have any of this infomation in writing?
did you sign a contract on joining up, is it in there?
do you know any other members who will verify what you say?

if they said it to you its technically verbal contract but if you signed something to the contrary then that would hold sway.

*i am not a solicitor, all advice is my personal opinion and does not hold any legal precedence, as such you should contact a real solicitor before taking any action

BizzyC

If it is stated in writing that after x amount of time no notice is required, and you've stayed for that period then they cant do anything.

Make sure you have it in writing though.

Sleipnir

AS chalk said it would really have to be on a contract you signed. Read that or get a copy of it. (although that might prove difficult)
You could also "join" again (or get a friend too) and see what they say about cancelling membership.
I would certainly write to the manager asking how they can justify ignoring you before sending in the debt collectors. That's poor form. Send it by registered post.

seamus

A Gym membership cannot affect your credit rating.

You do not have to speak to debt collectors, or allow debt collectors access to your home.

The only way the Gym can forcibly get the money from you is to take you to court, at which point you present a list of each time you attempted to contact them to get it sorted out, and a copy of the contract you signed, clearly stating that you are not required to give notice. You also counter-claim for the cost of dealing with the matter, including days off from work to attend court, solicitors fees, phone calls, etc. You walk away with the cash.

muttleys_girl

we signed a contract when we joined.....
it was for a year and then it was up to us kinda thing. i'm not sure what was written in the contract as they never gave me a copy.
we joined 6 months before the gym even opened and hung on for those six months waiting for the bloody thing to open.
the girls we signed with told us seperately and together that it was only for the year and then no two months notice were required.
we'll try and get a copy of the contract so.....very poor form on their part.

Dellgirl

I have a hunch this could be a certain gym in clontarf. Please post your results whenever you get this resloved or whatever. Thanks!

Nuttzz

rookie mistake!

When your cancelling your membership (esp for westwood in clontarf) you tell them that you are switching bank accounts and need them to send you a new DD mandate, they will be happy to help and cancel your existing DD for you and send you the new forms, sadly the forms get lost in the post......

niallo32

I think she said that she'd already cancelled the direct debit mandate though??

niallo32

seamus wrote:

A Gym membership cannot affect your credit rating.

You do not have to speak to debt collectors, or allow debt collectors access to your home.

The only way the Gym can forcibly get the money from you is to take you to court, at which point you present a list of each time you attempted to contact them to get it sorted out, and a copy of the contract you signed, clearly stating that you are not required to give notice. You also counter-claim for the cost of dealing with the matter, including days off from work to attend court, solicitors fees, phone calls, etc. You walk away with the cash.

A similar thing is happening to me...I tried contacting the gym by phone and email and then they sent me a debt collectors letter. Seamus - is what you say true? I dont mean to be funny, but are you speaking from experience? It's just that I dont want to get screwed over something so trivial and will gladly go to the small claims court to resolve it ...