Do I have to pay Harlands Administration Fee's for my Gym Membership?

[adelphos]

The last payment of my 12 month membership term was late and I have incurred Admin. fees. I have since cancelled the direct debit and membership but Harlands are chasing me for charges they say they have incurred.

Here was my initial email to them:

Dear sir or madam,

Simply Gym in Swansea

I refer to our discussion on 27/03/12 when you said that June 13th would be the last installment of my membership as I wished to cancel it. I have paid the £15.99 for this month, the authorization code for this is 561096. This payment was late and I have since received letters stating that I would have to pay administration charges amounting to £65.99.


I have received legal advice and I am advised that you have no right to charge these disproportionately high administration fees as it is punitive and a penalty and thus unenforceable at common law.

The amount of the admin charge exceeds any genuine pre-estimate of the damage which was suffered by the gym or Harland’s as a result of my bank not paying the £15.99 monthly fee.

I have therefore cancelled the DD mandate with immediate effect.

I wish you to give me written confirmation that you will not seek to charge such admin fees now or in the future.

If you fail to give me such written confirmation and insist on charging unlawful penalties, then I suggest you are in breach of the agreement between us, due to your failure to conduct yourselves properly.

I look forward to your reply.

This was there response:
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''…

Further to your email.

The agreement you have signed for is a minimum of 12 Direct Debit Payments of £15.99 per month. One of the terms of this agreement, which you have agreed to be bound by, is that "If you fail to pay any monies due under this agreement or if any Direct Debit is returned unpaid or if any cheque is returned unpaid or if any other form of payment is not honoured for whatever reason, you shall pay us on demand an administration fee of £25."

The administration charge of £25.00 is the amount deemed by our directors as representative of our costs in dealing with the administration involved with a missed or returned payment. When we submit for a payment by Direct Debit which is then returned, we are charged by the bank. This amount does not amount to £25.00, however, and we understand that the cost of the paper, envelope and franking of the default letters does not make up the entirety of the rest of the sum, however as a business we have to pay overheads for staff wages, whose employment would not otherwise be required if it were not for the missed or returned payments and furthermore pay overheads for office space and increased usage of utilities to accommodate these staff and the processes involved with the administration involved with missed or returned payments.

As a gesture of good will, half of the latest administration charge was removed. As the administration charges were added as per the terms and conditions of your contract, no further charges can or will be removed.

You are currently £37.50 in arrears, this is for administration charges incurred. These are due to be paid under the terms and conditions of your contract with Simply Gym, and we will continue to pursue for this payment.

Failure to make this payment by 19th July 2012 will result in administration charges being incurred and action being taken to recover the balance owed.

Payments can be made by cheque or postal order made payable to Harlands, or by calling the Harlands Helpline on 0871 25 0 24 23 to pay by credit/debit card.

We look forward to receiving your payment by the above date.

[colten]

£37.50 is less than £65.99, so I think I would take them up on their offer and pay them what you owe them. You signed an agreement, you were late and you're already costing them more with your communications with them. Pay your debt and move on.