Problems with Pop & Coronado Springs/ opinions needed

[Zippa D Doodah]

DS7 and I are just back (Friday) from 4 nights in the World. It was a fine trip, but included a recurring issue that I would like some help on resolving. Here's the deal...

We arrived at MCO 9AM and were at Pop by 9:45 via ME. I thought this was phenomenal service. Kudos to Disney for this. Upon check in the front desk CM at Pop goes away for about 5 minutes and comes back, asks me if we would like to receive a free upgrade to Coronado Springs. Two thoughts go thru my mind: 1) Phooey! Why couldn't this happen when DW was with me so she could appreciate the good fortune, and 2) Yippeee Ki Yay! You betcha I'll take that upgrade!

CM tells us to go sit my the door near bell service and wait. About 30 minutes later a courtesy van arrives and a pleasant CM takes us to CS. Keep in mind I know zero about that resort because I never have thought about staying there. I check in, although CS was apparently unaware that we had been transferred from Pop. Front desk CM at CS set us up with a nice room close to the main pool, but a mile from the front desk/food court. We are tired from having gotten up at 4AM to catch a plane, so were ready to drop for a few minutes before hitting the parks. Problem #1: The room key did not work. We walk back to the front desk, explain our problem, and get a new set of keys. The CM who gave us the new key cards was sort of condescending -telling us to please be careful not to demagnetize these. I offer an explanation that the cards had only been in my shirt pocket and not near any cell phone etc. Anyhow...

Problem #2: The second set of key cards did not work. DS7 pretty much begs me not to make him walk back up the front desk again. Seeing that he got up at 4AM and was being a very patient little boy, how could I refuse that request? I resolve to track down the first CM I could see and get help. That person was an engineering CM who did a fantastic job of at least opening the room and understanding my gathering exasperation. He calls down to the front desk. They send a runner down to the room on a bike. She says she would bring me a new (third) set of card keys back to the room.

Problem #3: It takes her 45 minutes to come back with the keys. While this is no big deal, please understand that we had just arrived and were eager to get to the park. DS7 did remain patient; I give him much credit. I ask the runner CM whether my park tickets and charging privileges were still included on this new set of card keys. She assures me they are. By then it is noon, so DS and I head off to the MK to begin our adventure.

Problem #4: Imagine this: DS and I are holding hands, giggling and giddy about being only minutes away from entering the magic and riding Space Mountain. We put our card keys into the turnstile and are turned away at the gate. CM tells us that there are no admission entitlements on our cards. I go to guest services and explian my dilemma. CM there issues us temporary one-day admission tix. He recommends that we resolve the problem at our resort. We go ahead with a day of fun at MK, knowing I'll have to handle things when we get back.

Problem #5: I go to front desk and speak to a cordial concierge CM who makes a phone call and realizes that Pop did not transfer my entitlements along with my reservation (small consolation to me, huh?). He issues new card keys (fourth set) and assures me that everything is now in order.

Problem #6: DS and I go swimming that evening. When we go back to the room THE CARD KEY WON'T WORK. Wearing dripping swimsuits and flipflops we walk the long walk back to front desk. Yet another CM looks at my card, fiddles with it, runs it thru a funny lookig blue box behind the desk and assures me it will work fine now. About half way back to the room it started to pour rain. DS and I just grin and say "at least we're wearing swimsuits."

Problem #7: We went to AK on Tuesday morning. DS' card key worked but MINE DID NOT. Well, so much for getting there early to beat the lines. The first line I had to stand in was at Guest Services. A CM there who had no idea how to understand my odyssey, but apparently thought I was in need of a courtesy FP. I appreciated the gesture, but was still frustrated by my unresolved problem.

Instead of hopping staight to MGM, DS and I went to the front desk at CS again (you'd think they'd be tired of seeing me by this point). A CM issues another set of key (fifth). Apparently the fifth time was the trick, because we did not have further problems. Until...

Problem #8 This is not quite as big a deal, but -predictably -Disney did not get my ME reservation straight for my return trip. We were too busy having fun to mess around reminding them to striaghten out their mess Thursday, so I waited and called Friday morning. I actually just went down to the front and caught the first ME bus we saw shortly after noon on Friday. Our name wasn't on the list, but the driver didn't seem to mind.

All in all, I am appreciative of Disney's upgrade offer. It was a generous offer, and I feel lucky to have received it. HOWEVER, it just became ridiculous trying to get the new reservation up and running. In all my trips I have never experienced anything like this. I understand it to be an utter failure at customer service. Not that I was looking for anything, but aside from the FP at AK no one ever offered me a thing or even said they were sorry for the trouble we had gone through.

I need opinions from my fellow DISers... should I write Guest Relations and let them know my whole story? If so, exactly to whom should I write? I am not a natural complainer, but do feel that things got a bit out of hand this week. Thanks for reading this long story, and thanks for your opinions.

 

[ToyStory]

I would write to Disney and explain your whole story so hopefully this would prevent this happening again to someone else.

There must be a way for the CM's to verify if the card was activated correctly or not prior to the customer leving the registration desk.

Sorry that you had a rough start to your vacation. After the second time around I would have gotten a manager involved. Glad to hear that you did get a free upgrade!

 

[Princess Stitch]

Definatelyl write them an email. Just because you were given a free upgrade it doesn't mean that they have the right to treat you like a second class citizen! We had quite a few issues at Pop last year too, but all of the CMs were polite and apologetic at least.

 

[PatsGirl]

Boy, can I feel your pain. We stayed at CSR November 2005 and also had a room close to the main pool and like you said, "a mile from the front desk..." or so it seems. I had pre-sent a box of snacks, etc. to the resort prior to arriving. We didn't get in until around 10 pm and no one could find the box. Normally I wouldn't mind but I gotta tell ya, there were premade cocktails in that box that I so wanted then and there, lol. After waiting nearly 45 minutes the box was miraculously found but no one would deliver it. So I lugged this box, together with an 8 year old and a 6 year old and all our luggage to our room -- couldn't find a CM anywhere that would help us. Now it's nearly midnight, and guess what -- YEP, key doesn't work. So, off I truck back to the lobby to get a new key. Second one worked (and I was able to get a ride back on their inter-resort transport system) but golly gee already

 

[n2mm]

We received the same upgrade last August (Pop to CSR) and didn't have any problems. We did have a rental car so zipped over. We were on the free DDP, so the folks at Pop loaded our room cards with everything and we ate at the foodcourt first. Our credits worked fine. Went over to CSR and no one in line. They transferred everything to our CSR cards and since we are AP holders we had no plan to use our one day tickets. I asked to make sure our 1-day tix was still on each card and it was. I guess we were lucky as there was no problem switching for us. Not sure of our section, but we were right outside the quiet pool near the health spa. We have since used our 1-day tix for our AP renewals this year and everything went fine.

That was really stinky that you had to keep treking over from your room. I think I would've been picking up the house phone from your building and having a CM meet me at my room. It was nice to get the upgrade, it's just sad that it left a sour taste in your mouth for it.

 

[Selket]

I too would suggest you write a letter to them. You were really patient with all those problems with your cards! (and so was your child)

 

[Luv2Roam]

I would certainly write a letter. If it were me, I would be contacting at least two different people. That was ridiculous, not to mention it makes you just plain paranoid to use your card for anything!
So, an at the desk free upgrade to a different resort is not necessarily a good thing...

 

[WisMom]

I would write to them. They clearly have problems making that process error-proof. Too many things went wrong. They should know they need to improve this. Write out each detail as you did for us.

Wismom

 

[JennyDrake]

Yes, I think l you should write a letter in the same cheery tone you used in your post.
The ME "mix up" is not unusual and as you noticed was easily rectified. My experience with ME is that it still has a lot of glitches. Only in 1/3 trips has my paperwork been in order.
I think overall front desk service has become "complicated." We had huge mix ups regarding check in and luggage delivery (NOT ME) to the room at CBR in April.

 

[CarolA]

Welcome to the "wonderful world of CSR"

I have had these same experiences there. I don't know WHAT they do to thier keys, but as bad as Disney keys are in general (HORRID???) CSR seems to screw it up even worse. I do stay there if I get a good rate, but do it KNOWING the front desk will screw things up.... (I am something like 3 for 3 on major screwups by that front desk!)

(And it could have been worse. On one of my stays there the Front Desk manager asked "couldn't you live in the room for one night?" The problem. NO POWER!!! NO PHONE, NO A/C in the summer in Orlando? NO I can't live there for one night. Of course I warn you... for complaining that I need power I was labled a "problem guest" by the DIS board CSR cheering section )

 

[magicmouse2]

I had similar problems with key cards when we transferred from pop c to cb last year. We spent hours in total at the front desk trying to sort out and at guest relations at the parks, so I feel your pain. The manager at CB comped us our dinner one night as an apology, otherwise I would have complained. Even with your upgrade it affected your holiday enjoyment. Write a polite letter telling them what happened. It may prevent it happening to someone else.

 

[magicmouse2]

"Of course I warn you... for complaining that I need power I was labled a "problem guest" by the DIS board CSR cheering section "


you should have that 'problem guest' added as a tag

 

[AGPrincess]

What a headache!!

CSR can be a pain b/c the front desk is sooo super far away.

I would definitely write Disney a letter explaining all your problems, b/c I'm sure Disney will definitely want to make it up to you!!

 

[wilderness01]

I guess I am in the minority, because I don't think you should write a letter. I don't really think it will change a thing. They know they have a problem that needs to be rectified, but I'm not sure a letter will do that. It will look like you are looking for something. Just my opinion. I have had the same problem with the keys. It is a pain in the rearend and I sympathize with you. I think you will get a blanket reply of "they didn't know there was a problem, but they will look into it." I think that is always their MO, not to say there is a problem or acknowledge fault. We have had some continuous problems with different stays, dirty rooms, coming in our villa when we requested no service, etc. etc. Each time there is a "surprise" response if I have ever said anything, so now I guess I am resigned to the don't bother complaining because it won't matter. Even when we had a filthy dirty villa and I wrote a letter to the executive office, the man that called me back said he was so surprised because they had never ever heard of such a thing. I don't think that is true and I said so to him. I said I just wanted to make sure it didn't happen to the next guy, and his only MO was to offer me a free nights stay. Sorry that didn't come close to compensating us for our points, but whatever, he didn't care. We have been back many times, and when something goes wrong I just try to, like you seemed to, go with the flow and get on with our trip. Again, sorry the inconvienence happened to you. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

 

[CanadianGuy]

A couple of thoughts :

1) Yes. By all means write a letter. You should let them just how badly they failed to resolve this situation.

2) There are a number of points of failure in the keycard system - the cards themselves, the writer might be dirty or bad, or the room you were assigned could have a dirty lock mechanism. Simply replacing the keys might not been the right answer. (Just guessing here)

3) If anyone who is reading this ever gets in this same situation. There is a house phone in the laundry rooms scattered around the resorts. You can call the front desk from there and have them send a runner without having to go all the way back to the front desk.

Small consolation for the OP.. but there it is.

Knox

 

[IDoBelieveInFairies]

Thank-you for posting what happened to you and your son. A lot of newbies like me can learn from your situation. I did not know that there were house phones and where they were located before I read this thread. For that reason, I would let Disney know what happened to you so that they will hopefully look into ways to make the system work better for all of us. We deserve the customer service we pay for, and you were very gracious in very frustrating circumstances.

 

[branv]

Goodness, what a mess! I have to say I would rather have stayed at POP than have to deal almost every day with problem after problem.

Absolutely write your letter. Maybe it will make a difference, maybe it won't, but I believe if everyone had the attitude that "why do it, no one is listening anyway" then nothing would ever change. Clearly sometimes Disney does listen, so maybe your letter will just be that 1 millionth letter that finally tips the scales. I think, however, you would have been better off by finally bypassing a CM and talking to a manager. Not with the intention of getting something or venting, but just to say, "clearly talking to CM's is not working, I need to deal with someone who might have a better solution or more authority/experience to make it work." Like the previous poster who mentioned it might be a faulty lock mechanism. Clearly none of the CM's thought of that, perhaps a manager might have.

Sorry for all the troubles. I hope your next trip is a little smoother.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

3) If anyone who is reading this ever gets in this same situation. There is a house phone in the laundry rooms scattered around the resorts. You can call the front desk from there and have them send a runner without having to go all the way back to the front desk.

Small consolation for the OP.. but there it is.

Knox

That's good info to have. I'm glad you shared that. One of my goals here is to help others avoid a similar exasperating mess. I figured teher must be a house phone somewhere with public access, but was running too short on sleep to guess where.

As for the letter writing, I suppose I will write the letter. Does anyone have any suggestion precisely to whom I should write? I am guessing it would be good to write to the manager at CS, but perhaps also to her/his superior.

I would not be trying to get anything extra out of WDW. All I ever wanted is what I paid for. Unfortunately they seemed to have some problems making that happen.

I did try to remain patient every time I was dealing with someone. This was because I realized it was a teachable moment for DS. Matter of fact, that became a real priority since I was doing all this with him firmly at my side. Some day he's going to be the one trying to work thru issues and I didn't want his model to be one of his old man blowing his stack.

Two things that really chapped my rear thru all this though...
1) The constant repetition of the same problem
2) The certain smug, even condescending, attitude I got from some CMs. I did not like being addressed as an idiot. I even politely prefaced my statement to one CM: "I know I must seem like I'm misunderstanding things, but I've made 9 trips to WDW and have a pretty good feel for how the card key system is supposed to work. So could you help me by...."

 

[smidgy]

definitely!!! send a letter or email.. ask for a phone number (wish I still had it) to talk to a real person.
a few years ago, we had a similar problem with our key card, and could not get inot typhoon lagoon. had to go all the way back to the resort to get the oldkeys cards(that were in the wastebasket - they said to throw them out; this was at ASM.) because is was TIME that was wasted, they gave us an extra nights stay at the resort (our passes were still good the last day, but weweren't going to be using themas we were living early as we were driving, so adding the extra night, really helped)
last year our cards were swiped twice t a restaurant, so ourlast day theytod us we had to pay. It took about 2 hours to get it straightened out. I wrote to and talked to guest relations, and they sent us passes to a water park for a future trip!
do not feel guilty, I know you are not looking for anything "free", but time is very valuable at WDW, and they are very willing to compensate you

 

[DisneyFans4]

Wow, what a story but I totally understand it and yes, it's very frustrating when your on vacation and especially when you have a young one with you.

I would definitely write guest services. Everyone needs to send them the complaint so they realize what is going on and can come up with a solution.

During our trip last August my keycard wouldn't work twice, and only mine, not my DH or my two DS, just mine. I'm tired of being the one that is blamed for the reason it stopped working. I have it in a separate card holder all by itself and it was with the other cards so why mine and no, I didn't have it next to my cellphone or anything else that could demagnitize it.

You sounded very patient throughout this ordeal so I give you alot of credit.

As another poster said, using the laundry room phone to call the front desk is a great idea instead of walking all the way back but if the key card doesn't open the room door it probably won't open the laundry room door either unless your lucky and someone is already in there who can open it. But again, a great idea.