Coronado Springs - resort ok, customer service - rotten. Need Help

[NJ2Boardwalk]

Just returned from a week at Coronado Springs. Resort was nice enough, although the walk from our room to the lobby was long. Anyway, on the second to last night when we returned to our room after a long day at 10:30pm, my daughters favorite blanket had been taken out by the maid with the laundry. I called the front desk SIX times and never spoke to a manager. Apparantly you get a central clearing house that answers for a number of resorts. Anyway, I tried housekeeping too, no help. Finally I got someone on the phone at the clearing house that was somewhat knowledgeable. He said that the laundry is taken to a central off-site location and they could be contact in the morning. He sent a Minnie Mouse plush to our room at 1am to try to comfort her.
The next day (our last full day) I still received NO CALL from the management. When I personally went to the front desk, and finally spoke to a manager, he said "we are aware of your problem, we have notified the laundry facility and if it turns up, we'll let you know". He was very matter of fact about it. I mean, I know in the grand scheme of things, it's a blanket, but it was as important to her as if I lost my wedding ring! I have called several times since returning home and ask the same questions. Is anyone really looking for it? Has anyone spoken to the maid that cleaned our room? Always the same answer. If it turns up, we'll let you know.
I could see if we were irresponsible for it and left it in a park, restaurant, bathroom, etc. But, this was MY PROPERTY taken from MY ROOM. I want it back. Anyone ever have this experience? What did you do? I'm at the end of my rope. We are frequent Disney visitors, always stay on property, but have never been met with such uncaring cast memebers before. Usually, they are falling over themselves to help you.
Any help is appreciated.

 

[grimley1968]

I'd keep calling and refuse to let someone give you those same answers. Make sure you get to speak to a supervisor every time. Also, make sure you document names of the agents you talk to, times of calls, etc. That's pretty bad. I would be far less patient about it than you have been. If my 5 YO DD had her blanket taken, Disney would never hear the end of it from me until they got it back to me.

 

[Bob NC]

We had that EXACT thing happen to us at WL. When the maids cleaned, they obviously took my sons blanket while changing the sheets.

Our experience wes eerily similar to yours. Nobody would really help us, nobody was too interested in our problem, to sum it up, it didn't seem that anyone gave a rats a$* about it. We talked to MANY people at WL about it, after coming back I emailed them and got a standard form letter response.

 

[sherry8253]

Please don't flame me. I know how important a blanket is to a child. I still have the remnants of mine tucked away in my cedar chest and I am 52 years old. My son would have been crushed if he lost his 'blankie' as a young child. Did you leave the blanket on the bed with the bedding? If so, I can see how it might have been picked up with the sheets in error my mousekeeping. Even so, this is no excuse for an 'uncaring' attitude from Disney management. If you had the blanket someplace other than a bed, then there is absolutely no reason for a child's blanket to have been picked up. The main reason I am asking this question is to help remind other parents to make sure your children's 'blankies' are not left on beds. I hope they find the blanket because I know how upset your daughter must be. Here is some pixie dust for you!

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Somewhat same experience for me.

We had our cell phone charger and digital camera charger taken from our room. They were actually taken out and sent to the previous guest (b/c that guest called and said he left his behind)! Housekeeping (who didn't actually take the items mind you) and Lost and Found were completely useless. They kept telling me that I would get them back when the previous guest sent them back. HUH??

I finally went down to the front desk and asked to speak with a manager. Once I made this step, they were pretty much falling all over themselves to help me out. They actually sent a runner out to the store to buy me a new digital camera charger and they also bought me a new cell phone (couldn't find a charger in all of central Florida). Of course, I do believe that Disney handled things appropriately, but only after I was face to face with someone asking to speak with a manager. Considering they STOLE my things (not taken by accident) everything turned out okay.

I completely understand your frustration and I hope that "blankie" shows up soon. I know my boys would have absolutely been devistated. If the blanket shows up, I would expect to see it in the mail shortly.

Best of luck and I am really hoping everything works out.

 

[Badllamamama]

The laundry ends up at a facility that probably handles all the sheets and towels for all the WDW resorts. I can't imagine they will be able to locate it. They did send a free Minnie plush so you can't say that the cs was lacking. If it was that important, I probably would have made sure it was not left on the bed or floor so that it could have been mistakenly taken with the sheets.

 

[NCombs]

The laundry ends up at a facility that probably handles all the sheets and towels for all the WDW resorts. I can't imagine they will be able to locate it. They did send a free Minnie plush so you can't say that the cs was lacking. If it was that important, I probably would have made sure it was not left on the bed or floor so that it could have been mistakenly taken with the sheets.

Did I miss something where the OP actually stated where the blanket was or are you making an assumption?

 

[Alicnwondrln]

contact guest services

 

[CPer'sMom]

Just returned from a week at Coronado Springs. We are frequent Disney visitors, always stay on property, but have never been met with such uncaring cast memebers before. Usually, they are falling over themselves to help you.

We returned home last week after a stay at CSR. "Uncaring cast members" is a good phrase to describe our experience there also. It was nothing like our usual stays at Disney resorts.

 

[dolphin01]

Sorry to hear about your experiences. We have only had positive experiences at CSR. Great CM's throughout. Things like this can and do happen at any of the WDW resorts.

It seems to me that an effort was made with the Minnie plush.

Good luck in finding the blanket. If in deed it ended up at the facility that handles all of WDW towels and bedding, that may be a difficult task.

 

[zumbergc]

A friend had a problem at a non-disney hotel. He brought a pillow of his own. It ended up gone.

I bring my own pillows, and extra pillow cases (allergies). I've had mouse staff think my pillow cases was there before, so i got one of their pillow cases instead of mine to bring home. Not so good because of allergies, other detergents make me sick. Now i generally bring non-white pillow cases. Put my pillows off the bed, and sometimes even hidden, so they aren't mistaken or accidentally taken by the mouse staff.

The way i look at some of it. Mousestaff hurry around, grab all towel like items, if its a sheet changing day, gather those up real quick. Then put fresh things in there places. I really don't think its intentional, and its unfortunate when its someone's blankie.

Connie

 

[WDWBetsy]

First of all, please know that I understand your frustration and realize that your daughter's blanket is very important to her.

As others have posted, if the blanket was on the bed (and I'm just guessing since blankets are often cuddled at night - you didn't indicate where it might have been left), I can see it accidentally being carted off to be laundered. I can only imagine the tons of laundry that is handled on a daily basis. Realistically, I wouldn't think they would be able to find it immediately, but I don't necessarily think they were blowing you off.

I'm sure you were upset by not being able to contact a manager at that late hour. Not being able to reach someone actually at the front desk didn't make you feel any better.

In situations like this, it's a good idea to take a deep breath and look at it from the perspective of what can actually be done to remedy the problem. If laundry is taken offsite, they're not going to be able to just walk up to a clothes hamper and search through a few sheets to find it. There are probably many bins of laundry that have to be sorted, and they would probably find it when everything is actually dried then ready to be folded. I have no idea how long it takes for laundry processing given the quantities handled.

I agree - it didn't help that you called the front desk and couldn't speak to someone physically at the desk. Personally, even if you could have spoken to someone at that hour, I wouldn't expect a manager or housekeeping to be able to do something about this after 10:30PM - I would expect the search to start in the morning. They should be given a reasonable amount of time to locate the blanket.

It sounds like the manager should have been more consoling about the matter instead of being more matter of fact, but he probably wanted to reassure you that they were indeed looking for it and would return it if found. I think it's great that the clearing house person tried to comfort your daughter by sending the Mickey plush - and he did get the ball rolling for the blanket search, as the manager indicated. I'm not offering excuses for bad customer service, just possible thoughts/explanations as to why the blanket was not immediately located in the amount of time you expected.

Perhaps you could use this incident as a way to teach your daughter that sometimes important things get lost or damaged, and how to deal with it. I am in no way trivializing this - I'm sure many tears were shed. I don't know how old your daughter is or if this would be a good learning tool at her age.

Here is a website with some help on losing a "lovie" such as a blanket:

http://preschoolerstoday.com/resources/articles/lovies.htm

Sending lots of pixie dust your way in hopes the blanket is found and returned to your daughter...

 

[cindyfan]

We returned home last week after a stay at CSR. "Uncaring cast members" is a good phrase to describe our experience there also. It was nothing like our usual stays at Disney resorts.

What was your experience like?

We stayed at CSR for the 4th time in June and I have to admit it was the first time that I thought the staff was not "up to par" so to speak.
The girl that checked us in was down right rude. We checked in late and she acted like we were interupting her!!! NO greeting, NO eye contact. And a big roll of the eyes and sigh when I asked she check for a different room.

There was one day that the housekeeping staff did not clean our room. It looked as if someone had been in the room, started to clean (some things moved around, looked like they started making the bed) then left....WITH THE TIP! I called housekeeping and they got someone up to the room within about 30 minutes. But I got quite frustrated with the housekeeping staff because not one of them spoke English!! I tried to talk to them and got the "deer in the headlights" look and the one said "Tank you". Obviously the only Engish she knew!

My 14 yr old DD still has her "blankie" and would be devistated if she lost it!!! OMG....she hasn't slept one night of her life without this thing!!! We always tuck it away safely inside a suitcase every day before we leave!

I really feel for you and your daughter!!
Don't give up all hope though.......We had a beach towel taken by accident with the laundry our second to the last day when we stayed at Poly 2 years ago. We contacted housekeeping and 2 weeks after we got home the towel arrived at our house.
Did you leave your phone # and address?
If not, call back and talk to a supervisor and give your address.

Good Luck!

 

[5kwallace]

I really hope that they find your blanket. I would expect a manager to be more sympathetic to your situation (even if he can't do anything about it). I would have been even more upset with that kind of an attitude. I would try to find out who the resort's general manager is and give him a call. I am really sorry that your family (especially your daughter) experienced something like this. We are staying at CSR in 6 weeks. I will be very careful about where we leave my DS' blanket. Thank you for the information.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

My DS blankie was lost the same way in Hawaii. We were in a hurry and left it on the bed. I am sorry to say we never got it back. I think Embassy tried but it was also sent to an offsite laundry. He was only 4 and we still had 6 nights of vacation! We took him out to a baby store and let him choose ANY blanket he wanted. It never was his blankie but we made it through the rest of the trip! I hope you have better luck than we did. The Minnie was a nice touch, all we got was "sorry".

 

[Taja]

Really sad about the missing blankie! I know how important mine was to me when I was little! As another poster in my age group noted, I still have remnants of mine, as well!

Realistically though, each Mousekeeper handles a lot of linens on a daily basis! If you've ever looked at their carts, it's managed by weight, not items! And watch one of those laundry trams arriving or leaving the guest areas of the resorts some time! Wow! It's a bit like the U.S. Postal Service. Extremely annoying when something important to you goes missing, but amazing that more things don't get lost considering the volume!

The CSR staff really didn't communicate with you as well as they should have, although they were doing the best they could to locate the missing blanket. I do hope it is located and returned to your DD.

 

[dizagain]

I feel your pain!!! DD lost her blankie at a Chili's and it was never recovered...although how they misplaced a blankie in 30 minutes is beyond me

We did have a positive experience with this same issue at a non-Disney hotel a few years ago. DD left blankie in the bed and it got wrapped up with the sheets for the laundry on check-out day. Once home, I called and they had it back to us within the week!! SO it can turn out nicely sometimes...good luck! I know how important this is to your DD, and I'm sure the staff does too even if it doesn't seem like it.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

just hoping you get the "blankie" back.

 

[swilshire]

Like one of the posters above, my family members all like to take along their own pillow. I insist they choose the brightest colored pillowcases in the linen closet to avoid any accidental removal.

I hope the blanket turns up. Is it something so unique that you can't find another? My middle son had a favorite, but there were really three identical ones. We had to trade them out from time to time for washing.

Sheila

 

[Leota]

First of all, please know that I understand your frustration and realize that your daughter's blanket is very important to her.

As others have posted, if the blanket was on the bed (and I'm just guessing since blankets are often cuddled at night - you didn't indicate where it might have been left), I can see it accidentally being carted off to be laundered. I can only imagine the tons of laundry that is handled on a daily basis. Realistically, I wouldn't think they would be able to find it immediately, but I don't necessarily think they were blowing you off.

I'm sure you were upset by not being able to contact a manager at that late hour. Not being able to reach someone actually at the front desk didn't make you feel any better.

In situations like this, it's a good idea to take a deep breath and look at it from the perspective of what can actually be done to remedy the problem. If laundry is taken offsite, they're not going to be able to just walk up to a clothes hamper and search through a few sheets to find it. There are probably many bins of laundry that have to be sorted, and they would probably find it when everything is actually dried then ready to be folded. I have no idea how long it takes for laundry processing given the quantities handled.

I agree - it didn't help that you called the front desk and couldn't speak to someone physically at the desk. Personally, even if you could have spoken to someone at that hour, I wouldn't expect a manager or housekeeping to be able to do something about this after 10:30PM - I would expect the search to start in the morning. They should be given a reasonable amount of time to locate the blanket.

It sounds like the manager should have been more consoling about the matter instead of being more matter of fact, but he probably wanted to reassure you that they were indeed looking for it and would return it if found. I think it's great that the clearing house person tried to comfort your daughter by sending the Mickey plush - and he did get the ball rolling for the blanket search, as the manager indicated. I'm not offering excuses for bad customer service, just possible thoughts/explanations as to why the blanket was not immediately located in the amount of time you expected.

Perhaps you could use this incident as a way to teach your daughter that sometimes important things get lost or damaged, and how to deal with it. I am in no way trivializing this - I'm sure many tears were shed. I don't know how old your daughter is or if this would be a good learning tool at her age.

Here is a website with some help on losing a "lovie" such as a blanket:

http://preschoolerstoday.com/resources/articles/lovies.htm

Sending lots of pixie dust your way in hopes the blanket is found and returned to your daughter...

Some great words of wisdom there, Betsy. ITA with everything you said.

I had something similar, but not as devastating happen when we were there. My son used to like to leave notes for Mousekeeping with their tips. Since our Mousekeeper left us "Vignettes" of his toys & towel animals, My DS left a "Vignette" of his own with a note to her. She mistakenly assumed the little Lego people were a gift to her. They were brand new from the Lego Store in DTD & DS bought them with his own money. He was attatched to them, not like a Blakie tho, but still..... Anyways, we called Housekeeping & explained the Mishap. The next morning, our Mousekeeper was at the door to make sure DS got his Lego People back from her personally. Now, they didn't go to a main facitlity like linens do. My point was that we had very prompt response from CSR staff, so it's not all bad. I do beleive they are making every effort on your behalf to rectify a bad situation. Unfortunately, it seems to be a tough situation to rectify to your wants & your childs needs.

I hope you get the Blankie back. That's really a tough one for a little person & I'm sure you as a Parent are feeling very helpless to ease her mind. Best of Luck.