Buying passes at Disney Store ?

[puffkin]

Has anyone had this situation happen to them, I am a little concerned...

I went to my local Disney Store to purchase passes for a friend on Saturday night. I needed 4 adult and 2 child 6 day park hopper plusses, so the total was over $1500. The CM slid all the passes through the register, then I paid with my Disney VISA. An error message came through on the register, and said the passes could not be activated. The manager canceled the transaction and the CM tried to ring up the passes again. The same error message came up, so they voided the second transaction. The manager called Disney and found out that the system needed to activate the passes was down, and that I needed to come back another time.

Anyway, I checked my Disney VISA statement on line today, and the $3,000 is showing as a pending charge on my statement, which reduces my availabe credit limit. I called the cardmember services and she verified that it was the two transactions from the Disney Store making up the pending charges balance. However, she said that she couldn't do anything about it unless it actually gets charged to my card. She said to wait about 7-10 and see if Disney's system cancels the charges. Has anyone else had a situation similar to this before? I don't plan on using my card for a large amount in the next week, but I think it is rotten that my available balance is reduced. What if I had an emergency. Any thoughts?

 

[frankiemom]

O my God---this happened to me on Monday. However mine did go through on the second try. I called my credit card and did have 2 pending charges. She said to call the merchant and have them remove one. I called the Disney store and talked to the manager. He assured me that it was removed. He could not do it as a return because you can't return passes so he had to do it a different way. He said that it should show up on my card the next day (one charge deleted). I called my credit card and they said there are still 2 transactions pending but to give it 3-5 days to see if it posts. Supposedly they cannot tell if the second one was taken off until it posts. So I check my card each day to see what will happen---hopefully by Thurs the latest I should know.

Also, the manager said to make sure I carry the receipt with me to Disney just in case something happened to the activation of the passes while he was doing the "return that isn't really a return". I was like "Oh great!" What a way to start a vacation! I came home a was a mess----my head was spinning and in the midst of all this my son dropped his bottle of juice all over the Disney Store's floor!

My only comfort was when I came home---AP rates were out!

I suggest to call you credit card everyday---I will post if I find out more.

 

[puffkin]

frankiemom,
thanks for the reply. let me know how you make out! I will be checking my card everyday. I will give them until the end of the week before I call the Disney Store and demand that it be taken off. It just doesn't seem right, especially since it wasn't our fault that the system wasn't working.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Well it wasn't $3000 - I was only buying a $100 in disney dollars....but on my credit card it showed the transaction twice and then a credit. It wasn't so much that I couldn't have missed it when it was pending but I started to get upset when I saw the 2 $100 charges....but then I saw the credit. When it actually posts to your account it should be fine....but I would be a little upset too.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I bought 4 day Hoppers for our upcoming trip at the local Disney Store. To be honest, I'm a little bit nervous. Hope everything is in order when I go to use them.

 

[tttdizcrazy]

The same thing happened to me at the end of the March. I was buying two 6-day PHP passes with my Check Card. The CM ran the transaction through 3 times and the passes never activiated. She assured me that the charges did not go through and I left the store without passes and no receipts. The next day I had very little money in my account & I knew exactly what happen. I had to track down the CM that did the transaction to confirm my story, but I was told the store could not refund the money & I would have to wait the 7 to 10 days for it to roll off. What a hurt!!! I the charges were finally removed. I think I will pay with a check next time.

 

[frankiemom]

puffkin,

I just checked my credit card I was only billed once. Good luck with yours.

 

[peachgirl]

It's happened to me twice! Thanks puffkin for the link to this thread!

I just got the card and I've only made 3 purchases, each over $1000..not at the Disney store but at Wal Mart and 2 other retail stores.

2 of the 3 times there was a denial at the register and they had to call for approval. One of these was over a week ago and the other was several days ago. When I checked my account online yesterday, my pending charges were very high and my credit limit was lower than what it should have been by $2000 or so.

I called BankOne and found that I had been charged twice for the 2 purchases that had the denial problem. She said she removed the charges and my online account shows the correct credit limit, but the pending charges have changed to a different amount that makes no sense at all!

Just thought I'd throw my experience in on this thread as well. This isn't normal, it shouldn't be happening and if they do this again, this card is history for me!

 

[WDWorBUST]

I'm not sure about you guys but I don't think it's just one credit card. Mine was my Disney Visa but I think it would have been the same with whatever card I used. My problem with the Disney Visa is the way their online account information is set up... I hate the pending charges. And it could just be Bankone....I've never used them before. I'm not dis-satisfied with the card yet....but I'm not just thrilled either. I might like it more when I actually see a reward.

 

[beattyfamily]

Oh my goodness!! This has happened to me too at the Disney Store yesterday! I just did a separate post on it!

I was buying 3 AP's with my Debit Card!!!! When she was all done with the first transaction the register said "invalid Disney Club card, void transaction". She had to get the manager (who sold me an AP a week ago with my DC card discount!) and she called her technical team number and was told the register has a chip in it with DC info and I'm not on it anymore...she could do nothing to help me and told me to call the DC number cause it's their fault.

I called them right away and she told me it's nothing on the DC end and to go back in and have them call DC. THe manager of the store would NOT call DC and only said she could try again and 'hope' it worked this time.

She tried again, this time with my credit card because I already knew that although she voided the last transaction with my debit card that the bank was still holding that $1018 for a few days and that the 'void' she did, the credit, won't go through for a few days. The charges are instant, the credits take days.

Thank goodness I knew about this or my bank account would be out $2000 rather than just the $1000!!! I would be bouncing checks!

That's the only negative thing I have to say about using debit cards...you never know when you are going to have a problem like this where they are going to hold your money!

Anyway, it DID work the second time and I've got my AP's. My bank account is a mess though for a few days.

 

[frankiemom]

I forgot to add that the same thing happened to me with the Disney Card as it did to beattyfamily. Not only did I have the problem with my credit card but at first my Disney discount would not work either.

It came up "invalid Dsiney club number" . The manager called they said that when they renewed my card something must have happened on Disney's end and it wasn't in their computer but I did have an updated card. When he tried the transaction the second time my credit card and my Disney card went through. He told me to call Disney anyway to find out why it did not go through the first time.

I called they said that me card was fine! They really need to do something about this.

 

[photobob]

I was planning to buy my 5 day PHP tickets at the Disney Store. Should I buy the online through the Disney site? My trip is exactly one month away. This sounds a bit scary to me. I hate that they've started charging more for purchasing passes at check in and with no DC discount, this is one more thing to deal with that I'd rather not have to..Bob