Deducting money off my account without my knowledge

<p>I joined Planet Fitness at the Centurion Mega Club in December 2014. It was a 24 month contract (they do not offer shorter contracts). I paid the first 12 months upfront. In May 2015 I had to relocate to Cape Town. I could not continue using any Planet Fitness facilities, as my new town did not have a Planet Fitness gym. I contacted PF and requested that my contract be cancelled after the initial 12 month period. I accepted that in effect I had paid upfront for something which I was no longer able to use. Initially they refused, but after a complaint logged on hellopeter they said I had to pay a penalty for early cancellation, which amounted to just over R1,000. I refused to pay as it was not my fault that I had to relocate and the new town did not have any facilities. After some e-mail correspondence with them, I received an e-mail dated 5 Sept with the subject: "Membership cancellation processed". I assumed that the wording indicated that my contract was cancelled. On 25 May 2016 I received an e-mail from Anthea Moatshe ordering me to phone them regarding my membership. I did, but the number was engaged the whole time, so I sent her a reply e-mail, but received no response. Today I had to check my bank balance, as it looked much less than what it should, only to realise they deducted R1,061 off my account without my knowledge. I phoned my bank to reverse this amount and when doing to, saw that they also deducted R1,061 off my account in March. When I got hold of an agent at PF now, she told me my contract was never cancelled and the debit orders were double deductions for earlier debit orders which was not collected in January and February. In terms of the Consumer Act, how can I be expected to pay for something which I am not able to use at all? Also, they have now deducted more than R2,000 of my account, which actually amounts to more than what the initial "penalty" was for what they called early cancellation.</p>