Here is the response I recived from my e-mail about the booking proablems with Kitty Lake Cabin.


Thank you for your comment that our Ontario Parks email reservation system received on Sunday (April 20).

I have had the opportunity to investigate the reservation made for the Kitty Lake Ranger Cabin. The cabin was reserved for the period of September 22-29 in March of 2008, prior to the 5-month reservation window. This reservation was authorized by our Park Superintendent on compassionate grounds, for a physically disabled individual and her friend and caregiver. Due to medical circumstances, accessibility, and scheduling conflicts with the individual and the reservation period of the ranger cabin - there were very few options that were available. In addition, this individual had prepaid for a ranger cabin reservation in 2006 - prior to her accident, and had to cancel at that time. Due to the exceptional nature of this request, Ontario Parks agreed to accommodate the individual.

I want to assure you that this is not common practice for Ontario Parks staff to make reservations for individuals prior to the 5 month reservation window. Only on very rare circumstances (in this case compassionate reasons) do Ontario Parks make an exception to our reservation policy.

Ontario Parks apologizes for the inconvenience that this has caused.

Sincerely,

Jim Murphy


Jim Murphy
Backcountry Operations South Leader
Algonquin Provincial Park
613-637-2780 ext. 300



Oh and I was out booked for the last remaining dates open Sept 29 to Oct 4th. Everything was fine, until the operator tryed to finialize the payment, when it came up booked. He apoligized, because another operator beat him to it by a few seconds. sigh, on to plan B.
Rose

So far Ontario Parks and an operator has apologized to you. I think it is you who should be apologizing to the disabled person who booked the cabin. My father became disabled a few years ago and I would do just about anything to be able to share some of my Algonquin experiences with him. You are beginning to sound like a spoiled child. As the Rolling Stones tune goes, "You cant always get what you want."

anon. If you had bothered to check Rose's previous post ( http://www.network54.com/Forum/352882/message/1208690648/unfair+reservations+for+cabins ) about the cabin, you would have seen that the question posed to park staff was " how did someone book outside of the 5 month window".
There was no knowledge of, or written policy regarding disabled people renting a cabin "This reservation was authorized by our Park Superintendent on compassionate grounds"
How could Rose have possibly known about such an arrangement without asking?
I believe it is YOU who owes Rose and apology for your crass and insensitive remark "You are beginning to sound like a spoiled child"
Next time get the facts straight or shut up

Hi Anonymous, acutally as I have mentioned before my father is also diasbled and has been for over 10 years now, which is why we were after this paticular cabin. I posted their respone because I said I would in my perviouse post. But I stand by the fact that rules are rules, and they are only fair if every one follows them.
Rose

Anon your previous comment was just plain rude. How some people are so quick to jump roll eyes

Thanks ScouterGriz, and re-reading my last post, I put my foot in my mouth. It's funny how things sometimes sound diffrent when you read them after they are posted . My last post did sound a little like bad sportsman ship, and that is not really what I ment at all. Anyways, I hope who ever is in the cabin have the best of luck, good weather and lots of fun. Now we are moving on to plan B, and old fashion canvas tent on Kingscote
Rose

Hey Anonymous....

I read Rose's post about the reservation, and was also surprised and a little annoyed by the parks apparent breaking of their own rule, and giving up a prime location to someone in what seemed a favourtistic manner. Now that I know all the facts, I don't think Rose should feel bad, but rather should be proud of herself for getting to the bottom of the story and informing us of a good dead that the Park did for the people that got the booking made early.

There is nothing wrong with asking questions and expecting answers. I recently had a reservation cancelled by the park, and was expected to pay the cancellation fee. Upon asking a few questions I was told that a full refund was in fact in order, and given one with no further questions asked.

Rose, I applaud your efforts to get the bottom of what looked like a fishy salutation, and for having the nerve to report back on the reasons for the exception to the 5 month rule being made.

As for anonymous, sorry to sound crash but posting Anonymously to me holds little if any value. Fess up and at least have the guts to identify who you are.

Jeff

No need for Rose to apologize, or feel bad.

You've played by the rules, and found out that there can be special circumstances that none of us knew about. Perhaps it would have been nice for Ontario Parks to have offered you the same extenuating circumstances.

It would have been nice if the other party's reservation had been flagged, so that the reservations office could have explained things properly to you in the first place. The reservations game has gone from 11 months, to 9 months, now 5 months. And they are pretty strict with it when it comes to people who want to make or change reservations. A special circumstance, that isn't widely known, should have been explained to anyone who got caught in its web.

The frustrating thing is that it could work the other way, too. Any one of those dates that are already booked could come up empty because people cancel for various reasons. For all you know, you could call every day, right up to the day before you want to arrive, and luck into an opening for a weekend.

Hope something works out for you, Rose.



Barbara

I ment "fishy situation" not "fishy salutation"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOops

Jeff

I agree with you Jeff, it's good to see that there is some compassion left but to play the devils advocate, i'll quote from the book Animal Farm. "Some animals are created more equal than others." Rules are rules.

JDL
RHON

Sorry to go off topic but I'm getting a little sick of anonymous posts. Quite frankly if you aren't willing to pick a name and stick with it so the rest of the forum members can get a sense of who you are, then I'm simply not interested in your opinion.

I don't know the identities of scoutergriz, Rose or cls are but I have a sense of who they are and can relate to them much better. It gives me context as a participant and for me that makes anything they post easier to consider even if I may disagree with it. Anonymous posts however can come as as rude slaps if only for the reason that you don't respect the people you are communicating enough to tell them who is bitching them out. And lately there have been more than a few anonymous posts that are simply rude in their tone and content regardless of any other factors.

I'm just as guilty as anyone for saying the wrong thing or going too far with something, but at least you know where it's coming from. I'm forced to stand by what I say or back down and accept someone else's point (it could happen) because if I don't you can call me out for it.

You can't have a community without knowing who it's members are. And this place is a community, one that I'm proud to be a part of (so much so that I get riled when someone attacks a fellow citizen)


Rose I've seen nothing wrong with any of your posts on this subject, you pointed out a problem that didn't make sense to any of us, and then you followed it up with the official explanation. I get no sense of complaint from you.

If I were king of the world all anonymous posts would be named "Chicken $#!T", or "'fraidy cat" by default. At lest that would provide an incentive to not forget to write your name at the top, which we are all guilty of from time to time but the regulars always point it out and note who it was that made the post.

Sorry that should read "When I'm king of the world"




Zeb out

Well said Zeb! I couldn't agree more. It took me a while to place my first post on AA, but when I did, it was not going to be from Anonymous, rather a new member that wanted to partake in the discussions, and like you mention, be part of a community.

Jeff

I couldn't believe the comment from Anonymous to Rose about apologizing. But then I remembered his other rude comments from previous messages.
He is the one who is rude and why can't he have a real name instead of his fake name? What's he hiding?

Oops, sorry! Last post was me, forgot to put in a REAL name!!!

As Jeff pointed out, well said Zeb.

Anonymous posts I just ignore as a rule. Most of the time, they are just disturbers trying to stir up some controversy about someone they disagree with. Yes, this is a community, our community, and I too am proud to be part of it!!!!

I remember one about my playing guitar at Mew Lake and disturbing this anonymous fellow. He says he recongized me from pictures of camping trips. Funny thing though, I have never, ever camped at Mew Lake in my life. I must have a double out there somewhere who is as bad at playing guitar as I am, unless you are drinking when then I sound tolerable!!! hahahaha


Bo