http://whatconsumer.co.uk/gym-membership-rights/ Clear and Practical Consumer Advice Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:58:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 http://whatconsumer.co.uk/gym-membership-rights/#comment-1148 alison zammer Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:28:09 +0000 http://whatconsumer.co.uk/?p=526#comment-1148 I am a member of David Lloyd Leisure. My husband signed the contract on my behalf as he began paying as a Christmas present last year. The monthly fee of £68 by direct debit is paid from our joint account. He was sent a letter last week -dated 2nd January to say that due to a processing error that he was overcharged and that the money would be refunded back into the bank account by Wednesday 7th January and as a compensation that a guest pass would be issued on production of the letter.We assumed that the overcharge would only be a small amount (£10 or so) but when I checked our bank account I found that £729 had been taken which left this account overdrawn and over the overdraft limit. My husband phoned Barclays Bank who said that he would receive bank charges of £22 and would be charged another £22 if the account remained over the overdraft limit for more than 5 days. He also contacted David Lloyd Leisure (phoned twice) but no one got back to him.He then went there in person to find out what was happening. Neither the manager or the deputy manager were available and sent a young girl out to explain that this had happened to several other members and that someone in head office was at fault and had been dismissed. My husband explained how he had phoned twice (she said that they were too busy to phone back!) how their error had left us with bank charges and that the compensation offered was derisory. The David Lloyd person said that he couldn't possibly have any more guest passes and did he realise that they are actually worth £15 each!And that although she was sorry for what had happened that basically it was tough! He is going to Barclays in person tomorrow to sort out the bank account (previously just phoned their general number - probably India). We are so cross about this that we would just like to leave now, but we have to give 3 months notice or face a debt collector.Has the gym broken their contract with us? Please advise. I am a member of David Lloyd Leisure. My husband signed the contract on my behalf as he began paying as a Christmas present last year. The monthly fee of £68 by direct debit is paid from our joint account.
He was sent a letter last week -dated 2nd January to say that due to a processing error that he was overcharged and that the money would be refunded back into the bank account by Wednesday 7th January and as a compensation that a guest pass would be issued on production of the letter.We assumed that the overcharge would only be a small amount (£10 or so) but when I checked our bank account I found that £729 had been taken which left this account overdrawn and over the overdraft limit. My husband phoned Barclays Bank who said that he would receive bank charges of £22 and would be charged another £22 if the account remained over the overdraft limit for more than 5 days.
He also contacted David Lloyd Leisure (phoned twice) but no one got back to him.He then went there in person to find out what was happening. Neither the manager or the deputy manager were available and sent a young girl out to explain that this had happened to several other members and that someone in head office was at fault and had been dismissed. My husband explained how he had phoned twice (she said that they were too busy to phone back!) how their error had left us with bank charges and that the compensation offered was derisory. The David Lloyd person said that he couldn’t possibly have any more guest passes and did he realise that they are actually worth £15 each!And that although she was sorry for what had happened that basically it was tough!
He is going to Barclays in person tomorrow to sort out the bank account (previously just phoned their general number – probably India). We are so cross about this that we would just like to leave now, but we have to give 3 months notice or face a debt collector.Has the gym broken their contract with us? Please advise.

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