BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden says his office has reached a settlement with Access Life’s Adventures, LLC, a Meridian company, and its owners Craig and Crystal Fletcher for alleged violations of the Idaho Consumer Protection Act.
The company allegedly accepted payments for Alaskan fishing and other trips that it failed to deliver. The settlement requires the Fletchers to pay more than $100,000 in customer refunds.
“While stopping a business from further harming consumers is a primary enforcement goal for my office, recovering consumer restitution also is important,” Wasden said. “I’m therefore pleased the business has closed -- and that the owners have agreed to repay their customers.”
The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division began investigating Access Life’s Adventures and the Fletchers early last year, after consumers reported they paid the company thousands of dollars for Alaskan fishing trips that never materialized. Some consumers were told only days before their departure dates that their trips were cancelled, a news release from Wasden’s office said.
“At least one customer said he arrived at the Anchorage airport with his son, but no one showed up to take them to their hotel. After arranging their own transportation and hotel, they learned their trip was cancelled. In multiple instances, the company offered consumers refunds but didn’t pay them,” the release said.
On July 3, of last year, the Attorney General filed a consumer protection lawsuit in Ada County District Court against Access Life’s Adventures and the Fletchers. The settlement announced Thursday resolves that action.
In addition to requiring refund payments to 25 customers who lost money to Access Life’s Adventures, the settlement permanently closes the company. The settlement also prohibits the Fletchers from advertising or selling vacation packages or travel or vacation-related goods or services from within Idaho or to consumers with Idaho addresses for ten years. The ban will continue indefinitely should the Fletchers fail to pay the customer refunds.
