After WDW Guest Communications?

[MichelleV1104]

My family and I had our worst Disney experience this year, after 5 trips. We wrote a 5 page email to WDW Guest Communications, and got a brief phone call resulting in 3 day hopper passes and a $100 gift card. However, I do not feel my issues have been completly resolved. After Guest Communications and the WDW Executive Offices, who is next? Jay Rasulo- Chairman of Disney Parks in California? If anyone has an idea please let me know- at this point I am ready to NEVER return to Disney World again......

Sadly,
Michelle

 

[I Love Pluto]

I hope your issues will fade in time. I am saddened by the fact that you had a bad trip to Disney. I hope you can solve the problems to your satisfaction.

 

[scrapbookworm]

Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience.

However, I am curious as to what happened? 3 day hopper passes and $100 gift card sounds pretty generous. Just wondering....

 

[rainy~daze]

since you are never gonna return again, what do you want from them? more 'free' tickets and gift cards? you can send them to me, since you have no intention of going back.
but I must say, it must have been absolutely awful to warrant a 5 page email!! sad for a 1st post it is a complaint about how they handle complaints!!

 

[stitchlovestink]

Oh my goodness! That is so sad?
I do not know the answer to your question, but feel badly that you had such a horrible experience. Back in 1998, we ended our children's first trip on an extremely bad note and it left a terrible taste in our mouth of WDW. It did take us 5 years to go back. Occassionally, we've run into bits of frustration here and there, but I usually try to address it immediately. I'm not saying you handled anything wrong. I just feel so terrible for you that you are that frustrated. I wish you the best in resolving your problem and feeling that your concerns have been appropriately addressed. Pixie dust coming at you.

 

[Dis1978]

Oh dear! So sad that you had such a bad time. What happened and where did you stay?
We have also had a couple of bad disney experiences. One time our room at CBC flooded and DS was adrift in his crib! I am trained to complain so did so immediately. I find that complaining in public, at the time, preferably at reception at a busy time where there's plenty of people interested, does the trick. I got several days free accomodation and a refund for the flooded items. Unfortunately complaining later often does not have such good results.
However, it is always worth taking your complaint to the top and I would certainly do so if unsatisfied with their response. Good luck!

 

[MichelleV1104]

Thank you so much for your kind replies. We stayed at Saratoga Springs. This was our first trip as DVC members. Our check in was terrible. The rep had to check me in 3 different times to get it right, then I had to wait in line with the conceirge to have our tickets added. All within our first 90 minutes there. Our biggest problem was with the dining plan. Someone claims we booked an 06 dining plan for 07 travel. Too bad we didn't book it. DVC only can put the dining plan on members trips. The issue with the dining plan was that we could not get our table service meals to go on our card. After every meal we had to wait 40 minutes or so for the hostess to post the plan to our card, but it never worked. So, after the kids (they are 2,3,11 and 12) sat impatiently 40 minutes after we were done, I had to go to the concierge at SSR to get the meal taken from room charge and added to the dining plan. It was crazy. I wanted the problem fixed, and the only soloution was to eat, charge to the room and then wait to get credit everyday. The restarants could not charge to the room until they were 100% sure they could not get the plan to work. I spent hours on the phone with DVC, WDW Travel, and WDW Dining and got no where! I have the cell phone bill to prove it. I talked to guest relations at every park, every front desk manager at ssr, and several dining managers. A DVC phone rep even yelled at me for involving DVC in the problem. I missed out on hours of my vacation due to all the waiting and phone calls. But it didn't end there. We had issues at Epcot with height. My 3 yr old is 40 inches tall and could ride Dinosaur at AK, and measured ok at the front of Test Track. But after waiting in line and getting to the top the CM said he was too short. We had horrible service at O'hana for breakfast. There were some other small things, but the best was at the end of our trip when bell services (who made sure when taking my pick up reservation WARNED me I had better leave a tip for the bell man with my luggage) failed to pick up my luggage. We waited over 1/2 an hour for Magical Express and inquired about our luggage twice and were told they would get it when the bus arrived, to find out they hadn't even picked up our luggare from our room. The room had been cleaned and our luggage was left sitting there. Mousekeeping didn't even alert anyone when they were in the room at 2 pm (hours after checkout). We had to e-mail guest communications twice before we got a response. I was upset no one fixed our issues in house since we asked repeatedly. It also took 3 weeks and a phone call to DVC to find out where to go next, and that went no where. I guess my complaints aren't as bad as a flooded room, but this trip was a "Ray of Light" for us. We really couldn't afford to go, but we did anyway. Last year within 1 week of returning home from our trip our son (the now 3 yr old) broke his leg and the hospital treating him was negligent. They mangled his leg so badly they were unsure if he would ever walk again. The past year has been filled with so much sorrow we were looking forward to our trip. The first day of this years trip we visited MK during the Wishes parade. I cried, because the parade was the last thing we did in 06 at WDW and it was the last "family memory" we have when Justin's leg was healthy. All I really want from Disney is a credit for my Dining Plan since it was defunct. I hope I don't seem like a baby with my complaint!

 

[MikeS.]

After reading; "then I had to wait in line with the conceirge to have our tickets added. "

I thought what a pathetic whiner. Then I finished reading the whole thing and see that you really did have a rough trip.

I've read here on DIS that bell services has been contracted out since our trip last March. Heard how things have gone down hill. What a rude person to be telling you that you better leave a tip.

I hope you have better luck getting satisfaction on your problem(s). best wishes for Justin and his leg.

 

[SLDL]

It does sound like you had lots of misfortune and bad service on the trip. I'm sure you have already done this but just in case, I would send copies of my cell phone bills, for one thing. Also, there are addresses on allearnet.com for Disney officials, if that's what you're looking for.

All that being said, it sounds like you have had a rough year since your last trip, which sounds like it was good. Were you upset because this was not a 'perfect' trip? I put a lot of pressure on my vacations & tend to get upset if they don't go just as I have planned. I'm trying to work on that! It sounds like all the misfortune & bad service on the trip was compounded by high expectations?? I hope you can find a bright side to the bad luck of the trip. For starters, I'm thinking how great that your children were so patient during a long wait time.

Also, I noticed that on one ride in AK your child was tall enough & then in Epcot he was not...was he wearing the same shoes? If he was close to 40", that could have made a difference. Just wondering.

Best of luck to you - hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[MichelleV1104]

Thanks Mike for your well wishes for Justin! As continues make strides everyday!

To answer your question,SLDL, regarding the shoes, same day, same shoes. Went to AK in the AM ( I usually can't stand the smell past noon - I am allergic to most animals) and Epcot in the afternoon. And as far as the kids waiting patiently- believe me it was not patient. They were climbing under the table, making noise, playing in dirty plates left on our table. But, maybe you are right. I am 100% certain I have high expectations for Disney. Isn't this the year of 1 million dreams? They hold seminars and trainings to all types of corporations becasue they feel they are the Best in Customer Service - everything walks the walk kind of thing. That is why I hold them to such a high standard. But for us to keep asking to have our issues resolved while we were on the property and to be told to wait til we get home and write to Guest Communications, then wait for weeks for a response.........Thanks for the website.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The height thing happens sometimes. You weren't the first Guests to experience it, and you won't be the last. Yep, sometimes kids who are tall enough at the entrance to an attraction suddenly must shrink when they reach the loading platform - go figure.

As for the rest of your issues - I agree with Mike. Aw, too bad you had to get your tickets in a different l,,, oh, wait - ALL that happened to you on ONE trip? Oh boy! I mean, what do they mean you booked a 2006 Dining Plan for 2007 travel? How is that even possible??? It's the SAME PLAN.

I'm thinking, though, that while you may be able to get some additional compensation by continuing on your quest, you won't get the DDP refunded - because while getting it fixed EVERY DAY did use up valuable vacation time, you were ultimately able to 'pay' for your meals with your Table Service credits.

You want to cut any future letters down to WAY less than five pages, though. While I'm sure your original letter went into more detail than what you posted here, your post is pretty clear. The more brief and less emotional your writing, the more likely that someone will deal with it. I once wrote to a company about being charged sales tax in error. My letter was one page, but I attached six pages of my state's laws. When I called, the person I spoke with said she hadn't had a chance to read it all; when I explained (despite this being in the letter) that every page other than the first was merely the tax law, she was able to resolve my issue during that call.

 

[stitchlovestink]

oh my what a terrible set of experiences!
It was fortunate for you that you were able to charge your meals to your room and then have them credited. That would've been disasterous if you did not have the ability to charge your meals thinking that they had already been paid for.
Not to hijack your story, but we had some similar experiences w/ check in in Dec 05. First we realized when we got to the hotel that DH's cell phone was gone and must've come off on the plane b/c of the seatbelt. OOps, not a good start. Then upon check in, which was very late after 11 pm, we find out that they have given away our special request room (they were able to fix this the following morning) which due to special circumstances was guaranteed by special needs dept (or whatever their official name is). After taking over an hour to check in, I told them just give us any room for tonite, my kids are begging to go to bed. The next day, we start at MGM and switch to Epcot for DDP ADRS for Le Cellier. Only to be told that our passes do not have the hopper feature linked to them, which I had paid for as a part of my pkg. We were trying to go thru the entrance at international gateway to save time walking thru all of Epcot, they called the hotel who added the feature and then they let us in. Luckily, they also called the restaurant to make sure they didn't give away our ADR to a walk up since this made us over 30 min late. Restaurant was very pleasant and kind even though we were late. Our ADR was linked to the candlelight processional pkg so we didn't want to miss it. Anyway, next morning, front desk calls and tells me I owe $100+ for adding the hopper feature to all 4 cards. UHHH, I already paid for it as a part of my original pkg?! I go talk to front desk mgr and show paperwork. She advises that since I've had such a rough start to our trip, they will be glad to comp the hopper feature to me? But, I've already paid for it when I paid for pkg. Paperwork shows it. Instead of arguing for another 30 min and wasting valuable time, I say okay, thanks, and take off. Most everything else that trip went pretty well. One or two nasty CM's. Most ADRs went well, except one (can't remember which) had an exceptionally long wait. Not really sure why though. At check-in, since kids were begging to get drinks and go to bed at the front desk, mgr offered $50 Disney dollars for them to go to the food court while she tried to figure out what happened to our room. Anyway, the moral of sharing this is that maybe this past trip was exceptionally rough, but the next one is bound to be better. When we went back in Aug 06, most everything went off without a hitch. Although, I did call the hotel myself 2 different times the week before we left to make sure room ressies were correct and noted appropriately. Maybe take a break for awhile, let the bad things have time to fade and try again later. Just some food for thought.
I wish your son a speedy recovery and hope that all goes well w/ his situation. God Bless.

 

[laura001]

Oh my, I am so sorry to hear what happened with your vacation. I can only wish you good thoughts when it comes to having this issure resolved.

I hope that your son continues on the road to recovery!

 

[nicoleakr]

You really had a rough time of it. I assure that WDW isn't always like that. I feel so bad for you!!! I hope your son recovers soon and all will go well.

 

[bayoutinksmom]

WOW!!! That all sounds horrible and sorry to hear it ruined your trip. It definitely would have ruined mine. Hope something works out so that you can get that Disney feeling back!!!
Also pixies for your sons full recovery

 

[jessica52877]

I am sorry for your bad experience!

I think everywhere has it's glitches. We go to disney with high expectations, higher then anywhere else and they usually come through. We have our bad experiences each time but try to let it go, it is when they keep recurring on one trip that the spiral downfall really occurs. We had that our last trip, on our last night was the last straw. We were leaving so that made it better, but did upset us. Spoke with the manager at all star, he was very polite, wanted to see the issues first hand and listened. That was all I needed to see that disney was addressing the situation and trying to make it better. I hear story after story of everyone wanting compensation for something, not saying it isn't warrented, but if you think about disney does an EXCELLENT job and all things are really minor. (Usually).

Hope your mind changes about not wanting to go back. Atleast you'll have a good start for the trip with the tickets and $.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm sorry that you had such an awful trip, but I don't understand what more you want from Disney. They have given you over $1000 in park passes, and another $100 on a gift card. That is pretty generous. What more does Disney need to do to make you happy and want to return???

 

[rkujay]

I have to say that I am sorry to hear of the maladies incurred by all. Having travelled extensively, I am frankly tired of WDW telling me that they are the best at customer service. Now it's time to SHOW it.
I am sure that the dossier that they have on me says, "Don't call him back and don't respond to his emails", because they won't and don't. I do not believe it is wrong to hold them to a higher standard. After all, by their own proclamations, it is THEIR standards I hold them to.
I am tired of the lip service they give to non smoking at their parks. I can stay here in Tampa and go to Busch Gardens which makes no pretense about smoking. I am tired of WDW's dirty, smelly rooms. I stopped staying on Hotel Plaza Boulevard because WDW started positioning their rooms appropriately for the market, but they have raised the prices consistently each year. It is time to shop for accomodations again. I am tired of the surly attitude of SOME (not all) CM's. I spend more money at WDW than any other entertainment and I expect the very very best. I pay for it. Now I challenge WDW to produce or shut up.

 

[wendylovesdisney]

I had to add my 2 cents here. I do not think that Disney is that great at soothing people after complaints. 10 years ago during my Disney Honeymoon I had a "used" crib from the last room occupants left right outside our room with dirty sheets and washcloth inside. It sat for 2/3 of my trip outside the door and repeated calls, etc did nothing to remove it. Now a yucky crib is not epecially great for romance and this was at the Poly where we paid big buckaroonies. I finally pushed it down the hall to outside someone else's room (I am ashamed to admit) I just could not stand looking at it another day.
Last year we had an air conditioning unit break and it made the carpet in our room all wet from water(?). We got nothing but a repairman who was pretty nice at about 11:00 pm. at night. He was like "no one really cares here - sorry" That was at Port Orleans.
The rest of the trip was good... but still, if it had been any other hotel chain there would be people who would say they were sorry and rectify the situation.
To add a positive note, we stayed at Pop Century last September it was my best stay EVER!

-wENDY

 

[MichelleV1104]

Hello All! Again, thank you for all your well wishes for Justin. He really is a great kid. Also, thanks for giving the 3 day passes a Value-I never thought about it that way. Afterall, Disney doesn't take $1000 out of their bank account to pay for them. I know that I am not the only person who had a rough time on vacation, but I think we all agree we spend lots of money to experience Disney Dreams- and when it doesn't meet our expectations our feelings get hurt and we feel we are entitled to something more. I think the best suggestion yet is to give it some time. I am still sending my letter to Jay Rasulo- since I haven't come up with anything else as of yet. Thanks again for all your kind words and sharing your experiences. They truely have made me feel better.
Sincerely,
Michelle