Virgin Active - Sir Richard and his sidekicks strike again!

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing about my recent horrific and highly stressful experince with Virgin Active Health Clubs, and specifically the one one at Brighton Beach, Durban, South Africa. I share this in the hope that other consumers will be warned.

It all began when my mother, God bless her, decided to buy me a one year contract with Virgin Active as a birthday present. The people selling us the contract were ever so helpful and pleasent and we stated repeatedly that this was just one year. A fact both I and my mother are prepared to swear to in a court of law. At the end of the year, after using the gym for a year, I did not return to the gym knowing that my time was up.

Imagine my horror when a few months later I was confronted with a summons from MBD Attorneys of Johannesburg with an outstanding account of some R874.35 (around $120) from Virgin Active. My wife went to the club where we had had our membership and we were told that they would 'sort it out' and we were not to worry, they understood that our membership was for only one year and this was merely an administrative error. They asked her to sign a 'letter of cancellation', which she had a copy but lost (not clever). So we left it alone and did not worry.

Unbeknowest to us this was just the begining of the nightmare. These people, MBD Attorneys of Johannesburg, began to phone us at our place of work, and continuesly state that we must pay them this money. When we asked on what grounds they can claim this money from us, we were told that the membership is for one year but has an automatic renewel attached to it. They also had no record of anyone 'sorting it out' so we were screwed.
So with out any warning, in spite of the fact that we had purchased our membership for one year only, and had paid for said one years membership with one payment, we were continuosly told that we owe money and had been 'handed over' to attorneys. Also this was in spite of the fact that we had only used the facilities for that one year and had not used them since.
You know in life there is morality and then there is the law, when they catch you they catch you. So after a while, out of shere frustration, I gave in and deposited the money into thier account. So I had to pay for around 8 months membership, without ever getting any benifit from said use. I wonder if taking something from somebody for nothing could be called theft?
It seems that the little guys are always the victims, there is not much we can do about this, but I would strongly hope that this experience is shared with as many people as possible as a warning to them.

My advice is ... if you consider joining a Virgin Active Health Club ... buy a bicycle instead ...

One ripped off ex Virgin Active Health Club Member ...

(Name and details withheld)