Fraudulent charges by ESPH Lordship Lane

[SebsC]

I feel people need to be aware, as this is now the second family member who this has happened to. Having signed up nearly a year ago for a 1 months gym pass(he spends a lot of time abroad so didn't want to commit to a year), my dad recently noticed a strange debit on his account. After investigating, it appeared that ESPH (physio/gym on LL) had been taking monthly charges from his account for nearly a year. He contacted them over a week ago and was promised a call back that day, which never happened. The same thing happened the next day with no return call. He then went in person and managed to get a copy of the form which clearly shows him only wanting 1 months membership. He was firstly offered some free classes for his wife(?!) but insisted he wanted to be reimbursed as he's a pensioner and it's a lot of money. He was promised faithfully that this would happen by Tuesday. By Tuesday there was no money, no phonecall so he went in again and was promised it would be done by half five yesterday. Today there has still been no money and no call. A few years ago, my mum signed up for a block of Pilates classes and the same thing happened to her as they continued to bill her for months after. There has been no apology, no one taking ownership of this and no communication at all. Be aware if you have also signed up for temporary classes that you are not still being charged.

[IlonaM]

Maybe something for trading standards?

[Rosetta]

If they were direct debits, then his bank can recall them. Awful behaviour of them.

[Jules-and-Boo]

maybe claim in small claims court.

[esph Health&Fitness]

Dear Sebsc

We're really sorry for what happened with your dad. We ask all members to write to us to cancel their membership and as this didn't happen with your dad the monthly payment continued. When your mum brought this to our attention we looked into the case and it was clear that your dad had ticked the box on his application form stating he only required a 1 month membership which requires a one month notice and is our minimum term. We fully accept it was our administrative error and he was refunded in full yesterday as we have discussed with him directly, although it may well take a day or so for the refund to appear in his account. This wasn't fraud as you allege, it was an administrative error for which we have apologised to your dad and would also like to apologise to you. Our front of house manager has spoken to your father several times on the phone and in person over the last 10 days.

Once again, please accept our sincere apologies for the error and for any distress caused to your family.

Best wishes,

ESPH

[SebsC]

Dear ESPH,

Over the 9 days this has now been going on, your Reception team did not call him back on ANY occasion, even though he was promised on numerous occasions. Your front of house manager did call him twice, but that was only after he had to come down in person to your gym because he did not get ANY calls returned as promised - so yes you are correct that he spoke to the manager in person but only because HE had to make the effort to come to you. This is in contrast to the very quick response you have given to a public posting; if only you could offer the same courtesy to customer phonecalls. Yes, you may say he has now been refunded (although as of yesterday it had still not reached his account) but again this was after much time and effort on his behalf and after a failed promise from yourselves that he would have the money in his account by Tuesday now gone.

You fully accept that this has been caused by your administrative errors and have offered apologies over this forum, however your face to face and telephone manners lack the same courtesy. My father fully accepts that errors occur,however, the way you have handled this complaint has been woeful. Hopefully, you can use this experience to ensure that any further issues are dealt with in a courteous and prompt manner.

[KidKruger]

A refund takes seconds.

How can it take several days ?

Why would you pay a refund by BACS (3-day clearing) instead of Faster Payments (Immediate, even when diarised).

When people say 'will take a couple of days to clear' they're spinning a fast one.

That's an outdated excuse, in 1988 yeah fair enough, but 2017 do me a favour !

Unless you're transferring money via a Complex type payment (CHAPS, Int'l) why would it not be immediate ?!

ESPH please blag your way out of that one.

The observation from the OP that the only quick response is when there may be reputational damage (internet exposure) speaks volumes.

"..may well take a day or so for the refund to appear in his account.."

Translated to: we are running a business involving payments from / to customers but we don't actually understand the banking system we use and what the service level agreements are (even though we probably pay business banking service charges) therefore it's just one big grey cloud where we always have to guess when/if payments will arrive or be sent.

Even 30yrs ago in Brazil that would not have been the case. It's pretty weak IMO to expect adults to fall for such piffle. If it wasn't so fraudulent it would be almost laughable.