Michigan AG Warns Outdoor Adventures About Illegal Practices

LANSING, MI — Campground company Outdoor Adventures is on notice by the Michigan Department of Attorney General for "unlawful business practices," according to a release from the department. The release says the company has one chance to "immediately cease and desist" from such practices before the state files a suit.

The company has been the subject of nearly 30 complaints to the Attorney General since 2016 and 10 so far in 2019, according to the release. The AG's office told Outdoor Adventures in a letter that they've been "giving heightened scrutiny to both new and previous complaints."

Attorney General Dana Nessel said 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."

The unlawful practices Outdoor Adventures is accused of include "a lengthy, high-pressure sales presentation" in which "consumers are promised program attributes that are later found to be untrue or highly misleading."

They add that "cancellation is extremely expensive or even impossible and will never include refunds of down payments," which the AG's office calls the "most troubling element" of the complaints.

Outdoor Adventures runs eight campgrounds in Michigan in Davison, Grand Haven, Kalamazoo, Mt. Pleasant, Omer, Standish, Sterling and West Branch, the release says.

Here's the full list of broad accusations as obtained from the AG's office:

• 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.

See the AG's full letter to Outdoor Adventures.