Jackie Skelly Gym - what are you paying?

I called in person and was told the following by a membership adviser:
€59 per month for Jackie Skelly in Greystones today, special price for St. Patrick's weekend. No mention of a joining fee. Must join for a year.
 
I'm really depressed reading this post. I joined the Jackie Skelly gym in Swords last October during a special offer weekend. They waived the joining fee, but it cost €77 a month and a €15 admin fee!!
I'm really peeved now. Is there anything I can do or do I just have to wait for my year's membership to expire?
 

Don't know if you can do anything sooner than your one year contract date but, BE CAREFUL!

I have had a really bad experience with this gym, I stopped going 7 months into my years contract as I was so utterly disgusted with the place. However, being bound by contract, I continued to pay the monthly €62.

My year's contract ends this month, and rather than give the gym the opportunity to upset me again, I cancelled my direct debit last week. I did this to ensure that they wouldn't take any more money out, as I have no intentions of continuing my membership.

Today I received this letter in the post:

"...We have recently received notice from your bank stating that the instruction for direct debit has been cancelled. When you joined the club you sign up to an ongoing contract and should you wish to cancel then we require written notice and 2 further monthly direct debit payments, this is in accordance with the Terms & Conditions of your contract........."

Needless to say, I'm livid. This was never clarified when I joined, in fact I was told that I would have to renew my membership after my year's contract was up. I have no doubt it's buried somewhere in the small print all the same.

So, be careful! If you think you have a year's contract, you don't it's ongoing!
 
I wouln'd pay it. if they want bad publicity they will take you to court. but I doubt it for €62 x2 months.
 
There's no such thing as an ongoing contract. You only signed up for a year. That's it. They can't renew your contract without your signature.
 
The person said it was a years contract, hence my assumption.
 
I joined the local Curves gym about 2 years ago, where it was explained that their contract/direct debit payment is open-ended with an obligation on the customer to pay for the first 12 months. After that, the customer must give 30 days written notice of cancellation to the gym. In the absence of notifying the gym of cancellation, the direct debit is withdrawn every month.

The reason given by the Curves staff about the open-ended contract / payment is to avoid paying the membership/joining fee again!
 


Thanks so much for this post. I had no idea they could do that! I'm going to go home tonight and search the house for my contract. I have no intention of paying the €77 monthly payment after my 12 months are up!! I was too naive to realise that they charge different people different rates when I signed up....that's my fault.....no intention of getting "done" again.
 
My advice is STAY AWAY. They have enough TERMS and CONDITIONS to keep you a member for longer than expected. It's a very deceiving practice. My experience is ongoing I am in my 3rd month trying to cancel my subscription. Also, Don't give them your credit card details because if you cancel you direct debit from your current account they automatically transfer it to your credit card.
 
We took out a membership for the whole family (2 adult, 2 teen, 1 child) before the Greystones branch opened this time last year. We were promised all kinds of things, experienced instructors, classes never cancelled, lanes always available in pool even during lessons. They also said we would get two visitor passes a month per adult member. Needless to say all of this didnt come to pass.

We checked out at the Gym whether renewal notices would be sent out, yes was the reply, no such thing. We cancelled the Direct Debit after the 12th payment. Lo and behold we got the letter outlined above. You must give 60 days notice at the end of your 12 months and you must sign a 2 month DD. Failure to pay would see the issue being referred to Debt Collectors.

We rang them, and to say that their attitude was aggressive would be an understatement. We had broken our contract and as far as they were concerned they wanted their money. We outlined the issues we had with the Gym, not her problem and we had nothing in writing. "Who could we write to, you have no head-office". " I Know", she said.....

We had suspended our membership for two months last summer so we are still members till end of May, so we offered to terminate now in lieu of two months extra payment (remember we have paid the full 12 months already). This was not the way it worked said the credit controller. BUT she said we could settle it all now for one months additional payment ( but she could get fired for offering this)... we said we would think about it and let them know.

I doubt whether this contract would stand up legally as you cannot have an open ended agreement but who would be bothered challenging it.

You need to be aware that the contract is really a minimum of 14 months. If you join, dont expect any satisfaction when you complain to local staff.
Staff turnover is high and they have little knowledge of the company. Nor can you complain to Head Ofice because there isnt one.

dd
 
derekd02 said:
You need to be aware that the contract is really a minimum of 14 months.
Click to expand...

Just a thought - if you know that you're not going to renew your membership and give the 2 months notice the gym require after 10 month's membership can you get out after 12 months instead of having to wait 14?
 
From the contract

"Following the initial minimum membership priod' membership shall automayically continue on a monthly basis. Should a memeber wish to terminate their contract after the the initial minimmum membership period they must fill in a cancellation request form and a minimmum of 60 days cancellation notice and 2 monthly direct debit payments are required".

The reception staff in the gym seem to be totally unaware of this when queried on membership termination.

Having looked at the contract I dont believe that it can be called a valid contract in legal terms. It does not state who the agreeing parties are and makes no reference to the Jackie Skelly legal entity. Whatever legal entity Jackie Skelly operates under is not referred to anywhere on the form, the company registration number is not used anywhere. This is in fact an agreement. It is not even an agreement as there is no point where your sign in acceptance of the Ts and Cs. It is just a set of terms and conditions.

dd
 
Oh my God, I am livid. The exact same thing has just this minute happened to me. I wrote them a letter last week saying I wanted to cancel - my year is up around now. Just got a message on my phone, nicey nice, sickly sweet voice telling me that I have to pay a further 2 months. "So your direct debit will come out June and July and your closing date will be 31st July"
I was a member in Westwood a few years ago and left cos I was moving to Kildare. I got a letter from them stating that my contract was now cancelled and I could rejoin with no joining fee anytime in the next 2 years. Wish I'd gone back there.
I definitely was not told about the 2 months thing when I was joining. (I know, I know, I should have read the contract - hard lesson learned!) Anyone else from my work who enquired about membership last year was absolutely BOMBARDED with phone calls and emails wanting to know were they interested and did they want to come over. Everyone was really annoyed at the time and ignoring calls from that number. Even the day I signed up I said that I would have to bring over the joining fee the following day so I'd leave it til then. "Oh, there's an ATM in the Spar and we take Laser" Soooooooo pushy. But I wanted to join so I put up with it.
I've already cancelled the DD so I suppose a cheque for the 2 months will have to be written.

Thanks derekd02 for quoting from the contract cos I've no idea where mine is gone!
 
Joined JS in Applewood recently, cost me €60 pm. I fought with them to get it down, they wanted €73. But they rang me so often I figured they were desperate for my money so I was in position to bargain. I like gym, no staff spoke to me in six weeks'. My only gripe is why don't members wash before using facilities. I notice people using sauna, pool etc after training (sweating) with no thoughts of showering. This is not accepted in other gyms, a few notices on doors and maybe a kind word from staff once in a while would help.
 
My boyfriend and I, who have been members of that gym since January (worst new year's resolution ever), filled in a cancellation request last month in the gym as we're moving from Ireland to go travelling. As we weren't hearing back from them one month later, we went to the gym to check that everything was ok.
They basically had ignored outr request and the solution they offered was to pay until the end of the year, which did not make much sense to us since we're leaving...After the discussion, an employee of the gym (who in her own words has a "masters in economics", did I forget to mention that they're absolutely terrible at human relations?) was offering us a "discount" on the cancellation... So they don't just have discounts for joining members (what's up with the fee varying per customer???) thay apparently also do for cancellation.

Anyway, the next day, I called the gym and asked again, if there's any other solution, for instance passing on the membership to a friend. The person advised me that it wasn't possible for 2 months but that in our case everything has been sorted... So I hang up happy thinking, "yes I think i remember paying for a month in advance as I joined so that makes sense".

Today, I checked my bank account and dear god, the equivalent of 4 times the monthly fee has been taken from my account (in addition to this month's monthly fee debited last week), by... Jacky Skellie, not as a direct debit but using apparently my laser card details to help themselves to 2 full months of membership for me and my boyfriend (needless to say, not only rather shocking as I never allowed them to do anything like that plus not a nice surprise when you've been saving up to go away...)

As for more general comments on sanitary issues, no member of staff is ever watching after the pool, so people go happily from sauna to jacuzzi to steam room to pool without passing by the shower, plus swim hats seem optional... yuk.
 
I can't believe they just took the money from you account. You should contact your bank to see if they are legally allowed to do this as I would doubt it.
However, you may be legally obliged to pay your fees up to the end of the year as this is what you committed to in the original contract (not sure whats happening with the 14 months situations as above, but reckon you are committed to 12 months).....unless you can show that they broke the contract first by not providing everything they commited to initially (such as numbers of classes, instrutors, pool supervision etc). I would suggest you and you boyfriend call to them and have a good discussion about the contract and lack of service in the "sales office", they might be more agreeable if they don't want new members to hear.
 
Another tale of JS

They are low down, & should be exposed on Primetime or the like.

Do not tell you about min 1 year so called "contract" ...I mean what do we pay an joining fee for if that is the case? Was member of another gym until house move, then to my regret joined this crowd, like an idot, did not think it was t&c..just usual club rules about towels & property etc.. That one about the 60 days after the 1st year is really low down. I just discovered a bill from visa for another months fee, visa were no good...after three calls, finally go to speak to JS accounts & told that they continue to bill monthly until they receive a "buyout" from me. Was told buyout was 50% of rest of contract when I cancelled. Now she's trying to tell me it's 60%..eventually agreed to 50% and have to take the hit for the extra months fee too.... It's a scandal !! Beware before you join

TreasaS
 
Google "Jackie Skelly". Google comes back with a sponsored ad for them specifying a "money back guarantee". I ran my local branch, they didnt know. Intrigued, I rang 2 other branches, they didnt know either. Anyone know what that is?
 
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