Virgin Active free trial hidden T&C's

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mike156

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Just a warning: When cancelling with Virgin Active they will call you a while later offering 4 months free of charge as part of their retention package. What they often neglect to tell you is that after this period you need to contact them to cancel the free trial otherwise they will start debiting your account again :(

I'm busy querying this at the moment as I don't recall being made aware of this and was assured that there were no strings attached.
 
That doesn't sound right. Once you cancel a contract it should be dead and buried.
 
Macethy said:
That doesn't sound right. Once you cancel a contract it should be dead and buried.
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Sorry, I should clarify that I accepted their offer for four months of free membership but as far as I can remember, nowhere was I made aware that the contract would continue should I fail to notify them of my intention to cancel the free retention trial.
 
mike156 said:
Sorry, I should clarify that I accepted their offer for four months of free membership but as far as I can remember, nowhere was I made aware that the contract would continue should I fail to notify them of my intention to cancel the free retention trial.
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Ah I suppose that makes a difference. I signed my contract at the beginning of last year and never heard of any such offer. Considering cancelling my contract thought, don't suppose anyone knows the last memberships fees or where to find them?
 
I learned this the hard way. Virgin Active is a massive money-making racket. In fact, I'll never use any debit order for a gym again. If I can't pay upfront I'm not interested.
 
mike156 said:
Just a warning: When cancelling with Virgin Active they will call you a while later offering 4 months free of charge as part of their retention package. What they often neglect to tell you is that after this period you need to contact them to cancel the free trial otherwise they will start debiting your account again :(

I'm busy querying this at the moment as I don't recall being made aware of this and was assured that there were no strings attached.
Click to expand...

When I signed up for Virgin I was told about this clause. You basically have to cancel in the month you ordered it.
 
I still think Virgin are better than planet fitness. I almost signed up there about a week ago. What stopped me was that they refused to let me take the contract out of the gym. They said I had to read and sign it right there. That and the shortest contract length was 36months + you have to pay some kind of rediculous 'maintenance' levy every December which is double the monthly fee.

Ended up signing with Zone Fitness in Rondebosch. Less paperwork, less gym bunnies and paying half the fees. what more do you want?
 
The gym closest to me is a fitstop gym. I did some research and found out via hello peter that its a bad idea to ever give any gym, especially fitstop your account details. Its almost impossible to get them to stop and the randomly seem to take double payments. Hence when I signed up I paid cash up front for a 3 year contract and I am glad I did.
 
Napalm2880 said:
I still think Virgin are better than planet fitness. I almost signed up there about a week ago. What stopped me was that they refused to let me take the contract out of the gym. They said I had to read and sign it right there. That and the shortest contract length was 36months + you have to pay some kind of rediculous 'maintenance' levy every December which is double the monthly fee.

Ended up signing with Zone Fitness in Rondebosch. Less paperwork, less gym bunnies and paying half the fees. what more do you want?
Click to expand...

:wtf:
 
UPDATE: After contacting them on three separate occasions asking for a copy of the telephone recording and getting no joy, I posted on hellopeter and within 24 hours a woman contacted me apologising for the service that I received and offered to refund me for the deductions as they couldn't find the recording :D

Now I'm just waiting to see if the refund actually comes through...
 
Also watch out when they do these retention deals. My GF wanted to cancel hers and they said they would give her a few months free. They worded this badly (read covered up the facts) and only after said she has to pay the whole years worth (still pay 12 month contract) and the free months are only over and above those 12 months.
 
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