Shades of Green Dilemma

[Floundering Crab]

As our trip to WDW gets closer and closer, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem. Earlier this year I made reservations for CBR through SOG for two rooms in December at the military rate. In early August I called to make a Behind the Scenes Tour reservation and casually mentioned to the reservationist that I hadn't rec'd a confirmation yet from WDW for my rooms. She assured me if I made them through SOG, they would send out the confirmation and may be just behind the curve--not to worry. Another couple weeks went by and still no confirmation ltr and I'm getting rather nervous. So I called CBR and they politely told me since I didn't send in my deposit, my reservations were cancelled. Wait a minute--I call SOG back and sure enough, they were cancelled. SOG tells me the confirmation/deposit request ltrs are sent from the WDW resorts--and since I've been many times, booking through SOG, I knew that was a correct statement. So I try to rebook the reservations, but there's no room at CBR--oinly Port Orleans Riverside. Well, crapolla! We wanted CBR, but we'll take POR, so I ask how I can remedy the situation. She says I can guarantee it w/a credit card--"why didn't they ask for this before?" I ask. So now it's been another month and still no confirmation ltr from CBR. They have my money--my cc stmt says so! So I call POR and the resevationist says SOG sends out the confirmation letters to which I inform her that I'm a repeat WDW visitor and I know the confirms come from "you." So she presses the magic keys and says yes, they did send me a confirmation and all but argue w/me over that. So I ask her to please send me another confirmation letter. She agrees--I'm still waiting for that letter. I did stew for awhile and passed along my displeasure to WDW, and I haven't heard anything from them either--that was Aug 25th. Now am I being too picky or is this the "new" normal behavior from CRO?

 

[nasmith]

I too didn't get a confirmation letter until after I called and asked them about it (For WL). They said they had sent one, but I asked them to send it again - and I finallyr ec'd one. Thankfully I had guaranteed the ressie with a CC. Jill

 

[momof3disneyholics]

I have been making payments on my reservation every two weeks and every time up until about 2 months ago, I would get a new letter in the mail with the amount I paid and my balance. I asked them when I made my last payment if they were sending me another letter since I haven't got one in a while and they said I could request one. I said ok, and I haven't got one yet either.

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by Floundering Crab
As our trip to WDW gets closer and closer, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem. Earlier this year I made reservations for CBR through SOG for two rooms in December at the military rate. In early August I called to make a Behind the Scenes Tour reservation and casually mentioned to the reservationist that I hadn't rec'd a confirmation yet from WDW for my rooms. She assured me if I made them through SOG, they would send out the confirmation and may be just behind the curve--not to worry. Another couple weeks went by and still no confirmation ltr and I'm getting rather nervous. So I called CBR and they politely told me since I didn't send in my deposit, my reservations were cancelled. Wait a minute--I call SOG back and sure enough, they were cancelled. SOG tells me the confirmation/deposit request ltrs are sent from the WDW resorts--and since I've been many times, booking through SOG, I knew that was a correct statement. So I try to rebook the reservations, but there's no room at CBR--oinly Port Orleans Riverside. Well, crapolla! We wanted CBR, but we'll take POR, so I ask how I can remedy the situation. She says I can guarantee it w/a credit card--"why didn't they ask for this before?" I ask. So now it's been another month and still no confirmation ltr from CBR. They have my money--my cc stmt says so! So I call POR and the resevationist says SOG sends out the confirmation letters to which I inform her that I'm a repeat WDW visitor and I know the confirms come from "you." So she presses the magic keys and says yes, they did send me a confirmation and all but argue w/me over that. So I ask her to please send me another confirmation letter. She agrees--I'm still waiting for that letter. I did stew for awhile and passed along my displeasure to WDW, and I haven't heard anything from them either--that was Aug 25th. Now am I being too picky or is this the "new" normal behavior from CRO?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you waited 8 months to start asking where your confirmation letter is, then yes, you are being too picky. For the life of me, I cannot understand why people, living in the US (as opposed to those stationed and working overseas), wait more than a month before they start questioning why they have not received any thing in writing stating they have a reservation. Without it, you have no way to fight.

That stated, yes, Disney is the one who sends confirmation letters out for their hotels (CR included). I would call CRO (and not the hotel as you stated you did) and see if you can get them to send you another letter. They may not. They are not supposed to touch the reservation if it's made through SoG.

If that doesn't work, or if you'd just prefer to start w/SoG, call SoG back and ask them to force another confirmation letter through. To my knowledge, their reservation system for Disney is still the same. To force it through, all they have to do is go into your reservation and back out again (they don't have to change any thing). This will tell the Disney computer that the reservation has been "modified" (even though nothing was done) and will force the computer to send you your "modified" reservation.

I hope this is a good lesson for others. I know I've mentioned it before here on these boards. If you are living in the states and you do not receive your confirmation letter(s) w/i 2 weeks of booking, you need to start contacting people. Mail gets lost. Computer quirks happen. The world isn't a perfect place. Be pro-active!

As for why the agent didn't ask you for a credit card the first time, the only response I have is perhaps you had someone new. We were able to accept credit cards for Disney when I worked there. It's been a good 2 1/2 yrs since Disney first allowed us to do so (if not just a tad longer). Sorry they didn't ask for it the first time!

 

[Kewz1]

I made ressies for the Contemp through SoG sometime back over the summer -- June or July, I believe. We just got the confirmation papers a week ago (and they are dated 9/16). The reservationist said they were way behind and she wasn't kidding!

Kristen

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by Kewz1
I made ressies for the Contemp through SoG sometime back over the summer -- June or July, I believe. We just got the confirmation papers a week ago (and they are dated 9/16). The reservationist said they were way behind and she wasn't kidding!

Kristen

Any thing is possible, however I'm very surprised that Disney would be so many months behind on sending out confirmation letters. Some thing doesn't sound right.

In any case, if your vacation is important to you (some people only plan for a weekend and it isn't as important, or money consuming, as those coming for a week or more), you should never, ever, wait longer than two weeks without receiving any thing and not calling to find out what's going on.

And, if you do call, ALWAYS get the name of the person you're speaking with, write down the date and the time. Put it where you won't lose it. You'd be surprise. Doing that little thing may help to save all of your vacation plans when they screw up.

 

[Floundering Crab]

Golleeee what got into your knickers? First of all I was inquiring from my "friends" on this forum if they had encountered similar problems. "Please don't take this the wrong way", but not everyone calls every week to check up on the reservation process--we try to take WDW at their word--and if I wasn't such a darn nice person, I probably would've taken your lengthy reply the wrong way. Maybe in the future the ripping someone up one wall and down the other can be held to a minimum--but for now, consider my hands slapped.

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by Floundering Crab
Golleeee what got into your knickers? First of all I was inquiring from my "friends" on this forum if they had encountered similar problems. "Please don't take this the wrong way", but not everyone calls every week to check up on the reservation process--we try to take WDW at their word--and if I wasn't such a darn nice person, I probably would've taken your lengthy reply the wrong way. Maybe in the future the ripping someone up one wall and down the other can be held to a minimum--but for now, consider my hands slapped.

First off, you were no where near being ripped apart. Not even close. I used your post to, once again, point out to others that not following up can cause big problems for your plans. And, if you were asking your "friends" what has happened to them, then perhaps you should not have posted in a public forum where "others" can respond.

Second, I don't believe I ever mentioned calling SoG or Disney every week. If I did, please show me so I can rectify my comments and not cause problems for other guests.

Third, you're welcome to take my reply any way you wish and I don't wear knickers. When I worked as a resv agent for SoG, I never understood (and still don't) why people would wait so long to ask why they never received any thing that guarantees them they have a reservation. They would proceed to become very upset, understandably so since they no longer have a place to stay and they're coming next week or next month, and blame every one else but themselves for not bothering to be pro-active. Half the time, we could help them find a reservation, but not necessarily where they were originally booked and not necessarily at the same rate. The other half of the time, they were out of luck.

This is your hard earned vacation. Why would you, not you the poster, but you the general public, not bother to follow up if you haven't received any thing? Being stationed in S. Korea and Saudi Arabia never stopped me from ensuring I had my ressys at SoG. I could even understand letting it go a month (you're busy, things going on in your life), but any thing longer than that.... the blame goes on the vacationer for not ensuring they had the proper documentation.

If you made a reservation through a travel agent and did not receive any thing in a couple of weeks: not a phone call, not a letter...nothing. Would you not get in touch with the agent to find out what's going on? (again, this is a general public question and not one directed to the original poster). Of course, you would! Making the reservation yourself is no different.

What happened to you, the poster, was a learning experience. Luckily, you made out all right and no harm was done. Hopefully, it will help to prevent others from making the same mistake.

 

[melee]

Hi! First No are you out there?! You've been such great help to confused SOGGERS. I have a question for you. Our reservation was moved to POR in Feb due to SOG delays. In the past week I have received 3 confirmations from Disney. After the first one I called SOG because the price was wrong and they didn't have a deposit noted. The extremely nice reservationist told me that all the SOG deposits will be transferred to POR at the same time. Then I will get an updated reservation letter showing the deposit. She assured me that there is a good paper trail of my deposit. Our price problem was that POR was charging for a fifth person in the room. The reservationist said that was also being worked out. Later that week two more yellow Disney envelopes arrived. They both said "modified" but none of the info was changed. My plan is to wait until two months before the trip and then call SOG if the correct reservation hasn't come through. Is that a good plan??? I hate to keep bugging the SOG staff and I know we have the room booked. It's just a matter of the deposit and the room price. Thanks in advance for any advice (or encouragement!) you may have to give.

melee

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We have also had trouble lately getting our yellow confirmations for reservations booked for WDW resorts via SOG and through CRO. I have called and been told they don't send them anymore when modified and other strange excuses. We got 2 weeks ago one for our trip this past week that I had modified several months ago. I called and requested this back in August and it finally arrived. . We have our Nov. confirmation as we made it long ago. One of our reservations made for a resort through SOG was ALL messed up because they decided to add an "o" in our last name! They could not find it, made another, we then had TWO that were charged. Tried to cancel one and was told it did not exist. Was a BIG mess until I finally got that yellow slip and found the spelling error! They finally got the extra charge off my card too! Good luck! I am NOT sure what is up with CRO these days. They used to promptly arrive within a week, and also after payment was recieved.

 

[dcfromva]

Floundering Crab,
....hmmm (DC scurries off to check her reservation file and comes back....)

I made ressies in July for Feb (Contemporary) --gave a CC deposit. CC was charged immediately and received Disney confirmation in the middle of Sept.
Whilst making the ressie, SOG did give me the option of check payment or CC and they did say if the deposit wasn't received by a certain date (I think it was 10 days or two weeks), ressie would be self cancelling--even if I didn't get the confirmation letter prior to the deadline.

At the same time, I made a ressie for SOG in May (2004). The odd thing here is I gave a CC number and the person taking the ressie hesitated and said it would not be charged right away, but would be used as a guarantee... I asked if this was a new policy transitioning over to SOG--he said yes...(my other theory was they hadn't set the rates for next year when I called in July to make the ressie)... I checked and I did have the SOG confirmation letter (zero deposit received)....Sooooo, I think I'd better get on the phone on Monday and check on this for sure.

I will say that the way SOG works is as if it is a Travel Agency when they make the ressie at a Disney Resort. In other words, Disney will not touch the ressie even though they send out the confirmation and they receive the deposit. Any changes/cancellations/information added to the ressie have to be done through SOG. (I understand that this works similarly if you make a ressie for Disney through AAA or any other TA).

It is a bit of a bum deal about your original ressie, I am glad you were able to recover and get alternate ressies for your time period.

-DC

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by melee
Hi! First No are you out there?! You've been such great help to confused SOGGERS. I have a question for you. Our reservation was moved to POR in Feb due to SOG delays. In the past week I have received 3 confirmations from Disney. After the first one I called SOG because the price was wrong and they didn't have a deposit noted. The extremely nice reservationist told me that all the SOG deposits will be transferred to POR at the same time. Then I will get an updated reservation letter showing the deposit. She assured me that there is a good paper trail of my deposit. Our price problem was that POR was charging for a fifth person in the room. The reservationist said that was also being worked out. Later that week two more yellow Disney envelopes arrived. They both said "modified" but none of the info was changed. My plan is to wait until two months before the trip and then call SOG if the correct reservation hasn't come through. Is that a good plan??? I hate to keep bugging the SOG staff and I know we have the room booked. It's just a matter of the deposit and the room price. Thanks in advance for any advice (or encouragement!) you may have to give.

melee

Oh yeah....people upset with my postings rarely chase me away <BG>. On to your dilemma....

When I was there, we had one of those massive moves of reservations to a resort (French Quarter, I believe it was). If I remember correctly, they did do it, as much as they could, en masse and deposits for those same reservations were transferred at the same time. It sounds like you were given correct information. As long as you can prove your deposit was paid (credit card records, check cashed, etc), you won't have any problems, even if they lose your reservation. They (SoG) will have to work it out with Disney to get you another room. I've seen it happen before so, your reservation should be fine.

Price: this will be the least of your worries. If it doesn't get corrected by the time you arrive, Disney should be able to take care of it at check in. Disney is the one who has your money any way. There's little SoG can do about it. It happens all the time that an extra adult shows up, or doesn't, and Disney makes those pricing corrections. You should have no problem as far as the money is concerned.

Confirmation letters: I have a reservation at a resort so I don't have to drive home after a MNSSHP. I received a "modified" confirmation letter in the mail even though I have not called Disney since I made the reservation. I wouldn't worry about it. Any time they (in your case, "they" will be both Disney AND SoG since SoG made your ressy) go into your reservation, it will automatically generate a "modified" letter to be sent out even though nothing has changed. Why would they go into your reservation you ask? Well, it could be to check, or add, money. Could be to check, or add, any requests. Could be because someone went into your reservation by mistake when they meant to go into another one. Again, I wouldn't worry about it.

I think your plan is a good one and I would even add checking on it again 7-10 days out from your arrival date. You're not bugging any one. This is YOUR vacation and that is their job. Two months out is good as it should give you and them enough time to make any adjustments/corrections that need to be made due to errors on their part and for you to get the written confirmation. The 7-10 days out is a good check to ensure every thing is as it should be. If there are any special requests you would like (i.e. first floor, a certain building, etc), your best bet is to contact the hotel directly (NOT CRO) about 3 days prior to your arrival date. Unless things have changed (and it's been a while so it may have), that's the time your reservation falls out of CRO and into the hotel's ressy system. The person assigning rooms has a better chance of seeing what you would like and, if able, giving it to you.

Helpful hint concerning requests: we (SoG) were told that we could type all sorts of requests until we were blue in the face, however the Disney computer wouldn't read them coming from our system. Always make your requests directly with whatever hotel (Disney only, apparently the other overflow resorts could read what we typed) you're staying at. You'll have a much better chance of getting what you would like.

Hope that helped!!!

 

[mog]

DCfromVA
I had the same situation as you with the credit card just being used to hold a reservation for next summer at SOG. I was worried because others were having their cards actually charged a deposit. I called back to SOG to straighten it out and was told that it is a new policy as of June 2003 to be able to take a CC# and hold the reservation without actually charging a deposit. This is only for reservations at SOG, though - if you make reservations for another Disney hotel through them (Contemporary, etc.) then the actual deposit is charged. I, too, have a reservation letter saying it is guaranteed, but showing no deposit.
Hope that sets your mind a little at ease!
P.S. I'm from VA too!

 

[dcfromva]

mog,
Howdy neighbor! Whew--thanks for the info. I wonder if they charge for the one day deposit at the 30 day mark? It will be interesting to see how this works out.

-DC

 

[mbelec]

I, too, have ressies (3 rooms) at SOG for next May/June. When I called to confirm my email ressies, was told that my credit card # was used for a "courtesy hold," and that it wouldn't be billed. I do have confirmation numbers, as well as follow-up letters after this conversation with them.

Must be how they're doing it now, but this post makes me want to call and "just make sure!"

Thanks! You can't be too careful!

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Reservations at SOG are now being held with the courtesy hold and not charge on the credit card. Reservations at WDW resorts through SOG(overflow) still require the 1 night deposit. The original poster had an overflow rate and did require the deposit.

 

[mog]

The way I understood it, they will not charge the card at all ahead of time. The only exception was if you cancel within 30 days of check-in. Then your card if charged the cancellation fee of one night. (this is if you are staying at SOG - if you're at another Disney hotel on overflow or while they are remodeling, you do have to pay the deposit)
We have 3 rooms reserved also - that made it easier to not have to actually charge the deposit!

 

[peagreenid]

Quick Question-
I have reservations for 12 nights at SOG in early June next year. I work as a travel agent and am thinking about getting trying to get "standby" rates on DCL for a 3 night cruise during that time frame. The standby ressie on DCL can't be booked until 30 days or less before arrival and can be cancelled up to 14 days prior to our arrival. Do you know if I can cancel 3 nights off of our reservation 2 weeks prior without penalty?

smiles Patty

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by peagreenid
Quick Question-
I have reservations for 12 nights at SOG in early June next year. I work as a travel agent and am thinking about getting trying to get "standby" rates on DCL for a 3 night cruise during that time frame. The standby ressie on DCL can't be booked until 30 days or less before arrival and can be cancelled up to 14 days prior to our arrival. Do you know if I can cancel 3 nights off of our reservation 2 weeks prior without penalty?

smiles Patty

You shouldn't have any problem. Last word on that when I left was the guest was allowed to try and add or delete nights from their reservation(s) within 30 days of the arrival date. They just couldn't cancel the entire stay within 30 days without incurring the penalty.

Good luck on getting the DCL!!!

 

[melee]

Hi Again FirstNo!
Thanks for the reassurances and great advice. It's been wonderful to have some one on the forums with real experience! Sorry it took so long to send my thanks. My computer has been acting very squirrely(sp?)!

melee