Disney/DVC Customer Service

[DVC Mike]

Disney has a long tradition of legendary service, from the smiling cast members to the whimsical and magical experiences available at its parks and resorts.

Disney's record of customer loyalty, satisfaction, and repeat business has made them the number one tourist destination in the world.

The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) consistently scores the best rating in the timeshare category in the Market Metrix Hospitality Index. DVC has the highest hospitality ratings of any other timeshare.

91 percent of DVC members described their overall membership satisfaction as "excellent" or "very good".

This exceptional customer service, whether it's a cast member going above and beyond or a simple "Welcome Home" greeting, is one reason that many people buy into DVC.

If you're posting on the DISBoards, you were most likely wowed by the magical vacation experiences at WDW and you decided to become a repeat customer.

Do you view Disney's customer service as above average or below average?

I own 1,250 DVC points because I believe that Disney vacations are above average, and I keep on enjoying the magical experiences year-after-year.

How about you?

 

[DVC Mike]

I have a few follow-up questions for those of you that vote "Disney provides mediocre/poor customer service ".

(1) If you feel you receive poor customer service from Disney, why do you keep going to WDW? Why don't you give your hard-earned cash to another company that provides exceptional service?

(2) If you're a DVC member, why don't you sell your membership?

(3) If you're unhappy with the customer service provided by Disney, why spend hours a week on discussion forums such as DISBoards talking about Disney?

I'm really curious.

 

[CMOORE185]

I would view Disney service as good not excellent the last few years. I bought into DVC 9 years ago because I was so impressed with Disneys service. Not so much anymore. Will see if it gets better over the next few years.

 

[disneynutz]

Are we rating Disney's customer service or DVC's?

 

[JimC]

Exceptional and remarkably consistent.

But the last twenty years have been a challenge to maintain those standards. This arises from four broad areas that affect the service -- public company short term profit pressures; labor market supply and quality; guest expectations which at times become unrealistic (perfection is not attainable); and the Internet which has revolutionized public access to interaction and communication tools (here I believe that negative commentary is dis-proportionally represented).

 

[wulfekamp]

Great poll. I find disneys service great.

 

[nappingbeauty]

I agree with the point made, that more people verbalize when they have had a bad experience, then those who have had a positive one. It is the nature of the beast. Many people expect others to create the magic for them, when the true magic is what you make of your vacation and time with loved ones. In addition to my full time job, I work part time in retail. There is another example of customer service and customer feedback. We try and provide a positive shopping experience for our customers. However, our customer feedback is usually reflected by one customer who feels they did not receive what they expected. It is what it is. The squeaky wheel....

We have been vacationing at Disney for many years, and the very few times we have experienced a problem, the cast members have been quick to correct the problem, often going over the required actions to remedy any situation.

Laura

 

[Inkmahm]

Do you view Disney's customer service as above average or below average?

I own 1,250 DVC points because I believe that Disney vacations are above average, and I keep on enjoying the magical experiences year-after-year.

How about you?

We own 655 points and I said Disney service is above average. Often, we compare other places to Disney and say we wish that they would learn how to do things from Disney.

Is Disney perfect? No. We have had contact with the occasional grumpy CM. But they are far fewer than the CMs who go out of their way to be polite and helpful to us. I have far more stories about great customer service at WDW than I do about below average service.

 

[JimMIA]

Are we rating Disney's customer service or DVC's?

To me, this is the key question Mike. Which operation are you talking about? They are certainly not the same.

Personally, I would rate Disney's overall service as exceptional.

I'd rate DVC's service as average -- sometimes exceptional, pretty solid 85-90% of the time, sometimes not so good. The reason, IMHO, is that DVC is not managed anywhere nearly as well as Disney generally. I sometimes suspect DVC is a dumping ground for Disney managers because the quality of management is pretty poor in most aspects of the company.

I don't have any non-DVC timeshare experience to compare to DVC, but I'd rate DVC's overall service below that of the better hotel chains. (I know that is not a fair comparison, but it's the only one I have.)

Why don't we sell? Because we did not buy DVC for customer service. We bought DVC for vacation lodging, assuming customer service would be up to the Disney standards we were used to at other Disney resorts. If we had major customer service shortcomings (and we have not), we'd complain onsite immediately and get them resolved.

We wouldn't sell DVC unless the lodging benefit no longer met our needs.

 

[december14disney]

I voted exceptional. I have never had a customer service experiance at Disney that made me think twice. Now are they perfect? No. But to me, the majority of the time the service is fantastic!

 

[kaffinito]

I had to vote for Customer Service the same as every one else. I have stayed at a few places that had Customer Service the same or even better than what I've received at WDW.

The Customer Service in the parks is peerless IMO, but in the resorts I have only had two stays that made me say "wow' and that was at Poly and at POFQ. I would rate the service at AKL, with the exception of Boma, as substandard.

Once we're done with our trip in August, staying at SSR and BLT I might hopefully have a different opinion.

 

[StreamMaster]

I have a few follow-up questions for those of you that vote "Disney provides mediocre/poor customer service ".

(1) If you feel you receive poor customer service from Disney, why do you keep going to WDW? Why don't you give your hard-earned cash to another company that provides exceptional service?

(2) If you're a DVC member, why don't you sell your membership?

(3) If you're unhappy with the customer service provided by Disney, why spend hours a week on discussion forums such as DISBoards talking about Disney?

I'm really curious.

(1) I don't any longer.

(2) We did a year ago now.

(3) To see if anything has changed for the better

Question for you Mike. What other travel experience do you have besides Disney? Also, aren't most other timeshares for life instead of a limited time contract? ( I know that every other one that I've sat through the sales pitch for were for life ). Or in simple terms, what will you have to show for your ownership AFTER 2042 ( if you haven't extended ) ?

 

[bobbiwoz]

The smiles from CMs as we arrive and the beauty of the lobbies set the tone for excellent vacations. There are a few CM who greet who stand out, there's a gal from South Africa at Jambo, Art the Greeter at the BC, Stan at WL, these I've met a number of times, but the others whom I don't know by name are wonderful too!

Yes, I think Disney provides exceptional service, they are not alone, but they've provided much magic for me and those I love.

Bobbi

 

[Disneypirate85]

I voted in the middle but based my opinion on DVC. There is room for improvement in DVC as in any company. We spend alot of time on the DIS and have learned much, unfortunately, thru others issues with MS. We now ALWAYS keep our confirmation letters/numbers close when checking in, remember who it is/was we spoke to when speaking with MS operators and following up with complaints or more often kudo's with the member service's.
We love our DVC and have no intention of selling....Shawn

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Average, not bad but not exceptional, both from a DVC and overall perspective. They do somethings very well, others, very poorly. If you asked me this 5 years ago, I might side more on the exceptional, but they have lost some of their magic.

From a Disney overall, the resorts (DVC included) really do not provide a "Deluxe" experience when compared to offsite (local and beyond) resorts and timeshares, but I'm willing to sacrafice some of the experience for staying on property, continuing the magic, etc.

Communication is probably Disney's weakest point right now though, poor communications to customers, including their DVC members (ie. 2010 Point Charts). This is something that is easily addressed through a better Public Relations/Marketing/Customer Relations department (I'm not sure how these are handled in Disney, but one combined department might help them).

 

[brewcrew]

I have never had anything but great customer service from anyone/anything Disney. We have been going to the parks for the last 13 years, We've been on 2 Disney cruises and have been DVC members for 3 years.

 

[eliza61]

I think DVC's customer service is much better than Disney's cro customer service.

I think the customer service at Disney world has taken a nose dive in recent years, hopefully it's a result of the recession.

I love my dvc and have had magical vacations with it but right now I would not
recommend it to my friends and family, due to what I see as a decline in the parks overall.

 

[eliza61]

I have a few follow-up questions for those of you that vote "Disney provides mediocre/poor customer service ".

(1) If you feel you receive poor customer service from Disney, why do you keep going to WDW? Why don't you give your hard-earned cash to another company that provides exceptional service?

(2) If you're a DVC member, why don't you sell your membership?

(3) If you're unhappy with the customer service provided by Disney, why spend hours a week on discussion forums such as DISBoards talking about Disney?

I'm really curious.

Hey Mike,
As for me. My last 3 visits have been as a regular deluxe guest taking advantage of the deals.

1) I kept going because the 1st 2 times I kept saying this was a fluke. After my GF trip last November I'm thinking it's more than a fluke.

2) This augusts trip will be on points. My family and I have already decided this will be our last trip for at least 2 years. We're hoping after the economy will pick up the service will return.

3) I only have 200 points left so this is a small enough contract where I can take family vacations every once in a while and over look the mediocre service.

4) I've cut back alot as far as the amount of money I spend at the world. The restaurants are mediocre except for a few so we now eat most off site. I'm staying for 10 days in August and I've got 3 adr's planned.

5) I'm still in love with the WL and still enjoy the convienence of on-site

6) I've lowered my expectations. I've come to accept the high standards of yester years that imo made the parks/resorts exceptional are long gone. Like many things nowadays, you accept what you can't change.


As for why I still chat here? who knows? I'm still a disney fanatic but I am also a vocal critic of the Disneys business practices of late. I'm the type of person I want to hear the good and bad. My criticism of Disney is done in the hope that Disney will get better not because I "hate" Disney. Hopefully when I complain (and I make it a point to leave feed back at the resorts and restaurant at the time of the problem and email customer service) here it is to let people know the potential "downside" to owning so to speak.

I think purchasers should have all sides of the issue when plopping down 10's of thousands of dollars on a purchase.

 

[granmanh603]

I would view Disney service as good not excellent the last few years. I bought into DVC 9 years ago because I was so impressed with Disneys service. Not so much anymore. Will see if it gets better over the next few years.

I feel exactly the same way....we bought in 2000 and I am not as happy the last few years. Maybe we just have been going too much and have too much time to observe or it has DVC, gotten too big?

 

[Disneymanic]

We have only been to Disney once as DVC owners but have been going to Disney since 1974. In all our visits, I would have to say we have encountered less than a handful of below average CMs. We love our time at Disney and I hope it continues to meet our expectations.