Calling Member Services on a Saturday

[kim532]

I have been trying to call member services today and have gotten a busy signal for the past hour. Is there something unusual going on or is this normal for Saturday's.

Thanks.

 

[tiggercrew]

I think Saturday is a busy day, but I also read on another thread that usually the wait time decreases toward the end of the day. If you haven't already gotten through, you might want to try around 3 or 4...might save you some time!

Good luck with your plans.

 

[doconeill]

I actually had a callback from our guide earlier on something else, and he said that they are particularly busy on Saturdays and to call right at 1. I wasn't able to, and got busy signals for a bit, but I think I got lucky and managed to get into the system around 1:30pm. I did have to wait about 10 minutes before getting through to a CM though.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I am on hold with MS right now, and they suggested that the wait time would be up to 25 minutes!!

"With members making their holiday plans for later this year, we are experiencing high call volume. Therefore, your wait time may be longer than usual. We thank you for your patience while we assist each member with their vacation request. Thank you."



Got through--made my ressie! Good luck to all.

 

[LisaS]

In the latest issue of Vacation Magic, they suggest calling between 3pm and 5pm on Saturdays:

Remember that Member Services typically experiences low call volume on Thursdays from 7-10 p.m. Eastern Time and on Saturdays from 3-5 p.m. Eastern Time

 

[JTimber]

I called once so far on a Saturday and I'll never do it again. It took me 15 tries or more to get through and then I had a 30 minute hold. This was about 3:00 so I didn't have luck later in the day.

Everytime I call MS I appreciate the fixed week Timeshares I own even more. Might have a fixed week but you know what I just show up, no phone calls, nothing. Room is ready and waiting. Best of all I know my view.

Flexibility has it's price and MS is DVC's..............



Jay

 

[kim532]

I just got off the phone. The recording said a 10 minute wait, but mine was 20-25 minutes. I am so excited. I just confirmed my stay at the VWL. It is a rental of sorts (to complicated for this post).

I can't wait. We already know we want to buy at AKV and with the phone experience today I think they need to extend their hours at MS. But I'll buy anyway.

Kim

 

[dvcnewgirl]

I am on hold with MS right now, and they suggested that the wait time would be up to 25 minutes!!

"With members making their holiday plans for later this year, we are experiencing high call volume. Therefore, your wait time may be longer than usual. We thank you for your patience while we assist each member with their vacation request. Thank you."



Got through--made my ressie! Good luck to all.

Yep my wait was 25 min too!

 

[LisaS]

I just got off the phone. The recording said a 10 minute wait, but mine was 20-25 minutes. I am so excited. I just confirmed my stay at the VWL. It is a rental of sorts (to complicated for this post).

I can't wait. We already know we want to buy at AKV and with the phone experience today I think they need to extend their hours at MS. But I'll buy anyway.

Kim

Are you saying that you are not a DVC member, but you managed to get MS to confirm a reservation for you?

 

[gortman65]

I called today about 2:15 pm Eastern time and had about a 20 minute wait. It wasn't too painful, however, as I just put the phone on speaker mode and listened to the Disney hold music while we ate lunch!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Obviously, Saturday hours are a hit! I called once, in January, and I also had a nearly 30 minute wait.

Bobbi

 

[doconeill]

I guess I got lucky. I actually may have started around 1:10pm, but I didn't try constantly, but about 4 tries in I at least made it to the menu.

Depending how early you call, I would always add about 100% to the estimated wait time you get when you first get it. They work just like wait times at Disney - they are how long the last person to make it to the front did - but there are far more people behind him than were in front when he started.

Eventually it reaches equilibrium, but only experience or actual data can tell when that happens.

 

[shellbelle1971]

I called right at 1:03 today and was only on hold for two minutes.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

Are you saying that you are not a DVC member, but you managed to get MS to confirm a reservation for you?

I am curious about this too

 

[kim532]

Since you all are curious, here is how I had MS confirm my reservation without being a DVC member. A lady who owns a timeshare in Hawaii did an trade into VWL for a week using Interval International. Due to circumstances she ws unable to use her reservation and due to penalties and other hoops she thought the best option was to get a guest certificate for her week.

She got me the guest certificate and I paid her for the week. The guest certficate had the reservation number on it. When people trade in through Interval International there is a $95 fee paid for resort perks. SO I called today, confirmed my reservation and paid my $95.

I got a really good price (better than renting from the boards) because she felt in a bind and it is a win for me.

I'll admit I am nervous, but I confirmed my reservation. I have paperwork showing my reservation. So I am hoping all goes well. It seems almost to good to be true. This is my first time renting points.

Kim

 

[castleri]

 

[CarolMN]

Since you all are curious, here is how I had MS confirm my reservation without being a DVC member. A lady who owns a timeshare in Hawaii did an trade into VWL for a week using Interval International. Due to circumstances she ws unable to use her reservation and due to penalties and other hoops she thought the best option was to get a guest certificate for her week (which is only suppose to be used for friends and family, but we are all friends on the web, right!)

She got me the guest certificate and I paid her for the week. The guest certficate had the reservation number on it. When people trade in through Interval International there is a $95 fee paid for resort perks. SO I called today, confirmed my reservation and paid my $95.

I got a really good price (better than renting from the boards) becasue she felt in a bind and it is a win for me.

I'll admit I am nervous, but I confirmed my reservation. I have paperwork showing my reservation. So I am hoping all goes well. It seems almost to good to be true. This is my first time renting points.

Kim

Kim - Thanks for satisfying our curiosity.

This is a perfectly legitimate call to MS. Those who use II to trade into DVC have to call MS -to pay the fee, add DP or ME (if desired) and to add requests to the reservation.

 

[kim532]

Thanks Carol,
I am still a newbie on a lot of things and didn't know if this would stir up controversy or not.

Kim

 

[LIFERBABE]

Well, Saturday is by far my least favorite day to call MS. I am happy for the hours, but it has been a very different experience than when I call thru the week.

First, the hold times, always greater than 15 min and y-day I called after 3pm. You can tell the newbies are the ones working Saturdays. I went round and round with the lady y-day, because she was trying to charge me too many points for a ressie. I kept totalling it up and she seemed irritated that I didnt believe her. She then put me on hold and came back with my same total. She wanted off that phone so bad, I could hear her thoughts! The feeling was mutual, but I didnt want to hang up and call back for fear of another 15 min wait and it was already close to closing, so whoever answered next would have been really ready to go!

Calling on Saturday is a necessary evil for me, but I do plan to write DVC and let them know, if they are going to do it, they should do it right. Right now it seems like a half-hearted effort.

 

[MermaidJan]

I called MS about 3 weeks ago on a Saturday. I called at exactly 1:00 pm and got right thru. No wait at all.

I was impressed. I guess after reading all these posts I should have been really impressed.

And I got my reservation for the end of Sept begining of Oct at BWV.