Bad end to a vacation at All Star Sports (long)

[raven69david]

Another great reason why you NEVER use cash to purchase goods/services. With a credit card or debit card, you can get your money back. This Federal Regulation E that forces a financial institition to investigate any claim that a customer makes regarding an electronic purchase. As long as the sytem is not abused, you can get credit back within 10 days if everything's done correctly. It's not a long drawn out process; it only requires you to write down what happened, enter the case # they give you and fax it. Once the fax is received, you will get a credit within 1 to 3 business days. It may not be immediate, but in this case, that would have been $500.00 saved.

 

[Donna]

Your room key will say "Not valid for charging" if you don't leave a CC on file.

Your room key can still say "not valid for charging" even if you DO leave a cc on file. I hardly ever get charging on my room key, but i sometimes leave a CC on file for incidentals like phone calls (before i had a cell), internet charges, etc.

I think whether you use cash OR cc, you have to really look at everything closely and make sure you have receipts for every transaction (i put them in an envelope), because either way, there are people out there that have figured a way to rip people off. You almost have to think like a criminal because they're coming up with new ways all the time. It's up to us, the consumer, to be vigilant with our records. I was ripped off by disneyshopping.com but my bank refunded me the $523 someone got from me there.

Good luck to the OP; i hope to soon hear that you got it resolved.

 

[emh1129]

OP- I hope this gets sorted out quickly for you.
We had a similar problem and the security tapes were of no help.
We were really impressed by the General Manager, though, who worked tirelessly to make things right and sort everything out.
I'm sorry you didn't get the proper response to your situation

 

[clkelley]

I've been following this thread and it really makes aware that I need to pay attention to what happens with what I spend on our upcoming trip! Can most of you say that you have put your trip on a cc and NOT had any problems? I'm just trying to make sure I understand what it is that people do to cause these issues...seems to me it's the simple act of using a cc in the first place!!

We use credit cards exclusively for everything. I have not written a personal check in over 15 years, and very rarely have more than $10 in cash. We pay all of our bills online directly with the merchants or through our bank. We watch our card very closely, and pay the balance in full each month. We always use our room charge at WDW and usually buy about $50 in Disney Dollars each trip for those small vendor purchases. I like using the room key for charging because that way the only folks at WDW that actually sees my credit card is the ones at the resort. If the resort key gets lost or stolen, it can be cancelled and replaced immediately. If my credit card gets lost or stolen, it can take a minimum of 24 hours to replace.

At home, I use my CC at the gas pump, at McDonalds, at Wal-Mart, online, and many other merchants, and to automatically pay Cell Phone, Cable Bill, and Utility bill. I have not had a fraudulent charge, or an error EVER. Maybe I'm lucky. I do shred all credit card offers that come in the mail, I file my bills in a locked safe, then shred at the end of the year, and have extremely high firewalls and virus protection on my computer. CCs are not to be feared, however, due diligence with receipts and your bills are required.

 

[Shorty82]

Of course, it would have been Disney police and there is a quetion of their impartiality but at least it would have been recorded and they should have secured the surveillance footage.

Wrong, there is no such thing as Disney Police. They have security guards and all actual policing is done by the Orange County Sheriff's Office. As they are a corporation Disney does not have the right to form a police department.

OP, in addition to the other suggestions people have made I would make sure that the Orange County Sheriff's Office gets a copy of the police report. I would also call Disney Security and whoever is in charge of the resorts directly (or as directly as you can get through the Disney Operator).

: I hope you get this worked out.

 

[mickaholic4077]

I would also mention to Disney that thousands of Disboard members are following this story with great interest.

 

[shezfrombermuda]

I've read quite a few posts about charges on room keys that are not valid. What a shame as this makes an advertised convenience untrustworthy and most inconvenient to those unlucky visitors when they get their bill that they have to report and sometimes fight to get them fixed.

After returning home from Port Orleans my mother had an extra charge on her credit card for over $2000!!!! Nobody at Port including the supervisors could give any explanation for this or would do anything about it. It took several calls to the accounts department to clear it up.

Good luck and I hope this gets cleared up quickly!

 

[Texas Rob]

and if nothing else works there is always calling the media....or the better business bureau.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

If it wasn't such a large amount of money I wouldn't suggest such a thing.

 

[pinkerbell]

just a thought.maybe the cm did apply payment ,but an error key stroke applied it to the wrong room.???? good luck

 

[Sammie]

Once charges have been made to an account especially at check out, any discrepencies have to be handled with Disney billing. There is a number on your check out sheet.

I seriously doubt a multi million dollar company wants to risk their reputation over $500. And if anyone truly believes they would defraud someone for $500 and risk that reputation, then I can't believe any of you would continue to do business with them.

The OP simply needs to pursue the proper channels. There has been a mistake made somewhere and we have heard one side.

 

[Texas Rob]

i can live with what you have said Sammie...i do think giving them the benefit of the doubt understanding that not all disney employees are nice or cordial, and going through the proper channels will most likely have the error reversed....

though, if it were my money i would be mad too!

 

[verchad]

sometimes the security tapes aren't even working correctly and the manager never bothered to get them fixed and is covering her own rear end which may be the case here. This happens often with hotels, restaurants etc.

Now, I'm sure Disney wouldn't do this, but thought I'd pass this little tidbit along.

An independently owned donut shop near us had security cameras put in a few years ago. The guy that works there in the mornings is someone i worked with back in high school. I mentioned to him that it must be a little more reassuring having that there as a deterrent to criminals. He kind of laughed and said sure does. A few more minutes went by and the other 2 people in the shop left, just him and me there. Knowing I'm a bit of a tech geek, he told me to take a look at the new "security" system. I couldn't believe it. The security cam was mounted in a corner, the wires went through the wall, to the room behind it, then came back through the wall and fed directly into the b&w monitor that was mounted just below the camera. NO SECURITY RECORDER OR TAPE!

 

[disneynutz]

Wrong, there is no such thing as Disney Police. They have security guards and all actual policing is done by the Orange County Sheriff's Office. As they are a corporation Disney does not have the right to form a police department.

The word Police was used incorrectly. Disney as a corporation does have a security department that numbers in the thousands. Some are uniformed officers, some are plain clothes, and some are investigators. WDW alone has a security staff of over 2500. Disney has always taken care of it's own. Orange County Sheriff has County jurisdiction. Guess who they call if they get a crime report occurring on Disney property, your guessed it, Disney Security.

 

[angwill]

I wrote about our problems with the internet charges we didn't use on our last trip and the problems with the triple charge on our Disney gift card but I don't think it is the norm. I never had problems with improper charges before our last trip so I really don't think it happens often. It is always important to be careful with charges at home or on vacation. As I said I always keep a running total of what I spend daily so I can easily compare it to our print out of room charges. I think the OP's story is a good reminder to make sure you have all your proper reciepts and watch the bill for errors. I am glad the OP shared her story because it is a good reminder to be careful no matter where you are. My own experience or the OP's won't scare me from using room charges in the future since I find it a wonderful convienience that Disney offers. I am sure the OP is only sharing her frustrations so that we can learn from her experience and give her support.

I don't understand why some people doubt the OP's story and if they do I don't know why they would post those thoughts unless it is to make the OP feel worse about the experience she had and that's just not nice.

OP, please post the outcome you have. I am hoping this doesn't cause you too much stress and I hope you get this solved soon. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Shorty82]

The word Police was used incorrectly. Disney as a corporation does have a security department that numbers in the thousands. Some are uniformed officers, some are plain clothes, and some are investigators. WDW alone has a security staff of over 2500. Disney has always taken care of it's own. Orange County Sheriff has County jurisdiction. Guess who they call if they get a crime report occurring on Disney property, your guessed it, Disney Security.

Naturally, that's true of most places with private security I'd think. But when it comes to making arrests or dealing with extreme situations they call Orange County over. From what I've read there are always Orange County Deputies around all four parks, DTD, etc. whenever they are open.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

why did you feel like you had the right to by pass everyone else in line?

to the op...i hope it all works out...keep us posted

Because I had express check out. I paid the day I checked in. I had no charges made to my room. They never handed me my recp't the day I checked in but they charged my credit card. When they do that, they usually just leave your rec't on your door & off you go. There was no rec't on my door. I called them & they said they were sorry, they would print it up and get it to me right away. That was at 9:30am. It was 10:55am and they still had not delivered it to me. I was paid up, all I needed was my recpt. That is why it is called express check out. You do not wait in that line.. you by pass it. Why should I have waited on the line when I had the express, they had my money for the last 12 days! they never gave me the recp't That is not my error but theirs. Do you see where I am coming from. I didn't have to sign anything, they didn't have to check anything.. it was all done 12 days ago when I arrived. I had a 0 balance.. they forgot to give me something showing I had no balance. I like proof I paid something. Just as the OP was not given a recp't for purchase, I was not given one for mine. My purchase was my room. Don't you get one when you pay for your room? Not meaning to sound nasty, but I took the extra time during my check in to do this. Why should I be penalized for Disney's error

 

[A Mickeyfan]

When you check in, don't you have to sign anyway to pay your room balance if you have one? How would the OP know exactly what she was signing for? Visitors expect and trust Disney CM's to know what they are doing. She states that her room key says no charging and she paid for her room on her CC, not her room keys as I understand it, this would leave $495.00 left for the tickets (of the $500 limit) on her room key with no initial charges.

Why would the OP make this up? What would it gain her to do so? She is just venting her frustrations, is upset and looking for advice. I'm glad she has posted it, so now when I go for the first time in Oct. I will watch them like a hawk when I sign in and ask questions if they try to rush through it and not assume they are doing the right thing.

I've read quite a few posts about charges on room keys that are not valid. What a shame as this makes an advertised convenience untrustworthy and most inconvenient to those unlucky visitors when they get their bill that they have to report and sometimes fight to get them fixed.

When they added the $8 for my Benedryl that I was told was free to my charge card, they did it thru the signature they had on file when I checked in. Even though I had no charging priv's to my room (I always specifiy that I don't want them) with the key card, I was still charged on my credit card for something I did not sign for. The billing department did not know that they were given to me by the front desk night manager (guess they didn't read the notes), saw that it was delivered to my room & went ahead and charged me. Which when I called after reading my recpt (that was on my door the day of check out), they took it off when they read the notes...that billing did not read so yeah, something small, but never the less went onto my credit card that I did not sign for & I didn't have charging priv's on my key card.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Absolutely Nothing!

Right, it has nothing to do with it... the CM's transfer from resort to resort. That has no basis here... guess they just wanted to be in our conversation

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Naturally, that's true of most places with private security I'd think. But when it comes to making arrests or dealing with extreme situations they call Orange County over. From what I've read there are always Orange County Deputies around all four parks, DTD, etc. whenever they are open.

You are right! By law they have to. Also, if some haven't noticed, OC is there handing out speeding tickets for the last year or so! They handed to roads back to the county from what I heard. They let them give out the tickets and if I heard correctly, the county gives them money or helps maintain the roads.. not sure which. Sort of like a trade off, let us catch your guests speeding and make money off of them (TOO) and we will help with the up-keep of your roads

 

[JennyDrake]

However, having worked in retail for a while, the owners of the store I worked for constantly stressed to us that no matter what we charged to a customers card, if the customer disputed that charge, we could not legally hold them to that charge unless we were able to produce a signed receipt for that charge...

I also have a retail business and whte they are saying IS correct. You need to contact your credit card compnay and (here is the phrase) "initiate a chargeback." They will send you paperwork to fill out; it is not complicated. Be concise, and non-emotional. Usually the procedure is for them to credit your account until the fully resolve the matter.

I know you are upset, and I would be too, but I doubt the CM just pocketed the money. I would write it off to human error and POOR customer service. Please do send a letter to guest services and the resort manager. Again, factual, non ranting letters work best.