Be very careful with Disney Phone Reservations

[megnsamsgracie]

there were still rooms available at POP and ASMo at the end of the free dining, I keep checking our dates to see how busy it will be!

 

[CindyBella]

on hold right no waiting for a cro coordinator. I was booked on a friday for three nights at BWI PH rate. I called on sunday to see if it was available starting a day later for 3 nights. they said it was so i booked flights accordingly.......guess what?? i am only booked for 2 nights and now they can not get the 3rd at BWI. we are only spending 3 days at WDW before we go to NY for 6 nights........I am furious. on top of that the supervisor seems all to amused to keep me holding for the past 24 minutes.........I want handled tonight.

 

[boomhauer]

Yeah, this is a tough one. Definitely sounds like you got a CM who wasn't paying attention. Sadly, there probably isn't much Disney will do to rectify it. I don't believe the calls are recorded. I believe there has to be a disclaimer at the beginning of calls and I haven't heard that when calling Disney.

Only thing I can suggest is for you to call back, speak to another manager, have them look at the ressie you cancelled, see who the CM was, and go speak to them. Of course, they'll probably deny it, but if they do admit to giving you false information, Disney really should do something to make amends.

Good luck.

 

[zurgswife]

I was able to change hotels last year during free dining at the final payment dates....45 days out I think....I would try again on that day to see if anything is available...I was able to switch an entire week from CRS to ASM 2 rooms no less

 

[penjen]

Are you sure the original reservation doesn't have free dining? The confirmation online doesn't state if you have free dining. It will be listed on your snail mail documents though.
hth

 

[petesimac]

Why can't you cancel...and then call back to re-book? Are you leaving soon?

 

[Mrs. D]

If Disney won't help...just try a TA...they can go thru a travel wholesaler that buys BLOCKS OF ROOMS from WDW and other resorts/hotels...so they may have availability that way. Unfortunantly a wholesaler can only speak to TA's...most TA's use these agencies anyway as they put packages together and do most of the research and work. Good luck!!

Also, the call ay very well have been monitored, and the booking agent should be req. to keep some kind of notes or journal when gathering info on what you guys spoke about.

 

[missmun52]

I have been able to do this twice getting Pop both times during free dining. One change was a recent as last week.

If your dates are 9/1 -9/5 for example, you may put it in the computer and it show up not avalible but if you play with the dates it may show up. I found out that sometimes they require a MINIMUM night stay!

I needed 9/1 - 9/10

I played with the dates and

9/1 - 9/13 showed up Preferred and low and behold 9/1 - 9/14 showed up avalible standard (what I wanted). After checking this out online I called to try for my original dates, then asked them to try again extending it to the dates I knew would work and guess what it did. i called back 2 min later and reduced the lenght of stay and now I will be at Pop!!

I did the same thing for another fam with different dates and had to extend their stay over 8/26 by about 8 nights to get into Pop.

Try it and see if it works out for you online, you may also try going the other way meaning with original dates of 9/1 you start from 8/26 keeping your desired dates with the range. Who knows, your vacation might not be lost if it works out for you!

 

[septbaby]

If you still want to Disney they are still advertising so I think rooms at Value resorts are available. Go online and try to book your trip. That way you did it and will have confirmation and Disney will have to do something if that one get screwed up. Just take your time and be sure you select the right info. I booked our Free Dining package last month just this way.

 

[imatoad]

We usually book through our AAA TA with great success, however we've booked room only through Disney and they've botched things to the 10th degree. I love Disney, but their res. system leaves a great deal to be desired. We will now book everything through our TA.

 

[JillL.]

dont give up...call back everyday till 6/24

maybe something at pop will open up it useually does...people cancel or move up.


keep trying
Jill L.

 

[Nancyg56]

Are the phone calls recorded at CRO? Ya know, the thing you hear from some reservations that the call may be monitored for quality or something like that, maybe CRO also does that and they could actually "hear the conversation" to verify that the free dining package *was* confirmed.

When you hear that the phone conversation may be monitored or recorded for quality control you are being informed that this may happen in order to comply with the law. In most call center environments less than 20 percent of the calls are recorded, and often the percentage is even less than that. It is expensive.

 

[MickeyMo'sBo]

Thank-you all for your suggestions. Unfortunately I could not get anything worked out on the original ressie. We did book for later in September at Music and will try to move it up later.

Either way we are going to be able to be at Disney!

Still a couple of lessons learned:

1. Get and write down the agents name when you make the reservation
2. Have the agent read back all of the details of the reservation, document exactly what is included
3. If you are unsure, call back and have another agent confirm what is on your reservation.

I am sure that once we get there the trip will be magical!

 

[LorilieMarie]

I don't think Disney is as flexible anymore.....Two years ago we booked during free dining and then found out some friends booked also but did not know about the free dining. They called and got the free dining and a refund for the dining plan they paid for. I wonder if it is all in who you talk to.

 

[mgilmer]

After a similar snafu several years ago with a different company, I started recording ALL my conversations with travel related vendors (hotels, rental cars, airlines, etc.). There is no legal issue because I advise the first person I get on the phone that I am giving them permission to record the call and I am doing the same for security purposes. I have had a couple of reps balk at being recorded but none have refused my business because of it and I have never had any problems with getting a company to live up to its commitments as a result. It is a shame that business in this country has come to the state where it is necessary to do this (remember when your word was your bond and the customer is always right?) but you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[asta]

I posted this last week but think it bears repeating. We booked through the Travel Company and somehow they messed up the type of room that we were booking. They were able and willing to fix it by using an override even though no rooms were showing to be available. In our case, the original reservation did have a record that we had originally requested our particular type of room. They didn't have a note of when it got changed but we had added a night a couple of months ago and the guess is that the reservation was changed then. It did take three calls to reservations, one very lengthy, to get everything put back to our original request. It could have been that they were willing because of the information on the original reservation.