August 12, 2019 — The Michigan Department of Attorney General issued a Notice of Intended Action to Bay City-based Outdoor Adventures earlier this week, outlining serious concerns with the company’s aggressive and misleading sales tactics. The company has an “opportunity to immediately cease and desist from engaging in unlawful business practices” before the state files a lawsuit against the company, the letter stated.
Outdoor Adventures operates eight campgrounds in Michigan: Davison, Grand Haven, Kalamazoo, Mt. Pleasant, Omer, Standish, Sterling and West Branch. A ninth location is in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
The Attorney General, Dana Nessel, has received nearly 30 complaints against Outdoor Adventures since 2016 – 10 since January 2019. The Better Business Bureau shared additional complaints against the company. As a result, the Attorney General’s Corporate Oversight Division began scrutinizing the company’s sales tactics and cancellation policies, reviewing the documentation and seeking notarized affidavits from consumers.
The findings were revealing, indicating Outdoor Adventures is engaging in several unfair trade practices, including:
- Causing a probability of confusion or misunderstanding about the legal rights, obligations, or remedies of a party to a transaction; Causing probability of confusion or misunderstanding about the terms or conditions of credit if credit is extended in a transaction; Failing … to promptly restore … a deposit, down payment, or other payment …. Gross discrepancies between the oral presentations of the seller and the written agreement covering the same transaction; and, Causing coercion and duress as the result of the time and nature of a sales presentation.
“I take my role as Michigan’s Chief Consumer Advocate very seriously,” said Nessel. “Outdoor Adventures appears to have taken egregious advantage of dozens of Michigan residents, taking their money under false pretenses and then refusing refunds and cancellations. We cannot and will not allow any company to mislead people into spending thousands of dollars of their hard-earned money.”
Read more from the State of Michigan Department of the Attorney General.
SOURCE: Michimich.com and the state of Michigan Attorney General’s office.
We got mixed up with them as well. The payments on a monthly basis were all wrong and they told us one thing and then said another. I kept up with the payments but then told we were over due with one when we were not. It got ugly and then they cancelled us. So glad to be out from under them. Never again. Buyer beware of these over zealous people. It has nice campgrounds and cabins but the way they do things I agree are not so nice. Stay away from Outdoor Adventures.
I am adding an addendum to this post. I just read the attorney generals letter. I can attest to the fact that all of this happened to us. Also we were threatened by their security because of how we parked our camper. If your camper is not parked vertical not horizontal they will evict you. I was appalled that we were threatened by their security more then once and when asked what we did they said for us to reread their polices which we found ludicrous. I am so glad to be gone from such excuse the phrase nazi security team. They are mean.