We evacuated New Orleans Friday afternoon, August 29^th for Hurricane Gustav and headed to Destin. We stayed at Camping on the Gulf, as we do every Labor Day weekend.  Saturday was beautiful; the water was like glass, sunny and hot, your typical Destin day. We tried our best to relax, have fun and enjoy the day, but the anxiety of the approaching storm remained.

Sunday morning was sunny but the waves were rough, a yellow flag was flying as Gustav made its way closer to the coast. We played hard that morning in the water, by mid-morning the waves got so rough even I was exhausted from getting beat up and had enough. It was beginning to get scary being in the Gulf, so we called it quits and headed to the pool. That afternoon was when we first started seeing the effects of Hurricane Gustav approaching the Louisiana coast. There was a lot of cloud coverage, strong winds and off and on light to moderate rain. Nothing to be concerned about.

We woke early Monday morning to gusts of wind and periodic rain varying from light, moderate and heavy. It all depended on if an outer band was over us or not. The most impressive thing I witnessed was the Gulf of Mexico. The waves ranged from approximately 3-4 ft. late Sunday to 8 ft. waves into Monday afternoon. Double Red flags whipped around in the strong winds, and beach patrol monitored the beach ensuring no one at all entered the water. The waves encompassed the entire beach and rolled into the edge of the campground. All in all it wasn’t that scary, just amazing to say the least.  I had never witness a storm right on the water like that before, and now have a greater respect for Mother Nature.

May 14, 2008

In March Anthony & I visited a campground/resort called Martin Lake Resort alone, no children. It was very peaceful, quiet and beautiful. It had a great pool, baby pool and Jacuzzi, new putt-putt golf course, and not to mention this beautiful clear lake with paddleboats. So we decided to join after being so welcomed with polite caring considerate employees. Boy did the owner Jerry do a wonderful job of selling us on buying a membership to his “Resort”. He wanted so bad to meet our kids and was just extremely personable. We loved it to say the least. You’re probably thinking right now, how could this be negative, right? Keep reading….

About a month later we took our kids back with high hopes they would love it too. To my surprise (not Anthony’s) no one remembered us, and wasn’t as nice & polite as they had been the first time we visited. It was still rather chili as a cool front had passed thru the weekend of the trip. The kids weren’t happy; they were bored to say the least. There is a small, rundown, and old playground not worthy of using at all. The water was cold and anytime we did something the grounds keeper/maintenance worker was right there watching every move we made and telling us about the rules we apparently had broken. Not to mention the kids couldn’t go by the lake or pool without an adult. (They are 8,8 and 11) I found it terribly uncomfortable to have someone watching over me like I was a child and telling me what I can’t do on a consistent basis. So maybe it was just a fluke? We decided to give it another chance…and considering we had become members…

We planned another trip over Mother’s Day weekend which included Anthony’s mom, my mom, my brother his wife and his young children and of course my family. Hoping this would be wonderful and we would all have a fabulous time. It was warmer what could go wrong. I reserved 3 cottages #3, 4 & 5. On Wednesday, May 7^th before we were to arrive, I received a phone call from Martin Lake saying they had over booked the cottages and could we please switch cottage 3 & 4 to cottage 7 which had a loft to accommodate two of the families. I happily agreed and requested my trailer be put on a larger site because we have a Ford F350 (my daughter refers to as a “Monster truck”). She told me they would put the trailer on “Dogwood Street” and it was $1 more. I told her great and that was no problem. Everything was set and the employee who called me was so thankful I was very willing to make the change.

We arrived Friday, May 9^th at about 8:00 pm to find our request of where our trailer was supposed to be was not where we were told it would be. Anthony had to get on his bike and drive along each road of the campground in the dark to find our trailer. It was located on a different street not where it was supposed to be. Very distraught, we hooked up our camper and were thankful the truck fit in the spot they put us in.

The next morning, a business decided to have a company picnic in front of the lake, they had a lot of people, and loud music, a far cry from the peaceful, relaxing Martin Lake we had envisioned our family members to enjoy with us. Around 10:00 am the owner Jerry came to cottage #7 (my brother and mother’s cottage) and asked if he could show the cottage to some prospective members and it would only be 3 more times today. My brother told him he wasn’t comfortable with that because he has 2 small children that nap off and on during the day and he didn’t want them woken up. Understandable right? Well Jerry begins to get pushy and says, “it will be only 3 times today and it wouldn’t be a bother. My brother says again politely, “Well, I’m sorry we really aren’t comfortable with that, someone already came at 9:00 am trying to show off the cottage and we were getting dressed for the day and it was very uncomfortable.” This is when Jerry cops an attitude with my brother explaining in an arrogant manner, “that we make $6000 dollars on our memberships and this is what sells it and we’re so proud of it, I need to show this cottage off.” My brother says again, “no, it’s not going to work.” Then jerry says, “Your guests of which members?” at that point I step in and say, me I’m Kate….and my husband is Anthony….and he storms off.

I then go to the office to pay & check in for all of my guests who are staying there. He comes marching into the office saying, “I just told (can’t remember the person’s name he said) there will be no guests staying in cottage 7 ever again, only members who will let us show it off and who are those people anyway?” At that point I really was so irritated (beyond mad might be more appropriate) I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer, as politely as possible, I told him that it was my brother and my mother and the only reason they are in #7 was because your employee’s over booked the cottages and I so graciously switched cottages to obliged your mistake, not to mention that our trailer wasn’t where I was told it would be. When we got here at 8 pm last night, we had to look for our trailer in the dark. Would you like to know his response? Well everything’s ok now isn’t it, in such a manner as he could care less and his “Resort” did nothing wrong….

Now mind you this was Saturday morning and we weren’t checking out until Sunday afternoon, so, I had no choice but to bite my tongue really hard and leave the office immediately. Had nearly my entire family not have been there I would have packed up my camper and left right then and there, and would not have bit my tongue.

Yes, there are more problems, Jerry told us that our membership to Martin Lake Resort included a membership with Coast-to-Coast and that would take four (4) to six (6) weeks to process our application with them. I spoke with Coast-to-Coast on May 12^th to see if MLR was still in good standing and to see if my information had been turned in by MLR for me to be set up in the Coast-to-Coast system. I found out that MLR is in good standing and that my information has not been given to them to be set up. It has been seven (7) weeks since I have signed up with MLR. Jerry, Martin Lake failed to make available the use of the reciprocal usage program in a timely manner. He broke section 5 of his contract.

If you notice I put quotation marks on the word Resort throughout this review for a reason. There are many sites occupied by old run down trailers with wooden decks in front of the trailers therefore, unable to move. To my best estimate, at least half of the 140+ camper sites are occupied by full time live in renters. This would mean that Martin Lake Resort should not be considered a resort or even a campground but rather a trailer park is a more fitting term. Had this been disclosed to me at the sales proposal, I would have chosen not to join in the first place. Jerry explained and ultimately deceived us into believing those occupants were “snow birds” that would be leaving in mid April.

Section 3 of the contract -Use Privileges, it states that Members use Martin Lake Resort for up to fourteen (14) consecutive nights and then must have a seven (7) day waiting period before Member can resume overnight camping. Once again the contract has been broken.

One more thing, in Section 1 – Purpose, the first line states that, “This membership grants a right to use campground facilities and services solely for Member’s recreation and enjoyment.” I have not enjoyed the last 2 experiences at Martin Lake Resort based on the problems I have stated.

Ok, so, at this point the Membership Agreement we signed to join Jerry’s “resort” is now void. We sent a certified letter to Jerry stating our displeasure with his so called “resort” and explanations of how he had broken our contract agreement. We requested we be released from the contract and we sent an Amendment to the agreement, which in turn he had 10 days to respond to us. As of my posting date for this review, we have never heard back from anyone at Martin Lake Resort regarding this manner. We do however have a return receipt signed by a Tara B.

My disgust in this manner is overwhelming, I really don’t understand Jerry’s position in all of this other than to make as much money as possible and he is nothing more than a mere con man. I know that there has to be other people who are unhappy with this campground.

My suggestion is to stay away! Definitely not a place worthy of visiting unless of course you are willing to be treated disrespectfully and feel like dealing with situations like these.

I will be contacting any and all campground review’s available on the Internet of my displeasure, The BBB, and Coast-to-Coast about this situation. As they become available I will have direct links posted on this site.

The BBB has 6 complaints against Martin Lake Resort…

http://ms.app.bbb.org/codbrep.html?wlcl=y&id=5001037

UPDATES:

I notified Cost-to-Coast on 7/3/08 of the situation and I am waiting their response. They were no help at all, said they spoke with Jerry and I was to call him. If nothing else Coast-to-Coast was still notified of problems I have encounered with MLR.

I filed a report with the BBB of Mississippi on 7/8/08 because I still have never heard anything from MLR. I will find out the status of my report in about 30 days. I will update the info when it becomes available. The BBB sent a letter to MLR which their response was to call them. At least there is now a negative report filed against MLR that will not come off their record.

Below are the following links to different websites I have posted review’s regarding my problems MLR.

http://www.complaints.com/directory/2004/may/22/22.htm

http://www.merchantcircle.com/bulletins/Martin.Lake.Resort.228-872-0362

http://www.yellowbot.com/martin-lake-resort-incorporated-biloxi-ms.html?yp_ts=1215448117

http://www.rvcampsitereviews.com/Campgrounds_RVParks/Martin_Lake_Resort_Ocean_Springs_MS/

http://www.americaonwheels.com/Mississippi/Martins_Lake_Resort_Inc

http://www.wheretostayusa.com/accommodation/15258/review.php?zoom=680

http://www.rvhelp.org/camping/martin-lake-resort-inc-biloxi-13305.htm

http://national.citysearch.com/review/6018910

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/374/RipOff0374701.htm