Hey, I am so glad I found this site.. Like many I have canceled my membership.

Although I have searched I cannot find anyone whom, like me, canceled it within the first 10 days.

After realizing I had a new medical problem and would not be able to use the gym I read a bit of the terms and conditions I saw that I could cancel it and went to ff to do so. They seemed to have done it no problem and informed me that I will recieve my £30 (my payment for the first month in advance).

This is where the problems started..... After that day I thought nothing of it, and a few months later I received a text, a phone call and a letter from this CARS place saying I owe £91 I assumed they had made a mistake and called FF whom confirmed that my membership had been canceled. Which is pretty obvious anyway because HENCE the reason why they have stopped my direct debit. It made absolutely NO sense what so ever for this CARS debt collecting agency to call me (if it was genuine ff would have sent you a letter before getting a debt company involved).

ANYWAY, for my main query to conclude ... I noticed when i checked my bank statement online that ff have NOT even reimbursed me of my money! How do I get it from them? And what will be the appropriate procedures? I am a little worried about giving them my bank details in case they try and rob me. Is it decent to ask for a cheque? help please! or should I contact my bank for help?

 

Well well, the situation has been resolved (so they have told me)! There is an e-mail address I would recommend to write to if this problem persists with anyone. When you cancel your membership you owe ff nothing !!! and they can not hand your details to debt collection agencies and if they do you need to keep letters and any call logs (they called my MOBILE which wasn't so hard to log) even maby mobiles can record the conversations for when they get rude or contradict themselves (which they really do) plenty of times had I told them they had made a mistake and I canceled my membership and continually they made up different excuses to why I owe them money.. One minuite its because "I have no money in my bank or I have frozen my account" and the next "you have to pay this because you came into breach of the terms and conditions" Both of these statements are false, I had two months worth of wages in my account and FF were the ones who stopped my Direct Debz when I canceled. ANY call to fitness first would have confirmed this (as I had called twice and the person reading my notes TOLD ME that my membership was canceled and I owe them NOTHING).

This debt collection agency and ff appear to work to try and get more money out of people who will just not be bothered to argue and go along with it.

If you know you canceled your membership, write a letter to FF head office/ MD and explain the situation. Also add that not only is handing over your details to a debt collection agency breaching office of fair trading, but it is harassment, and when they are unlawfully threatening you with court action it has to stop! If they do not comply then take them to court, or even better, let them take you to court and provide your evidence which they ignored. This will get them into even more trouble and give you an excuse to really go crazy and report them to everyone.

Remember there is Office of fair trading, Trading standards, watchdog etccc