Be sure to check your resort bill!

[catho72]

Hi all,

We returned from a wonderful WDW trip two weeks ago. I never received a bill under my door or via email so I called today to have one emailed to me. While looking at it, I noticed a charge from La Cantina for $54. We were on the QSDP, so there shouldn't have been any food charges! I called WDW and explained to them my problem. The CM told me that all of the credits had been used that evening at MK. We were in Epcot in the morning and had lunch at La Cantina. She said sometimes the system doesn't update in a timely manner so when we went to the Main Street Bakery, they hadn't already taken our lunch credits off our account. It's a "known system glitch", to which I said, "well, that's a major flaw in the system." The CM was very gracious and told me they would refund the $54 charge. She volunteered the refund....I did not ask for one.

I am not angry with WDW and think I received excellent customer service today. I just want to warn everyone to check your bill because if this happened to me, it could happen to you.

 

[ctl]

Thanks for the heads up. My DS and DD are going for 2 days by themselves in a month, so I will be sure and tell them to check.

 

[Jrabbit910]

Good to know. Thank you for the heads up! You would think that something like this would be updated in a timely matter so they didnt have mistakes like this!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Glad you noticed the charge and had it fixed.

That's why I refuse to put a credit card onto our reservation for room charging privileges -- we had the same thing happen a few years ago with a restaurant charging our room as opposed to using DDP credits and it was a bit of a mess to straighten out.

 

[Raksha]

I just keep track of what meals we have outstanding on our DDP. That way I know what I have on my card. Same way I keep track of balances on my gift cards that we bring for purchases.

The only thing we use our credit card for when we are in WDW is tipping.

 

[catho72]

I just keep track of what meals we have outstanding on our DDP. That way I know what I have on my card. Same way I keep track of balances on my gift cards that we bring for purchases.

The only thing we use our credit card for when we are in WDW is tipping.

I do keep track of my meals.....My receipt said three meals were used at La Cantina. I never signed a receipt for a room charge for the meal. We knew our meals were expiring that day so we went into the bakery to get danishes for breakfast to use up our remaining credits. Before ordering, I asked how many meals were left assuming they had already taken off our lunch from our available credits. Because I never received a bill from the resort, I was unaware of the charges until today.

 

[PictureJumpr]

Another easy way to avoid "accidentally" having meals charged to your room instead of using credits is to use a child's card (or an adult's which has been set to "No Charging Privileges") to settle the bill whenever eating on credits.

This makes it impossible for the restaurant to charge you when it shouldn't - because the card will be valid for dining credits but will not be valid for charging.

The hotel desk can set "No Privileges" on any or all of your cards - Children's cards come automatically set by default to "no charging."

 

[Granfan]

The thing to remember is there are sometimes mistakes even if you keep up with it, but disney is very good about correcting them when you realize it. At Tusker House server took off credits twice our from dining plan, so we had none showing when we had dinner at Brown Derby. I had kept up and knew we did have credits left. It took some time, but it got straitened out by a manager who called our resort. A couple of times the restaurant wouldn't deal with problems (like at Jiko) and Tutto Italia but I got everything resolved by the concierge at my resort.
There are great things about the dining plan but I look forward to my next two trips after the October one when I will not get the dining plan. If you don't know of a problem until you get the bill at home, call about it.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Glad you noticed the charge and had it fixed.

That's why I refuse to put a credit card onto our reservation for room charging privileges -- we had the same thing happen a few years ago with a restaurant charging our room as opposed to using DDP credits and it was a bit of a mess to straighten out.

exactly - we don't put a CC on file either. One time a cart CM tried to charge snacks to our card rather than use existing snack credits - luckily we didn't have a card on file.

 

[Raksha]

I do keep track of my meals.....My receipt said three meals were used at La Cantina. I never signed a receipt for a room charge for the meal. We knew our meals were expiring that day so we went into the bakery to get danishes for breakfast to use up our remaining credits. Before ordering, I asked how many meals were left assuming they had already taken off our lunch from our available credits. Because I never received a bill from the resort, I was unaware of the charges until today.

I meant that I don't go by what the receipt says we have left. I keep a tally on my phone and just tick off each credit we use as we use it.

 

[navywifetill2002]

Another easy way to avoid "accidentally" having meals charged to your room instead of using credits is to use a child's card (or an adult's which has been set to "No Charging Privileges") to settle the bill whenever eating on credits.

This makes it impossible for the restaurant to charge you when it shouldn't - because the card will be valid for dining credits but will not be valid for charging.

The hotel desk can set "No Privileges" on any or all of your cards - Children's cards come automatically set by default to "no charging."

Thanks for the idea! We'll use DD's card when ordering to avoid this!

 

[TheRatPack]

We print off the dining cards on the Creative DISigns board. That way we can check off every time we use one. I like the idea of using the child's card though....I'll have to remember that too

 

[Srbright]

Hi all,

.......edit......
The CM told me that all of the credits had been used that evening at MK. We were in Epcot in the morning and had lunch at La Cantina. She said sometimes the system doesn't update in a timely manner so when we went to the Main Street Bakery, they hadn't already taken our lunch credits off our account.
......edit.......
I am not angry with WDW and think I received excellent customer service today. I just want to warn everyone to check your bill because if this happened to me, it could happen to you.

Wait a minute. I seriously had to think about this. You are posting what seems to be a complaint because you did not keep track of your allotments and got free money from WDW for your mistake?

This would not fly at a bank and shouldn't fly at Disney World. If you had $800 in the bank at breakfast and wrote a $200 check; you would have $600 in the bank. If you looked at your balance at dinner and said "Oh, I have $800" and wrote a check for $800, then not only would you be responsible for $1000 in charges but also likely a hefty overdraft fee.

You are complaining because they charged you for a service that you used and got value out of. It isnt as though you are saying that you didn't use those credits, both at La Cantina and Main Street Bakery. Don't you feel as though you had some responsibility to know how many credits you had and/or used?

You used it and got the value for it. Why should Disney refund you money because you made a mistake?

Stacy

 

[Allison]

I understand saying to check your resort bill. But, wasn't your resort bill correct? You had used up your credits, so the amount was charged to your bill. That doesn't seem like a mistake in billing to me.

Use of dining credits not being posted quickly seems to be a different issue.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Hi all,

We returned from a wonderful WDW trip two weeks ago. I never received a bill under my door or via email so I called today to have one emailed to me. While looking at it, I noticed a charge from La Cantina for $54. We were on the QSDP, so there shouldn't have been any food charges! I called WDW and explained to them my problem. The CM told me that all of the credits had been used that evening at MK. We were in Epcot in the morning and had lunch at La Cantina. She said sometimes the system doesn't update in a timely manner so when we went to the Main Street Bakery, they hadn't already taken our lunch credits off our account. It's a "known system glitch", to which I said, "well, that's a major flaw in the system." The CM was very gracious and told me they would refund the $54 charge. She volunteered the refund....I did not ask for one.

I am not angry with WDW and think I received excellent customer service today. I just want to warn everyone to check your bill because if this happened to me, it could happen to you.

We've used the dining plan on many trips and never encountered this problem (with the system not updating immediately). I'm just curious did you look at your Main Street Bakery bill at all? I would have to make sure my credits were down to 0 - if it showed credits used there's no reason for them to bill you. Mainly curious I know the situation has been taken care of.

 

[jenlov]

There's an app you can download to your phone to keep track of dining credits. I forget what it's called, but each time you eat or snack, you just add them in so you'll always know what you have. And I think you can have the CM scan your card to find out the balance before you purchase as well. Don't quote me on that, though, lol. It's been 2 yrs since we've gone!

I like the idea of using a non-priveleged card to "pay" for meal credits, though. Good idea. I still can't decide whether we want to have charging privileges on one of our cards or not. It seems like it would be convenient, but we were also planning on using the Disney Visa to get discounts on merchandise if needed. That's the only thing I can think of that we'd need it for. I doubt we'll be eating extra food...at least not very often anyway.

 

[jenrose66]

Wait a minute. I seriously had to think about this. You are posting what seems to be a complaint because you did not keep track of your allotments and got free money from WDW for your mistake?

This would not fly at a bank and shouldn't fly at Disney World. If you had $800 in the bank at breakfast and wrote a $200 check; you would have $600 in the bank. If you looked at your balance at dinner and said "Oh, I have $800" and wrote a check for $800, then not only would you be responsible for $1000 in charges but also likely a hefty overdraft fee.

You are complaining because they charged you for a service that you used and got value out of. It isnt as though you are saying that you didn't use those credits, both at La Cantina and Main Street Bakery. Don't you feel as though you had some responsibility to know how many credits you had and/or used?

You used it and got the value for it. Why should Disney refund you money because you made a mistake?

Stacy

But Disney isn't a bank. The OP was right to be upset and Disney did the right thing by refunding the charges. Thank you OP. I've learned that I can't trust the Disney system to keep track of my meals and even though it's a pain, I will make sure to write down every time I use a credit

 

[bdoyledimou]

and i guess the OP is forgetting that your credit balance is printed on the bottom of the receipt when you use your card-- so it would have said 0 credits available ---

 

[Srbright]

But Disney isn't a bank. The OP was right to be upset and Disney did the right thing by refunding the charges. Thank you OP. I've learned that I can't trust the Disney system to keep track of my meals and even though it's a pain, I will make sure to write down every time I use a credit

No, Disney is a business entity and I for one am not a fan of having Disney absorb the expense of the free food they received. The OP being correct is predicated on the notion the Disney is 100% responsible for making sure you don't go over your credit balance.

I believe the OP and all of us that use the DDP hold no small amout of responsibility for knowing how many credits were spent/used.

Would you feel the same if you went to CG and the CM took off only 1 credit instead of 2? Statistically people do not say anything and use the other credit. But when it goes the other way they have no trouble calling for a reversal.

Stacy

 

[catho72]

OP here,

I did not ask for the money to be refunded, nor did I try to get out of paying for our meals. My goal is not to cheat WDW out of money.....I give it to them willingly each and every trip.....

I am sorry for basing my meals on what is printed on the bottom of the receipt. In my defense, I am looking at our receipt from La Cantina and no where does it say how many entitlements I have left after this meal. Entitlements are taken immediately off of your account (except in this case). We have used the dining plan many times and it has never not been taken immediately off before.

My reason for posting this thread is to let people know that entitlements aren't always immediately taken off your dining plan.