FOI Request - Fit Life Related Information
Request 101003690181
1. The Council discovered that it had not been collecting monthly Direct Debit payments for FitLife Memberships, over a five year period, and it invoiced 41 people for non-payment of membership fees. When did Officials first decide that they would not negotiate settlements with the people affected by its error and would instead issue invoices for the full amounts it had not collected, and who made that decision?
2. The Council had not lost Direct Debit Mandates, it had just not used them. The agreement was that payments would be taken by Direct Debit. When it discovered it had not collected payments why did the Council not use the mandates it still held to recover the unpaid amounts? Did the Council get legal advice on using the mandates and, if so, what was that advice? Under the Freedom of Information Act the Council is not obliged to disclose legal advice, however if it does not answer it might be concluded that the Council avoided using the mandates to deliberately prevent those affected from getting the protection offered by the Direct Debit Guarantee.
3. The FitLife Membership agreement specifically stated that, in the event of non-payment, membership cards would be cancelled. This should have made it impossible to accrue more than one month's debt under the agreement, yet the Council issued invoices for non-payment covering several years. The Council did seek legal advice about whether or not its invoices were legally due for payment, what advice did it receive particularly with respect to the membership clause on cards being cancelled in the event of non-payment? Under the Freedom of Information Act the Council is not obliged to disclose legal advice. However if it does not answer this question it might be concluded that its invoices have little or no legal basis on which payment of them could be successfully pursued in Court, other than such pursuit is not time-barred.
4. If those affected by the Council's error do not pay the invoices then the Council has stated that “Our Finance debt collection process will continue and the debt will be referred to Scott and Co. who are the Council's debt collecting agency”, but the Council has not supplied details of the debt collection process even when requested to do so in writing. Please provide a copy of the Council' debt collection process or a link to the relevant document.