I have been contacted by a debt collection agency, apparently on behalf of fitness first, in order to obtain a payment I do not owe. I was a member of the fitness first near holborn station between 1st may 2016 and 30th june 2017, and was on a 12 month contract between 1st may 2016 and 30th may 2017. As of 1st june 2016 it became a one month rolling contract. I chose to cancel my membership as of 1st may 2017, when I realised the £35 a month deal was coming to an end, I informed a member of your staff verbally regarding this and was informed that it would all be taken care of. I was informed that there would be one further payment to cover the 30 day notice period. When june 1st saw a payment of £45, I assumed this was the payment to cover the notice period. I have now been harassed for payment for a service I am not using. I paid promptly all the debts I owed for company while I was a member and cancelled in a fully acceptable manner. Instead of contacting me directly to query any issues with payment, the first I hear, having not used your service for 2 months, of any issues is a debt collection agency. I was contactable by email, phone and in writing. Best practice guidance states that you should have written to me, explaining how much I owed, what it was for and what you had already done to try and get the money. Had these steps been taken correctly, I would have been able to clarify my position in july and it would have been far easier to trace the failed cancelled membership. I cancelled my membership at the end of may, and the 30 day notice period was explained, thus the payment in early june. However by 30thjune my contract had ended, and I was no longer required to make any payments, thus I did not foresee any problems in not continuing the direct debit. During my membership there were a number of actions I felt were inappropriate, and possibly it was letting these go unchallenged that enabled you to feel that your current actions are acceptable. 1. Not sending through my signed contract until I requested it. This contract contains the small print, that justifies the extension on the contract after the 1 year, and to not send it though is a breach of industry guidelines. This was not accompanied by an apology. 2. Charging for services that were previously included in the contract. On january 2nd 2017 you announced that you would be charging an extra fee for any additional towels, something that was not mentioned in my contract, and is effectively a price increase you didn’t communicate. 3. A quick google search of the problem I am having reveals that this is incredibly common, and that this a frequent problem for your customers.