A reader’s question

This question came in this afternoon:

Conor, I was wondering if you can help me. Back in October I signed up for a membership in a well known Dublin gym. Since then, I have moved away from the area. On the contract I have signed it says that it “is non cancellable within the initial 12 month period”. Can this be right or can I hand in written notice, stating my intention to stop paying the direct debit and hence cancelling my membership? Is there any way I can get out of this contract without buying out the remainder? Thanking you in advance for your help.

The really bad news is that you’re going to have to keep paying until the initial 12 month period has elapsed. Once the contract has been signed you are legally committed to paying for the minimum duration as stated in the contract. You can stop the direct debit but this doesn’t alter the fact that you’re liable to pay for the rest of the year and I would not be at all surprised if they gym hounded you for it even to the extent of threatening legal action. It’s incredibly annoying but there’s nothing you can really do about it except curse them and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The importance of reading the small print can not be overstated when it comes to gym membership. The other really important thing now is to make sure you don’t get hit for the same charges next year. Some gyms operate a rollover or sneak an automatic renewal clause into their contracts so if you don’t tell them in writing that you don’t want to renew your membership, it will automatically continue for another 12 months.