Ok Guys..I could really use your advice. My girlfriend called me a few weeks back panicking because she was being contacted by a collection agency. I sent her a copy of the cease and desist letter and she used it. So far so good. She is still trying to take care of the root problem though. She signed a contract for 3 years with a martial arts school. She can no longer afford it and tried to cancel unsuccesfully. They then sent her to collections. There was a clause in the contact that stated something about being able to cancel if you lived 25 miles away, so she thought she was safe. However this didn't work because she lived that far away when she signed the contract in the first place. Do any of you have any experience with these types of contracts and were you able to negotiate something? Any tips would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.
did the contract say the 25 mile deal was only valid if you moved 25 miles away during the term of contract? If not, they can't decide after the fact how to enforce it.
Ok, just called her and it does say that she had to move. She also just told me that she had some of her mail sent to a friend in Saratoga which is a couple hours from here to try to get out of this but it fell through because they just contacted her workplace and verified her residence. A lawyer told her to file a small claims suit and that judges kind of frown on companies like this. Is this true? He said she would have to complain about the quality of the school to win the judgement. It just seems like there could be an easier way.
Maybe she could call her doctor and have him/her write a letter saying she is physically unable to do martial arts (have it dated for when she first stopped paying). IF the doctor agrees have her tell the CA she sent it to the martial arts place and never got a response (way back when) so she figured she was in the clear. I know it's a stretch but it just might work!
That might be a possibility though the contract says you have to be physically unable to participate for at least 6 months before they will let you out. They covered their butts pretty well. Well at the very least, she has definitely learned not to sign any more 3 year contracts!
