CM was very RUDE on the phone and hung up on me!

[Disney8704]

A couple weeks ago I called to make my ADRs and when I did I asked the lady I talked to (who was very nice) if she could add that we are celebrating our anniversary to our ADR. And she did. So a couple days ago I called to make my final ADR and to make a change in 2 of my ADRs and afterwards (at the time she was nice) I asked the lady I talked to if she could check to see if my note was put onto all my ADRs or just the very 1st one. She confirmed it was just the 1st one. So I kindly asked her if she could add the note to the rest of my ADRs. And thats when she started getting really rude. She was like you have so many ADRS! I will go ahead and add it to a couple of your reservations but the rest you can tell them at the podium when you check in. It was like OMG, she did a whole 180! She got down right snappy and mean. I was very nice on the phone the entire time and at 1st she was to until I asked her to do 1 small thing. She acted like she just didnt wanna do it. And to top things off, at 1st I just made my new ADR and then asked her to put the notes on and then when I went to make a change in my ADRs, I managed to get 1 changed done and just as I was about to tell her the other change, she hung up on me!! And I know she did because next thing I knew I heard a click and then the whole message about if you wanna take a survey thing. So I had to hang up and redial disney dining and waited for another 10 mins to connect to someone to change my other ADR. I wasnt even about to ask the other CM I talked to if she could add the note to the rest of them although I guess I should have cuz that CM was VERY nice and she prob would have done it. After I got off the phone DH saw I was upset I told DH what happened and he was like you should have said Listen, you are being paid to do your job which entails making reservations and putting notes on those reservations. Now do you job or connect me to someone who will do their job. DH wasnt very pleased at all. I thought for sure he was gonna get the number from my phone call disney dining up and complain to someone. But he didnt. Has this ever happened to anyone before? Should I call back and try 1 more time to get the note put on the rest of my ADRs or should I just say screw it and dont even bother?

 

[Amy&Dan]

That really stinks! I would call back and see if they will do it. They really should, I doubt its that big of a deal. In all my calls to Disney Dining I have only gotten a rude cm once or twice. I would also call back and have them read back all your adr's to make sure you are still covered. The witch might have cancelled a few of them since she was so hostile.

Don't suppose you got her name did you? You might call back and ask to speak to a manager. They should be able to track the ADR you made with her and maybe explain to her that hanging up on a customer is not the Disney way!

 

[crzy4my2]

I have to say that I have called about 5 times during the planning of this trip (Started in Sept) because I have not been in about 20 years and I have ??'s. 3 of those times the CM was just NASTY!. So bad I wrote a letter about her. I actually ended up going through a travel agent because when calling to book the trip the woman was horrible. I asked about 2 different resorts. we were planning on staying at one or the other but I had a few questions. I got a huff and puff from her and I was told that it was NOT her job. She was Pi$$ed that I didn't have the resort I wanted picked out when calling her.
My SIL got hung/hanged up on when she called to ask about the Park hopper packed that was released to the public. She was told she was wasting the CM's time.
If I was going to WDW and dealing with these CM's I would of Xcld my trip..but what makes me happy is that I won't have to deal with them while I'm there

 

[Lynn5700]

I have been having problems with aome of the DD CM's on the phone.

I usually get nice people then sometimes I get rude CM's...one gave me an attitude when I asked if they could note that we are going to be on our honeymoon.

Just a little bit ago I got an attitude from a group dining CM.Very snippy and not disney like at all and I had to spell my last name like ten times lol.

One CM had to go and fix my name on some of my ADRs cause they had my name spelled wrong and they also had my wedding lunch booked at twelve on the 9th instead of the 7th,I have no clue how that happened.Another ADR was for a breakfast when it was supposed to be a dinner so I have to call back tomorrow and get them all fixed and make sure that they have all the times right.

 

[Vemnox]

I can tell you that "putting a note in an ADR" really means nothing and it won't be read by the podium (these are more internal notes for Disney Dining folks). While it was, of course, no excuse for her to hang up on you - it is understandable from her end if you had many, many reservations to just be frustrated to have to go through each one (you can only go one-by-one and it takes some time).
However (like you said), it's her job and if she doesn't like it she should probably try moving to a new area. This is another reason why it's so very important to write down the name of the person you spoke with every time! Asking to speak to a Dining manager over the phone, though, will take an extraordinary amount of time and you probably won't even be calling to the same place (Disney Dining is spread across several cities and even states!). It's better to just contact Guest Communications directly in that regard.

Finally, confirmation numbers are everything. Think of them as an insurance policy if anything goes wrong. Always always always write them down and bring them with you!!

Sorry you had a bad experience! Just remember, you can always call back and get someone else!!

 

[marivaid]

Having worked Disney Dining, I can tell you that "putting a note in an ADR" really means nothing and it won't be read by the podium (these are more internal notes for Disney Dining folks).

That's not been our experience. When we celebrated DM's birthday, I had forgotten to mention it when originally booking 1 ADR (Chef Mickey's). I had to remind our server about it. But at 'Ohana, the CM at the podium saw it on our reservation when we checked in, and they had a signed card and lei waiting for her.

This was in late 2006 though, things may have changed. Either way we'll be celebrating a birthday in April and I have it noted on some of our ADRs.

OP, sorry the CM was rude to you. I hope you did the survey after she hung up on you!

 

[joenan88]

Does anyone else feel like they should apologize for changing a reservation or adding or changing an ADR? Everytime I call I can tell how the phone call is going to go immediately by how the CM states her/his name. I do not expect them to be excited about doing a revision for me but it is their job! They should be curtious and respectful..if it wasn't for us spending our money in Disney they would not have a job!

 

[goofy4tink]

I have to ask...did you do the survey after that first, not so pleasant call? That would have been a good thing to do...I believe it is tied to the CM in some way. I would have given out very poor marks. Then I would have called back and gotten a new CM.
There is no excuse for rude behaviour, never. I don't care if the guest is being confrontational and rude, the CM needs to maintain a civil, pleasant attitude....oops, not saying the OP was rude or confrontational!!!

 

[kscottiemom]

I think maybe there must be a lack of training and/or supervision when I read so many posts referring to discourteous treatment. I am left wondering if this is a problem to be addressed by Human Resources. I think I read or heard recently that Disney has reduced training time. Maybe I am imagining this, but I think not. It is not acceptable. "courteous" is part of the Mickey package.

Also, in the hospitality business, and yes, Mickey Magic is a business, the phone contact is often the first contact a future guest has. It sets the tone, often, for the entire trip. Therefore, when you can't make eye contact you need to offer a smile in your voice, to convey interest, concern, enthusiasm, and the thought that "you are a very important guest." (because you are)

I have heard that there is a staffing issue with Disney. I don't know if that relates just to parks, or if if carries over to all other departments.

Please try to erase the bad experience and move ahead, looking forward to an incredibly special place to celebrate your anniversary, and Congratulations.

 

[DVC Jen]

I have to ask...did you do the survey after that first, not so pleasant call? That would have been a good thing to do...I believe it is tied to the CM in some way. I would have given out very poor marks. Then I would have called back and gotten a new CM.
There is no excuse for rude behaviour, never. I don't care if the guest is being confrontational and rude, the CM needs to maintain a civil, pleasant attitude....oops, not saying the OP was rude or confrontational!!!

exactly - it would have been sweet revenge to be 100% honest about the service you got with that CM.

Sorry this happened to you. Hope the rest of your day went well.

 

[KorieDWnut]

That is AWFUL!!
You should call back and speak to a manager!

I think the burn out rate for the phone CMs is high. I called the reservation lines at least 6 times in the last 2 weeks, lol I keep changing my mind about things and I got 1 semi-rude CM. I had heard about rude phone CMs but never had one. The others were all bubbly and bright and sounded all excited for me and my trip that it added to my excitement! But this one lady I had yesterday just couldn't wait to get off the phone. She even SIGGHHEDD on the phone, like she was bored.

But when I hung up with her and called back 3 hours later, I got another bubbly and excited CM.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

That's a bummer. If I had gotten a cm like that, it really would have spoiled some of the excitement I have to go. Luckily, the two times I called I got really good ones. The first one, Fran, was so sweet and made everything a breeze. I hope that none of the rest of the cm's you encounter have the attitude of that one. I have learned recently in the past few weeks that it is impossible to train someone to be courteous. They either have social skills or they don't. And it's getting more difficult to find those that are naturally nice, energetic people.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

A couple weeks ago I called to make my ADRs and when I did I asked the lady I talked to (who was very nice) if she could add that we are celebrating our anniversary to our ADR. And she did. So a couple days ago I called to make my final ADR and to make a change in 2 of my ADRs and afterwards (at the time she was nice) I asked the lady I talked to if she could check to see if my note was put onto all my ADRs or just the very 1st one. She confirmed it was just the 1st one. So I kindly asked her if she could add the note to the rest of my ADRs. And thats when she started getting really rude. She was like you have so many ADRS! I will go ahead and add it to a couple of your reservations but the rest you can tell them at the podium when you check in. It was like OMG, she did a whole 180! She got down right snappy and mean. I was very nice on the phone the entire time and at 1st she was to until I asked her to do 1 small thing. She acted like she just didnt wanna do it. And to top things off, at 1st I just made my new ADR and then asked her to put the notes on and then when I went to make a change in my ADRs, I managed to get 1 changed done and just as I was about to tell her the other change, she hung up on me!! And I know she did because next thing I knew I heard a click and then the whole message about if you wanna take a survey thing. So I had to hang up and redial disney dining and waited for another 10 mins to connect to someone to change my other ADR. I wasnt even about to ask the other CM I talked to if she could add the note to the rest of them although I guess I should have cuz that CM was VERY nice and she prob would have done it. After I got off the phone DH saw I was upset I told DH what happened and he was like you should have said Listen, you are being paid to do your job which entails making reservations and putting notes on those reservations. Now do you job or connect me to someone who will do their job. DH wasnt very pleased at all. I thought for sure he was gonna get the number from my phone call disney dining up and complain to someone. But he didnt. Has this ever happened to anyone before? Should I call back and try 1 more time to get the note put on the rest of my ADRs or should I just say screw it and dont even bother?

Well, this is just me -- and I don't know how many ADRs you have ... it sounds like several -- but I don't extend my anniversary or birthdays over a whole trip. I make lots of ADRs and maybe on the "special" day, celebrate it over a meal.

I think I would just feel strange booking, say, a week's worth of ADRs or even several days' worth of ADRs and expecting the restaurant or a reservation service rep to continually note "anniversary" on each one.

Like I said, this is just me. I'm in WDW every year for the week of my anniversary, and I make one special ADR where I'd like it noted that DH & I are celebrating that meal as our special, anniversary meal.

 

[SnwflkCts]

Luckily ... I have always gotten very nice CMs. I did notice on the last trip ... the dining CM (though very business like and courteous) just did not have the "magic" others had.

I was glad that on my very first trip (2/2006) I had such a sweet and wonderful phone CM. She made me more excited than I was before! It put me at ease.

I am sorry the OP had such a bad experience . I think training and keeping good workers is difficult everywhere anymore. I would assume there is a high burn out rate!

To the former dining CM - did you have to make a certain quota - was there difficulty with manager if you spent too much time on the phone with one customer? Not to excuse any CM, I was just curious!

 

[cobia214]

Hopefully this will shed some light on the subject. My wife works for a phone casting company that disney outsources its dining to. remeber that most of these people are independent contractors that you are talking to. Some dont always buy in to the full magic expierence or cast member attitude that you would expect. Basically you can be talking to someone at their house, who has never even been to WDW.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

When you call Walt Disney World, unless you really know a direct number, you will get one of two offices.

The Disney Reservations Center (DRC) includes Walt Disney Travel Company (WDTC), Central Reservations Office (CRO), Disney Dining, and some other lesser known information lines. To the best of my knowledge the DRC locations are in the International Drive area, Tampa, Kansas City and Houston and Salt Lake City. There may be more. Some of the people working at the DRC call centers may never have been to either WDW or DL (or both).

The Main Switchboard (407-824-2222) is also where all calls to Disney Resorts go if you are dialing the phone number on the back of your reservations form. Also that is where calls go if you dial the Operator from your room, and possibly even calls to the Front Desk. The Main Switchboard people will, if asked, also identify themselves as Guest Services. They can put you through to any number on WDW.

At both DRC and MS they have access to a computer which has lots of Guest Information and it is very well organized. Actually, all CMs who have access to a terminal, or who even can access the "Cast Portal" from off-site, have access to this Guest Services information. I will often open an extra window when I am responding to people and go into the Portal for the latest official information.

 

[jedi jen]

OP,sorry you're CM turned cranky. It reminds me of what happened to me last week. I am going in August, and I had previously called at my 180 mark and made ADRs for my 9 night trip doing the deluxe dining plan. I had to call again last week to make a couple of changes and an additional ADR. When I told the CM last week, that I wanted to make an ADR for my August trip, she proceeded to tell me (a couple of times) that I really should wait until one month before my trip to make my ADRs so that I would be sure, and that even though I was within my 180 days, August was too far away. Like I said, she said this several times as I made my reservation. Then, when I got ready to change one of my reservations, she gave me the whole speech again, accompanied by the "I told you so . . ." speech, and the "See, this is why you wait until one month out, so you won't have to make changes and you are sure . . ." speech. I only made one reservation with her, and one change. I tried to explain that planning was part of the fun for me, and that I have thought about my reservations a lot, and am pretty sure. The one that I changed was CRT--which she even agreed that you need to make that one 180 days out. Anyway, after one ADR and one change, I was done with her.

I still have a couple of changes to do, so I will need to call back. Granted I always have a few changes, and I am hoping that is not a problem. I also always cancel ADRs that we are not going to use. Whew, thanks for listening DISers. Glad to get this off my chest. Who else can I share this with, other than you? Group hug.

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

Having worked Disney Dining, I can tell you that "putting a note in an ADR" really means nothing and it won't be read by the podium (these are more internal notes for Disney Dining folks).

I'm sorry if this comes across as snarky (I really don't mean it that way) but this isn't true at all.

We had our engagement celebration noted on all of our ADRs on the phone - and it was always mentioned in some way when we arrived for our meal. Leis at 'Ohana, a congrats dessert at Le Cellier, etc.

 

[Disney8704]

To those who asked if I did the survey no I didnt. I was so shocked and upset that she hung up on me that it didnt register in my brain hey do the survey. I just hung up and automatically redialed the number. I do have a lot of ADRs but that shouldnt matter. I could have 100 ADRs and still shouldnt change anything. They are being paid to do their job. They know what they were getting themselves into when they took on the job. If they dont like people calling to make ADRs, changes or having a simple note added to their ADRs then they shouldnt be doing that job. Plain and simple. If it was me, and I was doing taking ADR calls I would have been more then happy to add a note to their ADRs with no questions asked. How long can it take to add a note to ADRs? Max - 5 mins. These are my ADRs. I no that Boma for the 5th had a note already added when I called the 1st time and I know that (aka the rude CM) added it for CRT, but she failed to specify what other ones. So she sits there and tells me to just tell them for the others - how am I supposed to do that when I dont know what ones she added the note to and left out. As for my changes, it wasnt much of a change. I only did 2 changes and it was just to change the times for Ohana and LTT by 30 mins and thats it. As for adding the ADR (chefs de france), I had no choice but to add it when I did, cuz I couldnt make it until like a week later after making my 1st set of ADRs since Im going for 12 nights / 13 days and you can only book out 180 + 10 days.

5th Boma 5pm
6th Crystal Palace 8:25am
6th Cinderellas Royal Table 6:55pm
7th Princess Storybook Dining 8:35am
7th Coral Reef 5pm
8th 50's Prime Time 5pm
9th 'Ohana 9:30am
9th Liberty Tree Tavern 6pm
10th Rainforest Cafe - DTD 6pm (not an official ADR)
11th Donalds Safari Breakfast 8:30am
12th Grand Floridian Cafe 10:30am
12th Hoop-Dee-Doo 5pm
14th Boma 8am
15th Sci-Fi 5pm
16th Chefs de France 5pm

 

[AbbyPan]

OP, sorry about your experience!

For our Honeymoon ADR's in Sept 2007 all the CM's that helped me over the phone where incredibly sweet and helpful.
Once in Disney, we received "Congrats" and/or cards & pictures at almost every restaurant. I didn't expect recognition everywhere, but I thought it was sweet that some CM's noticed it once we were there.


Just to add, when I go to work I am expected to suck up whatever crap I feel and put on a smile. Disney should be the primary example of that.
So to the OP, always remember to take down a CM's name and report nasty behavior!!! hope your next CM is nicer!!!