We thought we were "terminated" with Disney, but "we'll be back"

chmurf said:

thank you

doesn't look good to begin with.
The Cast Member I talked to on the phone was very insisting on the fact that I had already received $1000 in room credit during my stay. I tried to explain that it was not a compensation, since it was the difference between what I had paid for (deluxe studio) and what I should have paid (moderate standard room). And to be fair, the difference was even more than that, but I settled for $1000 because I just wanted the faffing to be over with.

Click to expand...

It's not really any good to you now but that was the problem with acceepting the refund as a room credit. Essentially, Guest Services will see that as compensation. If you were being refunded the difference in cost of holiday, that should have been done directly onto whichever form of payment you used to pay for your stay.

Banging heads on wall ...

Saturday, I received an email, from Guest Services, in reply to the email I sent 2 weeks ago (remember the email a Cast Member told me they had no trace of just 2 days before ...

I have now provided my phone number in order to be called ... even though I'm only available 1 hours a day (due to time difference, and time constraint between their hours of operation and mine)

still hanging tight, but not really holding my breath.

after all I've nothing to lose at all. It's not like I'm trying to get a refund. Whatever compensation would be a bonus. Worst case scenario, nothing happens, and I stick to my plans of not doing disney in 2016. I'm still booked for 3 weeks at Cabana Bay Beach with an annual pass for universal, so no big deal.

But I'm also under the unpleasant impression that Disney is trying to stall me.

wilma-bride said:

It's not really any good to you now but that was the problem with acceepting the refund as a room credit. Essentially, Guest Services will see that as compensation. If you were being refunded the difference in cost of holiday, that should have been done directly onto whichever form of payment you used to pay for your stay.

Click to expand...

I see your point

but if Disney sees the room credit as compensation, not refund for the difference in cost, I'll just say "okay, if it's compensation, please refund the difference in cost"

chmurf said:

Banging heads on wall ...

Saturday, I received an email, from Guest Services, in reply to the email I sent 2 weeks ago (remember the email a Cast Member told me they had no trace of just 2 days before ...

I have now provided my phone number in order to be called ... even though I'm only available 1 hours a day (due to time difference, and time constraint between their hours of operation and mine)

still hanging tight, but not really holding my breath.

after all I've nothing to lose at all. It's not like I'm trying to get a refund. Whatever compensation would be a bonus. Worst case scenario, nothing happens, and I stick to my plans of not doing disney in 2016. I'm still booked for 3 weeks at Cabana Bay Beach with an annual pass for universal, so no big deal.

But I'm also under the unpleasant impression that Disney is trying to stall me.

Click to expand...

I suspect they aren't trying to stall you, just that the person you spoke to first didn't have access to the email you sent because it had already been passed to another department to deal with. Disney is not in the habit of leaving seriously unatisfied customers with valid complaints so, if yours are valid, then they will refund you.

Update

Last week I replied to the email asking for my availability re: call times

Yesterday I noticed a missed call and a message on my mobile

I had specified I wouldn't be available after 7:30pm and the timestamp on the voice message and call was 7:25pm ...
The message informed me that the Cast Member dealing with my claim would be out of the office for thanksgiving and the 2 weeks after that ...

Back to square one after nearly 3 weeks waiting to be contacted

It's certainly frustrating but fingers crossed for a good outcome when you finally manage to speak to a cast member

I eventually managed to get that lovely CM on the phone at 7pm tonight

I spent 1h50minutes on the phone with her ( you read that right, 110 minutes ... hope she doesn't hate me now, lol)

we adressed all of my concerns and was very apologetic for our housekeeping issues. And she apologized even more for the fact that I had to ask for a refund for the downgrade, as it should have been done automatically.

Good news is that the allergy cleaning issue was a miscommunication on the housekeeping part. I was explained they had done things properly, but for some reason, at some point someone screwed up and gave me a call I shouldn't have received.
Well that's a relief, at least we weren't put in jeopardy.

The Cast Member at Guest Experience Services offered to refund me for the 3 nights we didn't sleep in the room, as well as a portion of the nightly room rate we didn't receive proper housekeeping (at least 12 days)

total amount of refund offer was $950
the only problem is that my CC had expired, and Disney had only charged me for roughly $700 on my current card. So she could only refund me up to what had been charged by Disney on my cards. she could have refunded multiple cards, but unfortunately I couldn't provide other numbers (expired card was on a now closed bank account)

so I was cheeky enough to ask for tickets on top.

we ended up with a settlement of $700 refund to my CC and 3 sets of 5 days tickets with hopper and waterparks.

she also asked me to let her know where we would be staying on our next visit, in order to extend extra special attention to the housekeeping and overall experience we'd receive on our next stay.

I consider the issue resolved with appropriate compensation relative to the inconvenience.
She, like managers I've met onsite, has gone over and beyond, to try and make things right. And I do appreciate that. (service received might be the #1 resaon why I keep being loyal to Disney onsite, despite the fact that you get more space for less money offsite)

So I wanted to let you know how it turned out.
I know some Cast Members sometimes drop by, even if we're not on the same continent (board wise) so if you're a Cast Member at Guest Experience Services and you know a lovely lady named Jennifer M. don't hesitate to let her know that this crazy french guy really appreciates the time she took to listen and to make things right.

I'd also like to say a special thank you, and express how much I appreciated how Rodney J. talked to me (even pep talked as I was really down) and handled my frustration. He's that big black guy, manager at OKW. Owners and regulars there might recognize him. I really appreciate what you did for me and for my wife. Thank you for the Disney Florist gift you sent us. I'm glad you were there.

I'm still not sure if we'll cancel our stay in August at POR. I might amend my booking, drop the tickets and free dining and stay there for 5 nights instead of 15 currently booked.
I will need to rebuild some trust in Disney onsite, but I just don't want to give up on Disney, so I'll give them a chance. But one step at a time.

Thanks everyone here on the DIS for your support and kind words.

It's now over and I'm glad I can move on, delete some files from my inbox, and get back to planning mode rather that whining/begging mode

Hope I never have to post threads like this one again.

Thanks again everyone.

Glad it got resolved to your satisfaction and they took time to listen and understand your concerns.

Glad you got this resolved to a satisfactory solution

Glad you are happy with the result. It seems a fair outcome.

If you want to do a shorter stay you might be best waiting to see if any room only offers come out for your dates before paying amendment fees

I'm glad you were able to get what you consider to be an appropriate compensation, however I'm confused. I thought you were cancelling your onsite stay and just wanted the deposit refunded? It doesn't really matter, it's your choice, you just seem to have done an about turn from the "we'll never stay onsite again" attitude you started out with

So glad you have this resolved, now you can move on

wilma-bride said:

It doesn't really matter, it's your choice, you just seem to have done an about turn from the "we'll never stay onsite again" attitude you started out with

Click to expand...

You're right the word ''attitude'' perfectly fits

It's not a 180 degrees turn, it's more like a 179 degrees turn, if you see what I mean

We will be cancelling our POR august stay in it's current form (tickets and dining). I'm just not sure if we'll also be cancelling the accomodation

The fact is that Disney has this ability to make you feel special, and I will admit that at some point I second guessed myself about being ''done with disney onsite''
I have not made the complete u-turn because as it stands right now DW and I are discussing a short stay just to give disney a chance

As you might understand from my fuzzy answers is that I really don't know what to do

I was so done with disney a couple of days ago, but after spending nearly 2 hrs on the phone and feeling the empathy, I am no longer sure

I will follow Elise's wise advice and do nothing until deals come out, and that's when decisions will be made

Currently we're booked for 3 weeks at cabana bay beach, so it's not like we have nowhere to stay and need to decide

I might have overreacted. You know when you've been so disappointed by ''someone you love'' the ''it's over'' line often gets spoken. Then time does its trick. Sometimes you get back together, sometimes you go separate ways. Time will tell

We have a saying here that says that only imbeciles never change their minds

Do I take risks staying onsite at disney's for 5 nights. After all it's like it's complimentary as the money comes from a compensation, and I've got free tickets
I consider disney handled my concerns in a fair manner. Would that be fair on my part not to give them a chance ?

Those are the questions running through my head. So what am I going to do ? I don't even know myself. Any guidance appreciated

chmurf said:

You're right the word ''attitude'' perfectly fits

It's not a 180 degrees turn, it's more like a 179 degrees turn, if you see what I mean

We will be cancelling our POR august stay in it's current form (tickets and dining). I'm just not sure if we'll also be cancelling the accomodation

The fact is that Disney has this ability to make you feel special, and I will admit that at some point I second guessed myself about being ''done with disney onsite''
I have not made the complete u-turn because as it stands right now DW and I are discussing a short stay just to give disney a chance

As you might understand from my fuzzy answers is that I really don't know what to do

I was so done with disney a couple of days ago, but after spending nearly 2 hrs on the phone and feeling the empathy, I am no longer sure

I will follow Elise's wise advice and do nothing until deals come out, and that's when decisions will be made

Currently we're booked for 3 weeks at cabana bay beach, so it's not like we have nowhere to stay and need to decide

I might have overreacted. You know when you've been so disappointed by ''someone you love'' the ''it's over'' line often gets spoken. Then time does its trick. Sometimes you get back together, sometimes you go separate ways. Time will tell

We have a saying here that says that only imbeciles never change their minds

Do I take risks staying onsite at disney's for 5 nights. After all it's like it's complimentary as the money comes from a compensation, and I've got free tickets
I consider disney handled my concerns in a fair manner. Would that be fair on my part not to give them a chance ?

Those are the questions running through my head. So what am I going to do ? I don't even know myself. Any guidance appreciated

Click to expand...

I totally understand where you're coming from. it is very easy to make a snap statement, based on a poor experience. Like you say, Disney have made it right for you. They have done what they can to make you want to come back. If you still felt that strongly against it, you would have already made your mind up not to go at all, I think.

I can't imagine ever having that poor an experience at WDW that it would make me not want to return but, I guess if that time ever came, I would be questioning whether I would want to go at all. And there would be no third chances. Luckily (and I suppose this is part of what Disney does right) whenever we have had disappointing experiences, they haven't been so bad as to prevent us from returning or they have been put right at the time.

One option if you are not sure would be to leave matters for a year, the tickets wont expire. Maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder and all that. On the other hand I can see how you may want to go back asap and have a good experience to put this one behind you.

Whilst we love Cabana bay I don't know if 3 weeks would be overkill so you could do say 1 week Disney a 2 weeks cabana bay.

chmurf said:

You're right the word ''attitude'' perfectly fits


Do I take risks staying onsite at disney's for 5 nights. After all it's like it's complimentary as the money comes from a compensation, and I've got free tickets
I consider disney handled my concerns in a fair manner. Would that be fair on my part not to give them a chance ?

Those are the questions running through my head. So what am I going to do ? I don't even know myself. Any guidance appreciated

Click to expand...

If you are planning to travel in mid August 2016, maybe have a look online and see if you can find a Magical Deal for a delux resort such as YC, BC, CR, GF or Poly. There are some very good offers on at the moment for arrivals mid august all the way until just after Labor Day. If you just wanted a short stay, I'm confident the refund you received would cover the cost of just the hotel.

So glad this was resolved for you. I felt your pain was more to do with the let down feeling of something you love & trust. I'm just so happy that Disney reps have taken the time & care that you needed towards helping you to restore your faith in them.

I have a feeling you'll be back at Disney.

after much thoughts and calculations, let's turn this into a planning thread

I have received the $700 compensation, and the 5 days + hpr + fun visits, which are now linked to my MDX

dixonsontour said:

Whilst we love Cabana bay I don't know if 3 weeks would be overkill so you could do say 1 week Disney a 2 weeks cabana bay.

Click to expand...

you're absolutely right. We're now planning for 8-10 nights POP Century + 13-11 nights Cabana Bay Beach. Whatever combination to a total amount of 21 nights.

our first week is blacked out at USF (not IoA) for DW's and DS's Universal Power Pass. So staying at UOR, paying for parking at CBB, and then paying for parking at Disney parks just doesn't make sense.
On top of this, these combinations of night make the most cost efficient stay. 8 days Dsney/13 days UOR with SMSM being the cheapest (even before a potential APH rate or any third party offer)

we find that we need at least 3/4 days of rest before we get up to speed with Florida and are ready to hit the parks. So that also fits with the 5 days tickets while onsite at Disney's with 5 fun visits on both sides of our park days (and no parking fees at wateparks/minigolf should we use those entries after we check out of WDW)

so that's the perfect match so far.

We have considered keeping the tickets for next year, and use a 14 days this year, but we have AP for universal this year, not sure if we'll renew when they expire in october. So we might as well do it cheap this year, rather than paying more this year and saving tickets for a next visit. And on top of that, DS wants to do Legoland again, so 5 days at Disney is a good way to keep visits to a sensible number


We're currently waiting for any Room Only discounts from WDTC UK (actually Ireland in order to pay in Euros) so does any of you remember when those deals came out in the previous years ? Should be in december IIRC but there doesn't seem to be historical data like there is for US discounts

stephensmum said:

I have a feeling you'll be back at Disney.

Click to expand...

your were right

It started on the 18th of December in 2013 if that helps. It wasn't until January that they added a $150 gift card though.

chmurf said:

after much thoughts and calculations, let's turn this into a planning thread

I have received the $700 compensation, and the 5 days + hpr + fun visits, which are now linked to my MDX



you're absolutely right. We're now planning for 8-10 nights POP Century + 13-11 nights Cabana Bay Beach. Whatever combination to a total amount of 21 nights.

our first week is blacked out at USF (not IoA) for DW's and DS's Universal Power Pass. So staying at UOR, paying for parking at CBB, and then paying for parking at Disney parks just doesn't make sense.
On top of this, these combinations of night make the most cost efficient stay. 8 days Dsney/13 days UOR with SMSM being the cheapest (even before a potential APH rate or any third party offer)

we find that we need at least 3/4 days of rest before we get up to speed with Florida and are ready to hit the parks. So that also fits with the 5 days tickets while onsite at Disney's with 5 fun visits on both sides of our park days (and no parking fees at wateparks/minigolf should we use those entries after we check out of WDW)

so that's the perfect match so far.

We have considered keeping the tickets for next year, and use a 14 days this year, but we have AP for universal this year, not sure if we'll renew when they expire in october. So we might as well do it cheap this year, rather than paying more this year and saving tickets for a next visit. And on top of that, DS wants to do Legoland again, so 5 days at Disney is a good way to keep visits to a sensible number


We're currently waiting for any Room Only discounts from WDTC UK (actually Ireland in order to pay in Euros) so does any of you remember when those deals came out in the previous years ? Should be in december IIRC but there doesn't seem to be historical data like there is for US discounts




your were right

Click to expand...

sorry post that was supposed to be with this is below!