Fed-up students refuse to pay fees
More than 100 fitness students are being hounded for thousands of dollars by debt collectors after they refused to keep paying for an online course which has lost its industry accreditation and gone into liquidation.
When Sumire Tachibana signed up with Fitlink NZ in October 2015 she thought she was paying $4000 for a recognised qualification.
A year later, Fitlink lost its accreditation with the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) and went into liquidation. Its small team of staff quit after a change of ownership.
But the company’s new owner said she was the victim of an attempted takeover and insisted the course still offered what it originally promised.
Tachibana and about 135 other students had been given the option to complete the course and an extra assessment process to achieve REPs recognition, but most felt their relationship with Fitlink’s owner was too damaged to find it an acceptable solution.
Tachibana said she felt Fitlink had breached its contract when it lost its REPs recognition and students should not be expected keep paying their instalments.
In her eyes, Fitlink’s credibility had been undermined.
Major employers like Les Mills will not hire personal trainers unless they are REPs recognised, a spokeswoman for the fitness chain confirmed.
In January Tachibana emailed Fitlink saying she thought it had breached the contract and requested a re- fund but said they never replied. “A few weeks ago they suddenly emailed me about an overdue amount. A couple of days later they forwarded it on to the debt collectors.”
Tachibana, who is being chased for about $2000, was angry and upset about the way the situation had played out. “The threat of debt collectors and the fact it might affect your credit rating is a huge weight.”
REPs spokesman Stephen
The threat of debt collectors . . . is a huge weight. Sumire Tachibana, student
Gacsal said the course lost its accreditation because its affiliation was tied to the original business, not the Fitlink name.
REPs understood the new company was in the process of acquiring NZQA registration.
Fitlink’s current owner, Angela Eluik, said she put it into solvent liquidation in October after a competitor tried to take it over, changing it to Ave Assets Holdings Ltd.
Company office documents back this up, as well as showing a second business, previously named Compass 2010 Ltd, had its named changed to Fitlink New Zealand Limited on October 23.
Eluik and two others said the ownership struggle was a family dispute.
She insisted the company had been clear and honest with students about the changes.