CM's live on another planet

[klh999]

I called today to check on the CTH code to see if there were any rooms at Pop Century.

The CM had never heard of the CTH code. She had to go look it up. Its been out for over a week.

On a regular basis, I know more about making disney reservations and current codes that are out than the CMs.

She was surprised there were even discounts.

What planet do they get these CM's from. Its frustating. If I knew so little about my job I would be FIRED.

These rooms are not cheap. They should be able to employ some people with some skills.

AH AH...
Kristy

PS Where do I apply to be a CM, because I could do a much better job. LOL

 

[robinb]

Perhaps she was on vacation when the codes came out.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

I have had a few CM's in recent times that didn't seem to be altogether there. I read somewhere a while back a lot of complaints about inconsistent information being given out and that WDW had hired lots of new people to answer those phones. It is very frustrating to know more than the CM does.......

 

[epcotfan]

That is a bit unfair.
I know they hired a bunch of new CRO/WDTC employees so this could have been her first call about a discount. . Didn't they get a new reservation system a couple of weeks ago? At least she looked it up. Not everyone that calls CRO is aware of discounts. I'm sure many still pay rack rates so your call could have been one of the few requesting that particular code.

I had a nice girl (who seemed new) last week put me on hold a couple of times to double check that she was entering everything correctly.

 

[BCV23]

It sounds to me as if she did know her job since she was able to help you. I think their jobs have become more complex over the years as more resorts have come on line, Disney Dining is combined with CRO, different packages and codes, etc..

The code has been out for a week but has it been advertised yet? Not all Disney fans scour these boards and other sites for discounts. So it doesn't come as a great surprise to me that any given CM hasn yet to deal with that code.

 

[Tinkbell]

When dealing with CRO, I always end the phone call if I can tell the CM is not up to par on the info. I usually call right back and get someone who knows what's going on. CMs are just like any other profession. Some have more knowledge and skill in their field than others.

 

[summerrluvv]

Originally posted by BCV23
It sounds to me as if she did know her job since she was able to help you. I think their jobs have become more complex over the years as more resorts have come on line, Disney Dining is combined with CRO, different packages and codes, etc..

The code has been out for a week but has it been advertised yet? Not all Disney fans scour these boards and other sites for discounts. So it doesn't come as a great surprise to me that any given CM hasn yet to deal with that code.

There was a 2 page ad in my newspaper on Sunday (LI Newsday), so the CM's should have knowledge of this code. I notice lots of people make excuses for the CM's. Sorry, but if they are new and their managers are letting them answer calls, they should know about discount codes, especially advertised ones. The company I work for employs customer service reps that place orders for our customers and if our reps didn't know what kind of products we had, they wouldn't be answering the phones.

 

[summerrluvv]

I also wanted to add that they are advertising $55 a night rate at Values on the WDW website.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wa...alfeature/index?id=SpecialOffer_WinterSavings

 

[BCV23]

I was not making excuses for the CM. I've been making reservations at WDW since 1983 and did prefer it when any CM I spoke with in a park, in one of the few resorts open in those times, or on the phone could give me a definitive answer for any question I had.

But times do change and WDW is much larger operationally than it was then. The CM in this case was criticized for having to look up a code. To me that is akin to an operator looking up details on something that one wants to order. She knew how to look it up and did so. I see no fault.

Glad to hear it was advertised in the LINewsday...whatever that is! Perhaps it was advertised nationally. I know I haven't read the travel section of my Sunday paper yet. That was why I placed a ? in my response. Still think it is possible that this particular CM had not had experience with THIS code yet. She found it, applied it...what more could you want?!

 

[summerrluvv]

Originally posted by BCV23
I was not making excuses for the CM. I've been making reservations at WDW since 1983 and did prefer it when any CM I spoke with in a park, in one of the few resorts open in those times, or on the phone could give me a definitive answer for any question I had.

But times do change and WDW is much larger operationally than it was then. The CM in this case was criticized for having to look up a code. To me that is akin to an operator looking up details on something that one wants to order. She knew how to look it up and did so. I see no fault.

Glad to hear it was advertised in the LINewsday...whatever that is! Perhaps it was advertised nationally. I know I haven't read the travel section of my Sunday paper yet. That was why I placed a ? in my response. Still think it is possible that this particular CM had not had experience with THIS code yet. She found it, applied it...what more could you want?!

My point was the employees should be informed of ALL promotions that a company is having. I would think a large company like Disney would do this in the form of emails/memos to their employees. It only makes sense for them to know what the customer is asking for when calling instead of being surprised after looking in his/her computer that they even offer a discount for that time period.

LI Newsday Is the Long Island Newsday.

 

[epcotfan]

Originally posted by BCV23
But times do change and WDW is much larger operationally than it was then. The CM in this case was criticized for having to look up a code. To me that is akin to an operator looking up details on something that one wants to order. She knew how to look it up and did so. I see no fault.

Glad to hear it was advertised in the LINewsday...whatever that is! Perhaps it was advertised nationally. I know I haven't read the travel section of my Sunday paper yet. That was why I placed a ? in my response. Still think it is possible that this particular CM had not had experience with THIS code yet. She found it, applied it...what more could you want?!

I agree BCV23. When I have a client that has a question sometime I have to take a moment and look up what they are interested in before giving them a definitive answer. No harm in that. I would rather the cast member double check and be careful than randomly spewing out an answer.

 

[jgates]

This probably could probably have been worked around if the CM has spoken differently. A 'One moment while I see if that code will apply in the system for those dates' (then mute it and say to the CM next to you - what in the world is this code? ) sounds a lot better to the customer than 'I have no idea what code that is - hold on - let me see if I can find it.'. It's just a matter of presentation. In situation #1 you think - well aren't they being nice while in situation #2 you are thinking - what an idiot!!

 

[summerrluvv]

Originally posted by jgates
This probably could probably have been worked around if the CM has spoken differently. A 'One moment while I see if that code will apply in the system for those dates' (then mute it and say to the CM next to you - what in the world is this code? ) sounds a lot better to the customer than 'I have no idea what code that is - hold on - let me see if I can find it.'. It's just a matter of presentation. In situation #1 you think - well aren't they being nice while in situation #2 you are thinking - what an idiot!!

Exactly. When the FTP came out I called to book my trip and the woman was very rude from the start and told me there is no such thing as the FTP. She had to put me on hold for 10 minutes and when she came back she seemed even more annoyed that I was right and she was wrong.

 

[BCV23]

Originally posted by summerrluvv
When the FTP came out I called to book my trip and the woman was very rude from the start and told me there is no such thing as the FTP. She had to put me on hold for 10 minutes and when she came back she seemed even more annoyed that I was right and she was wrong. [/B]

That would have ticked me off, too!!! I encountered a rude CM at CRO a couple of years ago myself. But this is out of so, so many that were friendly, polite and helpful.

From the OP though we don't know if the conversation was more like jgates first or second scenario.

 

[Jaklackus]

Having been a call center representative in the insurance industry.. I can sympathize with the CRO rep...in many companies the frontline employees(phone reps) are almost always the last to know about anything..changes in policy, procedure, product, etc..granted after awhile you do learn to rephrase what you are thinking before it actually comes out of your mouth in order to fool the caller into thinking you have some sort of grasp of the situation..call center reps master the art of silent swearing and foot stomping...lol. I can't tell you how many times I written up for using a wrong procedure when the call center was never notified of the change in the first place. I was told from the very beginning with the insurance company...it is impossible to teach you everything in training classes...you will need to pick up everything on your own once you are live on the phones. ....trial by fire and on top of learning 40 different annuity products...I had to take at least 80 calls a day and spend 7.5 hours live on the phone out of 8. Call center jobs are never easy....being a lowly call center rep was 10 times more difficult that being a bank branch manager....I always try to be patient with them.....but I do know enough when I'm not going to get the info I want to call again and pray for another rep.

SJ

 

[klh999]

I didnt mean to insult the actual cast member. Because everyone is right, she actually did look up the code so at least she helpful.

Last week, when AP rates came out, I had to call back two times, because the first CM, swore they werent out. I asked her politely to look it up, and she said they are not out. Long story short (thanks to this board I know tthat AP rates were out), I called back and got another CM, who said AP rates were out.

Prior to this I had made two other reservations, that were messed up. When was for the yatch club, on a Triple AAA rate for presidents day weekend. When I got the confirmation, it was for one night instead of four nights. When I called back to fix the reservation, they only had the other three nights at a higher rate because no triple AAA discounts were left. I know, that the room was originally available because she gave me the total and it match with the triple AAA discount for the room. I spoke with a supervisor who said there was nothing they could do.

I dont mind calling back, but when hold times are 20 minutes long, and you finally get through to someone, and then they give you wrong information, to hang up and wait on hold another 20 minutes I just dont have the time.

The CM, might have no idea about the promotional codes, but at least she was helpful. I will give her that. But this code has been advertised on disneys site for over a week. But I have had other CM's that just dont know what they are doing.

Bottom line... a majority of these CM's have no idea what they are doing. Disney needs to come up with a better system. Maybe AP rates on the internet??

 

[WANNABE@WDW]

I too have experienced "new" cms. But they have all been polite. I just try to call back when I know that I have hit a brick wall ( the fact that it is my dime is always in the back of my mind) I had one cm that didn't know what E Nights were!

 

[Cris]

I think you need to walk a mile in some of these castmembers shoes

 

[Disneygurl588]

LOL this is kind of funny! There is no ned to get angry about this. Just like the previous post said maybe she was new and had no idea what the code was.

 

[jann1033]

sorry coming to this late but the past weeks experience with Cro starting with to get an Ap rate have been very frustrating...the info must be there or none of the CMs would have it but how it is 50% seem to know about the organization they work for and 50% do not? we spent hours on the phone trying to find people who could give us the rates long after they were out and days later were still getting "huh what BCE code" responses. and they should have known the rates were coming out since a guest relations guy ( who finally got us the ap rate everyone else said was full or not out yet) told my hub. they had 900 CMs on the phone the morning the rates came out ( he acted like that was a lot) I would think you would think something was gong on and maybe check. one cm told me she heard the person next to her talking abut them but she didn't know they were out ..wouldn't you think you'd check? that is part of your job.

this week we sat on the phone for 2 hrs ( that's right 2 hours) and went through 5 that's right 5 transfers on our third call to cro to find out where we could get our Ap voucher validated so it would apply at Vero beach ( we are going there pre WDW).... call to cro 1st Cm tranfered to second, got cut off, back to cro ,told to call VEro directly, one to Vero, one to Indian River Mall ( Vero's "solution") back to 2 CMS at cro back to vero back to cro cm( who kept trying to make us a ress cause she could not understand a word we said) to guest relations... finally after 15 mins of her wasting time and finally guest relations called vero and called us back ( wanted us to *hold* but hub said he's been on the phone long enough by then) don't know who* they *talked to there who did not exist when *we* called there but what ever.

I have to say part of the problem is some of the CMs spoke very poor English..I am sure that it helps to have different languages on an international phone line but you do press a button for English ( at least some asked do not know if that is always or not as my husband was doing this since I was getting ready to rip my hair out by then) so it would be nice to get a CM who actually understands and speaks it, particularly when I am shelling out money due to their published long distance numbers. so you have a lack of knowledge compounded by an inabiity to understand the language...

imo that is unfair to the CMs... when they do not know what is going on or have not been trained or can not speak the language.. they are the ones who get yelled at,( husband didn't yell, he has tons of patience which is why I was not handling it) not the person who did a lousy job training them or did not bother to inform them of new codes or actually hired someone not suited for that particular job