Re: Rondout Valley Resort, located in Accord, NY; owned by Equity LifeStyle Properties:
Contract states that campground is a membership only park, available to members 365 days a year. (Members pay a purchase price and then yearly maintenance dues of approx. $550.00.) Sites are available on a first come basis. Over the years, management and ownership has changed many times. Now they allow the public to camp for a nightly fee of $52.00. Many sites have now been turned into permanent rental sites. It is virtually impossible to secure a site with full hook-ups, as either they are now deemed seasonal or taken by the public. Many people just pull their campers into a good spot and leave them unattended until they are actually ready to camp.
Our contract states that no campers may be left unattended, yet no one enforces the rule. Campground now closes for the season on Nov. 1st and does not re-open until April. Again, contract states availability 365 days a year. As of August 28th camground has been closed from the damages incurred by Hurricane Irene. Now members are paying maintenance dues on a campground we cannot use. Last estimate of actually re-opening is now 12-18 months!!! Members are expected to pay their maintenance dues during this time. I received a phone call from "Melanie"
@ Equity, advising me that there was a meeting being held because they were changing "things" and the only way members would be advised of these changes, would be to attend the meetings. I pointed out that we PAY for membership and I do believe Equity would be obliged to notify members in writing of any applicable changes. Melanie replied "this will not be done; do you know how many phone calls and questions that would generate?" (Right! We are PAYING for something we can't use and now you tell us you're changing stuff but keeping it a secret?)
Further investigation proved that these "informational meetings" were nothing more than Equity's ploy of extracting more money from members by trying to force us to "upgrade our memberships".. Meetings were a sale pitch, plain and simple. We have been members @ Rondout Valley Resort for many years and love the place. Unfortunately, it would seem that Equity feels it can play "God" with our contracts and bend rules to line their pockets more effectively. I do not think they should be trying to extract quarterly maintenance dues from us until they have the above issues resolved and get the park open again.
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