Xercise4less and Harlands! DCA taking money from bank account without permission!

[mauijim]

I know I have been inactive for many years but that is a good thing for me. I have sorted all my issues and am debt free. The companies who treated me poorly get £1 per month (they were not UE unfortunately) and I will be in the ground before they get 1% of their money

I am trying to sort an issue for my friend who has fallen foul of Xercise4less and subsequently Harlands DCA. She had a membership but after a mental breakdown at University decided the Gym was not her priority. She emailed the Gym and asked for help on cancelling but received no reply. She emailed again ten days later but still no reply. She phoned but no advice was offered other than tough, we want your money! I need to determine if she used the online cancellation form but currently cannot contact her. She cancelled her DD at the bank!

Now do not shoot the messenger, I am just trying to sort this for her as it has turned nasty. I know she should have followed the correct cancellation procedure and not have cancelled her DD but she was in a dark place mentally and not thinking straight.

The Gym passed the debt to Harlands who are right crooks IMHO. Somehow they have withdrawn money from her bank account? They have already taken £65 and say they will take another £15 on 8/12/18. How can they possibly take money from the account? The DD has been cancelled so I am at a loss to explain both the method and legality. Surely the bank details were between the Gym and her, can they pass that to the DCA?

I'd appreciate some advice on how to stop the payments going out from her account as it is really stressing her.

MJ

[nightwatch]

Hiya, nice to hear from you.

Ok, can you just make sure your friend hasn't given her bank details to Harlands,
If she canceled the DD Harland Cannot reinstate it,
She needs to contact the bank to see why and who reinstated the payments,
If she is sure she didn't contact or speak to them she needs to complain to the Bank and ask them for a refund to her account ASAP.

Gently ask if she has had any letters or calls from them, I think you may have to do some digging for this, If she has been stressed when dealing with them she MAY, have unwittingly agreed to something to get them off her back,

update when you can

NW xx

P.S do they know about her Breakdown?

[nightwatch]

Just had a look on the Harlands website, they are NOT a DCA they are acctualy the company that the Gym use to collect the direct debits from members,

Your friend needs to write to them stating that she does not give permission for moneys under the last DD to be taken from her account and, that she has canceled the DD with the bank,

had she signed up for a yearly or casual membership?

if yearly , they are within their rights to ask her to pay for the full year, but she can tell them she is in financial difficulty and will pay it of at xx a month for xx months, they must also stop any interest and charges,
if monthly she can tell them that she canceled the membership with the Gym and they didn't say if she had to pay any more money. ask them to explain what they think she owes and a breakdown of how it is worked out,

I take it you will be helping her xxxx

[mauijim]

Hi NW

Thank you for the reply, I forgot to subscribe to the thread so am late in saying thank you.

I managed to call her just after I made the post. I advised her to phone her bank and explain her situation and ask how Harlands had managed to take money without her agreement and by what method the money had been withdrawn. My first concern was perhaps they had her card details and were acting underhand. Anyway, she called me back at about 16:30 and said the bank were very helpful. All the money has been refunded as the DD was not for Harlands (I was not aware they were collecting DD for the gym) so they had acted inappropriately. They have said no more payments will be authorised. I am unsure if it was a casual membership but I believe it to be; I will confirm that tomorrow.

You are correct about her being stressed, I was concerned she had inadvertently agreed something with Harlands but she was in a good state today and she was very clear there had been no communication with them verbally, written or electronically. The first time she learned of it was when her bank card was declined when food shopping. She checked her online statement and saw the Harlands withdrawal. She says they have actually taken £109 from her account.

I am very grateful for your reply, she is much happier and hopefully the worst is now behind her.

MJ

[mauijim]

Hi

I had a chat woth my friend at lunchtime and she says it was a casual membership. Awful that they want to keep getting money but not surprising really. These people have an awful reputation and it seems this is normal procedure for them!

Thanks

MJ

[nightwatch]

Ok lets just wait and see what they do next,

By the way, no one is getting any notifications about new posts, we have asked Niddy to look at it, but he is just a little busy at the moment?

so I will keep checking in to see if anything new has happened,
I you reply and I have not answered soon after then pm me to jog me along
NW xx

[mauijim]

Ok lets just wait and see what they do next,

By the way, no one is getting any notifications about new posts, we have asked Niddy to look at it, but he is just a little busy at the moment?

so I will keep checking in to see if anything new has happened,
I you reply and I have not answered soon after then pm me to jog me along
NW xx

Here is the latest on this saga! I know I shouldn't laugh but it is quite funny to me and thankfully my friend also sees the funny side. She is mentally much stronger and while a new threat made her jumpy for a few minutes she soon realised it was all hot air and had a chuckle.

Harlands wrote again last week via email and it was forwarded to me. The money was already in my friend's bank account but it seems the bank are now after Harlands for the money under the rules of the DD scheme. In their letter they say if she doesn't withdraw the bank claim she will incur another £25 admin charge and it will be passed together with the other amount to a DCA. I told her to ignore their silly threat and let the bank deal with them. They have no way of getting the money from her...I hope....and adding £25 to a bill they have already failed to collect is not going to change things.

My advice was to ignore them, not to enter into any dialogue and just let the bank handle their own money recovery.

Would you agree?

Cheers

MJ

[mauijim]

Here is the latest on these people. This morning I had a call to say they keep phoning her, they have sent numerous emails all threatening all kinds of stuff. To me, it is the usual veiled attack when really they can do nothing about it. The bank refunded all the money because they should not have been taking it and they do not seem to want to accept that. I have advised her to block their number and simply ignore the emails.

Am I doing the correct thing by telling her this? I don't think they have any legal powers and they are just trying to bully her into paying.

Any advice welcomed

MJ

[nightwatch]

Hellllooooo, yep, get her to block the number, she can ignore the emails but do not delete them, Keep in a file, should anything come of this ( threat of court) it can be used as proof of Harassment, may also be used under mental health as they know of her illness

[Timewilltell]

I kinda follow a simple strategy learned from years of experiences; the more someone pesters you for something is tantamount to a submission of the less legal right they have to it.

because if they did have a legal right then they’d be straight in for the jugular rather than playing around the edges.

[mauijim]

Here is their latest letter, they must be desperate. They sent this via e-mail and I am not sure you can make legal threats via e-mail can you? They have never produced a copy of the alleged contract and I am assured it was merely a casual contract which she tried many times to cancel without success; they simply ignored her.

I've told her to keep the emails but I just don't see what legal case they have.

All advice welcomed.

Thanks

MJ

Legal threat Credit Resolution Services.pdf

[nightwatch]

they have been informed of your friends mental health problems, so for them to proceed would be stupid, she has the proof that she informed them why she couldn't continue with the membership.
she has proof that they continued to take payment, when it had been stopped and that they threatened her when she claimed it back through the bank.

Maybe email DI for help , di@<a href="mailto:di@joannaconnolly...an></span></a>

or by telephoning

0330 053 9340.

Our initial advice is always free.