ComplaintsforMary’s Land Farm

• Initial Complaint

  08/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello. My daughter who graduated from kindergarten this year was signed up to go to Marysland camp among other camps. She has a very rare genetic condition which requires frequent and thorough application of sunscreen. She cannot process vitamin D properly, therefore if she absorbs a lot of vitamin D she can feel very sick. I had reached out to Marysland camp to inquire if kids are all day in the sun etc. before I signed her up for camp. The response was they try to keep kids in the shade. I signed her up and filled out a few lengthy forms that are required to sign a child up for camp. On the day of drop off my husband reminded her counselor Charlotte needs thorough application of sunscreen every two hours on all exposed skin areas due to her disease. The counselor said no problem and my husband came home. Our child returned home on Tuesday very sick and unwell. She said they refused to apply sunscreen on her. I called the camp demanding answers and they couldn't give me any. All they said was they only decided to apply on the face and not body. My child probably raised toxic levels of a substance she cannot process properly. It took a whole day to hear from the owner. When I logged back into my profile the health form was also in unsubmitted status even though I could still see it was submitted in February. In addition, it was now completely blank. The owner claimed they didn't wipe it out. They also said apparently they needed an additional COMAR form for sunscreen AFTER my child was already neglected. This was after the fact. They said even though they were notified verbally of her health requirement, they made a decision to not apply sunscreen as they realized they were missing 1 form. They never reached out to us to say that, they just decided to neglect my kid. They would not refund us the money we paid for camp, even though she was withdrawn on the basis of intentional negligence without notifying the parents. Please help

  Business response

  08/22/2023

  The camper was enrolled for week 9 of our summer camp in our Sprouts group. On the second day of camp,  Tuesday afternoon at pick-up, our assistant director was confronted by the upset mother because her daughter claimed to not have been feeling well - something that nobody at camp knew since her daughter seemed in a regular mood and was enjoying camp that day. Later, we received angry calls and texts from the mother that her daughter was extremely sick and claimed it was because the sunscreen was not applied correctly. We told her the owner would give her a call the next day, as it was already late by then and we would investigate the child’s health forms and see what went wrong. The owner called her the next day explaining to her that he saw nothing in her health forms regarding the unique requirement and necessary application of sunscreen as the mother said. She told us that the husband had mentioned to the counselors Monday morning that they apply sunscreen to her daughter regularly on her whole body. The parents had never sent this information to the camp administration over the correct channel in writing nor included these requirements on health forms, so we did not give any special medical attention to her daughter. 

  
  The mother informed the owner that her daughter did not go to the doctor’s or the hospital the night prior, but that she would stay home for the remainder of the camp week, and she demanded a refund. The mother also let us know that they would not be going to the doctor until the week of August 21, when the incident occurred on August 14, almost an entire week after the daughter became extremely ill. 
  The mother claimed that all her health information that we could not find on the camper’s health forms had been deleted by us after she alleged that the information was on the required “Health Provider Form” and “Health History Form”. Our very reputable camp management database software, called Camp Management, keeps track of all history within camper profiles, and we can see the Health History “submitted by date” is February 22, 2023, and the “last updated date” is February 22, 2023. The fields which include questions about chronic diseases, allergies, surgeries, and any other health history were left incomplete. The Health Provider form was never submitted. If it were, it would show history that one was deleted. The health forms are not required to be submitted at enrollment, as the mother claims. Additionally, we have spoken with the database company, Camp Management, and they said there is no recorded change in the history of the camper’s forms, as the mother alludes. Camp Management also told us that the mother reached out herself, and they confirmed the same information to her. 

  
  In our normal course of business, we pull the health history forms at the beginning of each camp start week so that we are aware of any chronic diseases or medical attention any children might need. Additionally, we often are contacted directly by parents in the case of serious medical conditions before camp begins in case there is anything we need to give or provide to the camper during the camp day. Without the health history form complete and no prior contact by the parent, we could not have known that this camper had “this rare genetic condition that requires a need to apply sunscreen every two hours”. 

  
  We do not believe this was a case of neglect, as the camp admin team never knew of these requirements either by health form or direct contact from the parents before the child was sent to our 100% outdoor camp. We also do not believe that they deserve the refund since we welcomed the camper back to camp. The mother also made claims that she would blackmail us and make negative posts and slander our name, which she did on several public threads, which included several lies and accusations against us. Our camp has never been found to be neglectful of children, rather, parents have trusted us for several years with their children because they know we have a great and caring team.
  

  
  

  Customer response

  09/08/2023

  Hello
  Thanks for reaching out. Please see attached screenshot . We did notify the camp of my daughters genetic condition directly on their own registration form which the owner said they review thoroughly. They were therefore indeed notified in writing so they definitely are lying that they weren’t. 
  In addition we also told them verbally on first day of drop off and they don’t deny that . They said “ no problem, we will put sunscreen all over every two hours” and that was it. 
  They did not ask for any additional special forms, instead they made a conscious decision later on to not follow those health requirements but also didn’t notify the parents either. If they had reached out at any point stating they needed any additional forms that were not a part of their initial packet, they should have said that or reach out. Every camp has a different procedure , unless they told us what else was needed we would not have known. By making a conscious decision to not reach out and not apply sunscreen as agreed on , they made a 6 year old sick as she cannot process vitamin D normally like others. 
  They never even apologized for making the child sick knowingly , and refused to give us a refund for the time she was withdrawn from camp due to the reason she was treated negligently , quoting “ the parents didn’t deserve a refund as they didnt notify in writing” but we did as you can see in the screenshot. 
  It is not ethical to do that to a child, to tell lies that we are proving with the attached, and then not even give a refund back to the family for the time the kid was withdrawn due to negligence. Thanks for your help with this matter 

  Business response

  09/09/2023

  We entered into a contract with the mother to provide two weeks of summer camp to her child in August, which includes a cancellation policy.
  
  
  The mother has not disputed the contract nor the cancellation policy, but has accused us of intentionally neglecting to treat her child according to a rare genetic condition. We were never made of said condition on any health forms. Regarding the disease itself, we have not heard from any medical professionals or have received any information regarding the needs of the condition, as the mother claimed it was private information that she did not want to disclose to us. 
  
  The mother was required to submit a health care form as well as a healthcare provider from previous to camp in order for us to develop a care plan for her daughter. The rare genetic condition was not noted on these forms. Due to state law, we cannot accept health information and treatment instructions verbally. Additionally, we need the form signed by a licensed health care provider.
  
  We have a digital signature on the Health History form from parent on February 2, 2023 stating the following
  "This health history is correct and accurately reflects the health status of the camper to whom it pertains. The person described has permission to participate in all camp activities except as noted by me and/or an examining physician."
  
  The parent has accused us of deleting the information regarding the medical condition from the forms. However, the forms were submitted by her to an audited summer camp management database that logs every incident associated with each childs account. The software vendor has confirmed in the attached email that no edits were made to the health forms. Therefore, we are certain that the information was never submitted on the health forms of the child.  
  
  At the parent’s request, we have worked with the Howard County Police, Howard County Dept of Social Services as well as the Youth Camp Division of the Maryland State Department of Health to get her the correct information she needs to send her child to a camp in the state of Maryland. As licensed youth camps, we each use very similar forms and require the same information. 

  Customer response

  09/15/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  you keep lying that I did not notify you in writing about my daughters condition , and when I attached proof you ignored that .

  
  You were notified in writing on your own registration form , in addition you were notified verbally on day of drop off and you agreed to follow sunscreen instructions. You never required any additional forms for sunscreen and you did not reach out to the parents.

  Instead you sent my daughter to what is dangerous to her, knowingly , breaching agreement to apply sunscreen , endangering her, making her sick , and didn’t reach out to the parents to advise them you made a decision later on to just not apply sunscreen .

  You lied that you were not informed in writing. You did not check on the child, did not apologize and kept our money even after she was unenrolled due to how you treated her. You did not resolve this issue. we are prepared with all the evidence and also extensive medical documentation and will proceed further. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ********

• Initial Complaint

  04/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On 4/1/23 I attended the Extreme Easter Egg hunt at Mary’s land farm. I paid $25 to attend the event which was scheduled for 3:30. The website requested you to arrive at 3 for adequate time to reach the event area via shuttle. When I arrived the parking lot was full of mud and my car became stuck. Parking attendants offered no help. When I got to the farm there was no signage or staff directing anyone. The egg hunt promised a prize “up to $1,000.” When I reached the bottom of the farm another attendee told me that they had allowed the egg hunt to start early (note it wasn’t even 3:00pm when the start time was supposed to be 3:30). Fellow attendees and I walked through a field with thorns, unmarked low lying concealed wire fencing, and trash for an hour and found nothing. When going to the farm store the owner did not come out to offer assistance. The lady helping attendees said it was her first day. I and many other attendees left without a refund. Mary’s land farm has not answered Facebook messages or google complaints. To my knowledge no attendees have been offered a refund for this event.

  Business response

  04/11/2023

  We would be happy to offer this customer a full refund, as we have with others who asked from this event. We have admitted that the event went worse than we hped and expected and have already refunded over 100 people. I searched for a direct message from the person who issues this complaint but do not see any messages from her. If she simply emailed us, we would have happily granted her the refund. 

  Customer response

  04/13/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Sarah ******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩