Cottages in Canada-Hidden Gem vacation rental review: Dirty Substandard accommodations 1

I have attached the emails that have been sent back and forth. They start at the bottom and come up. I have attached a picture of the barbecue but I have more if you want them. At the start I just wanted the company that lists this vacation home to understand how dirty this place was but now they have blocked me from sending emails to them as they do not want to deal with this so I will leave it in your hands.

You have got to be kidding. You say there is no housekeeping? I did not expect you to clean up after me but I certainly expected the place to be clean when I arrived. I could write my name in the dust in that place. I have sent photos that clearly show the sink and the barbecue which were gross. It is not only possible that you did not look at the barbecue, you didn't look at anything. The windows, walls and everything need a good wipe down. I don't know how you could not give a deposit back due to poor cleaning because it is not clean to start with. I sure hope you are not the chamber maid at the hotel you work at. I am in the service industry and I would be ashamed to present my establishment like that. And by the way $150.00 per night is a lot of money for a nights stay and I don't need your suggestions as to where I will stay but I know for sure it will never be in that dump again. No doubt the view is great but everything else is substandard and DIRTY. I have reported this location to several agencies and I will post reviews where ever I can so no one else has their vacation ruined by this grubby little house. I have CC my response to Cottages in Canada in case you do not forward my answer to you sarcastic childish response to my initial complaint.

PS: Give spell check a try.

On Jun 28, 2010, Katrina Lund wrote:

Incase they do not forward my response to you. Please find it below.

I have had over 20 bookings for my property and have greeted every one of them, she is the only one who has ever not enjoyed their stay, I have only ever had positive feedbacks. We do not sell or cabin for anything it isn't. It clearly describes on our site that there is no housekeeping available, all of our guests are expected to clean up after themselves, as per the list on the fridge. I have in the past not given deposits back due to poor cleaning. I do check the house after every use to ensure it has not been left in an unliveable state. It is possible I didn't look at the barbeque, I will admit. I wash all of the towels and linen and the house is always in a proper state before each guest arrives. As well, some people have enjoyed that there is butter, ketchup and mustard in the kitchen, for those who have a forgetful mind. We also have priced the rental for what the house is, yes it has rust and dust, but its a cabin not a hotel room. Which she is obviously used to. For $150 per night in a city you can expect double occupancy with a view of a parking lot. Not sleeps up to 8 and is lake front and private. I know this for a fact as i work full time for a local 4 star hotel downtown kamloops. As for our staircase and small parking space, the stairs are up to code, no their not gorgeous, but their stairs that belong at a rustic cabin, and a parking space is a parking space, there are no other neighbours, they could have easily backed their truck down.

Im sorry if this reflects negatively on your website, but our rustic cabin is enjoyable for the lake lounging type. This is bound to happen to every cabin owner at least once or twice, its unfortunate we cant please everyone. Next time i'll suggest a pet friendly hotel for her.

I invite you to stay with us anytime.

Katrina Lund
The Hidden Gem
Paul Lake

> Subject: Enquiry about Hidden Gem
> From: [protected]@telus.net
> Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:56:42 -0400
> To: [protected]@hotmail.com
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> Source: http://www.CottagesinCanada.com/lakecottage15
> Cottage: Hidden Gem (lakecottage15)
> Time: Monday, June 28, 2010 8:56pm EST
> Name: Mary McMechan
> Email: [protected]@telus.net
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> All right then. I understand perfectly.
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> Mary
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> On Jun 28, 2010, Zac Gribble wrote:
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> Greetings Mary,
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> Fortunately negative cottage rental feedback is rare.
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> I always pass any feedback directly to the cottage owner if approved by the renter. I then allow the cottage owner to respond to the feedback.
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> I have no control over what you do or say (one way or another) but trust that you will remember that we are a listing service and do not verify listings in the exact same way that your yellow pages works. That is the service that is provided and we have been doing specifically this for over 10 years. You'll find at the bottom of every cottage listing on our site the following information:
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> The above information has been supplied by the Cottage Rental owner and not by CottagesinCanada.com. Please contact the owner directly with respect to any discrepancies.
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> Cheers,
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> Zac Gribble
> CottagesinCanada.com
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> On 2010-06-28, at 5:33 PM, [protected]@telus.net wrote:
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> May I suggest that you stay a night in that place and then tell me if you would not be upset. I am giving you an opportunity to make this right. Please let me know if you are going to pursue this because I am most definetly going to get this information out. One way or another.
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> Mary
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> On Jun 28, 2010, Zac Gribble wrote:
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> Greetings Mary,
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> We are an online classified service for cottage seekers. We do not handle bookings. We are strictly an advertising service, similar to the yellow pages.
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> I'm sorry you are upset but to suggest that we don't care and that we are irresponsible is incorrect.
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> Cheers,
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> Zac Gribble
> CottagesinCanada.com
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> On 2010-06-28, at 5:21 PM, [protected]@telus.net wrote:
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> You definetly have my permission to show the cottage owner, not that she seemed to care anyway and from the looks of things you don't really care either. Do you not take resposibility for these so called vaction rentals that you offer for rent.
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> Mary
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> On Jun 28, 2010, Zac Gribble wrote:
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> Greetings Mary,
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> I'm very sorry to hear that you had a negative cottage rental experience.
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> With your permission I will bring this up with directly with the cottage owner.
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> Reviews are a double-edged sword and are open to abuse from both sides. We have yet to see an effective and fair online review system.
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> Referrals are usually the best method and some cottage renters request referrals from previous renters when in doubt about a cottage.
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> Cheers,
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> Zac Gribble
> CottagesinCanada.com
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> On 2010-06-28, at 5:01 PM, Doug and Mary McMechan wrote:
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> My Husband and I rented the Hidden Gem cottage at Paul Lake. We were very excited because we had never rented cottages before, just many hotel rooms. We were totally disappointed. We arrived in the dark and we could barely get out of our truck because the parking spot is so small and on a hillside. After we climbed a terrible staircase we entered a dirty, run down mess. The stove and fridge were dirty and full of someone else's food. The sink in the upstairs bathroom had dirt and scale around the taps. I wrote my name in the dust on the shelves in the kitchen. The deck was covered with debris and dead flowers. We would have left but we had our dog with us and there was no cell service at the lake to call hotels. We had brought steaks with us to barbeque that night. When I finally found the barbeque out the back door it was a disgusting mess. We never did use it. When Katrina came to collect her money the next morning she asked if everything was OK and I told her not really. She did not ask me any questions nor did she seem to care at all. As I said, we were 9 hours away from home with a dog and she had my deposit so we pretty much had to stay there.
> And then there is the cleaning that is required by us to do before we leave. Now isn't that ironic. This is the list. Sweep all floors, wash and put away dishes, wipe down toilets, sinks and bathtubs in the washrooms, strip beds and put all linens in laundry basket, sweep deck, vacuum floors, empty all garbage's and leave in a tied bag inside. We will never rent a cottage from your web site again and I am going to find out who else I can send this to because you do not have any reviews on your site, I guess for obvious reasons.
> I have pictures of everything that I have told you about if your company cares to look at them.
> Mary McMechan
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