Company Policy vs Customer Satisfaction (long rant)

[chloelovesdisney]

OP, did the hotel refund you for all those nights you didn't stay since you flew home early? I have heard of them doing that before when there is a sudden death and the vacation is cut short suddenly. They should have helped you with the ticket issue as well, but some folks at guest services are better than others and sometimes you just need to know what to ask for (they might not suggest the best option but will allow it if you are the one to bring it up).

 

[Abbie]

I really can not understand your Mother in law wanting to continue going to a theme park when her father had just passed away.

You just have to accept that everyone is different and that's ok. We got the call at 11:30 while at AK that my Dad was gone.

We still stayed at the park, waited for our fast pass time for EE (which admittedly I hated and will never do again and that probably has to do with the news we got) and finished out the day. Yes we were all sad but what a gift and a comfort to have my family surrounding me during this time. Kids were all pretty well grown so in our daily lives everyone is going twenty different directions and it was special to have everyone together. We still managed to have a great time (even if I did cry my way through FOTLK and the Circle of Life song!)

We were scheduled to leave the following afternoon and did not change our plans. And there were no "issues"....we are a very close extended family and we all loved my Dad very much. It just was what it was.

Everyone is different.

OP, sorry you got such sad news too but I have to agree that Disney didn't need to do anything special. Hope you get to try your trip again soon!

 

[RabbitFood]

I'm sorry for your loss, OP.

Forgive me for my ignorance, but I'm still not understanding how you were able to get off a bus that was already enroute to DHS.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I'm sorry for your loss, OP.

Forgive me for my ignorance, but I'm still not understanding how you were able to get off a bus that was already enroute to DHS.

Unless you are the last stop at a resort, you can get off at the next resort bus stop. Each resort usually has more then one best stop.

 

[bicker]

Which resort are we talking about?

 

[kaytieeldr]

According to a post copied here from a different thread: Pop Century (I think).

Everybody does things differently. I know when my aunt died, I went on a date. Yes, my mother (her sister) wasn't happy about it, but she lived elsewhere, the only person going to the funeral besides her own child was one relative who'd been on the plane on the way to visit when she died.

 

[focusondisney]

Which resort are we talking about?

I have a feeeling we'll never find out....

 

[DizBelle]

My commentary on this was if the OP had come to my window the results would have been a lot different. I would have gotten at least my Coordinator and proba bly my Manager involved. I cannot state what we would have probably done, but it would not have cost the OP any money at all and the tickets would have been good for the next trip.

I would suggest writing a detailed leteer to
WDW Guest Communications
PO Box 10,000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Include the date, the times, the specific park locations, and if possible the names of all people you talked to. Include a photocopy of all tickets, making sure that any numbers on the tickets are visible. This will allow the people at Guest Communications to track down what was actaully done and what you were charged for. Don't be surprised afterwards if you get credits back to your cards and other positive (for you) responses.

Sorry that the response is not as complete as I would like, but it is being written in an airport.

Note to self: never purchase the non-expire option as apparently there is a way to get it for free.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Note to self: never purchase the non-expire option as apparently there is a way to get it for free.

Note to lfontaine: Never say never

 

[focusondisney]

According to a post copied here from a different thread: Pop Century (I think).

Everybody does things differently. I know when my aunt died, I went on a date. Yes, my mother (her sister) wasn't happy about it, but she lived elsewhere, the only person going to the funeral besides her own child was one relative who'd been on the plane on the way to visit when she died.

I read the other thread, the OP only says they started out at All Stars & when he went to front desk to complain, they were moved to a diferent resort. He did not state which resort they were moved to.

I'm wondering how the unused days were bought back? Did the OP have to physically hand over the tickets? If so, how would they get fastpasses, or even get back into the park again if they left & wanted to return? Too many unanswered questions.

Perhaps OP is busy with family & funeral obligations, or perhaps we'll never get any more answers.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Note to self: never purchase the non-expire option as apparently there is a way to get it for free.

If a Dear Relation passes while you're at Disney, I hope you do "get it for free." I would wish no less for anyone.

 

[dicar123]

Hmm, I'd never considered this before. I LOVE being on vacation. I'd feel horrible if I died while my family members were on vacation and they had to cut their trip short.

Maybe I should tell everyone, "Hey, if this happens, I give you full permission to finish off your trip having a wonderful time!" Think they'd believe me?

 

[seashoreCM]

(May be repetitious as I did not read the entire thread.)

I don't recall any instance where someone was allowed to use/burn/forfeit another day off of a multi-day pass to do park hopping with. This subject has been batted around alot on these boards, always with the same "company policy" answer included as a reply.

Now I have heard of instances where Disney shrunk/contracted/shortened a guest's stay when he had to return home for some unexpected event. When the tickets were so treated, days five through ten were valued at their usual $3.00 apiece. I have also heard of instances where the guest was allowed to come back and use what was left on the tickets without adding non-expiration, again on a case by case basis. (All instances of adding more days at the same time required buying the non-expiration.)

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

Doesn't matter if they had one day left or 10. Still wanted something for nothing.
Did you read the other post about POP? He said what an enjoyable and memorable time they had. Don't you think someone in his situation would write "despite the bad news we received of my grandfathers passing, and having to cut our trip short, we had an enjoyable time.

Call me cynical but something just doesn't seem right.

Maybe the OP is telling the truth, maybe he isn't. That's not up to me to decide. My initial reaction is that it's a true story. But even if he comes back on this thread and specifically says he made the whole thing up, that's not going to change my answer.

I believe there are times when rules can be bent and I very firmly believe that if someone claims to have an extenuating circumstance it should be up to a higher-up person to make the decision as to what should be done. I've been in service related industries for the last twenty years and I will not waiver from that belief.

Edited... for the second time today, I didn't mean for that to sound rude. It's not what I'm trying to get across, but after I read it I wasn't sure if it sounded bad. I just firmly believe that there are times when making a decision to allow someone to do something that is normally against company policy is okay. And I don't expect the person who is making minimum wage to risk his/her job to make that decision. But I feel that when faced with something like this, the best way to handle it is to get another person involved especially since we all HAVE heard stories about CMs who were able to help out even if it's not the standard procedure. Saying that you could choose to bend the rules but aren't going to isn't helping anyone and it doesn't portray the company you work for in a very good light.

 

[bumbershoot]

I really can not understand your Mother in law wanting to continue going to a theme park when her father had just passed away.

My mother died in an unexpected fashion just when we thought everything was fine. I had a big spa day with my friends planned, with a plane trip home planned the following week. Stepdad called early that morning to tell me that she was in an ambulance. I continued with the plans, got up, picked up a friend, went to the Y to workout as planned. As I walked in, stepdad called to tell me she had died.

I couldn't work out, but I did go to the spa, a Korean spa, where there was a lot of soaking in various tubs, sweating in rooms set to varying degrees, and I had a bodyscrub (painful but excellent). I cried nearly the whole time, but was either wet from the tubs or sweating that it was hard to tell. I spent the day surrounded by women, both strangers and friends.

Then we went for food. A friend stayed with me that night. My sister in law arranged for my plane tickets to be changed to the next day (that day wasn't possible). It was really a lot better that I be out and about, doing things, with women, than at home in my apartment...when I got home 2 weeks later, I had lots of alone time, and the feelings I had during that time were NOT good, and I'm glad I wasn't alone on the day she died.

Not everyone would do what I did. But I'm glad I did it.

Nobody rode theme park rides. They went TO a theme park FOR lunch.

I think others have said this, but the DHS part was after the AK lunch, as they had "decided we might as well attempt to enjoy our remaining day and visit one of the the other parks we were heading towards."

If a Dear Relation passes while you're at Disney, I hope you do "get it for free." I would wish no less for anyone.

Same here.


And honestly, it sounds like the turnstile CM thought that help would be had...

The CM politley told us, dont worry, as we explained our situation and led us to the guest relations desk and she told us they woudl take care of us.

It seems the first CM thought that GR would go more along the lines that Cheshire Figment stated he would have done.

I think the GR CM just got muddled because perhaps he too couldn't fathom wanting to continue with a park after such news. And that perhaps led him to believe that this was all a lie. And thinking it was a lie would have caused him to pull the power nonsense of "I can but I won't" on the OP.


If the OP had come back and said "this is what happened and we just went home instead of going to Guest Relations", tons of people would have said "oh you should contact them, here's the address, you shouldn't have to forfeit the ticket with such a tragedy!"

But because he tried to get what the first CM seemed to think, maybe, he could get, that's what caused the questions.

 

[jlder72]

Initally we had planned a 12 day florida vacation which we had saved for quite a bit of time do be able to take. As often happens in life on our 3rd day of our vacation, we were in a shuttle on our way to Disney's hollywood studios when we received a call from home. My wife's grandfather had just passed away. I was with my daugher, my inlaws (whos dad it was) and my niece. At this momment in shock we decided to get off from the shuttle and assess the situation on what we woudl do. It took us a while to get our bearings straight and decided to wait for the next shuttle to which ever park it was to go have a sitdown lunch and discuss what we needed to do next. The next shuttle was to the Animal Kingdom, were we honestly did enjoyed a great lunch and allowed us to discussed what we needed. We decided then and there to cut our vacation short and book flights for home for the next day. We also decided we might as well attempt to enjoy our remaining day and visit one of the the other parks we were heading towards.


Have not read all posts, but why get off the shuttle to HS and then visit AK and then want admission to HS? Why not just continue on to HS?

 

[mickeyfan1]

I believe after rereading this that they were on the bus to DHS, it had not left, so they exited and waited at the bus area of Pop. Why not just eat at the Food Court?

 

[Mimi1965]

I'm sorry for your loss, OP.

Forgive me for my ignorance, but I'm still not understanding how you were able to get off a bus that was already enroute to DHS.

That is the part I dont understand either.

 

[DizBelle]

If a Dear Relation passes while you're at Disney, I hope you do "get it for free." I would wish no less for anyone.

The death of my dear relation does not constitute an emergency or special circumstance for anyone but myself.

LOTS of peole die every day. Enough for every person visiting WDW to get free park hopping. Does that mean that Disney should be giving that away for every guest? Absolutely not.

 

[morethananyonex]

Disney is a company, period. People tend to forget that, especially on fan boards like this where we spend hours talking about food, resorts, pixie dust, etc. People die every day, and while I'm not trying to take away from the OP's grief, Disney can't simply go and bend the rules for everyone's sad story. Next thing you know people are upset when sob stories don't upgrade their tickets, just like people get upset at the lack of fanfare for birthdays, towel animals, etc. "Best kept secrets" tend to get out fast.

Somehow I think that if the OP had just tried to sort out leaving and refunding tickets right away instead of trying to park hop, they would have had a much better result.