Fitness First the crooks
 

Hi,

As per the title I am being harrassed by Fitness First gym.

I joined up last year due to my "meat-head" gym going through a change of ownership and I thought it would be okay but I was very dissappointed with the service from Fitness First.

Safe to say they just could not meet my demands and I was already maxing out the weights and machines, add to that the overcrowded and tiny weight room and you had a recipe for disaster.

I wrote a letter to the gym and verbally told them I was leaving the gym as I could no longer use the facility.

I cancelled my direct debits 3 times because the wankers had the cheek to renable them, resulting in undue charges occurring on my bank account. After explaining the situation to my bank I got them to agree to permenantly stop any and all transactions to/from Fitness First.

After about 6 months I receive a letter from Fitness First asking to contact them to discuss the unpaid charges so I promptly call them, go through a chore trying to get to someone remotely human and then get the run around.

So after another lul I receive a letter from a balif company acting on behalf of Fitness First.

So can anyone advise me how to proceed, is there a bullit proof way of telling them to fcuk-off in capital letters and are there any template letters I can use?

I read a similar thing on the net, some dude had blogged his experience however in his case he was dealing with a credit card and not direct debits so managed to send them a templated letter which promptly shut the low lifes up.

I hate places who do this, border line criminal approach to their customers.

This is why I like my old gym, I know people on a first name basis, if I can't make a payment one month they are okay with that and I get my moneys worth knowing I don't have to stand in a 8 x 8 room that is supposed to be a weights area.

Rant over, I need to vent in the gym!

Firstly, all charges should be returned to you forthwith PLUS the return of any monies paid against your strict orders to the bank!!

If you cancel your Direct Debits the issue of non payment is between you and Fitness First ....... the Bank should ONLY carry out YOUR requests!

So, first thing is to get all your money back AND claim damages!

Don't mess about - read the Direct Debit Guarantee all Banks sign up to.

What was the contract you signed - did it have the ability to terminate with no penalty in the first 12 months?

I don't think you can cancel your contract unless you have a near-death condition or are moving away or something. If you just want to change gym I doubt they will take too kindly upon you trying to break the contract, I've never joined such gyms because of their aggressive contracts.

my girlfriend had to roughly the same problem she wrote a letter to cancel the contract after a month they said they never recieved a letter. She had to keep phoning them and complaining about it before they gave it and cancelled it.

If you're confident that you owe them nowt then just write to them & set the record straight. Most of the time they give up ... anyone aware of a company that has gone all the way (ignore Local Authorities etc who have the Law on their side!).

I've been chased by Sky & various loan companies all of which came to nothing. Scare / bully boy tactics is all it is.

TX.

Ignore them. FF never actually take anyone to court just threaten to.

send them a letter saying that due to them re instating the dd 3 times without your permission that you have sought legal advice and will be persuing the matter, and that your bank is your witness.

Failing that tell them to gfts

I had similar a few years back with the JJB gym in trafford park. Few semi threatening letters but just ignored them and touch wood not heard anything for about 3 + years (house move may have helped :D )

BTW, they can't send bailiffs, only the courts can!

They can send a debt collection agent, but they can't do anything other than ask you to pay up!

Stop replying to any of their contact, ignore and eventually they will go away.

Sounds like you can life a decent amount - go and duff them up!

Have tried similar gyms in the past where bench press and most other weights (I mix machines and free weights) max out at 90kg. Fine if you're a bit of a shandy drinker but no good if you are capable of lifting a proper amount.

Does sound like borerline criminal activity with the DDs though.

I thought Fitness First sign peopple up for 12 month contracts?
Surely you had a look round the gym before you signed up also?

I've had a very similar problem, all you need do is ask them to forward you the original correspondence that details your agreement...I did that after receiving a letters from a bailiff in Cardiff acting on behalf of Fitness First, about four years ago and have heard nothing since.

I'm having a scrap wth Esporta in Bridgend at the moment , my son and I joined there a year last Oct , had to sign a 12 month contract ect , but stopped going about half way into it as I got fed up with hanging around waiting to go on things , but put up with the payments as I had to , a month before it ended I sent in a letter telling them I wouldn't be carrying on with our memberships and to cancel them , they came up with a beauty then , you have to give 3 months notice after your 12 month contract to cancel ! so they are chasing me for another £110 a month x 3 , I have basically told them to go Fvck themselves and as long as I have a hole in my butt they are not getting any further payments out of me , they have threatened me with courts , sending thugs around ect so we'll wait and see what happens.

I was in a similar situation. In the end I did a deal with the debt collection agency for about 60% of what they were asking for. They will hound you!

Sean

If you sign a 12 month contract, should you not honour it? Unless the services turn out to go very different than what were originally offered? :wonder:

I had this with Fitness First, was a member for 4 years, spoke to someone on the phone to cancel and faxed over my letter there and then. Guess what? They said they never received it! I couldn't get any sense out of their head office, just "computer says you owes £xx"

I just ignored them and they went away.

Yes, because you signed a bit of paper saying that you are going to pay them the fee required for 12 months! A contract is a contract.

If you don't like the terms, don't join.

Some gyms are ok, but the more 'national' types like you mention can be very difficult when it comes to cancelling a contract.

I moved work location, plus it was overcrowded

I was at the end of my 12 month contract...

No question about it then. It's just when people try and cancel after a few weeks that confuses me a bit. :wonder:

Erm, I was a member for 4 years, so my contract was up 3 years prior:wonder:

Nah thats cool, I should have been clearer, I had no issue with the contract, sure it was long but end of the day you sign up to it so you should know what you're getting into.

It's just after I told them I was not going to continue my contract they started being funny.

I had no communication from Fitness First, for at least 3 months I assumed that was that, my contract was over however it was only when I noticed the charges and DD's being restablished I got concerned.

But as per above I called their bluff, phoned up the debt collectors and told them they had no legal ground to stand on and I would be taking the matter further if Fitness First didn't piss off so that seems to have worked.

hmm this story gets interesting now...

I received a text message stating the following:

"Could Mr xxxx xxxxx please contact Mr David Shaw URGENTLY on 01256-307796 quoting ref no 2111783"

I ignored the message but decided to call the number from my office line as it's voip and they would not be able see the number, the phone rings, I hear what sounds like a call centre and then I get cut off.

Moments later I get a text message from someone called Kate asking what I am up to on Saturday night however said text message is sent from the orange.co.uk website with the following message:

"hi bbe its kate wuu2 saturday? txt bk plz asap bbe love yew kate xx from Mobile Phones | Broadband & Mobile Broadband UK Deals | Free Web Email | Orange.co.uk by 07968778314"

Now I am starting to think fitness first, the CARS scam company above and this kate person are all somehow linked and just phising for my information the ****s!

So feel free to call that number and spam abuse