Thousand Trails NACO Camping Resort - Our Membership has been deceived from their new "RV on the GO" & "Zone Camping Pass" programs. Gordonville, Texas

My wife and I bought our membership in 2004 for over 15,000 after intrest. The fact that its not private anymore and I have to pay over 600 dollars in maintience dues yearly is comical. Then when your late on your yearly dues they call you like if there your mortage company and make treats. As others have said, trying to sell is comical, and paying more than regulars in yearly dues is comical.

Overall, they ripped off all the paying customers who have been loyal through all the changes. Some good and some bad, but the idea of private was always a incentive as state parks and rpi campgrounds are not always the greatest, especially if you have young kids.

These companies make money pushing around the members. They know that the cost of litigation is too great for a single member to afford so they use their lawyers to fight. ELS is known as the company that "evicts Grandma". They have a number of age restricted properties that they have purchased and then devalued the rental properties and owned properties by changing the rules and costs.

I have been a member of Outdoor world since 1988 and since ELS has taken over the resorts have gone downhill. The term resort should be replaced with dump! The NJ "lake and Shore" and "williamsburg" resorts have rental trailers that I would not have dogs sleep in. 

ELS has begun selling the park models and thus the better units get sold while the dregs remain unsold. One of our favorite resorts was "sea Pines" on NJ but they have no rentals available there since 2008. Anyone wishing to engage in a class action suit against ELS, Thousand trails, NACO and Outdoor world please get in touch with me.

Back in the summer of 2005 my husband and I saw a Thousand Trails Camping Resort, in Gordonville, TX. off of Lake Texoma. We drove in and asked if we could make camping reservations. The Ranger at the check in office said, NO that they were a private camping resort for members only. We asked how to become a member. He responded to return during business hours at the main office and apply for a membership. 

Therefore, On Dec. 20, 2005 we as a family purchased a Membership Enrollment at Thousand Trails Private Camping Resort for a loan sum of $4,408.31, at 14.9% interest. That was the lowest purchase price for the Southwest Region Thousand Trails Camping Resorts. On Feb. 4, 2008 we paid our balance of $1,176.15 in full. Now that did not include a yearly maintenance fee of $449.00 per yr. which increased every yr. The current yearly maintenance fee that we pay is $554.45.

Now as of May 26, 2012 while we were camping we discovered by word of mouth that our secure private camping resort is no more. It is now open to the public without a Membership Enrollment charge. There was no meeting with the members to discuss the changes. NO Voting, NO Approval. It's bad enough that camp sites are limited now due to on-site yearly rentals. And all the best sites are now taken permanently.  And the cabins are too expensive per night to rent. They cost more than a hotel and are not furnished with linens or towels. 

The camping sites are now available to non-member for $37.00 a night or you can purchase a yearly one Zone Camping Pass for $399.00. Although, we has current members are still paying a yearly maintenance fee of $554.45, after the fact that we also paid $4,408.31 membership fee. So tell me who is getting ribbed off here? 

And the most important reason why we became members of this Thousand Trails private camping resort was for safety reasons. Because I was almost raped in a public campground while taking a shower in the public restrooms. So now anyone can camp at Thousand Trails like the man that almost raped me in front of my 4 yr. old daughter. Luckly my husband came in and checked on us. That was the last time we camped at a pubic camp sites. Now Tom, Dick, and Harry can camp at Thousand Trails and drag women off in the woods and do as they please. 

This new idea of Thousand Trails to draw in more money needs to be stopped. And where does the money go? I can tell you, into the owners pockets because no improvements are getting done. At the Lake Texoma Resort how did they fix the pot holes.  They just added some rocks in the holes by not all of them. Like that's going to fix the problem with the bad resorts roads. 

So I'm asking is there anyone out there that purchased a Life Time membership and would like to support us in  a LAW SUIT against Thousand Trails new camping plan that ribs off what you have paid for. It is just not right or fair.  Why should we have to pay a higher maintenance fee when the Zone Camping Pass is cheaper?

We also need a Lawyer in our area that would like to support us.    

I was a Charter Member of Outdoor World Camp Resort since about 1987 and became a Master Member of Outdoor World Camp Resort since 1989, paying my membership for the total of $8495.00 paying off my total sales price including interest of $15,009.00. At time of sale, I was living about 1 hour away from my home resort located in Sturbridge, MA.

With in 1 year after purchase of Outdoor World, I went through a divorce, moving back home to family in NY. Now I was 4 hours away from any Outdoor World Resort making it difficult to use being so far away.

At first, I was able to use the resort a few times before my divorce while living closer. The grounds were pretty new and very nice. I started out paying $245 membership dues. In divorce settlement, I kept the resort myself cause I was the one who originally wanted the membership. I payed the membership every year, but was never able to use the facilities since I worked more than 1 job having to support myself now and sometimes worked 3 and 4 jobs.

Equity LifeStyle Properties bought out Outdoor World; now Equity LIfeStyle Properties also own Resort Parks International, Thousand Trails, Encore, Mid-Atlantic Resorts, NACO/LTR. There were a lot of changes.

The year of 2000, I was in an accident which rendered me disabled, but I scrapped the bottom of barrel to pay dues thinking that maybe I would someday remarry and be able to use my membership. About 5 years or so ago, I had a friend that was interested in going to use my home resort and shortly after that we used one in NJ. Both resorts were very shabby, I was embarrassed, the trailers we rented were old looking and very stained on rugs and walls, bathroom, kitchen and fabric on couch. The grounds were shabby also.  I was so suprised since I haven't been there for so long when everything was nice and new.

A couple of years ago, Equity LifeSyle Properties sent me a letter to go to a seminar to learn all the new changes for Outdoor World. They were asking me to buy in to Equity and pay another $6,000 to be able to use the other camping facilities (Thousand Trails, Encore, etc.) also. Can u imagine? I met a woman a little older than I and she said Outdoor World froze her membership dues because she was disabled. On September 2, 2011, I wrote a letter requesting for Outdoor World to freeze my membership dues also since I have been disabled since year 2000, but they don't do that any more so I was out of luck. I am now paying somewhere about $740 maintenance fees for this year, 2013, and can no longer afford it. I only used my membership about 10 times, if that much, in the last 26 years. Always payed my dues.

I tried to sell  my membership, but now people can pay $40 a month when they want to go camping. My sister's father-in-law is using that plan, paying the $40 a month and can use all the campgrounds for all Equity's resort paying only $99 yearly membership dues. People can't even give it away anymore. You can also pay $249 for membership with a $99 yearly dues. So they continue to drain disabled people until they have to give up their membership after all the money they invested. Instead of helping their faithful members and letting them pay a lower fee, they are letting them go and selling memberships for less money.

Anyway, I'm not happy to say the least. I am 62 years old and still have the capability to go camping as long as I have someone to help me to put up a tent. As it now stands, I have to give up my my membership. I'm just making a complaint, don't know if anything can be done about it, but people should know that they don't care about their members.