The Office of Fair Trading is warning consumers to be aware of misleading marketing by the gyms. The regulator is urging people to check carefully before signing any contract.

This warning comes at the peak season for gyms with many consumers looking to stick to New Year's resolutions to get gifts. The regulatory body says many people have received many unsolicited phone calls, which claim they have won a free gift of membership.

However, when the number on the ads was called, they discovered that the gift requires them to pay some monthly fee and to sign up to credit agreements. It adds that when they have tried to cancel the agreement, members are pressurized into continuing to make payments.

The OFT has issued advice to prospective gym members on what to consider before signing up, with tips such as to ask what would happen if the member was injured and could not use the facilities and to look out for terms that automatically extend the official membership period without consent.

The body therefore advises that, if you are told that you have won a gift or a prize from a competition, be careful and ask yourself if you have actually entered any competition, and investigate the term thoroughly before signing any document.

THE OFT STOPS DUTCH MARKETING COMPANY FROM SENDING MISLEADING MESSAGES TO UK CONSUMERS

OFT has used its enforcement powers to secure binding undertakings preventing a Dutch marketing from publishing and distributing misleading mailings to UK.

There were numerous complaints about the mailings, which appeared to notify members of large cash win, or other valuable prizes such as a car or holiday.

The OFT believed the mailings were misleading because they gave the impression that the recipients had been contacted regarding a substantial prize specifically held for them, when in fact they had only been entered into a prize draw and were very unlikely to have won any substantial prize.

OFT STOPS SOUTH AFRICAN MARKETER FROM SENDING MISLEADING MAILINGS TO UK

The OFT has ensured it obtains an assurance from South African marketing agency that they will no longer send misleading mailings to UK.

They made sure they contacted the Turn A Direct which is a company operated in South Africa and the Turn A Direct stated that as much as they believed that the nature of each promotion was made clear in the rules, they would stop all existing mailings to UK consumers and not issue any further mailings making the same or similarly misleading claims.

CONCLUSION

In short, the OFT's take on the UK marketing is to ensure that it bars all the factors that are trying to cause deterioration on the strategies set to ensure the smooth running of the UK markets. It achieves this by stopping all the foreign companies from sending misleading mailings to the consumers in the UK markets.