AWFUL Orbitz Experience!

[WEDWDW]

After discovering that I could save about $100.00 from my Passholder rate by booking my April trip with Orbitz,I cancelled my Disney reservation and used Orbitz for the first time.

Everything went GREAT!

I emailed them after a few days requesting my 12 digit Disney reservation # and they promptly emailed it to me.

For my July trip,I saw that I could again save about $100.00 from my Passholder rate so I booked again with Orbitz.

This time it has been a DISASTER!

In response to an email requesting my 12 digit Disney reservation #,I was emailed back that they DID NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT A DISNEY RESERVATION #!

They told me I would need to contact Disney.

I contacted Disney and they said I did not have a Reservation in their system!

I then called Orbitz and again they said they had no idea what I was talking about!

I called Disney again and they gave me the phone # for the Disney Wholesale department and said maybe they could help me.

Of course they were closed for the day.

By then,I had received an online survey from Orbitz asking about my experience with the Orbitz phone call.

In the comments portion,I explained my situation and stated I would never do business with Orbitz again.

Well,within a few hours after sending in the survey,I received an email with MY 12 DIGIT DISNEY RESERVATION # THAT ORBITZ KNEW NOTHING ABOUT!

What a waste of my time!

 

[AliceandAriel]

After discovering that I could save about $100.00 from my Passholder rate by booking my April trip with Orbitz,I cancelled my Disney reservation and used Orbitz for the first time.

Everything went GREAT!

I emailed them after a few days requesting my 12 digit Disney reservation # and they promptly emailed it to me.

For my July trip,I saw that I could again save about $100.00 from my Passholder rate so I booked again with Orbitz.

This time it has been a DISASTER!

In response to an email requesting my 12 digit Disney reservation #,I was emailed back that they DID NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT A DISNEY RESERVATION #!

They told me I would need to contact Disney.

I contacted Disney and they said I did not have a Reservation in their system!

I then called Orbitz and again they said they had no idea what I was talking about!

I called Disney again and they gave me the phone # for the Disney Wholesale department and said maybe they could help me.

Of course they were closed for the day.

By then,I had received an online survey from Orbitz asking about my experience with the Orbitz phone call.

In the comments portion,I explained my situation and stated I would never do business with Orbitz again.

Well,within a few hours after sending in the survey,I received an email with MY 12 DIGIT DISNEY RESERVATION # THAT ORBITZ KNEW NOTHING ABOUT!

What a waste of my time!

Eeeep, that doesn't sound good.

We didn't book with Orbitz for our room- Travelocity was offering a deal on certain rooms plus a discount code another DISer found online. Travelocity's website was a mess and didn't want to function, but after a call with a service rep, we got the room and all was well.

We did, however, just buy tickets through Orbitz since I went through eBates and get cash back on the 'activity'. I'm waiting to see it pending in my account, I just hope there's no grief going about it.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You got someone on the phone who didn't know what they were talking about. Happens sometimes, it happens booking through Disney too. An Orbitz reservation apparently doesn't even show in Disney's system until it's turned over to the resort for room assignments. Disney CRO can do nothing with an Orbitz reservation. But Orbitz should have been able to give you a reservation number that could be used to book DME through the website, that sort of thing.

 

[wildcatfan]

I can certainly understand the frustration. I am glad you finally got the number.

 

[of the seas]

I thought maybe you were going to say something on the lines of "I got there and had no reservation and they were sold out". Then I could understand the word "awful" being used. It must be annoying to have to keep calling, but you're going to Disney soon-and you saved a lot of money!

 

[wiigirl]

I thought maybe you were going to say something on the lines of "I got there and had no reservation and they were sold out". Then I could understand the word "awful" being used. It must be annoying to have to keep calling, but you're going to Disney soon-and you saved a lot of money!

Thats definetly a bright side...

 

[Bob NC]

You want to stay at Disney, but instead of booking through them you go through a 3rd party to save $100.

I look at going through a 3rd party to do anything as having a potential for confusion or mistakes to happen.

You had to make a couple extra phone calls to save $100.

Doesn't even approach AWFUL in my book, but that's just me.

 

[bumbershoot]

You got someone on the phone who didn't know what they were talking about. Happens sometimes, it happens booking through Disney too.

Exactly. Since you had done the Orbitz thing before, and probably learned about it here on the Dis, surely you read the responses from other people who got the "I don't know what you're talking about" response? There were dis'ers having that experience and discussing it. And everyone with experience told them to just try again, that not all Orbitz employees knew where to look, and to just try again.

If you didn't see those responses, I don't know what to say. I didn't even book using Orbitz, but I read several of those responses over the course of the weeks that Orbitz was being discussed. Pretty sure I GAVE that response a few times, from our hotels.com experience getting the Disney confirmation number.

 

[drgnfly30]

I guess 'awful' is in the eye of the beholder. I'd happily spend some time on the phone if the end result is saving $$.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

I made my reservations through Orbitz (and paid for the stay) for my upcoming stay at POFQ (decent discount...better than Disney discount for POFQ). I do not have any special requests, booked a standard room, and was just going to check in when I got there and take a copy of my reservation. Do I need the Disney confirmation number, or not to bother?

 

[WEDWDW]

I can certainly understand the frustration. I am glad you finally got the number.

Thanks,yes it was very frustrating!

What made it really bad was when the employee working the phone call asked their MANAGER and reported back to me that their MANAGER knew nothing about any 12 digit Disney reservation # either!

So that made 3 employees,the email employee,the phone employee and the manager who knew nothing about the Disney #.

It felt AMAZING to finally get the #!LOL

 

[WEDWDW]

Eeeep, that doesn't sound good.

We didn't book with Orbitz for our room- Travelocity was offering a deal on certain rooms plus a discount code another DISer found online. Travelocity's website was a mess and didn't want to function, but after a call with a service rep, we got the room and all was well.

We did, however, just buy tickets through Orbitz since I went through eBates and get cash back on the 'activity'. I'm waiting to see it pending in my account, I just hope there's no grief going about it.

Hope everything goes smooth for you!

 

[TDC Nala]

I made my reservations through Orbitz (and paid for the stay) for my upcoming stay at POFQ (decent discount...better than Disney discount for POFQ). I do not have any special requests, booked a standard room, and was just going to check in when I got there and take a copy of my reservation. Do I need the Disney confirmation number, or not to bother?

You need it if you are going to register for Magical Express from/to the airport. I can't think of anything else I would have needed it for. I'll see how it works if I try to add someone to my Travelocity booking, but I know I have to call Travelocity and not Disney to do that.

 

[aVASTGrl]

I thought maybe you were going to say something on the lines of "I got there and had no reservation and they were sold out". Then I could understand the word "awful" being used. It must be annoying to have to keep calling, but you're going to Disney soon-and you saved a lot of money!

Ha! That is exactly what happened to me on my last non-Disney vacation I booked through Travelocity! You have to keep on top of these travel sites and make sure everyone involved has done their jobs. I learned that the hard way!

 

[cobright]

For your July trip, how long did you wait after booking with Orbitz before you emailed them asking for your Disney Reservation #?

For your first trip you waited several days. For the July trip I get a sense that this is all happening on or about the same day. At least from the point where you request the res. # until you actually receive it, you describe the timing in matters of hours between each event. But you never actually say how how much time passed between booking the vacation and requesting the res.#

The reason this is important is that Orbitz is an intermediary for dozens of hotel and resort booking systems (including Disney). The software and database they use is immense and convoluted. As a result, portions of your customer record, such as the note containing your 3rd party reservation #, may take time to populate.

Orbitz' computers must:
1 send a request to Disney's computer,
2 receive and hold the dates and price,
3 submit a request to your bank for payment (or authorize a hold),
4 receive confirmation from your bank
5 transmit payment to Disney
6 receive confirmation of payment from Disney along with a confirmation #
7 update your customer file with that information.

It's frustrating whenever someone takes your $$ and you don't have the immediate gratification of having something in your hand, but ... you saved $100.00

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

You need it if you are going to register for Magical Express from/to the airport. I can't think of anything else I would have needed it for. I'll see how it works if I try to add someone to my Travelocity booking, but I know I have to call Travelocity and not Disney to do that.

No, do not need ME...we are driving...so think I may just forget it and concentrate on my packing list!

Thanks!!

 

[Ofinn]

Thanks,yes it was very frustrating!

What made it really bad was when the employee working the phone call asked their MANAGER and reported back to me that their MANAGER knew nothing about any 12 digit Disney reservation # either!

So that made 3 employees,the email employee,the phone employee and the manager who knew nothing about the Disney #.

It felt AMAZING to finally get the #!LOL

I can understand your frustration. It's stressful when you spend money and there is no record of it.... getting put on hold and then getting the run around. I've been there. It even happens with Disney. I have been spent way too much time on the phone with Disney due to cm incompetence or a faulty computer system. According to some posters you should just be happy your going to Disney. I don't see it that way. Time is valuable.

 

[WEDWDW]

I can understand your frustration. It's stressful when you spend money and there is no record of it.... getting put on hold and then getting the run around. I've been there. It even happens with Disney. I have been spent way too much time on the phone with Disney due to cm incompetence or a faulty computer system. According to some posters you should just be happy your going to Disney. I don't see it that way. Time is valuable.

Thanks!

I love your statement that "Time is valuable."!

Between my job and spending time with my Dad at the hospital before and after work each day,my time right now is more valuable than ever.

I felt sure,especially since it had been 3 weeks since I booked with Orbitz,that it would be no problem getting my 12 digit Disney # from them,just like in April,but boy was I wrong!lol

 

[trishadono]

I made my reservations through Orbitz (and paid for the stay) for my upcoming stay at POFQ (decent discount...better than Disney discount for POFQ). I do not have any special requests, booked a standard room, and was just going to check in when I got there and take a copy of my reservation. Do I need the Disney confirmation number, or not to bother?

I had 2 successful reservations with Orbitz in April.

I sent them a simple email requesting disneys 12 digit conf #. I got it the same day. I wanted it to link to my experiences section but you don't actually need it. To book ME you can do it here : https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/reservations/dme/index?bhcp=1

Or you can call them. They can enter your information with the Orbitz 6 digit confirmation number but it usually takes 3 days after reservation made. They also said they can do by your last name if after 3 days or so too.

I saved a lot of money with orbitz. I was able to do Poly CL for price of regular room and had a great time. Enjoy your savings

 

[WEDWDW]

I received a nice email from Orbitz Customer Service.

They agreed with me that I shouldn't just be "happy" that I saved $100.00 and accept poor Customer Service as part of the "deal".

They said it is inexcusable that any of their agents not know something as basic as what the 12 digit Disney confirmation # is.

They even added some funds to my Orbitz rewards account as compensation for my time and frustration.

I did not ask for or want any compensation(an apology and promise to fix the problem was all I wanted),but the funds given to me was a wonderful gesture and showed me they do care about their Customers.