Bill Rammell has publicly called on the Esporta Gym in Harlow to review the way it recruits and handles applications from new members.
He took this step after being approached by several constituents who:
• Faced aggressive advertising and were heavily pressured into joining the Esporta Gym, including receiving several text messages after making an initial inquiry about membership;
• Felt that the terms and conditions of membership of Esporta were not adequately explained to them at the time of their application;
One constituent complained on behalf of a family member who was recovering from a serious illness and whose situation, they feel, was exploited by Esporta.
The constituents have sought to get Esporta to cancel their membership but they have been refused. Constituents have found that it is not possible to cancel the initial 12 month membership and
there is no “cooling off period” for new members.
At present, Esporta’s rules are such that members can only cancel their membership after one year and then they have to give three months notice. In contrast, Esporta can cancel the membership of
any Gym’s members at only one months notice.
Esporta was the subject of an investigation of its membership rule by the BBC consumer show Watchdog earlier this year who found many cases where members had been unable to get the company to
cancel their membership even after they had completed their initial one year period.
Bill Rammell has written to Esporta on behalf of his constituents asking for their request to cancel their membership to be dealt with sensitively, in light of their personal circumstances, but
thus far the response from Esporta’s Member Relations Assistant has been obdurate.
The response to the letter on behalf of the first constituent did not event address the key issues and factual inaccuracies in the letter suggested that it was a cut and paste job.
Commenting on the response, Bill Rammell said, “This response is barely worth the paper it’s typed on. Esporta have clearly gone out of their way not to investigate my concerns, and have just
produced a cut and paste response! Half-way through they start referring to my membership of the Gym though I’ve never been a member. I’m very concerned that this sloppy response illustrates just
what they think of their customers and local people here in Harlow.”
Bill Rammell has now written again to Esporta, expressing his concerns about their response regarding his constituents cases, and again asking them to review their membership practices both in
light of this case and in the interests of other constituents who are members and are affected by Esporta’s inflexible policies. He urged them to introduce a cooling off period to their membership
rules and greater flexibility to reflect the fact that people’s health, financial and residential circumstances can change.
“Esporta’s management really must take my constituents concerns more seriously. People have the right to change their mind”, concluded Bill Rammell. “There should be a minimum cooling off period,
especially as my constituents feel they were pressured into signing and have changed their mind, in some cases without ever having used the Gym.”
Notes for Editors
BBC Watchdog investigation of Esporta’s membership rules in March 2007 see:
www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/health_and_beauty/health_20070321.shtml
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