Extremely disappointed w/ BWV

[Disney Sponge]

We stayed at our home for the 1st time and we were very disappointed. We would like to write a letter of complaint and would like suggestions of where to send it to have the most impact. Any suggestions??

The carpet in our room #2133 and in our hallway was filthy. Our comforter and blanket had holes and stains. I was really grossed out and so very disappointed. The CM never said welcome home and in general did not make us feel welcome. They discouraged us from pool hopping to Storm-along Bay. They only CMs who made us feel at home were at Community Hall.

We also had major problems with the buses. We waited almost an hour for a bus from DD to BWV. We waited a half hour again from DD to BWV and gave up & took the Swan & Dolphin bus and walked over. The 1st bus for the MK EE days got us their late both days.

I wanted to stop all the potential DVC members I saw roaming around & say think twice before selecting Boardwalk.

If it hadn't been for our excellent time at AKL (see other post) earlier in the week, our vacation might have been a bit of a downer.

[RAD]

Sponge, sorry you had a bad experience. We had our first stay at BVW back in December and the only uncorrectable problem we really saw was the outside condition of the building, but they're supposed to be renovating that now. Our room had a couple of little facilities problems but we called the front desk and someone was up within a 1/2 hour and corrected them.

When you noted these problems with the room did you call the front desk and ask for them to be corrected? If you did and they didn't correct the problem(s) then I think you should contact Member Services and make them aware of the items.

[Lesley]

I don't really think the DD bus problem is limited to BWV......we've never found the DD busses to be reliable and always drive there when we can. Same for the water parks.

Did you give them the chance to replace the bedding and clean the carpet? Really there's no excuse for leaving things that way, but it sounds like it could have been corrected, at least partially.

Sorry to hear your trip was a downer.

[rbuzzotta]

Geez, sorry to hear that this part of your trip was a bummer!! We haven't stayed at BWV yet and from all I hear about the LONG hallways, parking and loud noise makes me happy my home is OKW!! I am sure we will try out BWV in the next 41 years but for now....OKW here we come (we leave in 24 hours and then again in 52 days!!!!!!!)

[KMarie]

Disney Sponge,
So sorry to hear you had a disappointing trip. I suggest voicing your concerns to DVC and the BWV manager.

We were at BWV in October for our first DVC trip, and had none of the problems you reported. When we were there, the room was spotless, the staff was very accommodating, and we were thrilled that we had made that resort our DVC home.

I agree with Lesley that the DD buses are a problem. I stayed at OKW in March (because BWV was booked) and the DD bus waits were extremely long. But, it seemed then that more DD buses were going to and coming from BWV than anywhere else, and the people waiting for the OKW bus certainly were commenting on it!

Hope your next trip is much more satisfying.

[CorbsVWL]

Sponge,

Sorry to hear about the bad experience.
Was your room a 1BR, 2 BR or Studio?

We almost decised to take the family to BWV next April but changed our mind and are headed to VB and VWL.

I'd definitely make some noise. You know what they say about the squeaky wheel. Let's face it, you are paying good money for top quality service and accomodations. Sounds like some one needs to listen up at BWV and MS based on the number of complaints I've read pertaining to BWV.

You might want to consider posting a Room Report at:

www.wdwinfo.com/dvc/room.shtml

Good Luck!

[LIDisneyFan]

I have found the BW management to be very responsive in the 2 times I had any issues. There were some relatively minor furniture issues (loose knobs, etc) which I mentioned thinking they would be put on a punch list (they weren't really bothering us that much), and found them fixed the same evening upon our return.

Not sure if you notified anyone (obviously, they should know about the state of the facility, but reporting an issue is the best way of having it fixed quickly), but I would be surprised and disappointed if they didn't respond.

I would give it anohter try. We liked OKW very much on our last stay, but we love the BW as our home. In fact, we're adding on another 150 pts, and only wanted to do it there.

[Beachangel]

I'm going home for the first time in August and this is just the kind of thing I'm worried about. I hope your experience was the exception. Did you ask to move your room since it was sub-standard?

[wdwnut]

hi: sorry you didn't have a good time. i can't believe they never came to correct the problems if you notified them. we've stayed at bwv 3x in the last year, and whenever we had a problem, it was corrected within a small amount of time. maintainance is always a big issue, and they do seem to be addressing it. i don't think you'll get as many "welcome homes" at bwv as at okw because the front desk cms have to deal with the bwi guests as well. during our last trip this first week of may, we had a small problem and didn't even know about it. when housekeeping was doing the 4th day t&t, they noticed the door wasn't locking correctly. they notified maintainance and security and the head of housekeeping was babysitting our room until the door was fixed correctly. we stopped back from the parks and found them there fixing the problem. to me, that was great service.

[ez]

I guess we've had great luck because we've never had a room in bad condition in our 8 trips to bwv in the past year. We were just there this weekend, and our suite, 1101, was I think our best yet. Everything appeared brand new. Maybe I was lucky & got a recently refurbished one.

[Joeblack]

Beachangel: I wouldn't really worry much. BWV is a top notch resort by anyones's standards. I have read bad reviews and some horror stories about Dixie Landings, port Orleans, Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, OKW, BWV and all the rest of WDW resorts. Is that the rule? In this case, it is not..it is an exception.

While tastes and expectations vary, BWV will, most of the time live up to your high expectations. Of course things can be off in a particular day and some people are unfortunate to be there at that precise day. I am sorry it happened to you Disney Sponge. You really need to address a letter to managemente becasue if you called and nothing was done about it, it is inexcusable.

Just from this forum's posts you will see that about 95% of the posts about BWV, OKW or WLV are very positive.

If anybody changed a vacation to BWV because of a negative post, well....you really missed out.

[AnnK]

Sorry to hear about your stay. I too hope that you called, it sounds like it would have been very easy for the staff to change the spreads and clean the carpet. I have stayed in both BWV and OKW many times and I have found varying room conditions in both, I have also found that if something was wrong, both came quickly to fix the problem.
I have read a few posts about people who were unhappy with the BW buses, I have also read posts on the transportaion board about EVERY Disney resort, where someone was not happy with the buses. It seems to be hit and miss no matter where you stay. That is one of the reasons I love BW, because you can walk to Epcot and MGM, the rest of the time we usually use our car.
What do you mean by "they discouraged us from pool hopping at SAB?" Did they say that the resort was full? What did they say?
I would write to DVC,it can't hurt, but all they can do at this point is say they are sorry, and look into the room condition. It seems to be more important and effective to communicate these problems while you are still at the resort.
Hope your next stay is magical.

[Rock'n Robin]

What time was the first bus to MK for EE day? Did they say it was the first bus? I want to make sure I don't miss it. I like doing Fantasyland in 2 hours.
Robin M.
BWV in 21 days

[wdwoldtimer]

Definitely call and talk to a manager about your experiences and if you didn't at the time, you HAVE to complain about things like the blankets etc while you are there. Demand a new room if you have to. Otherwise there really isn't a way for them to know about a problem to correct it. I suppose the maid service should notice these little issues, but they have so many rooms to clean, they really can't be as thorough as us members are when we look over a room. We've found that in terms of getting the room you are comfortable in - be the squeeky wheel. Besides, they are OUR resorts, aren't they? If you complain, it is very rare that they don't bend over backwards for you.

As for the hall carpet at BWV...I never liked that fake boardwalk design and it's always looked rather beat up to me. They were replacing some the last time I was there.

I'd say the BWV is one of the top three resorts in the World, alongside YC/BC and GF. I'm sure it will be better next time.

wdwoldtimer

[baileybrad]

your thoughts on your stay very clearly when you receive your "stay" questionaire. Attach a seperate letter and ask them to contact you personally by phone. The only way occasionally poor experiences or stays at any Disney resort can be reduced is to make the manager of the hotel aware of your concerns. It is best to do it for the obvious things like the condition of your room, etc. when you observe the problem. In most cases, Disney will bend over backwards to accomodate. Any resort can have a problem...but, the way to keep the problems to a minimum is to voice your concerns. Sorry that you were disappointed. Now make sure that Disney understands why you were unhappy. No disrespect meant but I have never gotten what makes the welcome home such a sticking point with some folks. We don't hate it or anything but I can take it or leave it.

[Beachangel]

I always hit the panic button when I read the negative first timer's report. You're right - I read another post that was very positive.

[prncssjas]

Oh Disney Sponge...that stinks! It's always a downer when things go wrong on your DVC vacations. But, like Joe Black said, I think most of the time, people are fully satisfied with their stays. And if you voice your dissatisfaction, they usually remedy it quickly! We have all experienced a bit of that Disney magic! That's why we are all DVC members. Right?

Nothing is ever going to be just perfect--after all, cast members are human too but it's all how you handle it. For example, on our first trip home to VB, our room was broken in to! I was livid and it could have VERY easily turned me off to ever staying at my home resort again. But I know it's not always going to be like that. Not 3 days later, DH and I stayed at BWV (this was last week) and it was MAGICAL! We got the welcome home, excellent service, clean sheets, etc...

I really hope that this does not sway you from staying there again! The way I see it, Disney may not be perfect, but it's a whole heck of lot better than ANYWHERE else I have stayed/vacationed.;)

[BethA]

on our first stay at BWV we had a 2 bedroom and ha quite a few problems with the cleanlinss of the room--furniture covered with dust, lasts guests toys under kitchen table, a ton of garbage when we opened up sofa sleeper, not enough towels, endless list. None of them huge problems,but added together quite disappointing. Sent a letter and received a phone call offering us full housekeeping each day of our next visit. We were pleased with the outcome. No cleanliness problem on our recent trip to VWL. Hope you receive some satisfaction.

[lrodk]

I have to say that my take on BWV, after having spent the last 2 weeks here for the first time as DVC members, is generally positive.

The staff here has been very pleasant to us, making us feel right at home. They really went out of their way for us on several occasions, as did so many other countless cast members throughout the property. CMs in my opinion really make WDW the special place that it is.

There were some things that we needed in the room that were delivered promptly when we requested them by phone.

With the exception of memorial day weekend, we were not discouraged at all from pool hopping. We were notified by phone that we could not pool hop to Stormalong Bay that weekend, which I greatly appreciated. Otherwise, we've spent a few hours just about every day at SB. In fact we were there this afternoon. The place was empty.

Regarding bus service to DD: I encountered a similar problem during a stay at the Contemporary Resort when I used the bus system for the first time(i had always rented a car in the past). It took us 50 minutes to get from the Contemp to DD. I vowed then and their never to rely on the bus system for transfers to and from the resort. In retrospect, and after having read other accounts on our boards, I think it was unfair of me to condem the entire bus system. The system, with few exceptions, works very well. The problem is that one of the exceptions seems to be service from the resorts to DD. Because the buses make several stops along the way, the transport time seems to take much longer than common routes to the parks. Consequently, I don't think BWV should can be faulted on that one since it seems to be a resort-wide problem.

I'm very sorry your trip was soured by the quality of the room. I would have demanded that we be switched to more suitable acommodations. After reading the countless raves and reviews here of BWV , I honestly believe that this may have been an isolated incident.

[bicker]

When we checked in there was a spill left on the carpet that wasn't cleaned up by the housekeeper. A simple call to the manager got the housekeeper out with a steam cleaner in less than ten minutes. We also had a problem later in our trip -- the folks upstairs stuffed up their toilet and it damaged the ceiling. We called it in just before we went to dinner and by the time we got back they had fixed the flood, and our celing.

It really pays to let the management know when you have a problem with your room.

[SusanB]

So sorry to hear of your disappointment with BWV. We stayed there last summer and it was the best of our 11 WDW vacations up to that point. But we had a similar disappointing situation in Dec when we stayed for the first time at OKW. We were in a studio that wasn't clean, had someone's prescription medication left in the bathroom drawer, had no spare blankets or pillows (and it was freezing - literally - when we were there!). It was the worst trip we've ever had to WDW. On top of it all, my daughter was sick the whole trip - what a bummer! I wrote to DVC Member Services and did receive a very nice phone call from the General Manager at OKW. He seemed genuinely concerned about our bad experience - I really believed corrections would be made so someone else wouldn't have the same disappointing experience we did. And that was my goal, I didnt' want anyone else to have their vacation turn out as bad as ours did. I'd suggest you write to DVC Member Services - I really believe they'll listen.

[JudithM]

We have been DVC members for several years & have gotten to know several DVC CMs. If there is one thing I can say is that DVC (Disney in general, too) wants to know if there is a problem/concern/whatever right then & there so something can be done to correct the problem/concern.
I am sorry the original poster had problems, but I do hope they let someone know while they were there.

[mattsdad]

Absolutely, absolutely write a letter to whomever is managing that resort and copy it to the DVC main office too.

[RONfromRI]

Glad to hear that most of you had positive stays at Boardwalk and had positive results when stating your complaints. I haven't stayed there since 1999 but I must say that our stay there and the response to our complaints weren't so positive.

We had a studio. It was on the 2nd floor. Right outside our room, there was construction underway. Each time our teenage daughters went out onto the deck, they returned quickly because of the constuction workers' stares. The construction noise was constant during most of our stay. At night, on the weekend, the noise from the dance club went on til late hours. I am a light sleeper and the one thing that I think I should expect from my room is silence at night. On the last night of our stay, we went to bed early because we had an early flight out the next day. The noise kept us up. At 11:00 PM, I called the front desk to complain. They said that they would look into the problem. At midnight, I called again. Finally, at just before 1:00 (4 hours before we had to get up), the noise stopped. I came to find out later that this was the normal time that the music usually stops and that my calls probably didn't make any difference. (I was probably naive to think otherwise.)

I filled out the card in the room that asks us of our opinion of our stay. I also expressed my dis-satisfaction at the front desk when checking out. When I asked to speak to the manager about our less than desirable stay, the clerk said that my best chance to be heard was to fill out the card in the room, which I already had. Well that was that was the last that I heard from BWV. So much for the customer being heard.

Fortunately, I have had only positive experiences at our OKW home resort. I doubt that our BWV visit was typical of the average visit but it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth and we haven't been back since. I'm sure that OKW being our home resort leaves me with a biased attitude.

Just one solitary experience.

[RONfromRI]

Bicker,

If you're talking about me, I thought that calling at the time of the noise, which I stated in my post, and immediately the following morning was about as prompt as I could have been with my complaint. Maybe I could have run down to the front desk in my robe at midnight. Regardless, my point was that even when I went through Disney's procedure, The room card, as well as my prompt complaint, I had absolutely no response.

[Lisa D]

Very sorry to hear that you had a bad experience on your first time at BWV. We've just returned from our 3rd time (which was the very best) but we did have a few problems on our second trip. We contacted Guest Services, who were very accomodating and cleared up our problems the first evening.

I don't know how large your family is, but we are a family of four and have always found the difference in price between airport transfers and renting a car definately justifies the car rental. Even to just pick up snacks at Goodings, and the convenience of the car to get to Downtown Disney and the waterparks makes it worth the maybe $100. difference in price. Check with your insurance agent before you go, you probably won't need the additional insurance the rental places try to charge you.

I hope your next time is much better. We were celebrating our wedding anniversary, and everyone bent backwards to get us an awesome BoardWalk view, and we had a great dinner at the Flying Fish to celebrate. Believe me, you did not make a mistake with BWV !

Lisa

[AnnK]

Ron,
Sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction with the BW. I have stayed many times and have not had many problems, so I would have to say that it was more an "exception" than the rule.
I have stayed many times at OKW and though many people there talk about the peace and quiet, I had the luck of getting a room where everytime the bus came through I thought it was going to come right into our ROOM! The noise was terrible. That being said I did not let it ruin my vacation, nor did I think that it was the "norm" for OKW. I figured I just had a bad room.
I probably could have complained but I am not sure what could have been done, it was Easter week and the place was full.

[wdwoldtimer]

Ann,

You must have had one of the dreaded "rotary" vacation homes! Sounds like every bus is right on top of you as they go by? We had a room like that once.....ONCE. Never again though. Hey, if nothing else it was a nice backup alarm clock every morning as that first big diesel engine roared past!

wdwoldtimer