At my witts end

[Paulines]

I guess I just need to vent about the poor experience(s) I’ve had with Disney customer service.

Back story: We stayed at the YC for 5 nights a few weeks ago and it was lovely, truly a magical experience. Prior to leaving for vacation, I called Disney to see about adding a couple more nights to our reservation. The gentleman I spoke with said he would hold the additional 2 nights at the BC (no availability at the YC) on a courtesy hold-if I didn’t call back within 3 days the reservation would drop off...great!

I couldn’t finagle the flight days and times, so the BC was a no go. After a while, I noticed the BC reservation hadn’t fallen off MDE, so I called CS and they transferred me to IT, who said nothing to worry about, this happens all the time and the reservation would eventually drop off. This was also during the period of time when many people complained about MDE being really screwed up. I never gave a CC to hold the room, so assumed the reservation was canceled.

Get home from vacation and see I was charged 2 nights at the BC (and had been upgraded to club level...sigh).

Called and spoke with a guest services agent who verified we had never checked in to the BC and stated she would refund the charge, in two parts, for whatever reason. Well, only one refund came through.

I have called no less than 4 times trying to get this resolved and am told things like, computers are down (ok, that happens), refunds can take 6 months, my charges were for merchandise (yes, there was a merchandise charge, but I’m referring to the room charge lady) - all kinds of crazy stuff!

I finally disputed the charge with my CC company, but now afraid I’ll be blacklisted at Disney, lol

Help!

 

[arminnie]

You won’t be blacklisted. The credit card that I made the reservation with expired during my vacation. I had $500+ in room charges that were denied. I never noticed, and Disney never notified me.

I made 2 other trips after that. I only discovered that it had been turned over for collection when I was buying a new home a year later. It was bizarre.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

You won’t be blacklisted. The credit card that I made the reservation with expired during my vacation. I had $500+ in room charges that were denied. I never noticed, and Disney never notified me.

I made 2 other trips after that. I only discovered that it had been turned over for collection when I was buying a new home a year later. It was bizarre.

Ok, you didnt realize you weren't charged 500 bucks on a card till it went to collections? Hmmmm.

 

[Princessclab]

I guess I just need to vent about the poor experience(s) I’ve had with Disney customer service.

Back story: We stayed at the YC for 5 nights a few weeks ago and it was lovely, truly a magical experience. Prior to leaving for vacation, I called Disney to see about adding a couple more nights to our reservation. The gentleman I spoke with said he would hold the additional 2 nights at the BC (no availability at the YC) on a courtesy hold-if I didn’t call back within 3 days the reservation would drop off...great!

I couldn’t finagle the flight days and times, so the BC was a no go. After a while, I noticed the BC reservation hadn’t fallen off MDE, so I called CS and they transferred me to IT, who said nothing to worry about, this happens all the time and the reservation would eventually drop off. This was also during the period of time when many people complained about MDE being really screwed up. I never gave a CC to hold the room, so assumed the reservation was canceled.

Get home from vacation and see I was charged 2 nights at the BC (and had been upgraded to club level...sigh).

Called and spoke with a guest services agent who verified we had never checked in to the BC and stated she would refund the charge, in two parts, for whatever reason. Well, only one refund came through.

I have called no less than 4 times trying to get this resolved and am told things like, computers are down (ok, that happens), refunds can take 6 months, my charges were for merchandise (yes, there was a merchandise charge, but I’m referring to the room charge lady) - all kinds of crazy stuff!

I finally disputed the charge with my CC company, but now afraid I’ll be blacklisted at Disney, lol

Help!

Why would you be blacklisted because of an error Disney made?
Does Disney blacklist people?
If they do I would think it would have to be pretty egregious(sp).

 

[Madame]

Don’t sweat it. They double charged me for a meal - once included in the room charges & another separate CC charge for the same meal. Several international phone calls & a couple of hrs total on hold I was done. Disputed it with my CC company.

 

[arminnie]

Ok, you didnt realize you weren't charged 500 bucks on a card till it went to collections? Hmmmm.

No I didn't. My Visa card can run $6000 - $14000 a month. I look for anything that should NOT be there. I do not double check to see what should be there.

 

[ice cube]

I guess I just need to vent about the poor experience(s) I’ve had with Disney customer service.

Back story: We stayed at the YC for 5 nights a few weeks ago and it was lovely, truly a magical experience. Prior to leaving for vacation, I called Disney to see about adding a couple more nights to our reservation. The gentleman I spoke with said he would hold the additional 2 nights at the BC (no availability at the YC) on a courtesy hold-if I didn’t call back within 3 days the reservation would drop off...great!

I couldn’t finagle the flight days and times, so the BC was a no go. After a while, I noticed the BC reservation hadn’t fallen off MDE, so I called CS and they transferred me to IT, who said nothing to worry about, this happens all the time and the reservation would eventually drop off. This was also during the period of time when many people complained about MDE being really screwed up. I never gave a CC to hold the room, so assumed the reservation was canceled.

Get home from vacation and see I was charged 2 nights at the BC (and had been upgraded to club level...sigh).

Called and spoke with a guest services agent who verified we had never checked in to the BC and stated she would refund the charge, in two parts, for whatever reason. Well, only one refund came through.

I have called no less than 4 times trying to get this resolved and am told things like, computers are down (ok, that happens), refunds can take 6 months, my charges were for merchandise (yes, there was a merchandise charge, but I’m referring to the room charge lady) - all kinds of crazy stuff!

I finally disputed the charge with my CC company, but now afraid I’ll be blacklisted at Disney, lol

Help!

While you were in Disney you checked your MDE and noticed the reservation was still on there so its just a matter of calling and cancelling the reservation.I don't see why they transferred you to an IT person?
If you cancel a reservation through CS it should have cancelled out. Also maybe I'm naive but I never heard of a "courtesy hold" its either a reservation or not. That's why I never call CS or travel agent just do
it myself online so there is no issues. You either book the reservation or you don't. I still don't get how people leave anywhere especially Disney without physically going to the front desk to check out. By doing this
one step makes sure all the charges are what they are suppose to be so when you get home there are no surprises. Its easier to fix an issue while your there then at home....OP is a perfect example of it.

 

[AngiTN]

While you were in Disney you checked your MDE and noticed the reservation was still on there so its just a matter of calling and cancelling the reservation.I don't see why they transferred you to an IT person?
If you cancel a reservation through CS it should have cancelled out. Also maybe I'm naive but I never heard of a "courtesy hold" its either a reservation or not. That's why I never call CS or travel agent just do
it myself online so there is no issues. You either book the reservation or you don't. I still don't get how people leave anywhere especially Disney without physically going to the front desk to check out. By doing this
one step makes sure all the charges are what they are suppose to be so when you get home there are no surprises. Its easier to fix an issue while your there then at home....OP is a perfect example of it.

Not seeing how the OP is a perfect example that going to the front desk to check out would have done a thing. How would have made any difference here? OP never checked in to BC so they'd have never checked out so they'd never have seen the charge. The check out at YC wouldn't have seen the BC charges. They came after that.

Checking out is a waste of time. My time is worth too much at Disney, so I don't waste it standing around in the lobby of the resort when there's no reason to do it and nothing to do when I'm there.

Otherwise I do agree, I try to never need to call them to book anything. They can screw up a 1 car funeral. I was forced to call on our last trip when I needed to add a day, I couldn't complete the change online, it said to call. Well, I did and in the end we needed to book the room separately. I gave them my email address and they booked the room. Come to find out, somehow the rocket scientist on the phone found my old, inactive MDE account and booked the room with that. How I have no idea, I never gave her that email address. It was a mess when I checked in

 

[HopperFan]

While you were in Disney you checked your MDE and noticed the reservation was still on there so its just a matter of calling and cancelling the reservation.I don't see why they transferred you to an IT person?

Maybe because IT has been a total mess the last few weeks for many that they are automatically sending anything strange to IT.

I had a reservation at POP beginning Sept 9 for 5 nights. I changed my plans around and booked a week offsite. I cancelled my reservation a few weeks prior to arrival. I never did online check in and I never ordered MagicBands. My reservation dropped off my MDE. My deposit was refunded to my cc August 24th.

I arrived to Orlando Sept 7th. September 8th, my first day at parks ... looking at my MDE .... up pops my reservation. And there it continued each day as part of my plans until the check out day. It was a total IT glitch. If I were concerned about it and called, I will bet they would forward to IT as well.

 

[ariane37]

While you were in Disney you checked your MDE and noticed the reservation was still on there so its just a matter of calling and cancelling the reservation.I don't see why they transferred you to an IT person?
If you cancel a reservation through CS it should have cancelled out. Also maybe I'm naive but I never heard of a "courtesy hold" its either a reservation or not. That's why I never call CS or travel agent just do
it myself online so there is no issues. You either book the reservation or you don't. I still don't get how people leave anywhere especially Disney without physically going to the front desk to check out. By doing this
one step makes sure all the charges are what they are suppose to be so when you get home there are no surprises. Its easier to fix an issue while your there then at home....OP is a perfect example of it.

Want to jump on and say yes, a hold IS a real thing However you can't put something on hold, only a TA can and when we do it never gets linked to a clients MDE account, ever. It auto cancels if no deposit is made within the the given hold time which can vary. So clients are NEVER charged for a reservation that was put on hold for them.

This appears to have been a combo of a bad CM, who shouldn't have put the room on hold in the first place and then all Disneys IT issues. One or the other or a combination of both caused the reservation to show up in the OP's MDE account even though it had never been an actual reservation. Why was it transferred to IT? Again, most likely due to everything being royally screwed up these last few weeks - the simplest things have had to be "fixed" by IT - could also possibly have been because OP was maybe within the 5 day cancel period for that (non) reservation so the regular CM couldn't do anything.

 

[bumbershoot]

I finally disputed the charge with my CC company, but now afraid I’ll be blacklisted at Disney, lol

So, you have been in contact with Disney, they have already made a partial refund, and you decided to dispute it? That's just made things so much more complicated for the whole situation.

Disney is indeed having massive issues with their cancellation stuff, and the fact that this reservation was "held" and then actually got charged shows the issues, so it makes a lot of sense that they are having issues getting that refund made. But once a company starts that refund process it IS up to the credit card company or bank, so it's out of their hands. And by disputing, you've kind of messed up that process, IMO.

While you were in Disney you checked your MDE and noticed the reservation was still on there so its just a matter of calling and cancelling the reservation.I don't see why they transferred you to an IT person?

FWIW Disney hasn't been cancelling things off of MDE. I have a Poly DVC reservation still showing on the website MDE (haven't checked the app) that I cancelled...let me check...in August.

I still don't get how people leave anywhere especially Disney without physically going to the front desk to check out.

Because there's pretty much no reason to do so.

By doing this
one step makes sure all the charges are what they are suppose to be

But it doesn't. Plenty of charges show up days after checkout, because Disney isn't perfect.

 

[Princessclab]

A total refund should have been done right away. By reporting it to the CC company let's them do their job.
That is what they do. In my experience they are very good at it.
This is a Disney issue so Disney can work with the CC companies.
I would have let them take care of it too. That way it is documented that you have challenged the charges.
Simplifies it for the consumer when companies screw things up.

 

[Paulines]

I’m guessing the initial guest services agent initiated a refund(s) as she was aware there was a mistake made with the BC hold. Again, I never gave my CC info or authorized a charge for the BC hold/reservation. I most certainly would have done things differently had I known what would transpire.

I only disputed the balance of the credit owed me after waiting 10 days after the 1st partial refund and first making several phone calls with a bunch of inept employees. Frustrating and time consuming!

After a great time at DW with amazing, efficient, helpful CMs, this experience has turned my head around!

 

[mn51]

We have called Disney in the past and a courtesy hold was given to us for three days. When we did not move forward, it dropped off. We always book our own trips and never use a travel agent. For whatever reason I stopped at the front desk the night before we checked out to make certain there were only two charges. Glad I checked as there was a third charge that we had not made. I understand how it happened and I was very pleased that the cast member behind the desk immediately removed the charge. Going forward, I will make certain that I spend a few minutes and double check my room charges. Not sure that would have made a difference for what the person posting this just went through. I'd be a bit upset and frustrated too. Hopefully it all turns out ok.

 

[monica9]

Not seeing how the OP is a perfect example that going to the front desk to check out would have done a thing. How would have made any difference here? OP never checked in to BC so they'd have never checked out so they'd never have seen the charge. The check out at YC wouldn't have seen the BC charges. They came after that.

Checking out is a waste of time. My time is worth too much at Disney, so I don't waste it standing around in the lobby of the resort when there's no reason to do it and nothing to do when I'm there.

Otherwise I do agree, I try to never need to call them to book anything. They can screw up a 1 car funeral. I was forced to call on our last trip when I needed to add a day, I couldn't complete the change online, it said to call. Well, I did and in the end we needed to book the room separately. I gave them my email address and they booked the room. Come to find out, somehow the rocket scientist on the phone found my old, inactive MDE account and booked the room with that. How I have no idea, I never gave her that email address. It was a mess when I checked in

Yup. We've been going to WDW every other year for the past 10 years and they STILL don't have my new address on there and we've be there 4 times since living in our new home. I switch it EVERY time I call but they can't seem to type it in and click save. They also have my daughter's age and spelling wrong even though I've changed it online. So annoying.

 

[adelaster]

With all the issues regularly mentioned regarding their IT, communication, and follow through- I really doubt there's coordination enough to "blacklist" people. Just keep following up until the issue is resolved.

 

[nkereina]

Also maybe I'm naive but I never heard of a "courtesy hold" its either a reservation or not.

It is a real thing. Its a hold without payment and the hold should be released if no deposit/payment is made within 72 hours.

I still don't get how people leave anywhere especially Disney without physically going to the front desk to check out.

Because its 2018 and you can check-out via apps and your folio is emailed to you, allowing you to check the charges. But that is irrelevant to OP's situation because OP never stayed those extra days at all.

 

[ice cube]

It is a real thing. Its a hold without payment and the hold should be released if no deposit/payment is made within 72 hours.

Thank you as I never knew that and someone also stated that in a pp.

Because its 2018 and you can check-out via apps and your folio is emailed to you, allowing you to check the charges. But that is irrelevant to OP's situation because OP never stayed those extra days at all.

Ok I know its 2018 but that doesn't mean anything in this day and age of nobody does their job right and a software issue.. She already knew that the room wasn't off her MDE account while she was in Disney so
if she went down to the front desk either during her stay or just before she checked out of her original resort she could have had them help her get it off. I get it nobody doesn't want to spend their vacation time
at the front desk but then you have to deal with it when you come home. Also I have found it easier to remove a charge when checking out then when I come home. Yes I do understand some charges will not be
on there when you check out but that's because you did spending on your check out day and they haven't had time to batch out.

Yup. We've been going to WDW every other year for the past 10 years and they STILL don't have my new address on there and we've be there 4 times since living in our new home. I switch it EVERY time I call but they can't seem to type it in and click save. They also have my daughter's age and spelling wrong even though I've changed it online. So annoying.

CS can't help you as they can't change the information on your account. They can add new information (names,ages,address) but they can't take it away. In your case you have to talk with IT as they have to override the system so it saves which CS doesn't have the ability to do it. I went through it a few years back.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I never gave a CC to hold the room, so assumed the reservation was canceled.

Again, I never gave my CC info or authorized a charge for the BC hold/reservation.

I can only guess that the CC you had attached to your MDE was the one charged. You may have not given your info to them but that doesn't mean they didn't already have your information.

if I didn’t call back within 3 days the reservation would drop off...great!

I know it's too little too late and while people shouldn't have to do this I would for the future check and make sure the reservation did drop off.

I've had things happen with other companies where something was supposed to fall off but it didn't.

I've also worked at an insurance company where charges including premium owed that we removed, billing charges like late fees and service fees, etc didn't always fall off (most times an internal future review was set to double check the account)--just providing that it's not just Disney that these things happen.

Did you by any chance see when the charge for BC was made (as in processed on your CC)? Was it before your trip? During your trip? After your trip?

who shouldn't have put the room on hold in the first place and then all Disneys IT issues. One or the other or a combination of both caused the reservation to show up in the OP's MDE account even though it had never been an actual reservation.

I've been wondering though and it's sorta hard IMO to tell for sure due to the sheer volume of MDE issues but is it possible the CM didn't actually put a hold on the account but rather booked the rooms instead? I'm thinking out loud but I don't have the background information to know if that's even possible.

 

[tjmw2727]

Ok I know its 2018 but that doesn't mean anything in this day and age of nobody does their job right and a software issue.. She already knew that the room wasn't off her MDE account while she was in Disney so
if she went down to the front desk either during her stay or just before she checked out of her original resort she could have had them help her get it off. I get it nobody doesn't want to spend their vacation time
at the front desk but then you have to deal with it when you come home. Also I have found it easier to remove a charge when checking out then when I come home. Yes I do understand some charges will not be
on there when you check out but that's because you did spending on your check out day and they haven't had time to batch out.



CS can't help you as they can't change the information on your account. They can add new information (names,ages,address) but they can't take it away. In your case you have to talk with IT as they have to override the system so it saves which CS doesn't have the ability to do it. I went through it a few years back.

Don't understand how checking out of the YC would remove a never confirmed reservation at the BC? The front desk CM's aren't IT and having had some really strange issues myself its probably for the best that the OP didn't try this. It would probably have resulted in a long time at the front desk with no resolution - not a good use of vacation time.

I was charged for 3 rooms for 2 nights each (while staying in 1 room) at the BWI and it was a nightmare at the front desk and for a month or two after. I had a "split stay" at the same resort in the same room category due to a rate change and they assigned me two additional rooms. I wasted at least 2 hours at the front desk for nothing - the CM's were wonderful but they just couldn't fix this.

In the end, once I got home I also had to resort to a credit card dispute as Disney couldn't figure out how they managed to make this triple reservation or how to refund me even though they could see exactly what happened.