- Report: #995203
Complaint Review: Timber Lodge RV - West New Waverly Texas
Reported By:
Phil -
Nampa, Idaho, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Timber Lodge RV
1560 Hwy 150 West New Waverly, 77358 Texas, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
Timber Lodge RV Timber Lodge RV Resort " lifetime contract" collection attempt. Problems in terminating our membership w/o being hassled West New Waverly, Texas
After several years of using this campground membership, mainly preserves on the Oregon coast, we
decided to discontinue our membership. We haven't used it for the past couple of years and felt that
we couldn't afford the yearly dues. So we cancelled the membership. We started receiving letters from
Timber Lodge advising us of a "lifetime charter membership" and that we couldn't cancel but were obligated to continue paying the yearly dues. I wrote back and told them that we aren't paying these
dues and aren't interested in paying Timber Lodge a fee for selling our membership. A contract as far
as I'm concerned is a mutually beneficial agreement. The threats of collection agency involvement was made and yesterday we had our first call. I have requested a copy of our original agreement but haven't received one yet. I also question the legality of a "lifetime charter membership" except to freeze the annual dues. Complaints against this outfit are many and if there is a class action suit brewing count me in.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Phil
Nampa,Idaho,
United States of America
Timber lodge "lifetime charter membership"
#2Author of original report
Thu, February 14, 2013
Timber Lodge states that their contract is an industry standard. I found that the reputable campground
memberships have built in clauses that allow terminations without penalty. In fact the Timber Lodge
contract has termination clauses that states in affect that if dues are not paid, Timber Lodge has the
right to "terminate" the membership. Timber Lake also refers to "life time membership". However, I
can't find any place in the original contract that uses the term "lifetime". The contract is ambiguous
and doesn't clearly address the issue of having to pay dues for life or subjecting heirs to pay these dues. If this was clearly spelled out or explained by the Campresorts broker in 2000, I wouldn't be writing this complaint. The advertising on the internet has a question and answer portion and one of the questi0ns is " can I cancel my member at any time" and the answer is "yes" but a $100 reinstatement fee will be charged. So, does Timber Lake have a case? I don't think so and I feel that
Timber Lake Resorts should quietly drop this thing and concentrate on operating a campground
membership program without intimidating it's members, especially as we've been members since 2000.
Phil
Nampa,Idaho,
United States of America
Rebuttal to Schnee/Timber Lodge RV issue
#3Author of original report
Wed, January 30, 2013
We do not owe anything more on this so called "lifetime Charter membership." If we were aware
and told that this contract could not be terminated and obligated us for as long as we "lived" we
would have been stupid to sign it. Whoever we talked with via phone 13 years ago told us that
a lifetime charter membership locked in the dues at $99 per year and nothing mentioned about
as long as we "lived".
A "bait and Switch" took place also at the time we contacted CampResorts. We were under the
impression that they represented several "home Parks" which were necessary to sign up with RPI
allowing us to use Thousand Trails, AOR, CRA, etc facilities. I requested a home park close to Idaho
so we could use it from time to time. After some "checking around", we were told that Timber Lodge
RV Resort in Waverly, TX was the only one available but when something closer comes up, they
would let us know. We found out later that CampResorts, American Campground,etc are part of
the same group, possibly including Monterey Collections.
This is a giant scam as far as I'm concerned and I intend to spread this around so other senior
citizens don't get scammed. As of this date, Jan.30, we still haven't received a copy of our so called
"lifetime Charter membership" showing that we are obligated as long as we live.
Administation
New Waverly,Texas,
USA
Schnee Rebuttal
#4UPDATE Employee
Tue, January 29, 2013
Our records indicate Phillip and Marie Schnee purchased a membership to our resort in August 2000. That the membership agreement is an industry standard agreement. That no representations were made other than the membership agreement.
That the agreement provides for annual membership dues payments due on the first day of November each year. That monthly statements were sent requesting this payment in October, November and December 2012. That to date the account is unpaid. That is our company policy accounts that become this delinquent are sent to Monterey Financial for enforced collections. That at the present time this is where this account is.
That on January 16, 2013 they requested a copy of their contract which was sent. That many options exist to discontinue membership. That as of this date we have forward these options. That the guaranteed resale and prepayment program options are not provisions of the agreement but were offered in good faith in order to accommodate their request to cancel the agreement.
That additional options will be provided including, but not limited to, advertising the membership on their own using a variety of recommended media methods such as Craigs List, Ebay, RV periodicals and local newspaper classified advertisements or including the membership when selling their recreational vehicle. We provided all the information and methods successfully used by other members in the past. That some of these advertising methods can be done with little or no cost to the member.
That once the account has been settled these options remain open to M/M Schnee, or should they wish to provide a reasonable alternative option we would be willing to consider it.
This consumer should be advised of the following additional information: That we take these matters very seriously. The owner of this site bears no responsibility for information posted on this site only the individual(s) posting the information. That the web site owners have no responsibility to verify the information posted whether legal binding agreements exist between the parties etc. The owner of the site will not delete or modify the information posted. That our legal team has concluded research confirming only the individual(s) posting the material are liable. That the owner of the web site has little to no interest in protecting consumers only is interested in attracting high traffic to the site to use to sell advertising and generate other sources of income. That the only way Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines will delete this information is through a court order. We caution anyone considering using this forum to be sure the information is accurate, not intended to damage and no legal binding agreement exists between the parties.
