Jackie Skellys Small Claims Court Anybody?

pbeary

Has anybody taken Jacky Skellys to the small claims court and won?

Pat Mustard

A meeting with the Small Claims Registar at the local District Court might very well tell you. You could ring up to arrange that.

I had a different experience with a travel agent so I phoned up and arranged to meet the small claims registrar. He was decent enough and told me that he had heard loads of cases against the particular travel agent - and found in favour of the plaintiff in almost all cases.

Red Alert

pbeary wrote: »

Has anybody taken Jacky Skellys to the small claims court and won?

Is this about membership cancellation? I think their strict-ish cancellation policy is valid though.... so long as you did actually sign the contract and they can produce it.

pbeary

Yeah it is about cancellation, my argument is that they broke there fudiciury duty when i signed up for the contract.

i just happend to call in and ask at what stage I was at in my cintract, and they told me about the two months notice thatI must give when Cancelling.I was never given any terms and conditions when I signed up, and I was certainly not told about this two month Notice "term", I find it completely dishonest, and a very low and very dishonest sales tactic- if I had never have asked about it basically they would come chasing me for it at the end of my contract? No thanks!
Companies like these need to be stopped! I am outraged!
what do you think? oh and thanks, i will get into contact with the registrar! see what that person thinks!

Darragh29

pbeary wrote: »

Yeah it is about cancellation, my argument is that they broke there fudiciury duty when i signed up for the contract.

i just happend to call in and ask at what stage I was at in my cintract, and they told me about the two months notice thatI must give when Cancelling.I was never given any terms and conditions when I signed up, and I was certainly not told about this two month Notice "term", I find it completely dishonest, and a very low and very dishonest sales tactic- if I had never have asked about it basically they would come chasing me for it at the end of my contract? No thanks!
Companies like these need to be stopped! I am outraged!
what do you think? oh and thanks, i will get into contact with the registrar! see what that person thinks!

I was with Jackie Skelly in Parkwest a few years ago and didn't renew my membership after the first year, only because I wasn't using the gym that much. I started hearing stories about them sending debt collectors out to members houses looking for arrears and I didn't agree with it.

I joined a gym last week and decided not to join Jackie Skelly, only because of what I had heard about their debt collection policies, which did not affect me directly but I decided to vote with my feet as I don't agree with it.

So myself and my other half have now paid up front to join another gym at a cost to us of just over 1,000 Euro.

Guy:Incognito

Darragh29 wrote: »

So myself and my other half have now paid up front to join another gym at a cost to us of just over 1,000 Euro.

OT but,

Still seems expensive. Are you not in Dublin? The likes of Carlisle would have been a little over half that.

eth0_

Stekelly wrote: »

OT but,

Still seems expensive. Are you not in Dublin? The likes of Carlisle would have been a little over half that.

I presume he means 1000 euro for him and his partner. 500 euro a year would be BELOW average for Dublin.

Guy:Incognito

eth0_ wrote: »

I presume he means 1000 euro for him and his partner. 500 euro a year would be BELOW average for Dublin.

I know, thats twice what it costs for Carlisle. For 4 people to join it's €950 or somesuch. For 2 its around €550 or €575.

jimmycrackcorm

Stekelly wrote: »

I know, thats twice what it costs for Carlisle. For 4 people to join it's 950 or somesuch. For 2 its around 550 or 575.

But would that gym not be over-crowded at that price?

Guy:Incognito

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

But would that gym not be over-crowded at that price?

Apparently it's not. Especially if you dont go in bang on peak times. My cousin works 8-4 ish hours and never has issues with overcrowding. He seems to use it around 5 -8 o'clock times.

anotherlostie

Let's face it, most of us sign contracts without reading over them in detail (from as big as buying a house to smaller things like gym memberships). I knew I was signing up for 12 months but only read about the 2 month cancellation thing on here long after that. But fair's fair, I had signed a contract, and I could have chosen not to, had I read it properly and decided I didn't like this condition of membership.

If JS have a signed contract, I don't see how you can get out of it, tbh.

pbeary

Well My argument is that they broke there Fudicairy Duty, and it is not the principle of signing the contract, its the scheming behind it all!

foggy_lad

if a copy of the contract was not provided at the time of agreeing/signing up to it and certain terms like the two month cancellation period are not made clear to the customer at this time this can surely be seen as an unfair contract term?

Guy:Incognito

foggy_lad wrote: »

if a copy of the contract was not provided at the time of agreeing/signing up to it and certain terms like the two month cancellation period are not made clear to the customer at this time this can surely be seen as an unfair contract term?

Can the customer not reading a contract before they sign it (which is usually the crux of most of these threads) not be seen as unfair to JS when people try to wesel out?

foggy_lad

pbeary wrote: »

Yeah it is about cancellation, my argument is that they broke there fudiciury duty when i signed up for the contract.

i just happend to call in and ask at what stage I was at in my cintract, and they told me about the two months notice thatI must give when Cancelling.I was never given any terms and conditions when I signed up, and I was certainly not told about this two month Notice "term", I find it completely dishonest, and a very low and very dishonest sales tactic- if I had never have asked about it basically they would come chasing me for it at the end of my contract? No thanks!
Companies like these need to be stopped! I am outraged!
what do you think? oh and thanks, i will get into contact with the registrar! see what that person thinks!

so is it fair to not provide a paper.online contract or details of cancellation policy but spring this on customers when their contract has finished?

Papergirl 1

I worked for jackie skelly for a short period last year. The sales people basically convince people to join, telling them that if they don't like it they can just give it up. What the salesperson fails to tell them is that once they enter the gym they are contractually obliged to stay for a minimum of 12 months. Even if a contract is not signed they are holding people to the minimum period of 12 months.

I saw numerous people who only came to the club once, didnt like it so left. And they were forced to pay for a full year. Even then, if they did not cancel the membership at the end of the year jackie skelly would continue to take payments from their account until they do.

I have never seen such a shower of scamming b***ards!! They trap people from every angle!

Guy:Incognito

foggy_lad wrote: »

so is it fair to not provide a paper.online contract or details of cancellation policy but spring this on customers when their contract has finished?

Thats just further proof he did not read not he was signing or ask questions surely?

anotherlostie

Exactly! When I read about the 2 month thing, I dug out the contract I had, and there it was. Had I realised this at the time I signed it? No. My fault.

Oh and sorry to be a bitch, but if you're going to use big words, learn how to spell them. It's fiduciary. Here's a bit more about it. Not sure how it would apply in this case anyway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiduciary_duty

The_Conductor

Myself and the wife were advised we could join for a short period (about 4 months) because we were both undergoing (different) surgery and wanted to get ourselves as fit as possible (Clarendon Street). We were advised at the end of the 4 month period that they would not cancel the contract (neither of us had signed a contract- I had authorised a direct debit mandate over the phone). I canceled the direct debit and they reinstated it (at this point in time my wife was bed bound and likely to be for months), and I was at home caring for her. I gave them the name and details of the person I had been dealing with- to which they responded that the person was no longer employed by them. All in all- they took the money for the whole year- despite our not being able to attend. We made a number of complaints- to absolutely no avail.

Ps- their direct debit mandate came out under a weird name dancedirect ireland or something (seriously- I'm not joking). I had thought it was fraud and reported it to Bank of Ireland who chased it down for me........

pbeary

Its called acting in good faith also! I have contacted the registrar of the small clims court and he says that I have a case! So , time will tell!

Pub07

smccarrick wrote: »

Myself and the wife were advised we could join for a short period (about 4 months) because we were both undergoing (different) surgery and wanted to get ourselves as fit as possible (Clarendon Street). We were advised at the end of the 4 month period that they would not cancel the contract (neither of us had signed a contract- I had authorised a direct debit mandate over the phone). I canceled the direct debit and they reinstated it (at this point in time my wife was bed bound and likely to be for months), and I was at home caring for her. I gave them the name and details of the person I had been dealing with- to which they responded that the person was no longer employed by them. All in all- they took the money for the whole year- despite our not being able to attend. We made a number of complaints- to absolutely no avail.

Ps- their direct debit mandate came out under a weird name dancedirect ireland or something (seriously- I'm not joking). I had thought it was fraud and reported it to Bank of Ireland who chased it down for me........

Why didnt you just go into the bank after they reinstated the direct debit and tell them to cancel it and not allow it to be reinstated under any circumstances?

The_Conductor

Pub07 wrote: »

Why didnt you just go into the bank after they reinstated the direct debit and tell them to cancel it and not allow it to be reinstated under any circumstances?

I did- they said Jackie Skelly had the right to reinstate it. :mad:
Its in the past thankfully- but by God, I'll never have anything to do with them ever again.........

pbeary

THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO REINSTATE IT?? THAT SOUNS REALLY WRONG!!

Sam Vimes

pbeary wrote: »

THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO REINSTATE IT?? THAT SOUNS REALLY WRONG!!

To be fair, they would have a right to reinstate it because from the banks perspective a 12 month contract was agreed and he's trying to get out of it. The bank don't know about jackies underhanded techniques and it's not their problem

pbeary

Well Obviously this person does not have a good relationship with there bank then, I told my customer relationship manager at my bank, and they reassured me that they could not reinstate it!

The_Conductor

pbeary wrote: »

Well Obviously this person does not have a good relationship with there bank then, I told my customer relationship manager at my bank, and they reassured me that they could not reinstate it!

It has nothing to do with a person's relationship with their bank. Different banks operate different procedures- what is possible with one bank may not be with another.

Ps- I have a very reasonable relationship with my bank, if I ever encounter any problems or have any queries, my account manager sorts it immediately and keeps me appraised by phone and e-mail.

pbeary

Oh well thats great! I supose at the end of the day, we will see what happens! :)

jahalpin

If you signed a contract, you are agreeing to thee terms and conditions of the contract. If you choose not to read them or to ask for clarification at the time, it's not the vendors fault.

Only adults can sign contracts because it is believed that they are mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions.

The_Conductor

jahalpin wrote: »

If you signed a contract, you are agreeing to thee terms and conditions of the contract. If you choose not to read them or to ask for clarification at the time, it's not the vendors fault.

Only adults can sign contracts because it is believed that they are mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions.

The problem is people being verbally told they will not be held to the contract- aka that 3 months is ok, and that contract will then be cancelled- however when the 3 months is up- staff denying they ever said what they said- staff transferred to other branches or staff no longer employed by the company.

JS are notorious for this.

the_syco

jahalpin wrote: »

If you signed a contract, you are agreeing to thee terms and conditions of the contract. If you choose not to read them or to ask for clarification at the time, it's not the vendors fault.

Only adults can sign contracts because it is believed that they are mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions.

I read the entire (4 pages?) contract. It never mentioned the 2 month cancellation policy.

axer

the_syco wrote: »

I read the entire (4 pages?) contract. It never mentioned the 2 month cancellation policy.

Well if it doesnt say it in the contract then they cannot enforce it.