I found my original contract and it states nothing regarding “service interruption fines”. I was just on the phone with someone who works in the sales department my the gym and they seem to think I misunderstood the threatening legal letter they sent, and the 7k “fine” is just some type of interest payment on the amount owed. They are telling me that I’ll continue to be charged interest on the amount I owe until a payment is made.
I don’t think they should be allowed to charge 7k of “interest” on a 3500NTD bill. I have no issue paying the money I owe to the gym as per my 12 month contract states, but this credit card style interest seems like bullshit and I do not want to pay it.
EDIT
I also found a part in my contract that says if I go overseas I won’t be charged for the time I’m away, but when I brought this up with the sales girl tonight and she said I was suppose to show the gym the plane ticket before I left as well as the stamps on my passport showing the dates I left/returned to Taiwan. I’m on that e-gate thing so I didn’t get any stamps when I came back to Taiwan, so according to her I can’t prove that I actually was overseas. She won’t accept my receipt for my plane tickets because as she said I needed to show her before I left Taiwan.
They shouldn’t be able to charge interest on a miss gym payment right? They are a small gym/company, should that me more or less worried about this whole thing?
If you signed the contract they can, unless there are laws against it in Taiwan, but I think you’d have to sue them to resolve it.
As for it being a small company, why guess what your odds are either way? They will if they choose to, or they won’t. Just take care of it and move on. If you speak Chinese or can take a friend, you can try talking really really nicely to the person in charge and say you made a mistake and you’d like to continue as an ongoing customer, and he/she might decide to waive the fees or lessen them, but if they choose not to, you’re still on the hook for the fees.
Just because something is in a contract doesn’t mean it’s legal. Cram schools pull this shit all the time. They try and scare people and if it doesn’t work, meiguanxi.
If he has proof of leaving and returning to Taiwan then just make a copy of that and give it to them. If the contract doesn’t state that he has to inform them beforehand, then that’s that. If it does, then pay the remainder and that’s that.
That’s some predatory practice.
I would comppletely avoid such an establishment. They have calculated the lawyer fees well and know it will cost you as much to fight back. But you may be able to use civil resolution,I don’t know ?
Is it a Gym of the World, for all our information here ?
The above amounts are in NT? Lawsuits over amounts like that are rare, because the plaintiff would typically spend far more on a lawyer.
Contract clauses are not always enforceable. Contact the consumer complaints council (whatever it’s called) and ask if the contract you signed conforms to Civil Code Art. 247-1.
Even if it does, an “interest” payment far in excess of the legal maximum may still be illegal. There’s another part of the CC that deals with that.
Isn’t there some way to get a letter (from the NIA perhaps) attesting to your entry and exit dates?
Sure you can. Turn up to the NIA and request a certificate of entry and exits ( 外來人口入出國日期證明書) for the relevant period. They’ll be able to give it to you on the spot - it’s one of their standard services.
Most gyms are cool with freezing your account and since you have proof you were out of country. If they try to charge you, just leave them. Doesn’t seem worth it. So many other better gyms in the sea. And they are just threats, they have no real case.
Is turning people over for collection on stuff like this a thing in Taiwan? Do you have credit scores? Can they garnish your wages? Do they have your ARC on file?
If it were me, I’d probably go in person with your contract and some written talking points explaining your situation (and maybe a sob story on going back) and ask for some kind of relief:
Pay off rest of contract OR
Continue contract from month you returned (if you like the gym)
I’d probably also mention that as a foreigner if they can’t help you you’ll start visiting government offices (I don’t know who this would be, but I’ve gone to city hall before with unrelated problems and it did help). In person, with some cash in hand, you might be able to work this out in a half hour.
I left Extreme gym because they refused to take cash. It was ridiculous because I was willing to pay 3 years, at a big discount, but their managers had told them to only accept monthly cc.
Did he? He said there was no service interuption fee but if he said there was nothing about interest on past due bills I missed it. It likely is in there. Maybe he’s lucky and they forgot to mention it.
The problem about interest is that it keeps getting bigger. @yyy, lawsuits may be rare, but assuming they the gym has followed the law, is there other trouble he can get into for an unpaid debt?
Interest is limited to 20% per annum iirc, and if a debt goes unclaimed for long enough, it expires. (Ask a lawyer to be certain.)
Could they call their competitors and recommend not selling a membership to him? I suppose, but it would be up to the competitors to decide whether or not to take that advice.
I had a roughly similar situation at a gym beginning with “W” (although no threatening letters were involved - I’d just been inadvertently not paying because my credit card had been re-issued). I told them nicely that I’d pay for those months where I’d been to the gym, but not the final month or two (I forget) where I’d been out of the country. They just said “oh, OK”.
Lawsuits over amounts like that are rare, because the plaintiff would typically spend far more on a lawyer.