Gym not honouring their own T&C

[BonneMaman77]

I joined FF 6 month minimum term membership and paid for it upfront as it had a discount to the monthly. But now I have to cancel.

Their T&C has 11 clauses for cancellation. They refer to monthly direct debit membership, minimum term membership and to cancel without charges.

I minimum term cancellation states a settlement fee and cancel. However FF are now saying those conditions do not apply if you pay upfront. The clauses do not say they only apply to direct debit, they also do not say that they don’t apply if you pay upfront.

Ive had four emails exchange with membership services who won’t escalate further. I will be raising a complaint.

This is in the U.K., what consumer laws are they breaking? I would like to remind them when I respond to membership services.

You will need to post a link to the actual terms for anyone to give an answer to this.

Thanks Egertion.

FF T&C

Membership types are in clauses 1 and 2. I took out a minimum 6 month membership and paid upfront.

Cancellation clauses are 23 - 33. I am looking at 27 and 28 which seem to cover minimum term membership and said I would pay the settlement fees.

FF is saying those clauses are only if you have minimum term and pay by direct debit.
They are saying I need to meet 29 or 30.
I have moved house not far away but it doesn’t work to go there so I’m cancelling but I am not asking to waive any dues.

Has it been 6 months or longer? If you book 6 months minimum term and pay upfront you do not get any money back, just the same as if you paid by direct debit you’d still have to make 6 months of payments. That is the whole point of having minimum terms.

What are FF not doing? Are they refusing to cancel your membership even though you’ve told them you’ll pay the settlement fee?

Actually re-reading it, point 33, if you’ve paid upfront in one lump sum, your membership ends when the term is completed.

so there’s no cancellation or fee required. Surely you just let it lapse?

T&Cs that I think are relevant.

1. Our memberships are available for an initial minimum term of 1, 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. These options are subject to availability at the club.

1. Memberships can be paid upfront or by monthly Direct Debit. If you pay by monthly Direct Debit an additional charge for credit will be included in the membership fee.

27. If you decide to cancel your membership before the end of the initial minimum term, you have two options. You can either pay the remaining balance for the full term and your membership will end on the final day of the minimum term, or you can pay a settlement fee to leave immediately which will include the accrued charge for credit.

28. The settlement fee is the total discount and rate reduction you received through the contract length originally chosen, when compared to the 1-month flexible rate. (For example, you request to cancel after 3 months of your agreed 12-month minimum term. The difference between the 1-month price and 12-month price is £15 per month, so you are required to pay £15 x 3 = £45.) The monthly fees used for the calculation of your settlement fee are the ones that are currently in place

I asked to cancel early on the above classes paying the settlement fees. They are saying the above only applies if you sign up to direct debit payment and that the above is not applicable if you pay upfront.

I paid for 6 months and had to cancel 1.5 months after joining and asking for a refund based on their T&Cs

Ps. I knew my lead was coming up for renewal and my landlord will increase the rent again and had expected to move. So I had checked the FAQs and TCs that can cancel. LL upped the rent by 10% so I moved. If I knew I was going to be tied in I would not have taken the option.

You haven’t got a leg to stand on OP. That’s the whole point of a minimum term. Even if you’d committed to 6 month minimum paying via direct debit you would still have to make 6 monthly payments. An expensive lesson to learn but the gym are absolutely right that you’ve got nowhere to go here.

Sorry meant to say you’d be subject to settlement fee per their T’s & C’s, and it is quite clear that they only apply to direct debit. You can shout about it, but they’re not in the wrong.

The only part relevant to you under cancellations is 33 and that is clear

Hey @BonneMaman77 . Some overly harsh responses on here. I had to read it a few times, but I agree with PPs that you're not eligible for a refund. @Mrsttcno1 is wrong in her assertion that that's the point of a minimum term. There are indeed two options for cancelling your membership during the minimum term - one is to just pay the balance of fees owing for the minimum term, the other is to pay a settlement fee. You've effectively already done the former by paying upfront. But basically paragraph 27 follows from 25 and 26 and so does only apply to direct debit payments. Paragraph 33 is the position for upfront payments

Sadly, you've taken a risk in paying upfront. Paragraph 3 confirms that there's a charge for credit in the membership fee for paying by direct debit. So you've paid less by choosing to pay upfront, but that money is non-refundable.

You say you checked the FAQs before signing up. Is there anything there that was misleading? Or were you given wrong information by an employee before signing up? I think your only hope is to demonstrate that you were misled by FF when signing up. Otherwise it seems it's a misunderstanding on your part for which FF can't be held liable.

I struggle to understand how you think you are entitled to a refund. There is nothing in their Terms and Conditions that suggests you would be entitled to a refund.

Clause 27 would allow you to cancel at the end of the initial 6 months. Clause 28 allows you to cancel immediately provided you pay the difference between what you have actually paid and the monthly rate. If you were paying by Direct Debit, that would lead to you having to pay them some money for cancelling. It does not entitle you to a refund.

As far as I can see, they are honouring their own Ts & Cs.

There’s nothing in the T&Cs that refer to you getting any sort of refund. You paid upfront for a MINIMUM term of 6 months. You agreed to the terms. It’s actually pretty clear.

As someone who has to deal with these type of enquiries occasionally , it’s tiring. What makes you think you are an exception out of everyone else who has agreed to these terms ?

@rockstuckhardplace the FAQs:
Q Am I tied to a contract?
A Our memberships are available for an initial minimum period 1,3,6,9,12. we understand circs change and if you should end your agreement earlier than planned this can be done by paying a settlement fee.

The above FAQ or any others do not say that this option for early cancellation is not available if you pay upfront. Neither did any language in the joining email, it was simply a payment confirmation. Nor do the T&Cs.

If full payment for the term is expected then what is the point of this FAQ and is it not misleading?

T&C 27 allows to cancel before the min term by two options. Either paying remaining balance or by paying a settlement fee.

T&C do not specifically address if payment is made upfront. One view popular here appears to be that upfront payers lost all rights to cancel early. My view is that upfront payers should have a early cancellation with due charges and a refund

No, it is not remotely misleading. It talks about you paying a settlement fee if you cancel early. It does not talk about you getting a refund. You cannot interpret a clause requiring you to pay them more money to cancel to mean that they owe you a refund.

You may think you should have the right to cancel part way through the fixed term and receive a refund, but there is nothing in their terms and conditions to support that. You've paid up front for 6 months. Your membership will end once the six months is up unless you renew (clause 33). The only way you can receive a refund is if you are cancelling for medical reasons or similar (clauses 29 and 30).

They say you can cancel early.
They give a choice to pay monthly or upfront.

They don’t say that if you pay upfront you can’t cancel early. They don’t say you won’t receive a refund.

Almost every other product or service I’ve used has had the words non refundable when there’s no refund.

Why do you think this gym contract can get away without having to be clear?

You appear to be the only person on this thread who thinks it isn't clear.

Non-refundable is usually used to refer to deposits. This isn't a deposit. You've paid for 6 months. When you do that, you are only entitled to a refund in limited circumstances. Those circumstances don't apply in your case.

The existence of a minimum term implies that you have to commit to pay the membership for a certain number of months. You can't cancel earlier and expect a refund as that defeats the whole point of having a minimum term.

If you're paying by direct debit and you cancel before the end of your minimum term then you're still bound to pay for the remaining months of the term. You can either continue to pay the direct debit until the minimum term is up or you can pay it off in one go via a settlement fee.

If you're already paid the whole term in advance then nothing is owed to the gym for the remaining months so the settlement fee is not relevant.

The settlement fee would have been the cost of the remaining months if you were paying monthly.

When you sign upto a 6 month contract, you are committing to that price for 6 months. That is why the longer contracts come with lower monthly costs

@NotDavidTennant and @prescribingmum

My point guys is that according to their FAQs, for FF minimum term allows for early cancellation.

If you have to pay the full term anyway or don’t get a refund then why have a FAQ saying you can cancel early with a settlement fee? And T&Cs saying how it is calculated if you pay monthly and calculation of a settlement fee?

That is the bit I don’t understand

@prh47bridge you sound rather pissed off with me, you know you can leave the thread right.

The terms are clear OP. The ONLY one relevant to you is the one specifically about paying upfront, that is perfectly clear to everybody other than you- because you don’t want to see the obvious and want your money back. This was an expensive mistake but it was your mistake, they have done nothing wrong.

But the T&C are explicitly clear that fee is when paying monthly. I am assuming you got a discount for paying upfront (my gym give this) - the point of this discount is it guarantees the income they are receiving for financial planning (admittedly this is far more important in my small independent gym vs a big chain but the principle is the same). So they are not going to refund it for anything except a medical reason not to use the facilities.

You can keep arguing or wasting time fighting it but the terms are clear to the rest of us

Not remotely pissed off with you. You wanted legal advice. I'm giving legal advice. Sorry you don't like the advice.