I'm annoyed... ticked off... miffed... peeved... irked!
A few days ago I tried to purchase 4 new APs, using the mousesavers link G told me about. (Thanks again, G!) It will save me $120!
So I am using my Disney VISA for the transaction, and I fill out the screen of personal information and send it off into cyberspace, OK? I get back an error, indicating something is wrong, and basically saying that I should try again with another card.
We pay off most of our bills in full every month, so there shouldn't be a problem with the card! So I call Disney VISA to check that out, thinking maybe there's some identity theft or misdirected payment or some such thing. They are very nice, and say the balance is fine, they show the transaction is pending, and advise me to check back with the website folks.
So I call the website folks about the passes. They are showing that the transaction was DECLINED, but the first gal I talked to did not know why. She takes my name and number to discuss this with someone else, and will call me back. When she calls back, the person she spoke with had told her that I probably was trying to renew my expired passes, and that won't work.
I tell her I was NOT trying to renew expired passes, I was purchasing brand new ones. I was using the link to the webpage with $30 off the passes, and I did notice after the error message popped up that all the info I entered on the page was the same except the zip code had been wiped out.
She said she would pass along my info to the person she spoke with and ask her to get back to me. I said that would be great. She called back at the end of the day, asking if the person had called, and I said no, she hadn't. She apologized, said the gal was gone for the day by then, but she would check back with me again to make sure this situation got resolved.
The gal called in the morning and left a message; I called back about 15 minutes later and left her a message. I waited all day to hear from her, but she never called.
This morning she called again (while I was taking the boys to school), so I again called her back within half an hour. This time she called back about half an hour later. She said again that the transaction was declined; I told her about the cleared zipcode window, and she said, "Well, if you entered any invalid information, that credit card company does an address validation, so that would automatically terminate the transaction." OKkkkkkk... That's not what I said, but whatever...
She advised me NOT to try the transaction again; she instead advised me to purchase the APs in the park. I said, "Well, if I do that I won't get the $30 off, will I?" (Who knows, maybe they have a known problem, and she'll just tell me to give code XYZ to get the $30 off, right?) "No, you won't, you'll pay the gate price." WTH kind of customer service is that???
OK, so in my mind I'm thinking I just want to make sure the previous transaction DOES NOT go through, then I will try it again from the website. So I call back the VISA folks, again get someone very friendly and knowledgeable. He tells me that the transaction was APPROVED at their end and is still pending. They did NOT refuse it for an invalid address. Their system awaits a response, an acceptance of the funds, from the vendor, which hasn't happened yet so the transaction is still considered pending. I asked, "So what if nothing happens, no response?" He said it drops off after 48 hours. So that would be this afternoon.
I call AP Gal back and tell her that VISA did NOT decline the transaction due to an invalid address. She admits there was some sort of problem at their end, not VISA's, with the entry screen. (She doesn't mean it's their fault, it still could be my fault, she's just saying it's not a refusal at VISA's end.) Even though VISA is simply awaiting a response from them to transfer funds, she says they will NOT send a response, so the held funds should just get dropped. The transaction will NOT go through. AAARGH!
She again advises me
against trying again with the webpage to purchase APs. WHY? Because if there's a problem, it usually just happens again and again. She again advises me to purchase the APs at the gate.
Here's why I'm irked:
1. No customer service being given here. I have made about 10 long-distance calls over this, on my dime. I have wasted my time trying to get this resolved, and she first blames me, blames the VISA transaction process, then tells me to pay full price at the gate because there's some unknown problem that she won't take the time to pinpoint.
2. As someone who used to work in I.T., for GODS SAKE, if there is a problem on a webpage, get details and get someone onto fixing it!!! IT cannot fix what it doesn't know about! And if there is a
known problem, say so to the customer and offer them a satisfactory alternative, something for the hassle! Don't accuse them of simply being too stupid to type correctly! If you are offering a special, figure out another way for the customer to get that deal! It AIN'T rocket science!!!
3. She's not even speaking to me like the other Disney CMs. She is curt and business-like, like I am annoying her and taking up her precious time. This annoys the crap out of me from anyone, but it is so the antithesis of how the other CMs speak and behave, it's very un-Disney.
