Disney website - someone should be fired

[stindall]

Originally Posted by Hoosier37

Today was the first day that the new website showed up for me. And it won't let me put my reservation in. I enter the confirmation number and other information, it just says to redo it.

I sent them an email letting them know how frustrating this is. I have until April to make my final payement, my ADRs are made, and my trip is in June. But I like going to the website and just looking at everything now and again, and I can't on the new site.

I have until July but I got enough money at Christmas that I can pay it off. If I don't do it now I'll probably spend it. I know I can call but we get AWFUL cell reception here and have no land line. (something I keep nagging my husband to get if we don't switch). When I called a few months ago to switch my reservation around I could barely make out what the operator was saying.

[stlocke]

My husband is a cast member for Disney and works on backing up the storage for Disneys various websites. Before they go live with a website, there are months and months (sometimes years) of behind the scenes work and testing that goes on by lots of people! Unfortunately, things happen.....mistakes happen, sometimes its software error and sometimes its human error. Before you say someone should be fired, let me tell you that when problems occur, they try to fix it as fast as humanly possible and their employees are working around the clock to find out what is wrong and fix the issue. Disney cares about their customers and I assure you are working to fix these issues you're all talking about! My husband is on call every three-four weeks and there have been birthday parties he has missed, all nighters pulled, vacations interrupted....all in the name of trying to uphold their reputation and get things up and running. When you get frustrated, just remember they know its a problem....they're not ignoring it, they're working on it and it just may take some time, and their employees are working very hard to fix the problem!!!!

[Indy Denise]

[No one is going to stop patronizing Disney because of a bad website. That's silly. Complain yes, but give up Disney. Give me a break! They would have to do a whole lot more than that. Tell anybody you won't be going to WDW any more because you dislike their new website and they'll think you're nuts. There is no butterfly effect! There won't even be the slightest ripple in the cosmos.[/QUOTE]

You are wromg. dead wromg. I like Disney but I am not gaga over them. With my personality and my love of planning vacations for my family I would very well say " nope, let's go to xyz" because I can't stand their website. Yup that's me. Something that is fun for me, vacation planning, should not be frustrating.

[cluvsdisney]

Originally Posted by redkel

From my view in the cheap seats...

For a company that prides itself on incomparable customer service, having a website that provides shoddy customer service (it IS a planning tool, after all) is like failing to keep your room clean or serving your food cooked improperly.

They go out of their way to provide excellent customer service in regards to all other aspects of your vacation experience. WHY? Why do they neglect this important area in the year 2013 when a large % of consumers research, purchase and plan their vacations totally online?! Their website is a PROFIT center by itself!

It is unacceptable.

And yes -- at this point, if my vacation wasn't already paid for I would seriously consider cancelling.

I agree with this post. There is no excuse for a website to be this difficult and frustrating to use. The sad thing is that they exceeded the low expectations people may have had for the website as customers were already used to one that didn't work too well before.

And while I might not cancel a vacation, it would certainly keep me from making ADRs (we'll just go someplace else off sight to eat) and other reservations for extras like tours or party tickets. That's loss of revenue for Disney.

[duckie1231]

Originally Posted by Good Morning Dewdrop

I'm totally frustrated with it - it's finally time to do online check in - which is a great milestone for any trip and the darn site keeps giving me the message that online check in is down try again later. I could just scream! Well not really but I am frustrated. Yes, I know it's not life altering and I can do regular check in when we get there but I like online check in!!

OK vent over...

I was having the same issue. I went to the website from my Ipad, that took me to the old site and I was able to do online check in from there with no problem.

[CanadianGuy]

For those having online check in problems for an upcoming trip (I know I had these isssues) .. try:


www.MyDisneyReservation.com

That worked for my online check-in.. regardless of how the main site was doing. Super frustrating but at least I managed to check-in.

For those who wish to make payments --call in. That's right - call. I wouldn't trust the buggy website with my payment information at this time.

[Hopefully]

Originally Posted by aaarcher86

That must be it You stay classy in the "customer service industry"

Pretty snide and nasty.
No need for this here!!!!!!

[merbobear]

I'm another in the longgggg list of people having issues with their new site. I mean, I had issues with their old site, but nothing to this degree.
Currently I am running FF, though I have tried the site on IE as well with the same results. It allows me to enter an ADR confirmation, and surprisingly it automatically linked ALL of my ADR's when I entered the one. I had entered the ADR number in first, and said "Wow, that was easy!"...then I entered my resort confirmation, and it cannot locate the res. I entered it again. And again. I mean the website said to verify the info, so I assumed that there was a problem with what I typed.

So then I call the number listed on the Reservation linking page, and they tell me I need to call tech support. I told the cm that I just waited on hold for 10ish minutes and didn't want to hold again, please get me your supervisor or someone else who can fix the issue without putting me on a neverending hold...she HUNG UP ON ME. Sent me right to the survey, which I angrily answered. No, the cm was not efficient, no my problem was not solved, and NO the call was not magical.

So then I called tech support, and a man answered (after another lengthy hold) and said that they knew of the issue. I asked why they couldn't put a disclaimer on the site that it wasn't fully functional, because when you see that they can't FIND your reservation, and the site blames it on the user mis-typing their information, that it makes the user feel as if something is wrong with their "lost" reservation. He agreed with me, but offered no solution and said they do not have an ETA on when the issues will be fixed. I also said that it makes no sense to have this big fancy website roll out that doesn't function at all, and he said "Well, I can't say that I disagree with you."

From that, it seems like maybe the IT guys knew there were issues and it was rolled out by the powers that be anyway. Who knows, I could be wrong, but I did hang up feeling a little sorry for that poor guy who probably doesn't work in customer service, yet has to listen to angry customers all day anyway.

Disney could do a few things that would lessen this issue:
A) test their site features before rolling out something new (no brainer) and keep the older site functional until it has been debugged.

B) Allow an option to try out the beta site. Allow the user to choose which site they use until the newer site is fully operational, and then make the big switch. I have seen other sites do this, and it works great. The company & IT staff get their beta testers, the testers understand that they are guinea pigs and they have the option to go back to the older version if things are too hairy for them to deal with, and the general public never stumbles upon the half done site and thinks this is how things are run with the company.

C) COMMUNICATE between IT & Reservations/Customer Service. The Res. CM that I spoke to didn't know of any issue with the website at all. Internal memos exist for a reason!

Sorry for the ranting..but I am just astounded at how BAD the website is, and it's so frustrating to be excited to plan your vacation and then be unable to access its details.

[merbobear]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

There is no such thing as the "Customer Service" Industry. Customer service revolves around specific tangible or intangible things, like carpet cleaning, fortune telling, insurance, auto repair etc etc.

But what a customer service rep does and how they treat their customers should be the same, regardless of what type of product/service their company is marketing.

[glammadiva]

I still can't do on line check in. I try every day, multiple times, multiple browsers, different computers, the links posted here and the old site and still can't do on line check in. I'm dreading the lines at check in later this week!!

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by merbobear

But what a customer service rep does and how they treat their customers should be the same, regardless of what type of product/service their company is marketing.

No argument here. But there's still no customer service industry. And giving up vacationing at Disney because of web site glitches would at the very least be an overreaction.

[merbobear]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

No argument here. But there's still no customer service industry. And giving up vacationing at Disney because of web site glitches would at the very least be an overreaction.

I disagree. That's like saying there is no retail industry because all of the stores sell different products.

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by glammadiva

I still can't do on line check in. I try every day, multiple times, multiple browsers, different computers, the links posted here and the old site and still can't do on line check in. I'm dreading the lines at check in later this week!!

I couldn't get through on Google Chrome but was able to finally get through on Internet Explorer to re-estbablish my Reservations. Then when I went back in on Google, they were all there. But yes, it did take several hours. Hope you get through soon diva!

[merbobear]

Also, I personally would not cancel my vacation due to the website being terrible, but I could see someone who is toying with different vacation ideas being turned off by the website. Not everyone who goes to WDW has been before and knows they love it, some people are just looking around to see where the best place might be for their next vacation. If they go to the current Disney site and don't find the information they are looking for and then they look at other travel companies' sites that are functional, I would think it is likely that they might end up choosing a different destination.

[Peaseblossom]

I must be the only person still without access to the new website. There's no link visible to me at all, like some had previously suggested, just the same old site.

Are they only testing it on a a sample group?