LA Fitness's pathetic apology
Last week I wrote about LA Fitness’s appalling admin and their inability to cancel a gym membership.
After a lot of stress and the threat of legal action, LA Fitness Head Office have finally apologised – to a point.
Despite the fact that we’ve paid them 120, they were willing to refund just £40, because (despite the stupidity of staff at the Epsom branch) we didn’t follow their terms and conditions – despite the fact that the Epsom manager openly admitted that mistakes had been made during the transition from Dragon’s gym to LA Fitness.
So, effectively, LA Fitness have still got the £80 that they claimed we owed them, and caused us a lot of stress with it.
I just hope that ARC Debt Collectors charged them a LOT of money for running crying to them, when they couldn’t even be bothered to send us a personal letter first.
Yes, LA Fitness, you whine on about how we should have sent a recorded delivery cancellation to you. Perhaps you should follow your own ‘advice’ with regards to customer relations.
LA Fitness is one company I hope never to have to deal with again. I suggest you avoid these thieves, too.
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April 4th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Andy
Sorry to hear of your troubles with LA Fitness. I am investigating the health club industry’s use of contracts and am working on a project that should help to solve some of these issues. Did you know that the Chief Executive of Esporta was on BBC’s Watchdog programme (21st March 2007) defending his company against heavy-handed tactics when members wanted to leave?
April 4th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Hi Ray,
Yes, ironically I saw the programme the day before the first letter from the debt collection agency arrived. I wondered if they were owned by the same company to begin with, but alas no. Seems to be a fairly common problem.
April 11th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Hi Andy
So I am at least not alone in this. Just got phonecall from ARC in regards to my cancelled membership at VirginActive, formerly known as Holmes Place, demanding payment of £225. I was told I had 5 hours to do so. I am now in the process of trying to find contact details of this ARC. In the meantime for anyone who is in a similar position check out http://www.uk-debt-advice.org/creditor_harassment.html
All this could have been avoided if Holmes Place’s staff correctly logged my cancellation.
April 11th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
No you’re not alone, and ARC are not the exception, either.
I was hassled by another credit agency because eBay were wrongfully trying to take money from me.
In this case, LA Fitness were incompetent, but debt recovery firms are, I’m afraid, cowboys who care nothing for personal welfare and simply want to get as much cash as possible from both their ‘clients’ and the poor unfortunates who may or may not owe money.
Bailiffs are generally thugs, operate very close to the edge of the law, and really don’t care much either. It must take a certain type of person to want to work as a bailiff or a debt collector. Judgemental? Yes, but my experience thus far has never proved any different.
May 1st, 2007 at 12:45 pm
What a shambles!
Just had a phonecall from ARC claiming i owe approx £140! I cancelled my membership in person, in the gym! talk about bad admin. I only cancelled the DDM to make sure that no further money was paid.
Fortuntately my ex gym in only across the road so come 5 o’clock hell will be unleashed on the incompetent fools!
May 1st, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Sorry to hear you’ve had the same problems Matt. It really makes me cross, because quite apart from the money itself, it wastes everyone’s time, and can cause stress.
Hardly a good advertisement for holistic health and getting a decent life balance – spending hours sorting out something that should have been handled by a half-decent administrative system.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I too am having problems with LA fitness and their inability to cancel my membership. I tried to cancel it last December, April 07, May 07 and July 07 and in spite of numerous phone calls they are still trying to charge me for being a member. I am now in the hands of ARC for the tune of £215 when the original amount LA fitness wanted was £78! I’m glad I’m not alone.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Don’t give up Rhian – though it’s a pain, you should at least be able to get any additional charges from ARC refunded, via LA Fitness.
We did, though it took a while. And make sure that nothing bad gets put on your credit history, either, as it’s not your fault.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Boy or boy, I’ve also got major problems with LA Fitness. I originally belonged to Dragons and gave notice in writing plus paid up to date of termination. Next thing I get a letter from LA Fitness (didnt even know they’d taken over) demanding payments for May and June, so I phoned them and told them I’d given notice ! – no way were they prepared to accept the situation – said that they didnt have my termination letter !
So now I am being hounded by ARC and Trevor Munn (a solicitor who seems to work out of the offices of ARC) – at my wits end …….the only thing I can do I think, is challenge the debt when it goes to Court !
Any suggestions ?
Steve
October 12th, 2007 at 9:10 am
I joined Esporta in January. I fancied a bit of luxury rather than going to my local leisure centre and they have a crèche which swayed it for me.
Here is my problem. In May I fell pregnant, found out in June and immediately stopped going to the gym with the advice of my Midwife.
That might sound a little harsh, after all I am only pregnant and have not got a disease.
I had many problems in my first pregnancy, I haemorrhaged on a few occasions after my placenta erupted and had a low lying placenta as a result which meant I spent most of my pregnancy in hospital and was put on bed rest if I wanted any chance of delivering my baby alive. I defied the odds and eventually gave birth to a healthy boy. It was one of the worst things I have ever had to go through.
I told my local health club this and said that I wanted to terminate my contract and my midwife will write a supporting letter. They were not interested and in the end wrote to their head office. My midwife wrote a supporting letter stating why I could no longer attend. A couple of weeks later I received a letter saying they will suspend my contract if I pay £10 per month!? Obviously I was not having this; there are medical reasons why I cannot work out.
Shortly after receiving the letter the same happened as it did with my last pregnancy and I was taken to hospital. This has happened twice since and I have been put on bed rest.
Throughout this I have still been paying by direct debit even though I have not been to the gym since the end of May. I have paid up until the end of August but then I cancelled my direct debit as I cannot afford to pay for something I am not using.
I wrote another letter, this time with a doctor’s report stating my condition and why I am unable to attend the gym. Recently had a letter back offering to suspend my contract until January free of charge. My baby won’t be born until the end of January and will most probably be delivered by C-section due to the complications so I will need a bit of recovery time!
I don’t know what else to do. After all of this there is no way i will ever return to this gym! Anyone offer any advice?
October 12th, 2007 at 9:27 am
These people need to know that they cannot get away with such appalling customer service.
Maybe the BBC’s Watchdog need to get involved.
Since our experience with “customer services” at LA Fitness, we’ve since got a dog, and now have free daily exercise (well, apart from the cost of dog biscuits!)
Seriously, it’s worth making as much of a fuss as you can bear (though I reckon they often get away with it because they bank on people giving up, because there are better things we could all be doing with our lives than fighting stupid battles with inept organisations).
Particularly when you’ve lost money, and have a medical reason for needing to stop.
Honestly, I don’t know how they expect to keep customers. We even had a letter a couple of months ago inviting us to come back to the gym. This *proves* their ignorance/arrogance/stupidity.
Either they’ve no record of the problems we faced, or they think that we’re somehow going to forget how we were threatened by them and their bully-boy debt recovery firm. It’s totally pathetic.
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 pm
it appears i’m joining the club of harrassed ex-members of la fitness !! i have just received my first letter from the parasites ARC demanding over £300 !
i haven’t used the gym for 3 months & cancelled the D/D as i’m due to move to an area where there are no la fitness clubs hooray !! so why pay for something i have no use for, or technically owe nothing for ??
it’s like the bank charging for an overdraft facility i never use !!
and what about the so called charges they claim you owe ?? haven’t the banks just taken a beating for such unjustifiable fees !!??
if i take a loan out with a bank then yes it’s money borrowed and paid back, but i don’t intend to be subjected to being bullied and harrassed for so called money owed .
obtaining monies via intimidation is something the krays were reknowned for, you don’t expect this kind of behaviour from a fitness club .. what ever happened to consumer rights ?
i’m not in debt to anyone .. a rare thing in this day and age ! i have no desire to be given grief by the ARC cowboys and will be contacting everyone concerning this including bbc watchdog, rogue traders, oft, trading standards etc.. this has to stop !!
it’s a bloody gym membership after all !! not a mortgage !!
November 6th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Hi
Could anyone tell me where I stand legally if I dont pay the amount ARC have said I have to pay, or they will start court proceedings? I am similar to yourselves in that I cancelled my membership with LA Fitness as I was moving 10 miles away and there was no LA Fitness near me. I never got a personal reply just a standard letter when you cancel the direct debit with them.
Many thanks.
Carol
November 11th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Carol, personally, I wouldnt acknowledge any correspondence from ARC, Trevor Munn etc. Also as you are moving be selective in who you give you forwarding address and telephone number to.
ARC is “just a glorified” debt collector and if you research the net, Trevor Munn is a solicitor working from a back room within ARC !
In my case I never responded to any letters and if they happened to phone me I’d say “take me to court” and hang up and after about the third call I wouldnt even say that, just hang up ! Consequently, I havent heard another word – suppose weighing up the cost of bringing a claim again what they say you owe isnt worth the effort, so they write you off !
I think they operate along the same lines as all debt collectors; they buy the debt and if they are successful in recovering – good, but, if they dont they either write the debt off or sell it on.
You might like to read up on blagger.com – lots of post there !
Steve
November 21st, 2007 at 11:19 pm
This evening I had a call out of the blue from ARC demanding 176 quid for. you guessed it, LA fitness. I don’t know why the standing order bounced, and they didn’t even bother to ring me before going Nuclear.
And that, ladies and gentlemen is their “Gold” service. Glad to know how valued my custom is!
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:15 pm
We have taken LA Fitness to Trading Standards under the Misrepresentation Act.
We are moving to another country and when we signed the contract with LAF, we advised LAF that we could not commit to a full year for this very reason and we were told several times that this is fine and providing we provide proof of this before we go, then no problem our contract can be ended.
This wasn’t given in writing so the day we signed the contract, I brought a witness in and got the guy sorting our membership out to say it again in front of the witness.
Now LAF will not respond to any calls or correspondence at all after telling us that the agreement of our contract is not binding and we cant cancel without huge financial penalty.
I have sent Special Guaranteed Next Day delivery letter outlining what Consumer Direct advised me to say.
I gave LAF 7 days to respond and low and behold, they have told me that the letters to my local LAF branch and head office have not been received.
Telling them the name of the person who signed, they said there is no such person there.
Emails have been sent and records kept and they said the emails havent been received either.
We havent cancelled the Direct Debit yet but I don’t know what to do.
The second Special Delivery letter goes out tomorrow and the third will go next week.
What do you guys recommend? How does it all work once Trading Standards are involved.
This is really getting me down
November 22nd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I joined LA Fitness because they said I could go on a “6 Month Flexible Contract” because I didn’t know how long I’d be staying in the UK. I tried to cancel my membership after 7 months but when the gym pulled out their copy of my contract, it didn’t state that it was a 6 month term, it only stated it on my copy. I sent a copy of my contract to their cancellation desk, and instead of contacting me, they sent ARC after me… as you can imagine I was super impressed with their customer service skills. They obviously can’t be bothered to do their jobs (ie “customer service”) and would rather throw it to someone else to look after.
I have consulted a solicitor in contract law and they have advised me on what to put in a letter to head office. The letter demands an apology from the gym, and to get ARC off my back. If I don’t have this within 14 days, I’m going to the OFT. I’m not giving them money because of their administration error!
I can’t believe what stress they have caused me. I’m confident I won’t receive a response from LA Fitness, and after taking legal advice I’m willing to take this as far as I have to.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Hi Jac
I went straight to OFT and have been advised to do the 3 letter sent by special delivery thing.
I spoke to the manager in head office who has had me send 4 emails – 1 to her and 3 to another woman and they all denied ever receiving them.
Im still paying the fees but what OFT will do I don’t know, I think they contact them.
I do wonder about the legalities of tracing you if you are in another country.
I think a call to ‘Watch Dog’ is in order, there are enough of us being stung on here.
Funnily enough, I know a group of people that would have joined LAF, but not now, not after I directed them here!!
Good luck Jac with everything, keep us updated.
November 25th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Hi,
Just an update on my argument with LA Fitness
I don’t have all my bank statements to hand, but as far as I can see, the most recent went out fine, and until recently I was going to the gym routinely… So either they didn’t bother telling me when I went to the gym… or this is another “Clerical Error”.
I know this has happened to a few other people, I was wondering if we could assemble an argument along the lines of LA fitness acting in bad faith in order to declare the contract, and the 12 month lock in, void.
This is appalling!
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Well after LAF denying all knowledge of emails/phone calls and Special Delivery receipts, I sent another email using another address and titled it differently.
This was obviously opened and I had two emails back – one on one email addy and one on the other.
Apologising for the inconvenience and stating that our membership is now cancelled.
As you can imagine, I have printed out copies of them all and emailed back saying that I would tell TS that the issue is resolved.
I have changed my debit cards and cancelled the Direct Debit but I am still concerned that they might still refer to debt collection.
This email confirming cancellation came from the membership manager.
I shall call TS tomorrow to inform them and find out what to do should this happen.
Be pedantic with dates/times/people/special delivery receipts.
Send EVERYTHING by Special Delivery, send copies by email and log EVERY phone call.
Fingers crossed I will be OK as I do have the email, but time will tell.
Leslie.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I am having similar problems. I’ve cancelled my LA Fitness membership and followed there instructions. Now ARC are demanding £118 from me. I tried to explain to them the problem and they told me it was not their problem, I was a ‘debtor’ not a customer and I’d be taken to court. This is harassment. I have spoken to two managers at LA Fitness – no one has come back to me. I am scared and intimidated and all I have done is following the instructions they gave me. Watchdog is my next step.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Am having a similar problem myself. The ineptitude of LA Fitness & ARC is galling. I Cancelled my membership in July 2007. Yet I am being pursued for £97.50 of outstanding gym fees (which I will not be paying!) I will not be bullied, threatened or harassed into paying for the ineptitude and incompetence of the gym membership staff who seem to make up the cancellation policy as they go along. It is about time we all took a stand. DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED
January 29th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Dear all,
I wish I’d read this site before joining and not given any money to these sharks. I’m going to be cancelling my membership in August, when my 12 month contract is over. Would anyone advise what’s the best way to go about doing this to avoid suffering similar problems?
January 30th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I cancelled my membership in July 07 with Next Generation as i moved house. The umpa lumpa’s at head office are just as pathetic as LA Fitness Customer services! I went to the Cambridge Branch of the Gym and they said “Head office are dealing with it” ie that means contacting ARC and having no corresspondance with me!! Nice Gym but the staff are just so thick
I too have just had a phone call on my mobile today from ARC. I will now be sending a Special delivery letter to NG headoffice. Bunch of muppets, and of course they wont be having my new address
January 30th, 2008 at 10:31 am
This is amazing to read. Amazing.
I wanted to cancel my membership as was moving to France last June. They said it would cost £150 to do so, so I may aswell pay out the last three months of my contract as that will be cheaper.
“Does it finish automatically at the end of my contract, as I am out the country to cancel it?”
“Yes, unless I renew it” said LA Fitness.
Low and behold, I’ve been chased for £79 by ARC, including ‘late payment’ charges. ‘No recollection’ of this phonecall, nor the guy who told me it finishes automatically, apparently. I’ve got to pay.
Does anyone know a Head Office email/contact of a manager who I can write to?
February 15th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
hi,
very disapointed to see so many people are having problems like myself with regards to LA fitness and ARC. i iused the gym for the last time in november 07 and on leaving that night i gave a letter to the front of house desk clerk. the letter i explained was my 30 days notice dated from the 28th november. as i wasnt in any contact period ( the 12 month one had expired some time ago ) i thought that would be the end of the matter. i asked for some acknowledgment from this to confirm my wish.after the dec dd went out i canceled it down, but still i heard nothing from the la. then in mid jan i ot a letter from them saying that i owed them £62 and a further £ 40 would be applied to my “account” if this was not paid. i emailed not only the gym but also their head office to explain i owed them nothng. again no reply nor acknowledge, but low and behold today i recieved a letter from ARC. Phoning LA FITNESS TODAY TO COMPLAIN WAS A JOKE. THE “CUSTOMER SERVICE” ADVISER would not let me speak to explain the situation, constantly talking over me and generally very unpleasant. she promised to contact the local gym to trace the copy of my letter on my file. do you think they will find it? silly question. she has said she will contact me on monday, i wont hold my breath. next stop, ARC. spoke to a chap and he at least allowed me to speak. according to him i did not follow the correct proceedure when cancelling my membership. apparently according to the terms and conditions you have to contact not your gym but their head office and obtain a cancellation code to end your membership. yeah like i am going to have my terms and conditions from five years ago. why when they where aware of my decision didnt they contact me straight away and inform me of the correct proceedure? too much trouble i quess. i wont be paying them or arc anything as their lack of contact and proper proceedure has been sadly lacking.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
My son is being stitched up by LAFitness and they are really not fit to be in business – why can’t we all get together and sort LAFitness and ARC and Trevor Munn out – let’s get the press and tv and radio to spread the word and close them down
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
My daughter who has just turned 17 has been getting very intimidating phone calls from ARC re not paying bill to LA Fitness – ridiculous amounts that do not even tally with her original contract. Has anyone got a phone number/e mail address to contact LA Fitness and register a complaint?
February 29th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I had to move jobs in july 2007 through harrassment i was receiving at my previous job. This meant me moving from working in Manchester to Stockport. I had only been with LA fitness 2 months when this happened and when i was leaving i called the admin office to cancel my membership, explaining what had happened and that it was not possible for me to get to the gym every night from Stockport. They told me that i would have to pay £327 to cancel. I do not have that sort of money and therefore did not pay. A month later i received a letter from ARC threatening to take me to court for costs of £890 of outstanding gym payments. They were stating that if i did not attend court i would get a CCJ. Due to being off work through personal issues this was the last thing i needed.
I stupidly called ARC upon receiving this letter as i was worried it would affect my credit history. I was told that i was to make a £10 payment and that they would set up a direct debit for £40 every month. I gave them my card details and made the payment.
Upon speaking to Citizens Advice i was told that a gym membership is not legally binding as you are paying to use the facilities and if you are not attending they are at no loss as the equipment is not taken up and can be used by others. I called my bank and told them to cancel this direct debit, which they did. For 2 months now, ARC have still been taking money out of my account as instead of setting up the DD, they are taking the payment by ‘Switch method’ meaning that as they have the long number of my card they can go into my bank account and take as much as they like out. I have contacted my bank and they are sending me a new card to prevent any more money being taken and also getting the fraud team involved as ARC have no right to do this. I will not be making any more payments. I agree with above comments that these vulture companies need to be dealt with as they are causing undue stress to young people (i am 21) and it is affecting families also.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:07 am
Hi Denise.
The contact phone number is 0844 770 7700 but please bare in mind if the membership is in your daughters name, due to data protection laws, the members of staff will now be allowed to discuss your daughters membership with you unkess they have prior authority from your daughter. LA Fitness staff are trained well and are they to help you as much as they can.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:09 am
anyone who receives a letter from ARC, please do not pay them direct as they slap a lot of charges on. Please contact LA Fitness direct who will only take the actual payment that is due and will usually waiver the charges which ARC will demand from you.
March 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I thought my experience was bad until I read some of the cases here. OK, I could just simply ignore ARC but I’m scared stiff of having CCJs registered on my credit file which by the way I believe is the most stupid system ever created.
Your credit file is designed to keep you at the mercy of big organisations. What’s going on in the free world? does anyone know that the credit filing companies are responsible for the current credit crunch. Causing people to pay ridiculous amounts on their borrowings?
I’ll pay them for the sake of my credit file and I’ll never sign any contract again except if it’s for a property(mortgage) in the UK.
March 28th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Im too being chased by ARC. As ive moved address can they still find me?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I am also being chased by ARC and have already made some payments to them. L A Fitness are the most appauling company that i have ever come across.
They say that you will been shown around the gym and how to use the equipment and also get a free bag, with lots of other free stuff! This never happened!
I was actually shown around by the Promotions guy who was suited and booted, so obviously he wasn’t going to work up a sweat!
I am mortified by the way that i have been treated and am now in total despair as i feel that i shouldn’t have to pay the remaining £275!
I will never again go to L A Fitness and will make sure that my friends and family know exactly how they will be treated if they are thinking of joining!
April 16th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
i am being chased BY arc after cancelling my membership due to racial abuse. i think its disgusting that the gym had even passed it onto arc. the gym is NEXT GENERATION CLUBS BRISTOL im reading alot of this is la fitness, at the end of the day its just a gym. its nothing serious. if they wana chase me for money i’l sue them for harrasment and making me suffer racial abuse. The problem is there is a new manager JACK PHILLIPS and he is ovbiously quite horrible this is really bad customer service and disgusting i am not going to pay no matter what!
April 17th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Hi Hannah….i was with NG also….the head office in Herts are just pathetic. No help at all. Dont pay ARC and ignore the calls. They been ringing every other day on my mobile.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I am also having problems with LA Fitness, cancelled in Jan 08 (sent letter) last payment sent to LAF in Feb 08. Then rec’d letter requesting another £62, informed them I had cancelled, said they would look into it – no one keep back, believed it had been rectified. Now ARC say I owe £112. Not a chance of me paying, they cannot get a CCJ without court approval, which means if they apply for one, the court will also send you a form to state your case – hence we can dispute this which I intend to do. No way will a court enforce a debt for goods or services which have not been rec’d or taken (Citizen Advice Bureau will back this statement up). They send threatening letters to bully people into paying before having to go to court, as they know they will lose. My advice is if you have not been to the gym since you last paid, they have no case – I say bring it on. Maybe I will seek compensation for harrasment and bullying tactics. Just remember to reply in writing stating your case each time a letter is sent, keeping all correspondence.
May 18th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
hi there,
i too am experiencing problems with la fitness. we signed up for a 12 month contract and told the manager who sold us the contract that there was a possibility we may move out of the area and there may not be an la fitness in our local area. we were reassured by the manager not to worry as they had a policy in place i.e. if there is not a gym in your local area they would cancel the contract at no additional charge. I explained at the time that we did not have access to a car so the gym would have to be very close.
we have moved to the midlands (outside birmingham( the nearest la fitness is 6 miles away and involves going into the city centre over a 30 minute bus in rush hour! we have been told that they have not such policy of cancelling if you move and would only consider it if you move over 20 miles from an la fitness!
they are now adding on charges and have instructed arc. we are going to sue them and ask for the courts to riscind the whole contract on the basis on misrepresentation! is there anyone else who has experienced something similar? it may be that we can help eachother evidence wise?
Sue
May 28th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Going from my eperience, anyone who has had a contract for over 12 months, don’t call ARC or LA fitness, and get into a farcial conversation with some poor, ill-educated chump, who is too stupid to get a decent job, instead write to them and ask for a copy of the contract and proof that you owe the money in question. You will never hear from them again.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:59 am
hi there,
I too have just experienced problems with LA Fitness. After cancelling a direct debit- I then had a call on my mobile from ARC who were threatening to add £100 of charges if I didn;t give them my address and pay them then and there. I ended up giving card details and address to someone on a mobile because of the threats. I had not been contacted in anyway byb LA fitness about the owing them any money and was not aware that I did.
I especially felt the blackmail nature of the call was particularly unpleasant although the guy on the phone was relatively helpful.
How are they allowed to keep behaving in this manner?
Wendy
June 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I have been hounded by this company ARC for an outstanding balance of £670 + for non payment… i had this problem over a year ago and the membership guy at LA fitness Brooklands sale cancelled my m’ship in Jan 2008 and restarted it again for Feb 2008 saying that it was an error on their side.. i have proof of ALL my payments and i have asked for my m’ship to be cancelled which they are refusing to do unless i pay the whole year !!!! this gym has been previously owned by two other companies and i have been a member for about 15 years and NEVER had this problem…. i think this LA fitness should be taken to Watchdog.. i hav been threatened with the removal of belongings, court cost, not to mention the bad credit now..they are a joke their manager “Brandy” has NEVER returned one single phone call or attempted to help complete waste of time i would urge anyone looking for a gym to take a careful look when choosing
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I’ve just read through this blog and now it all falls into place!! I witnessed a horrible incident when the tutor of my ‘aqua’class at Northwood L.A. Fitness received a nasty verbal assault from a member. This member behaved appallingly and it looked as if he was going to push the tutor into the pool. Pretty well all the members in the class sent in complaints after we had all gone to her aid. It’s over a month now and although the latest e-mail sent to me states, ‘the matter has been addressed and you should not feel anxious for the safety of our staff,’ I can see that this bloke is just going to get a slapped wrist or something similarly pathetic. There’s no way that lot will actually turn away members for whatever reason is there? Aggression seems to pay (or at least it’s worth trying) but I’m not going to let this matter drop until I know that some-one with real anger management issues gets his just desserts and his membership is rescinded.
I wish you all success and am appalled by the ways in which you have been so callously treated!
Where have decency and principles gone??
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Everyone who is having problems with LAF don’t despair. A few years ago Fitness First were chasing a member who wanted to cancel. To cut a long story short, it went to court and the Judge made his Judgement and said that he felt 3 months is adequate time before he felt it was feasible that any member tied into a 12 month agreement could cancel. LAF, Fitness First and all of the other gym chains know this. They are trying it on. Unfortunately I do not know when this judgement was passed but if you are being chased by any of these big gyms, mention you have heard about this Judgement and they quietly back off. If you want the full details you may have to do some research on the net. I formerly worked at Fitness First and this shook up the industry.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Having problems with them as well; they do not record their transaction activities well at all; and they take money out of your checking account that isnt authorized. I am moving, so I think that will get me out of the contract as I will be more than 30 miles away from the neareast La Fitness — be SURE that if any of you are doing so – moving- that you let them know at least 20 days in advance. I think that is the regulation. I only hope I may close my checking account as well so they cant get anything out of it on any “so-called error” basis.
They definately want your money and have no sense of ethics.
Perry County, PA/USA
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I’m having a real problem cancelling my agreement within the 14 day cooling off period!
I joined up with Pru-Healths plan and decided to cancel my membership after visiting La Fitness.
No Pru Health say the membership is cancelled but La Fitness say they haven’t received the email that they require to cancel it. Of course no one will talk to each other so I’m just going around in circles with this scam.
Of course being in the UK we have no legal aid anymore and the law is useless in protecting you!
July 10th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Hi all,
We just had an experience we thought we had best warn you all of.
We contacted this gym to enquire about membership costs and they invited us down to meet with a rep who showed us around the facilities and we found it to be impressive.
We sat down at the end and she explained the deals available and stated that there was a ten day cooling off period so that if we gave a deposit (Months fee) today, should we change our minds we could get a full refund no questions asked.
Feeling there was nothing to lose we signed the contract and walked out.
We later found a better deal at a better gym, closer to home so contacted L.A Fitness to cancel our membership.
And guess what?
Our attention was then drawn to the terms and conditions on the reverse of the contract, where, really low down in tiny print clause number
6.1 was the following:
If you sign these terms and conditions anywhere other than on any LA fitness premises, you may cancel your membership for any reason within 10 days of joining. This is called a ‘cooling off’ period. If you choose to cancel within these 10 days we will give you a full refund. In order to cancel your membership within the cooling off period you need to call 0844 770 7700. We will send you a refund by cheque to the address you have given us on your membership. A cooling off period only applies where payments are made via Direct Debit installments.
We contacted the centre and complained that we told to the contrary and where told that they dont mention that fact as ”it is hardly a selling point”. I then contacted customer services and was told EXACTLY THE SAME THING.
I contacted consumer direct and was told that they are within their legal rights and once signed all spoken words are void. Sorry, get on with it.
It appears that L.A Fitness reps are instructed to deliberately lie to potential members.
Be warned………
July 10th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Reading through all these comments, the penny’s finally dropped that i’m not the only one! i am totally disgusted by the way LA fitness treats it’s customer’s..
I myself have been a member of Dragons in Bedford for several years, when i heard that LA Fitness were taking it over, and i was assured by staff that nothing would change!! how wrong they were!!
The first step this incompetent company took was to reduce the opening hours (But of course they still wanted to charge the same money!!) of which i stupidly accepted!
Followed 4 months later by a letter stating “they would be closing at weekend’s!!”
oh and of course it true LA S**tness style no reduction in price or consultation! well this was quite literally the final straw.
So i rang to cancel my membership, and was told that i would have to give 1 months notice! so here i am paying “1 months notice” for a membership that i cannot use! Nice!
Next thing i receive is a letter stating i owed £40 and should call 0844.. (We Never Answer) / 0844.. (Your always the 2nd person in the queue).. to make this payment without delay.
16 attempts later and still no reply
Sure enough the next thing i receive is a letter
from ARC, now requesting £88.00 as i havent replied to LA’s previous letter (Well i would have loved to replied)but unfortunately i’m still 2nd in the queue!!
Well all i can say is, beware of this bunch of incompetent idiots.. they say there’s one born every minute, unfortunately for us .. there running LA Fitness!
July 17th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Hi all
this has just happened to me.
I have just tried to cancel after 3 days as gym has no ofsted creche and when I went for my induction was not given a medical.
I thought I was ok to cancel because of the cooling off period but no only if i had signed my contract anywhere other then la fitness. what a joke. talk about signing under duress !
I have sent letters emails and now have had to contact citizens advice.
ARC are phoning me everyday on my mobile.
I haven’t set foot in this gym since I signed that contract. you would think they would let you cancel if you are not using the gym and haven’t used it from day 1.
I have sent a recored letter to the managing director and waiting for response.
I am not going to pay them a penny.
there moto is “la fitness we’re on your side”(yeah right !)
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:48 am
It’s not only LA fitness. I am having a similar problem with the Reebok gym in London.
ARC are the biggest bunch of cowboys I have ever encountered. Extremely unprofessional. They have been calling me between 3 – 6 times a day as well as sending text messages.
They don’t have a leg to stand on. They have bought the debt from Reebok and if they can’t collect on it that is there problem, so they employ intimidation, bullying tactics and peoples ignorance of the law to get people to pay. As there is no agreement between myself and ARC I do not have to pay their fees, nor will I.
I have told ARC that I dispute the debt, I will not be paying it and they can pursue it through the courts.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
John (July 22nd):
Bailiffs are not allowed to contact you 3-6 times a day by phone, that’s called harassment (I heard this on Radio 4′s Money Programme the other day). Contact Citizen’s Advice to get the correct text of the letter to send them to prevent this harassment. Log their calls (date/time/content/attitude/name) and get the name of the person calling. Tell them to contact your solicitor in future.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Am at my wits end – cancelled my membership with local LA Fitness in April – still getting shi**y letters ‘Last chance saloon’ etc from them.
I am spending too much of my time on the phone telling them I cancelled my membership in writing (and delivered by hand) to my local club – they says they will ‘investigate’ and call me back but never do – just more rubbish intimadatory letters!
Went to my branch on Saturday to be met by another ex-member with the same letter in his hand – same experience as me who was Mr Very Angry indeed!
Who-ever penned their letters for them should be sacked – they are a disgrace.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Ali (22nd July)
ARC are not bailiffs. Bailiffs are employed/certified by the courts to collect on CCJ’s, council tax etc. Debts such as gym fees or bought debts by debt collection companies that haven’t been to court are not collected by bailiffs.
As a consequence of buying debts, the risk they take is that they will be unable to collect them and will have to write them off. Most people aren’t familiar with the law and this is why they use such tactics to try to browbeat people into paying.
The best advice is to tell them that you are disputing the debt and to p!ss off! If they have any real recourse they will pursue it through the courts. Nine times out of ten though they will write it off.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Hi.
We are having same heavy handed problems and LIES from Virgin Active. Verbaly cancelled before due date, then Virgin active said they did not have the cancellation. They agreed to cancel because of re location to an area with no site, we sent all relocation ino but then put the alledged debt into ARC hand and the illusive Trevor Munn solicitors. We are fighting but scared of getting a CCJ. Whats your thoughts!
July 31st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Hi people! am very upset with LA fitness.Couple years ego i join LA fitness and one of their staff toke my flipper so i went to the reception and have few word with her.and one of the instructor come 2 me and started 2 shoot at me.so i had a big argument with this peoples who been very impolite, rude and lied.They made a complaint against me even if they was in wrong doing.The fitness manager told me i can’t go back, still after 2 years since this happen…He told me i’ve been band forever i can’t go 2 any LA fitness club.I want to kwon what can i do to back with LA fitness coz i didn’t do enything wrong than defend myself after all.what can i do?
August 1st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
hi
it is all about trying to them and if you tell them to speak with your sollisitor on next time they call you they may still be calling you after,but if you just laugth to guy in the phone he stops oneday 
change your ground from being bulled to bulle.i telling them that i am only 7 years old and that my mamy is not at home 
or that my grandfather looked my in the cellar and ascing them to help me 
sametimes they laugth with me, i fink because arc knows that they are in no win situacion.
i too having same problems with arc.reading all coments i did not found anybody saying that arc took them to court.PLEASE DONT PAY THEM.arc can not do anything to your credit file nor trevor munn
good luck evryone
Tomas
August 6th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
LA fitness have horrible training and it is almost impossible to cancel the membership! LETS FIGHT BACK!I WORK IN PR I GOT CONNECTIONS!
I joined LA fitness December 07 and had my free personal training session where that idiot of trainer told me to lose 10-20 pounds…Im 5’8″ tall and 125 pounds….WTF!
I yelled at him and told him that I will never come back again, because one of my best friends nearly died because of an eating disorder.
So, the next day they called me to ask if I was alright and I said no and that I wanted to cancel the membership immediately.After trying to convince me to stay they finally agreed to send me the form. I never received anything, so I called them and they said I should go online. I did, but i didn’t wanna set up an account so I called them again and the lady told me that the problem will be solved. they will call me back.
because I was graduating I didn’t have the time to follow up with them.
when I canceled in MAY(!!!!) my Swiss credit card they started calling me non stop. then I realized that they have been using my card all the time, because I was so stupid to slide my card once over there!Since then I was sent from one place to the other and apparently all their printers are out of order…sure, but they still can print out applications!!!
I’m working for a PR guy and he discovered in 1989 a major scam with the parking meters in LA where the city had to pay over 15 million dollars back to the people that got parking tickets at manipulated parking meters. He is very well connected and we are going to the media now. If you want to be part of it let me know.I’m trying to collect as many angry people as possible!
August 7th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Hi Corina,
Your experience with the personal trainer reminded me about something my wife said last night.
She had a personal training session in which she told the trainer that she had been ill and so wasn’t able to stick to the original exercise plan. His reply was that she wasn’t working hard enough, and needed to stick to the plan. As she felt bullied by this moron, she did go back to the plan (despite still being unwell) and as a result injured her knee.
These pathetic scum are not only appalling administrators, but they actually put people’s health at risk.
My wife now attends a local David Lloyd gym, and while I’m sure they’re not perfect (no company is) she feels so much safer there. Not only do they care about her, but (from what I can see) the personal trainer she has is excellent. Caring, not pushy, and actually knows what the hell it is he’s talking about;
I wonder whether LA Fitness’s trainers actually have proper accreditation / certification?
August 7th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Ulrich,
Hard to say exactly because I don’t know the full situation, but my advice is to avoid these cowboys. It actually sounds like you’ve had a lucky escape.
Find a decent gym where you’ll be respected, and where the rules and regulations are clearly explained rather than being shouted at you when they think you’ve done something wrong.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Hi this is update
” and late, calls again, asking to pay.so way to call if documents are ready?go to court.
this is joke
arc still calling me, but i still not paying.two week ago i receive letter from trevor munn saying “all documents is prepared for court then bla bla bla… and then but there is still not to late to pay…
also they playing “good cop bad cop game” one day sambody calling me is very very rude,next day samebody else calling me and he is very nice he is giving me a hope that if i was to pay there will be no court no bad credit history no more problems
i like when arc calling, it does make my day
August 27th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
hi everyone
i have no more call from arc.so to all of you how still in doubt what to do with arc agresion – dont be afraid,dont be bulled by arc.DO NOT PAY.
good luck
September 7th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Ulrich,
You have to bring them to the court as in Boissy. Where are you exactly in England Ulrich?
Damien
September 10th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I am a solicitor and I am being pestered by ARC for (allegedly) failing to give the correct notice period to David Lloyd. My best advice is when giving notice at a club either fax or email it so you have evidence it is both sent and received.
For those of us who haven’t done this ARC’s fax number is 01932 251 012. I would strongly advise faxing them telling them you find their manner unduly threatening and you require all further correspondence to be sent by post. Also say in the fax that you would like full details of their claim, copies of the signed contract, full breakdown with explanations of the figures claimed, and a fully particularised letter of claim so that you can take independent legal advice as to your position. Keep the fax confirmation sheet as evidence that fax was sent. It may well put them off if they have to think about and articulate their claim, if not it should at least stop their aggressive calls and allow you time to consider your position.
Further if they are rude or threatening during a phone call then fax them immediately confirming the details of the call and asking for an explanation. Keep an eye on http://www.uk-debt-advice.org/creditor_harassment.html and bear in mind if they are in breach of anything. They will be unfortunately and if they are fax them with details and if they don’t respond within a reasonable time (say a week) then report them. The more people who report them the better. If you can provide fax confirmations detailing the conversations straight after the conversation took place and ARC have failed to respond, this should be taken as evidence that they do not deny the conversation and / or they cannot offer an explanation for it.
If anyone has any further questions post them here, I will try to check back regularly to provide any further guidance I can.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I recently had dealings with ARC We cancelled our membership with Next Generation Chorley in June 2007. In Oct 2006 I suffered 2 Heart attacks eveventually resulting in CABG in December 2006. I suspended the membership we had been members since 2004 We suspended the membership in writing but never received any written confirmation or acknowledgement as in Terms and Cond. We reinstated membership in March and by June 2007 realised we never used it through continued poor health etc wrote to cancel never heard anything but as we didn’t after suspension did not matter it. In Sep 2007 got a letter saying they had not been able to collect payment I emailed them to say we had cancelled. Said they did not receive my letter in June. Never heard anything until May 2008 claiming we owed £450.00 wrote to say membership cancelled had all nonsense from ARC Trevor Munn waiting to go to court can any one advise us
September 15th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Have you done as suggested above? IE
“This ARC’s fax number is 01932 251 012. I would strongly advise faxing them telling them you find their manner unduly threatening and you require all further correspondence to be sent by post. Also say in the fax that you would like full details of their claim, copies of the signed contract, full breakdown with explanations of the figures claimed, and a fully particularised letter of claim so that you can take independent legal advice as to your position. Keep the fax confirmation sheet as evidence that fax was sent.”
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
My recent problem:
Prior to signing up for membership, I asked the sales advisor if the gym had access to Sky Sports and Setanta Sports (as my sole reason for joining was so that I could use cardio machines whilst watching football). He assured me that it did, so I signed up.
A month later, I learned that the advisor had been mistaken and that the gym did not have the facilities he promised. I have been unable to cancel my membership (members services took over a month to respond and then just refused to help me). I have referred the matter to Consumer Direct.
Good luck to everyone else who has been screwed by these jokers.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
My contract ends on 8-Dec-08, and I called my local branch before the end of October to enquire about cxln. The lady told me that the last DD was due 31-Oct which would take us up to the 7-Dec when our contract ended. She gave me a separate number to call.
I called them today after receiving a letter in the post re the cxd DD etc (waited until the 31-Oct had passed and been paid first), and was informed that I had to give a ‘calendar’ month’s notice, and that for my membership to end on the 7-Dec I would have needed to have told them by the 2-Nov!!!
They also mentioned something about the fact that even though my membership started on 8-Dec, we signed the contract the previous month (I recall doing this as we were persuaded to join by end Nov to take advantage of a reduced price – now I can see why!).
I informed them I would NOT be paying the ‘extra’ month and that I had not even used the Gym since July as the classes were never on at suitable times or were always full.
Both people I spoke to were very rude, and lacked customer service skills!
It does worry me, about being chased, the amount they will chase me for initially will only be £32, but no doubt will increase by £40 as soon as it is passed to ARC, and then 4% apr on top of the base rate…and so on…..
I won’t pay btw, but will certainly be adding this page to my favourites for reference!!!!!
Sam’s advice will be taken and I will be sure to refer to that when/if (although am sure I will be!) harrassed for payment.
I wish anyone in the same situation luck, and hope these cowboys get what they deserve!
Just think, with a recession looming luxuries such as Gym’s will be going out of business – hopefully LA Fitness will be the first!
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
2 years ago, I left ‘Holmes Place’ when they were being taken over by Virgin Active. ARC or a similar company chased me for money. I managed to get a hold of the manager at the local gym by name and explained I’d sent a letter cancelling my membership. It wasn’t up to me to prove I’d cancelled, it was up to them to prove they couldn’t find it.
Eventually, I agreed to pay £15 for the two weeks between when the letter should have reached them rather than the £105 they were demanding.
There is very litte sympathy from debt agencies or health clubs. The best I can advise is find out the CEO’s name, send a polite letter (by recorded delivery) or email to them, stating their staff’s appalling customer service, the fact you have likely cancelled and expected the account to be closed, along with the hope they can resolve it before you take the complaint on air with Watchdog.
I’ve tried this with my bank, BT and Virgin Active. By being polite but firm, I’ve had a response, in some cases a refund and kept in touch with ARC to make sure they definitely have my case CLOSED!
Good luck to anyone chasing. Use google, be firm but don’t go mental on the phone, I think the sods get a kick out of the fact they are winding you up!!
December 5th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I’ve had similar problems to the one outline above, with La Fitness Southampton. Please could you tell me the name and how to contact the managing director directly?
December 16th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Interesting to read I’m not the only one in the same boat.
I took my membership out in Nov 2006. I cancelled my membership during the Summer as I hadn’t used the gym for almost a year. In October 2008 my direct debits were still being taken, so cancelled my direct debit.
I’ve now received a letter from ARC requesting £109.95!!! I will be phoning them first thing in the morning and certainly will not be paying this.
It would seem reading all the posts that it’s virtually impossible to cancel your membership without some kind of problem\payment required!!
December 16th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Further update.
Spoke to ARC today.
Took membership out in September 2006, Letter hand delivered to LA Fitness, in July 2008
Email sent in September 2008-12-16 and cancelled DD
Spoke to an advisor at ARC. Advised that I had hand delivered a letter of cancellation to LA Fitness and sent a subsequent email. He advised that as I had no proof of doing any of this that I am liable for the amount.
I asked if this could be “frozen� whilst I sought to resolve this with LA Fitness. He advised “No�.
He said if he could take payment today it would not be taken as far as court action. I advised that I couldn’t pay, I don’t have that sort of money. He again stated that if I paid an amount towards the balance then it wouldn’t be passed to their solictors for court action. Again I stated I couldn’t pay as didn’t have that sort of money. He stated that then my account would be marked as a “refusal to pay� and would be passed to solictors for court action against me.
I advised that I need to go seek advice on this and he said “yes, seek legal advice� as we are now passing this to solicitors for court action against you.
This is so wrong. Will read back on other people’s comments and see what I can do to resolve this.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Re LA Fitness cancellation. They deny receiving notice. They and ARC deny receiving correspondece since. I am clearly not the first. Nor will we be the last. I will gladly see them in court. I would suggest a group action against them and am seeking expert advice on this. It may be possible, for eg, for us all to join forces against them. I am prepared to act on our behalf.
Let me know if your interested. Remember, it would have to be those of us who are dealing with LA Fitness and their refusal to accept cancellations.
If necessary, we could deal with ARC separately. Civil harassment, for e.g or some other breach. Will look into that too.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:13 am
I’d be very interested. It would appear that this is not uncommon with LA Fitness and needs to be addressed. It’s crazy that they are allowed to get away with this.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Due to leaving the country I transferred my membership over to a friend who has taken over the direct debit and we also paid a £50 transfer fee for this to happen.(I had my membership for over 12 months before transferring)
Then I receive letters from ARC stating that I owe them £90ish as I cancelled my dd and not my membership.
I emailed la fitness Highgate branch and Arc to advise them of the transfer and that as the papers where signed at the gym and the fee paid that they should have a record of this and to stop sending me notices to pay money that I don’t owe.
LA Fitness then said that they had no record of the transfer and that I should send in proof. (The person who has now taken over the transfer has all these papers)
I contacted my Friend and he said that LA Fitness is still taking money from his account each month as expected due to the transfer. (So they must have the transfer agreement in order to take the payments) however they say there is no record of this.
They are now sending letters saying there is no record of the transfer fee ?? (The transfer fee of £50 was a compulsory condition of the transfer agreement and the transfer has been successful if they are indeed taking money out of my friends account each month.
If anyone has details of the CEO at LA Fitness I would also be interested in obtaining them.
After reading everyone else’s posts I agree that both LAF and ARC should be recommended to appear on watch dog and that the governing bodies that regulate these types of businesses should also investigate them as they bring a lot of unnecessary stress to good innocent people and in this day and age shouldn’t happen.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Really encouraging to read this, I have been having very similar problems with LA Fitness, ARC and Trevor Munn Solicitors. At least I know Iam not alone.
I have recently sent a letter of complaint to the CEO of LA Fitness and waiting for a reply.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
if anybody find any mesions on internet about arc or trevor munn taking samebody to court i will give him a pound.arc sold my debt to other debt recovery company called scotcall because that is what they do if you ignoring them. i understand that letters from arc is very tretening but that is it what they can do is to treten you with stupid letters and hope that it will work and you will pay.and as i can see it works for arc, lot of you scered and ready to give you money
very good bussines idea, send letters to people and wait for them to call you, 1 in 10 will pay.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:11 am
Wow! I wish I’d found this site earlier. I’ve been on a nightmare ride with ARC since I left the UK to re-join my husband in the Middle East in June 2008.
I belong to a gym where we live in ME and whilst on home leave I wanted to keep up the good work so, in April 2007 and knowing that I was only going to be in the UK for 2 or 3 months a year, I rang my local LA Fitness and asked if they did a temporary membership. I was told they didn’t. However, after some discussion the chap I was speaking to said that it was possible to take the full membership but to ‘freeze’ it when I was out of the country for any prolonged period. By doing this I would only have to pay £9 per month whilst I was abroad, then unfreeze it when I was back for a month and bump the DD back up to whatever it was normally (£40ish I think).
Sounded reasonable to me – well it would, wouldn’t it! I paid the registration fee over the phone and signed the contract on my first visit to LA Fitness a few days later.
Before I was due to leave the UK in June I rang the ‘freeze’ phone number I’d been given by the local LAF. I was told they did not acknowledge the arrangement I had made. I spent a week phoning them back and forth until at LAST someone said it was OK to pay £9 whilst I was out of the country. I cancelled the DD. I realised afterwards this was a mistake to do that as I couldn’t reinstate the DD. I rang the chap at LA from the Departure Lounge at Gatwick (because I was so worried about it). He said it was OK they would sort it all out and e-mail me if there was any problem.
2 months later the threatening letters from ARC started arriving at my home in the UK. LA Fitness MUST have had a record of my exchanges with their head office and as such been aware I was out of the country. Had my neighbour not been checking my post I would have been none the wiser and probably on a Bad Debtor list by now.
I contacted ARC and LAF by e-mail (copying each of them in on the other’s e-mail) and eventually the chap I’d originally dealt with at the head office said it was OK for me to send a cheque to cover the £9 per month from July to date. I e-mailed back asking for their bank details so I could transfer the amount of £63 and said I’d be back in February when I would reinstate the DD. I heard nothing further despite writing to them again to chase this up. That was around end Septembet. To cut the story short I never received a reply.
Then, mid-December, I received a phone call here in Middle East from ARC chasing the debt. I read the riot act and suggested they read the e-mails I’d sent to them and LA. He said he’d put the matter on hold. I sent him (copied to LAF)reams and reams of the e-mail correspondence which had been going on since June 2007.
Yesterday my neighbour informed me there were two more letters threatening letters from ARC!!!!
1. Said I hadn’t cancelled my membership according to the terms and conditions. (I had never cancelled!) Pay £581.90 or in 10 days our solicitor will be instructed.
2. Announcing that an application to the County Court had been prepared and I now owed fees plus interest i.e. £753.45
I was furious. I rang ARC and said it would be my pleasure to meet them in court, armed with all the e-mails I had already sent to them and copied to LAF which PROVED without doubt that I had done all I could to pay the agreed figure and was never at fault in this whole sorry mess.
The ARC bloke must’ve looked at my e-mails and obviously saw where I’d offered to transfer what I believe I owe and he asked if I could paid the £63 over the phone from my Debit Card. I did.
Although ARC will send a receipt to my UK address they still haven’t said the matter is closed! The man I spoke with said he’d let LAF know what I’ve paid and ask them if that’s acceptable!!!!
I reiterated that I would be more than happy to see them in any Court and plastered across any newspaper also!
I shall put the DD back in place for the last 3 months of my membership when I get home, but having now read the above comments from others, I’m worried that I will have a problem cancelling the membership when I get home. I haven’t read the terms and conditions yet!
Perhaps I’ll just pay them by post dated cheques for the final months and not risk a DD.
Boy am I glad to have got this all off my chest – being thousands of miles away from home whilst trying to deal with this was really upsetting me.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Sorry – having just re-read my post, wherever I’ve typed 2007 I meant to write 2008. It was during 2008 that I joined LA Fitness.
January 21st, 2009 at 9:05 am
So this blog entry was made nearly two years ago and you still have people leaving comments? Clearly nothing has improved.
I’ll just give my support to you all and add my tuppence worth: two letters cancelling contract, two phone calls, another one to Customer Service (after which I was put onto the “debt recovery” system, despite what I thought was an agreement on how to proceed), another one to another department. Usual stuff, by the sounds of it!
Time will tell if I get ARC after me too.
I’m about to phone and complain about the woman supervisor on Customer Service (her name is Wendy, by the way, and if you get put through to her you have my sympathies!) and will be pointing out that if I do have to deal with ARC I will be claiming for the cost of my time, in the County Court if necessary.
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I had major problems and stresses with LA Fitness,
And fortunately, I am able to tell you some contact details:
The CEO’s name is Martin Long. I do not *know* his e-mail address, but based on the other Head Office e-mail addresses, I can only guess it is mailto:martin.long@lafitness.co.uk
The Executive PA is Carmel Proctor. Her e-mail address is carmel.proctor@lafitness.co.uk. I had managed to speak to Carmel about the problem(s) I was having, and she was the only helpful person.
The Member Relations Manager is Neil Hodgon. His e-mail address is neil.hodgon@lafitness.co.uk. Please be aware that Neil ignores e-mails, evades points and lies as much as the Regional and Branch Managers at LA Fitness.
My advice is to go straight to the Board and speak to Carmel.
The umbrella company that own LA Fitness:
http://www.midoceanpartners.com/#/home/
January 28th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hi all im having problems with LA fitness and ARC Europe aswell I’ve even received a letter from Trevor Munn solicitors now but do not worry I have read plenty og blogs about these companys and nothing actually happens! They dont take you to court and Trevor Munn is not even a real solicitors! What cowboys!!!
February 1st, 2009 at 1:42 am
It really seems to someone (someone also with experience of L.A. Fitness taking money from customers in a way that is like pickpocketing where agreed services is not provided) that the comments show that L.A. Fitness works the other way than most people, the other way than is logical.
I recently started looking for complaints about L.A. Fitness and it would take me months to compile relevant complaints, just the easy to find ones too.
But what I mean is that it seems, especially fromm the comments in early 2007, L.A. Fitness tell you lies and then you are charged later on specifically for them telling those lies.
For 1 thing, it’s basically true, you rely on information they firstly give and then they charge you for you acting by that, while they deny that information was ever true.
For a 2nd thing, it seems to be how they work – if there is a chance you can be ‘caught’ by L.A. Fitness into being made to pay money you don’t and shouldn’t actually owe, they will catch you, and they charge you for their apparent allowingness earlier on, their apparent which was a short term mistake (or an intentional part of their longer plan, who knows?)
As this analysis suggests, it is an organisation continuously found to be deviant. It almost seems like they expect you to know that the small print might as well read what they could never write and get away with – “If you keep you head down, pay the money, pay more than the annual costs unless you dance when we tell you to and cancel further membership you never will ask for, we’ll try everything to get so much more money from you. And we’ll do it by pretending it’s legal and the voice of the law – the voice of solicitors and legal ‘money owing’ recovery firms.”
I don’t remember the bare facts of the law here (which I have known well) and I can’t say for sure if this would hold true in a court, but in many cases I’ve read the actions of L.A. Fitness amount to something very like blackmail. Anyway, in essence, that sums up the spirit of what they’ve been frequently doing.
One thing to say is: though with my contract it was nearly impossible to tell this – but it may seem true that L.A. Fitness CAN require you to pay the rest of your contract charges (if they’ve delivered their service part as agreed) if you cancel before the time. In cases above there are examples of people who have been told otherwise when they joined, and that means L.A. Fitness CAN’T take the rest of the term’s charges, obviously. But it is VERY, VERY, VERY worth knowing something, and my contract wasn’t at all clear about this, but new contracts are now on the side of L.A. Fitness: you can’t cancel early – you can only cancel if a doctor confirms you are too sick to stay or you pay a large cancellation fee which is just less than you’d pay as membership for the remaining time anyway.
However, there are so many comments here and in other pages mentioned which that truth above does not effect. In most cases I have read, the customer should have been able to stop payments, and pay nothing more (at least this, it wasn’t uncommon in what I read that the customer should have been legally owed money by L.A. Fitness).
I have commenced a breach of contract action against my local L.A. Fitness club. Mine seems to be more or less the worst experience I have come across, in also examining the very many reported problems with L.A. Fitness. The club is Adelaide Street, Belfast. I will post more to describe this and keep you informed.
The case is so bad that I really, really want to go to court, and not let this lie if L.A. Fitness decide they don’t want the court action or atttention and give in to me. It is worth noting that L.A. Fitness were never prepared to admit the truth in this case and give in. There was no response against their pursuing money I could never have and never will owe them, until I faxed them copies of documents proving I had commenced the court action to sue them. Now I have had two letters telling me that their actions and complaints against me are on hold until they (ARC, Trevor Munn and L.A. Fitness) seek advice and confer and decide what to do.
It really is worth noting that L.A. Fitness weren’t going to heed the hours and hours and hours, no days and days and days, of effort (while very sick and well behind on a professional course I may fail as a result of all of this) I spent in communicating the truth to them, UNTIL I SERVED THEM PROOF I HAD BEGUN MY COURT ACTION SUING THEM.
This has been a really, really long message. I will discuss my case more when I can, and will keep interested visitors to this page informed if I can.
I’m more or less very certain I’m far from the first to sue L.A. Fitness but you don’t hear of it much or at all, so I hope to publicise this. It’s natural and fitting in this case. This is a beginning. As I told L.A. Fitness, the experience being so bad, the only thing I can think of that’s appropriate is to have the matter heard in court.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:50 am
Hi again. Sorry, there were a few typing mistakes in the long message just above. I’m correcting a sentence which was posted prematurely:
the last part of paragraph 5 should read: “…their apparent natural goodwill in providing suitable, actually normal, customer service which then they define later as a short term mistake (or an intentional part of their longer plan, who knows?).” [Addition:] They won’t allow normal it seems.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
La Fitness is a scam there customer service is horrible i went to cancel my families membership and its been 3 months and they are still trying to bill me so i tried speaking to a rude soo called customer service manager whos name is Lisa and after she had a monolog for about 10 min on the phone she had the nerve to tell me dat i am wrong and that yes i should be biled for the 3 months that im not using the gym PLEASE a lawyer should sue these horrible company its horrible i just dont have the money for an attorney cause there are too many complaints for this company to get away with theft its not fair HORRIBLE COMPANY
February 7th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Great blog! I have put together a protest site after getting totally fed up with LA Fitness, ARC, Trevor Nunn and Scotcall: http://www.lafitness-sucks.co.uk. Please email your complaints and I will add them!
February 10th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Hi!
I am moving in a few weeks, 10-15 miles away and am trying to cancel my membership with LA Fitness (Southampton club)
I have today spoken to one of the most stupidest people at there head office. – I called up and asked to speak to a manager, so a girl called Danielle Soffe was put on the line, after telling her I wished to cancel, she advised me that I will have to pay £100 fee plus any bank charges that are incurred due to me cancelling my DD. She was very rude and kept talking over me.
I checked the terms and conditions that I received when I joined, and no where does it state about £100 cancellation fee/charge plus any other charges!!!
I was totally disgusted by this and am certainly not prepared to pay this! Anyway, I put the phone down and called again a few hours later and Danielle answered and I asked to speak to a manager, she then told me that they were all in a meeting, I then said that why was I put through to her earlier when I asked to speak to a manager. She did not answer and started going over the same things, that I could not cancel as I was moving, and that the only way I could was that if I was made redundent or had a letter from my doctor!!
This really made me angry as I still did not get anywhere, so have put a complaint in to the BBC’s Watchdog… I really hope that they take this further.
I have also emailed the people as per ‘Steves’ Memo of 22nd January 2009. Lets hope they can help me.
A few years ago (2006-2007) I was a member of the Fareham club, anyway when I called to cancel then, there was no problem at all, and certainly no fees/charges to pay!! Which is why I didnt mind joining the Southampton club.
I really wish that I had read some of the comments on here first.
I cant believe any company can get away with this.
Does anyone know what happens if you just dont pay? As I dont want to get black-listed for not paying!!
February 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I need some help. like many other 100′s of people i am fighting with LA Fitness about canceling my membership. i signed up for a 24 month membership. i Have been there a 1 year on 08/02/2009 so i am trying to cancel before my 2 years is up, which they are trying to charge me £130 pounds to do. I have read over my contract and it states on the back on section
6.4. You may cancel you agreement after your initial term or one calender month before you initial term is complete by giving one calenders month notice.
On the DECLARATION section it states :
In apply to become a member of LA fitness club (named above) for the initial period of 12 months and to make payment as stated above. After the initial 12 months, i agree that the membership continues on a monthly basis by paying the membership fee.
Which to me states i can cancel after 12 months but, if nothing heard otherwise my membership will continue???
Please help me with this!!!!!
February 11th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I think I have managed to see LAF off from hounding my son using the following:
1)ALWAYS reply to all the letters,and make clear that you will attend court to contest their claim.
2) Make clear in your letters that you will call as a witness to any court hearing whichever LAF employee countersigned your membership form, because that person at no stage explained to you that leaving the gym was well-nigh impossible, and you would not have joined if you had known.
If you ignore the letters there is a chance your case will go to court uncontested and they will get a ruling in their favour.
3)Write to the MD explaining that you will be charging LAF at the rate of £50 per hour for the effort of replying to all the nonsense letters from debt agencies and bogus solicitors
4) Actually do it – sent him an invoice to cover the next letter you have to write, then a month later send a statement reminding them how much they owe you.
The point is to tie them in knots, just as they try to tie you in knots. Final point is that it is quite possible they have no leagal basis for their claims against you because you could argue that the form you signed was put to you as a club membership and in UK law you cannot be forced to stay a member of a club. If it is not a membership form but is a credit agreement, LAF does NOT have a Consumer Credit Licence and its agreements are, as I understand it, not legally enforceable.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Sophie,
I would suggest that you speak to Consumer Direct with regards to your contract. If there is nothing on the terms to state that it is a 24 month contract then I don’t think that this can be enforced. It sounds like the contract you were given was only for an initial period of 12 months so write to LAF to state that you are cancelling your contract in line with clause x. If they argue that it is a 24 month contract they will have to produce and provide you with written confirmation that this is indeed the case
February 26th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I am having trouble getting out of a contract with LA fitness too. I can’t even get them to give me a legible version of my contract! They keep sending me illegible scans and a photocopy…when I asked for a legible one (4th time of asking) I was told “I am not just sitting here doing nothing, you know!” and – eventually – “I’ll photocopy it again – it’s not like I have anything else to do!” At this point the lovely lady slammed the phone down on me. This is Muswell Hill LA Fitness, by the way, people. Avoid like the plague! Things are often broken/pool closed/showers not working anyway. A pointless waste of money.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
i am in exactly the same situation as all of you what a waste of my time, was lied to told i did not have to worry could cancel at any time as i am joining the forces soon, they took money 14 days early, question to johnb do you have any proof that LAF do not have a consumer credit license? as i am apparently beeing taken to court about 200miles from where i am currently sitting and will be travelling to ravage them in a nasty way!.
don’t give up everyone don’t pay these people a penny.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:02 am
The funny thing is – regarding ‘initial term’ – in the old L.A Fitness online contracts – this was made clear in the definitions to describe only the first month of service. So it seemed apparent that a member had paid for the first month, by credit card or similar, online usually – for the first month, and this couldn’t be recouped whatever happened re: if they wanted to cancel. That seemed reasonable enough to me after the 14 day usual Sale of Goods and Services cancellation terms – as L.A. Fitness ought to be able to have the first month’s membership for members who went to the gyms but decided to cancel after this.
The ‘initial term of membership’ was this first pre-paid time, it seemed clear. And while the whole membership period was a contract for 12 months – it was obvious that a member could cancel this in writing, paying a month in advance also by the agreement if things didn’t work out, though had to pay the first month, unless that was cancelled under the S.O.G.a.S. Act terms witihn 14 days. Just like a 12 month Short Term Tenancy agreement was for 12 months but usually had the clause to allow the tenant to cancel anytime after 6 months, with 1 month’s notice.
But L.A. Fitness denied that to me – and when I checked -they had changed the wording of their online contracts such that that was not what was being made out anymore.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Anyway, whether or not you’ve been reading my posts above about taking L.A. Fitness to court, I’ve started that.
After a couple of months since the court action against them has been started, they have decided to contact me. First A.R.C. Europe, their creditors wrote to me, last week, saying that L.A. Fitness had instructed them to close their debt collection account, and that all communication should be with their client from then on. At least it seems they may be willing to recognise that they are to be challenged. They’ve even gone so far as to have their representatives pen a letter which doesn’t threaten or blackmail – well done, we see you realise you are not just the gods.
Then, just today, I received a letter from Neil Hodgon of L.A. Fitness (Head of Member services). Unfortunately, it is beligerent in human terms, even though it consists of 2 sentences only and I can’t make out what they are trying to say other than they received my previous communications. However, and this is something really, really major, that piece of communication alone is something they did not give me for months and months. That was despite my repeated faxes and recorded delivery letters and emails to them, not a single reply in months, until I cancelled my direct debit with my bank – that was when the first response from the apparently illiterate L.A. Fitness came, saying ‘reinstate your direct debit … or else’.
The letter reads:
‘Further to your recent letter dated 3rd March your comments have been noted.
‘ As you rightly say you have issued a claim via the Northern Ireland Court Service and will be responding to them within the agreed timescales.’
This poor man needs help, in a letter of 2 short sentences only in a very serious litigation case, but, yet, yet, yet again, it’s the kind of thing which puts paying customers or previous customers in a position where THEY need help to deal with it. I shouldn’t have to put up with time after time after time of actually retarded, mentally ill provisions in whatever form – service / no replies / seemingly blackmailing threats for alleged debt recovery / letters suugesting I reply to the courts instead of them.
What the hell does he mean? I DON’T NEED TO RESPOND TO MY OWN CLAIM. L.A. FITNESS HAVE A TIMESCALE TO RESPOND TO MY COURT ACTION CLAIM. Is he subtly leaving out his corporate pronoun because he can’t bring himself even to admit the existence of the company he works for and represents? Does he think he’s my Daddy – ‘As you rightly say you have issued a claim’. I haven’t bloody forgotten I’ve made a claim. I doubt I’ll forget for most of my life. This company deserve legal inspection – and whatever the outcome IT IS IMPERATIVE THEY STAND IN COURT AND ANSWER MY QUESTIONS UNDER OATH – then, even if it can’t be proven that they are con merchants, I on God’s earth will have brought them there and had them say this and made them think about this for the rest of their human lives.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:36 am
RE: the intial term.
I have seen more recent contracts which definitely do stipulate the intial term as 12 months for most contracts.
If your contract says this, then whatever the contract description term (24 months etc.) you can obviously cancel at 12 months. This company DELIGHT in not only denying the obvious in law and consumer rights and happines, but setting alight to it.
This is separate to my comment above about contracts at the time I joined which seemed to suggest the initial term was the first month. The contracts said that the initial term must be paid immediately by credit / debit card online, and that after this initial term, payments had to be made by direct debit. There was no doubt to me, from the rest of the information saying that the first month only had to be paid for by card and direct debits followed immediately, the ‘initial term’ could only mean the first month. I browsed the whole contract and there was no other mention of what ‘the initial term’ could possibly mean – so my conclusion was the only one humanly possible.
However, as I said the online contracts have changed since that time, such that it is now clear that ‘initial term’ actually means 12 months.
However, this is evidence of the illegal nature of L.A. Fitness crawling by inches to be able to claim they are legal, from being illegal, while still showing flagrant disrespect to the law and customers.
The ‘initial term’ stuff was on contracts for 12 months, which is the most usual contract time with L.A. Fitness.
It turns out that all the ‘initial term’ stuff is only a ruse such that L.A. Fitness can claim to members that their contract is ongoing – and must be cancelled at the time of around 11 months. L.A. Fitness, wholly, wholly illegally have claimed hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of times that this term in the contract means that the customer who signs up for 12 months – is, unwittingly, bound to be a member for more than a year, even if they never agreed to that and would never agree to it. In many, many cases, members have never even been told about this by L.A. Fitness, and have had their bank accounts charged after the 12 months. In many, many, cases, previous members who cancelled their direct debits in their banks at 12 months or something similar, have had debt collection agencies set upon them to recover 1, 2 or 3 months or more of unowable membership fees after the 12 months.
This company is a scam in continuous operation.
This company are criminals. They ought to be fined millions and millions of pounds, and preferably closed down. Like me, the vast majority of members receiving debt threats would simply pay the 40 or 100 pounds, because that’s less than it would cost them for the first hour of solicitor’s fees anyway.
STOP L.A. FITNESS IF YOU CAN. THEY ARE LAW BREAKERS AND PERSON BEATERS. THAT’S WHAT THEY DO IN THE APPARENT NAME OF YOUR LEISURE, HEALTH, BODILY WELLNESS, USE OF FREE TIME AND HAPPINESS. PLEASE HELP STOP THEM IF YOU CAN. DON’T GIVE IN. DON’T JUST ACCEPT THEIR ILLEGAL DEMANDS FOR MONEY OR OTHER LIES, WHATEVER THEY ARE.
March 20th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
A mistake in the last comment:
I meant to write in the last sentence of the second last paragraph:
Like me, the vast majority of members receiving debt threats WOULD FIND IT EASIER TO OR JUST HAPPEN TO IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES simply pay the 40 or 100 pounds, because that’s less than it would cost them for the first hour of solicitor’s fees anyway.
I haven’t given in to L.A. Fitness’s illegal demands.
What I meant was I was very tempted to give in rather than go to court. No one wants to go to court, and it is likely to take up very large amounts of your time in preparation, always with the worry that these people are going to be crooked sharks in court, standing upright and knowing it is highly possible they can be convincing in lying.
My leisure club monghtly membership fees were a gift to me from my parents. And later my parents said they would complete the year’s membership costs even without me going to the club (just a few months), so that I wouldn’t have to go to court. There were only a few months costs L.A. Fitness were asking for, but there was no way I would pay that to me. It just couldn’t be right, and I would make myself sick if I turned out to be cowardly in these circumstances.
Perhaps I would have given in (against my judgement of normal righteousness) in fear of their menacing, illegal behaviour (when they have already the power to falsely ammend your important, presonal credit records) if it would have been money of my own.
In most ways I am glad it is that my parents would pay unowable claimed remaining months membership after L.A. Fitness breached the contract. Because I am not able to give my parents’ money to L.A. Fitness – I could never bring myself to do that.
It means there is no doubt to me at all that I will seek proper actions against this firm. Even if it is to happen it is very traumatising to have to stand in court, be apprehensive about them lying and perhaps making allegations against me (who knows, who would know), and maybe hear and watch them lying and perhaps hear and see them making false accusations.
I am very glad I am chooising the righteous path. That club, Adelaide Street Belfast, should not get away with this. They have been breaking the law. And, though I am not fully sure of the written elements which mean acts make certain more serious acts against the law, I do not think it is only the civil law of the country they have been breaking. I should see how the basic breach of contract court case will go anyway, and what their stance will be before the hearing and in the hearing if they don’t admit the falseness of their claims before the action is heard.
March 20th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Sorry, mistake, paragraph 6 in the post just above. The sentence, I guess obviously, should read:
There were only a few months costs L.A. Fitness were asking for, but there was no way I would pay that TO THEM.
…
It just couldn’t be right …
March 30th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Having read two years of comments from LA Customers and having worked for LA Fitness for 3 years i can only say YES LA are a hard ball company who do go after money that you might think you don’t owe. BUT the morale to the story is don’t sign the F**KING contract without reading the T&C’s its a legal document you wouldn’t buy a house without reading the agreement forst its no different just because its a gym membership its still a contract.
But a tip if you want out so bad there’s 2 sure fire ways:
1. say you’ve been made redundent when they ask for proof type the letter yourself on fake headed paper send it in you be cancelled with a months notice no questions asked.
2. get your freind to call in saying you’ve died it will be cancelled straight away no questions ask and we don’t share information with any other company.
Regards
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:13 am
I’ve been harrassed by ARC who are working on behalf of Virgin Active. They are chasing me for payment as I cancelled my membership due to a torn Achilles. I had sent a letter from my surgeon to Virgin, which they never responded to, and instead they got the debt collector’s involved. It seems like LA Fitness are not the only ones with appalling customer service.
In response to Gav’s comments above, the T&C’s are not worth anything if the contract is unfair. The gym must allow their members the right to cancel if the maintain that they have the right to cancel someone’s membership. This is stated in the Office of Fair Trading’s guidelines: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/unfair_contract_terms/oft373.pdf
April 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Very interesting … ARC were chasing me for a debt owed to Reebok. I cancelled my membership verbally with Reebok due to sudden financial crisis, after being a member for 7 years, and the person I spoke to said that would be “fine”, but to follow it up in writing. I forgot. They then sent a letter threatening action if I didn’t pay the amount (around 80 pounds), the next I heard was from ARC, looking for double the original amount.
They rang a few times and tried the heavy treatment. I told them to take it to court, and that I would be contesting it and also publicising their behaviour on the internet. Haven’t heard anything for months. I wonder if they’ve dropped it?
I don’t know why Reebok didn’t write it off in the first place, given that I’d paid them many thousands over the years, I wasn’t using their services and it was such a relatively small amount. Contracts and T&Cs are there to protect companies in certain circumstances but surely they don’t need to act like gangsters over such small matters.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I left a message here in January regarding LA Fitness & ARC. I have now also dealt with T Munn Solicitor. I have now successfully dealt with LA.
If you are 100% sure that you are in the right, contact the Executive PA is Carmel Proctor. Her e-mail address is carmel.proctor@lafitness.co.uk. she is very helpful.
The Member Relations Manager is Neil Hodgon. His e-mail address is neil.hodgon@lafitness.co.uk. He was also very helpful and resolved the problem for me, he also got ARC & T. Munn off my back in just under an hour of me e-mailing him.
I also copied into my e-mails the CEO, Martin Long mailto:martin.long@lafitness.co.uk
My suggestion to people is to write to ARC & T Munn telling them that you will not deal with them as your contract is with LA Fitness, then just ignore them. They totally ignored my letters anyway. I also complained to LA regarding ARC who sometimes phoned me up to 4 times a day.
Also consider a complaint the the Data Commissioners as LA passed on my personal details without my permission.
Dont give into the bully boy tactics (If your sure your in the right)
Good luck everybody
Paul
April 10th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Hi All,
Long, but a great read. I too have a similar situation however, I haven’t even bothered opening the letter. I scan mail 1st as a precaution and then target the net for back ground info – believe me it’s CBD of mine. That way I never read the letter!
Any way, I too suspect that my cancellation at a Gym with advanced notification has been caught by the same disgruntlement as others. My ‘termination’ was ignored and subsequently some months later I found my D/D was still in operation. I wrote a shirty letter to the Gym and sent a letter to my Bank to cancel with immediate effect.
Any way, looks like LA Fitness, Next Generation and David Lloyd and other Gyms seem to be common ground – by the way that prestigious personality ‘David Lloyd’ now owns Next Generation which has been re-branded I see.
I’m ignoring the letters as I’ve no time to waste or spend on this however, I do have a few questions if anyone can enlighten me.
This ARC/Trevor Munn/Scotcall business – ‘How do they buy the debt?’, ‘Is this something the Gym passes on or is it registered somewhere? The reason I ask is then surely without any formal proof these companies are contravening several Laws (surely!) and specifically this includes the Data Protection Act. If it is registered then where? – can we see it too? That would be great as I would then have evidenced to pursue the Gym.
Trevor Munn is registered with the Law Society (a 1 man band since 1979 so he’s an greedy old git) and one way of getting back at him is through registering complaints at http://www.legalcomplaints.org.uk and specifically target the content and context.
Oh and by the way – if you’re being called too many times – get a new sim card for your phone and practice lean deployment of your number. You should be in control and, don’t get stressed – it’s not worth it otherwise, the vultures have got you. Simple case is – enjoy life – if you want exercise go for a jog – it’s free and healthier (in places).
Just think – if these characters buy the debt and can’t recover it they will eventually give up or go bust!
I also have another annoying habit – because I want to experience life I like challenging the authorities and alike and quite relish threats of going to court – it’s an experience and I usually do so (knowing when I’m in the right) and often as not go through the process until the prosecution decide to stop! At this point you counter act and seek compensation and expenses.
Percentages show that most people pay up however, there is a small minority of us who say ‘bring it on’. If more did so then some of these Money Grabbing agents would see it doesn’t pay and will have to get a real job.
Jules
April 17th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Im not sure if im surprised or not by all you comments as i am also in the midst of a situation with LA Fitness.
To try and cut a long story short, i started a new job and wanted a gym that was close so I joined over the phone as it was the last day of a Half price membership for a year special offer and was told i could come to the gym and if i wasnt happy i could cancel my membership. He asked for my bank and card details as he couldnt authorise the membership and special offer without them but no money would be taken. I didnt get a chance to visit the gym in Victoria, London so i called to speak to the guy i spoke to originally and he wasnt available so i spoke to a colleague of his who said “sure no problem we will cancel your membership and will refund you the £55 we have taken”. “What £55???? No money was going to be taken i was told???” Dont worry sir we will refund it to you immmediatly anyway”. I called my bank and sure enough £55 had been taken. I cancelled the DD that had also been set up and waited for the £55 to return. About a week letter i got a letter from LA Fitness “you owe us £55″ i called and explained that i had cancelled my membership and you owe me £55!!!. “No problem Sir. We will get that to you ASAP”. a week later another letter so i called again and was a little more frustrated “im very sorry sir i will make sure this is dealt with for you”. About a week later i get a call from LA Fitness Accounts dept (Collections Dept) “you owe us £55 and you have cancelled your DD” now i was getting REALLY annoyed. “Its you F***ers that owe me £55!!!!!”
I called and spoke to the manager at Victoria (who sounds about 12 years old) and he assured me the money would be returned on the next payment run on the 15th.
15th came and went and no £55.
I did however get a letter from ARC over the Easter Bank Holiday – that made for a nice weekend!!!
On Tuesday just gone I got the number for the head office membership and when i called i was told that the manager couldnt authorise the refund as there is a signed contract imn place. “Signed Contract?????” “Whos it signed by?” “You Sir”. I asked her to describe the signature and it was nothing like mine!! She asked me to send a copy of my pasport so they could verify that. Of course i didnt send it to them.
I have never been into the club or had any correspondence with them other than by phone.
I managed to get a copy of this fruadulantly signed contract and at the moment i am waiting for an apology e-mail and a cheque for £110. £55 refund and £55 compensation. Lets see what happens when and if i receive them but i am sure i have a good case of fraud against them and will persue it if they dont deliver.
I have also had a call from the manager of Victoria who tells me that the person who signed on my behalf is no longer with the company. I will be calling at some point to verify this as well.
Someone needs to stand up to this and i think i have enough proof against them to do so.
Lets see what happens in the next day or so.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Oh and by the way the letter from ARC stated that i owe £705!!! which i assume is for the 12 months membership
February 18th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Hi
Seems like i am just about to go into round 1 with arc. Looks like they buy debt and bully money out of nieve people. With mine i have all the letters i wrote so looks like arc are stupid as well as nasty. they had the cheek to ask me for detail they should have got from the previous company. My settlement with the previous company was clear they cashed a cheque which made the account closed.
March 22nd, 2011 at 7:37 pm
Hi Andy,
I know this blog is from some time back, but unfortunately I have been having these problems myself recently with LA Fitness!, I was hoping you’d be able to help give me some advice on this.
My story in a nutshell:
I signed up with LAF in Novemeber, with a one-week ‘cooling period’, which was where I could cancel if needed. Due to some really bad staff involvement, and the way I was left to it, I decided to cancel my membership. The number I was given for the HeadOffice unfortunately was not working, so I wrote out an email, and send that across to the actual LAF I attended. I verbally spoke on to the phone to the staff who sold me the contract to cancel it, who confirmed it would be fine. However, I randomly get some letters from Arc in feb which states outstanding payment, which I did contact them to inform them I owe nothing, and how I was given a cooling period to cancel this, etc.
After this I get an email from Trevor Munn Solicitiors this week, which states how a county court application is now being prepared etc.
I have spoken to the actual LAF I attended and they have emailed me saying I should be void from owing anything. However, ARC are still chasing me, and still insist I pay, which I refuse to.
Do you think I should perhaps send out an email to the LAF I attended, ARC, Trevor Munn Solicitors, and somehow state I owe nothing? I was hoping you could help advise here, and if you do think I should mail back, any tips on powerful comments I should write to them, etc? Thanks in advance, anything is greatly appreciated.
March 25th, 2011 at 7:42 pm
Its March 2011 and this malpractice is still going on!! Thanks for all your advice, help and support. Ja ARC are now hounding me too for cancellation fees etc. to LA Fitness. I’m surprised they haven’t been closed down by Trading Standards. Bearing in mind that it costs them and ARC money every time they write or phone me, I shall simply continue to ignore them … or maybe I will simply just lay the telephone receiver quietly on the desk and walk away every time. As for bailiffs ja they can come and take the crock old piano I want moving.
April 17th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
having all the same problems with LAF TREVER MUNN AND ARC has anyone been taken to court or had a CCJ?
July 6th, 2011 at 10:52 am
Hi there, I joined LA fitness with a friend in April and found out I was pregnant on 2nd May, I tried telling them that it will be difficult for me to use the gym and want to cancel. Since then, nothing happened, I have got no calls back from managers who I left them messages to call me about it and explained via email and in person. They charged me July although they agreed when I joined that because I am abroad this month and August that they would freeze it till I am back. They now owe me money and avoiding my calls. Dispicable service!
July 14th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
I used to work at LA fitness and the business is based on non redemption clients. If everyone who joined a gym turned up there would be no space and they would have to turn people away. For example if the gym has a capacity of 1000 people per week then if you checked the books they would sign up 3000 or 4000. They do not want you to unsubscribe as your the perfect customer – pay your dues and then dont turn up. My old manager used to see the noobies who had signed up and send someone out to tourture them so they would not want to come back. I dont work there anymore.
November 15th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
My experience with LA Fitness is equally negative. They are great at signing you up, but it is almost impossible to leave. The information about giving a full CALENDAR month’s notice is in the small print; and they refused to let me pay a cheaper, local monthly subscription for that last month. And the reason I left? The same amount to pay, when access to the swimming pool – which is the main reason I joined – was being drastically reduced. They are utterly hopeless. My advice to anyone thinking of joining LA or, indeed, any othe club is: Don’t. Once you’re a member, you’re in their clutches.
November 24th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Hiya, they are harassing me and getting ARC to ring me up to 4 times a week. I joined the gym but cancelled due to disabilities which are now even worse due to me being pregnant and I am unable to go to the gym. I am waiting for a letter of the doctor to prove I am now too ill. They are saying I will have to pay a years membership fee plus late charges and are threatening to take me to court. Do you know what I could do please?
January 9th, 2012 at 3:36 pm
LA Fitness ! I took out a 12 month contract in person at the gym; unbeknown to me this was transferred by the member of staff onto the internet as a 24 month contract, I cancelled my direct debit after 12 months I am now being chased by LA Fitness who have slapped a £40 fine on top of what they consider to be ‘missed’ payments and have threatened me with a debt collection agency! I am just posting a letter requesting a copy of my hard copy contract lets see if I get a response I doubt it!