Headquarters, US Army Corps of Engineers
441 G. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000
441 G. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000
To whom it may concern,
My name is Darren Albertson and I have an unfortunate incident I want to pass along to you about a very frustrating series of events I am trying to get corrected. The events started with reservations I had made through the recreation.gov website.
This situation begins on or about July 16th. According to my reservation emails 3 of my reservations were made in the late hours of the 16th and 1 just after midnight on the 17th of July. On July 24th on my way back to Hutchinson, KS from Missouri I stopped in the park to check the reserved sites out and found out that the lake was closed due to blue/green algae. I made all 4 reservations online for a family trip. At the time I made the reservations had I known of the algae issue and the lake being closed I would never have made those reservations. After speaking to the camp host working the little office at the park she recommended I call the Corp of Engineers office for the Milford Lake area. Milford Lake was chosen by our entire party because it was centrally located for everyone convenience. The intentions of this trip were to camp, boat, swim and fish. On July 25th I did just that and spoke with a lady who explained new test results would be available on that Wednesday. At that time the lady and I decided I should wait until Wednesday to change my reservations in hopes the test results came back good. On Wednesday I called the Milford Lake office again and was informed they would not have test results back until Thursday. Thursday I called and they said they would not have the results back until Friday. So on Thursday July 28th I decided I couldn’t wait any longer for test results and elected to have the reservations moved to a lake that was open. We had 4 separate camping units coming and 5 children who would have been devastated had we not been able to boat or swim. We had 3 units coming from Chillicothe, MO and myself from Hutchinson, KS.
After speaking with the Milford lake office they informed me I would have to contact another phone # in order to CHANGE my reservations. I immediately called and was on hold for 30-45 minutes before actually getting a person to speak with due to high call volume. I spoke with a lady whom I did not write her name down but have since been told her name was Elizabeth by another person. Anyways this lady gave very misleading information about many different things. One of them being that she was cancelling my Milford Lake reservations and refunding my money. I was under the impression my reservations were being changed until almost the very end of a very lengthy call. She then required me to pay for the new set of reservations at Clinton Lake (Hickory/Walnut Campground). I explained to her I was unemployed and how important these funds were to me at the time. She assured me that I would have the funds back in my account for the cancelled reservations in 48-72 hours. Then and only then did I decide to continue and pay for the second set of reservations but only because I was assured that I would have my money back within the 48-72 hours for the cancelled reservations. I checked my account twice last week and still had no refund. After arriving back home from Clinton lake on 8/7/11 I again checked my account and still had no refund. I immediately used the ‘Contact Us’ link on the recreation.gov website. Then today I called again to the # I had used when I spoke to Elizabeth. I ended up speaking with a male by the name of Joseph I believe. Joseph told me that in fact the Milford Lake reservations were never cancelled and they were listed as a ‘no show’. Due to this I was told I would have to wait approximately 8 weeks for a refund because I hadn’t cancelled the reservations. I explained to ‘Joseph’ that I had in fact called as instructed and had requested my reservations be changed. Once I knew she wasn’t changing them but was making new reservations I asked specifically about the Milford Lake reservations. She assured me they were cancelled and I would be receiving my refund as stated above, however ‘Joseph’ stated that she had not cancelled them.
I had also asked about the $10 cancellation penalty at that time and was told I would get them back except for on one reservation. Elizabeth stated that since the lake closure was only through August 5th and one reservation started on August 5th that I would still incur the penalty on that reservation. The only reason we felt forced to make a change was due to the algae issue. If 4 reservations are made for a group it should be obvious they are wanting to camp together and all four should be allowed to move penalty free due to the algae issue. The reason for being told I could get the penalty fee back was due to the blue/green algae lake closure. After speaking to ‘Joseph’ he told me I would not be credited back that money because the campground was still open and that I could have still camped there. Again had I known that the lake was closed I would never have made reservations for Milford Lake. Yes he is right I could have camped there, but if I hadn’t wanted to use the lake I could also have made reservations somewhere without a lake to begin with. I wanted to use the lake at Milford and that was the very reason we picked that site to make reservations for so ‘Josephs’ reasoning is a bit ridiculous. I am sure ‘Joseph’ was only following some rule that you all have in place but common sense says that if you close down part of a Federal park/lake and people want to move reservations due to that it should be allowed penalty free.
If anyone were to look at the reservations for Milford Lake and the reservations for Clinton Lake it would be very easy to see the reservations were made for the same exact days and camping units. In this situation and with all the information stated above it is unbelievable that your ‘policy’ is to hold onto a customer’s money for a possible 8 weeks while everything is researched and going through the political paperwork that you all have in place. Upon clicking the pay button on the online reservation system my money was gone in a matter of minutes as well as the same thing happened when making the second set of reservations over the phone with ‘Elizabeth’. Now in order to correct a mistake you all made I am the mercy of your process and could possibly be without these funds for 8 weeks. I feel that it should not take much more than just a few minutes to resolve the issue at hand, but am being told it is absolutely impossible except to go ‘the process’.
At this point I have paid $176 for reservations at Milford Lake and $176 for reservations at Clinton Lake. Then also I am being told I will be charged the $40 now for the 4 cancellations. At this point I know of 4 family groups who no longer wish to do business with the US Army Corp of Engineers if this is the way you do business. I will voice my concerns and issues with family and friends and will be mailing copies of this letter to the local media. Copies are also being sent to the Milford Lake office and Clinton Lake office. As my father has already mailed a letter concerning everything I have dealt with to the Kansas Governor’s office I will follow suit with a copy of this letter being mailed there as well. I feel I need to voice my concerns in as many areas as possible in order to be heard. This ‘process’ is not fair to the paying customer nor a good business practice to keep customers coming back. As witnessed at the campground there were very few customers who spent their hard earned money to be there. The campground was at best ¼ full and just possibly it is this type of business practices that kept people away.
With that being said, I will say Clinton Lake and the Hickory/Walnut campground was a beautiful lake and campground. As a family we had an awesome weekend together and realized it has been almost 20 years since we had all camped together as 1 big family. I watched my nephew and niece kneeboard, tube and try to waterski for the first time. My parents and siblings camped for the first time in a Kansas park. I got to take my son camping for the 1st time. All in all we had a wonderful time however my issues have left me with a sour taste for the federal side of the parks system. This is the 1st time I had ever stayed in a federal park and may very well be the last.
I hope that you can see my frustration with your ‘process’ and although you might not care to get me my money back any sooner---I hope you can at least start the process to make the rules, policy, and process much better going forward for all those who use what tax money already helps to pay for.
Thanks for listening,
Darren Albertson
805A Old Farm Estates
Hutchinson, KS 67502
620-899-2780
darrenal2000@yahoo.com
If there was a like button on here I would be all over it. Good luck man.
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