Little letter i send this morning to my old gym: To whom it may concern; I write regarding the above reference in reply to a letter sent to me on the 8th of september 2014 (to the wrong address) regarding a further charge of £25 being levied on my account, bringing me up to an alleged total arrears of £69.98, with the threat that if i do not pay this by the 22nd of september, a debt collection agency will collect my balance of £159.98 Where you get the total of nearly £160 from an arrears of £69 I have no idea, but on the outset of last month, I asked you to provide me with evidence that i, the customer, had cost you the supplier, anything in the region of £59, which you chose to ignore. so firstly, I request that you send me a breakdown of charges, and provide evidence what they are for, and prove that they are EXACTLY what a failed direct debit costs you as a company, because a £9.99 gym membership for a gym I do not have access to charging me £160 is extortion, and is illegal under the Guidance for the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 group 6, which i will outline below. 5.1: It is unfair to impose disproportionate sanctions for breach of contract. A requirement to pay more in compensation for a breach than a reasonable pre-estimate of the loss caused to the supplier is one kind of excessive penalty. Such a requirement will, in any case, normally be void to the extent that it amounts to a penalty under English common law. 5.2 A requirement to pay unreasonable interest on outstanding payments, for example at a rate excessively above the clearing banks base rates, is likely to be regarded as an unfair penalty. It makes the consumer pay more than the cost of making up the deficit caused by the consumers default. The same applies to a requirement to pay excessive storage or similar charges where the consumer fails to take delivery as agreed. 5.3 Other kinds of penal provisions which may be unfair are damages and costs clauses saying that the supplier can: • claim all his costs and expenses, not just his net costs • claim both his costs and his loss of profit where this would lead to being compensated twice over for the same loss • claim his legal costs on an indemnity basis that is, all costs, not just costs reasonably incurred. The words indemnity and indemnify are also objectionable as legal jargon – see below, Part IV, Group 19(b). 5.4 Potentially excessive penalties. A penalty that states a fixed or minimum sum, to be paid in all cases, will be open to challenge if the sum could be too high in some cases. As you can see, regardless of what you have outlined in your Terms and conditions, these charges are Illegal under english common law, and are therefore disputable, and I refuse to pay them, as advised by the citizens advice bureau, who believe I am also correct in saying this is extortion. I submit to you this counter offer; Drop the ridiculous charges, take the £20 that you ARE owed for the two months direct debit, for last month and this one, and cancel my account with no further penalties. If you do not accept this offer, then you can take me to court, as I dispute both the amount and legality of the charges levied against me. I will not deal with your collection agency nor pay any fees incurred by them. I have recently changed address and do not know if there are new tenants at my previous one, So I would not send a collection agency there unless you want another court case on your hands for harrassment of a third party. As stated, I refuse to pay your charges, and I Refuse to deal with your collection agency, so your only options are to accept my offer or take me to court, where you will lose based on the above law, and incur legal fees, in addition to my claim for harrassment of someone with crippling pre-existing anxiety issues having to deal with your harrassment. Following the court date I will also tell of my experience to all media outlets including watchdog, trading standards and the financial conduct authority. I expect a reply with a decision Via email within the next 5 working days, do not send a letter as I will not recieve it at my old address. James Tor Kjemp
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:34:49 +0000
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