# 2 months notice to quit gym!



## mainie (13 Jun 2006)

I'm moving out of the area where my gym is and decided to cancel my membership. I went into the gym and they tell me to fill in this form and there's a note on it saying theres a 2 month notice period required and I need to pay 2 further months direct debits before my membership will be cancelled!!!!! what a pile of ****!!!! I want to call my bank and cancel the direct debit but am not sure if I can do this. Does anyone know?


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## ClubMan (13 Jun 2006)

What does the original membership agreement say about cancelling memberships?


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## rkeane (13 Jun 2006)

I had a similar issue with NAC.  They told me it was 1 month.  I asked her why does it take 1 month to cancel a direct debit.  She said its policy.  I said, thats ok, I'll do it for you.  I did and heard nothing else.  Although, they were closed for about 6 months soon after that.


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## ClubMan (13 Jun 2006)

Yes - I've always cancelled _DDs _unilaterally although never in contentious circumstances. I seem to recall somebody saying that the _DD _required the authorisation of the payee to be cancelled but that was not my experience. On the other hand I always wrote to the payee once I had cancelled the _DD_ at the bank just to be sure.


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## Seagull (13 Jun 2006)

Do you have a contract with the gym? If so, what does it have as the notice period? They're not saying it takes them two months to cancel the direct debit, they're saying that you need to pay them for the notice period.


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## rkeane (13 Jun 2006)

Seagull said:
			
		

> Do you have a contract with the gym? If so, what does it have as the notice period? They're not saying it takes them two months to cancel the direct debit, they're saying that you need to pay them for the notice period.


Yeah of course they want payment for the 2 months but its a bit outrageous.  Gyms often arent that cheap, especially when paying via direct debit.  2 months, even 1 month is too much.  If they set a reasonable cancellation fee then that would make more sense.


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## ClubMan (13 Jun 2006)

So what does your membership form/agreement say on this matter? If it says 2 months payment on (premature?) cancellation and you signed this agreement then presumably you are obliged to pay. If it doesn't stipulate such a charge then you can argue the toss with them.


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## mainie (13 Jun 2006)

To be honest I don't know what it said. It was over a year and a half ago that I joined. I guess if it says it in the contract then I have no choice but to pay it but it's very frustrating. I may ask them for a copy of the contract


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## ClubMan (13 Jun 2006)

Another salutary lesson to others that the time to read contracts/agreements is before signing them.


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## car (13 Jun 2006)

Care to name the gym?


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## ClubMan (13 Jun 2006)

I don't think that's a good idea especially given that there is no hard evidence that they are acting other than within their rights under the relevant membership agreement.


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## mainie (13 Jun 2006)

Ok, I rang them back about it and they say its in the T&C's. No reason, just policy, i.e to get as much money out of us as possible. You don't really think about what'll happen when you leave when you're signing up.

So anyway, I'm just wondering whats the worst that could happen if I just cancelled my DD and then sent them a letter to say I'd done that? What they gonna do? Sue me?


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## ClubMan (13 Jun 2006)

I suppose they could sue you. Before that they might pass the debt onto a collection agency. Alternatively they might just forget about it.


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## Ms X (13 Jun 2006)

About 1.5yrs ago, decided to leave a well known gym on northside, put this in writing and then cancelled the DD. 

They called a couple a times (however I kept missing their calls....) and they wrote to me once explaining that I had one months payment (notice period one month) outstanding on my account. Never heard any more since!


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## ClubMan (13 Jun 2006)

Can such service providers register such bad debts with the _ICB _- directly or indirectly?


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## ragazza (13 Jun 2006)

My well-known gym on southside did the same thing.
When I rang up to cancel, they said my request needed to go before some subscriptions meeting, which was only held once a month, so I'd have to wait (and pay for) a month before being able to cancel.
I just stopped the direct debit and never heard anything again from them.


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## mainie (13 Jun 2006)

That seems to be the general consensus as my sister did the same thing with her previous gym. Don't want to risk a bad debt record though, especially as I'll be drawing down my mortgage cheque in a few weeks..


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## Ms X (13 Jun 2006)

I just recently got a mortgage and there was no mention of bad credit history so I assume they never took it further... it is really worth the hassle for such little money (in their eyes) At least you stayed for more than a year which is normally an issue!


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## bond-007 (14 Jun 2006)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> Can such service providers register such bad debts with the _ICB _- directly or indirectly?


Nope. Only members of the ICB can register bad debts. Even if they got a district court judgment they still could not tell the ICB about it.


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## Grizzly (14 Jun 2006)

Just ask your bank to stop this particular debit going through your account. Put it in writing, don't forget to date it. If the gym contacts you about the cancelled direct debit, which they won't, just say that you are reorganising your finances/bank account and would prefer to pay your membership another way. Ask them what other payment options are available to you. Enter in to lengthy correspondence on the subject. I can assure you they will write you off as a lost case....


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## minion (14 Jun 2006)

Same with my Gym.  Got them on a technicality though.  You should check your Ts&Cs for this too.  It says that you must give 2 months notice of leaving the Gym.  It doesnt say that you have to prove you gave them the 2 months notice or that you have to pay for the time during the 2 months notice.

What you do is this.  The day you join the Gym send them a letter telling them that you are leaving sometime in the next 5 years or so.  Of course they'll get this letter and laugh, but you have given them more than enough notice that you are leaving.  You are then perfectly entitled to cancel your DD if the bank let you.

In your case i would just put a back dated letter of cancelation hidden and out of the way on the desk and then just cancel.  If they question you plead ignorance and that you left the letter on the desk months ago and its their problem.  Sneaky and a bitbelow the waste, but then so is them asking you for 2payments when you wont even be there.


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## Tubbs (14 Jun 2006)

I had a similar problem with the well known North side gym.

I notified the Gym in plenty of time, but they 'mislaid' the letter I handed into them and were saying I would have to pay another month as they had no record of my request to leave the Gym.

The bank wouldn't cancel DD without a letter from the Gym.

I mentioned to the bank that the Gym had been notified in time and i suspect they are going to fraudulenty request further payments from my account.

The bank were a lot more interested in cancelling when I mentioned fraud and they cancelled right there and then in the bank.

The Gym did request further payment from my account.

Got a letter a few weeks later from the Gym inviting me back, saying that I had 2 months to restart DD or else I would have to pay the full signing up fee if I wanted to go back to the Gym. End of.


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## ClubMan (14 Jun 2006)

Tubbs said:
			
		

> The bank wouldn't cancel DD without a letter from the Gym.


That's odd. I have always cancelled _DDs _unilaterally in my bank branch (_PTSB_) by getting them to cancel them on the computer system having had me sign a _DD_ cancellation request form. I don't recall anything on the form stating that cancellation was contingent on agreement by the payee.


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## Grizzly (14 Jun 2006)

Absolutely. It is your bank account and you can instruct them not to accept debits just as you can put a stop on a cheque issued.


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## wavelength (14 Jun 2006)

I was in a similar situation and cancelled my membership in writing and got a letter back form the gym saying I was oblidged to pay until the end of the year. Then a collection agency sent a letter. I cnacelled my DD and never heard from them again. when the year was up the gym worte asking me if I wanted to renwew my membership. I have got loans since with no mention of bad credit.


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