Disney Employee Caught Stealing From Guests

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

http://www.wftv.com/news/23772659/detail.html

 

[jldunbar]

Terrible but at lease they caught her. This is the reason I am thinking about getting a pre-paid visa for our upcoming trip.

 

[mrsR123]

Terrible but at lease they caught her. This is the reason I am thinking about getting a pre-paid visa for our upcoming trip.

If you do, make sure it can be used for hotels before you buy it; not all cards can be. (I'm trying to find suitable cards to send with DD overseas and learning a lot!)

 

[barbeml]

A few years back, we had our cc number skimmed at check-in at CBR. (We only used the card to post for room charging at check in, never took it out after that). Fraudulent charges began just after we checked out and ran from Orlando to Georgia.

I posted a head's up on the DIS and was berated by some for daring to suggest that a CM could or would do such a thing, LOL.

I was very happy to be able to do online check-in last December and post my cc then, rather than handing over the physical card.

 

[skiingfast]

"WFTV asked Disney if it planned to reimburse the guests."

This line is terribly ignorant. Disney has no liability and probably not the guests either. If you notice your CC has odd charges and you call the issuer to report them then you are NOT liable for the charges. This is the law. The burden falls to the issuer.

 

[PHILCT]

I was very happy to be able to do online check-in last December and post my cc then, rather than handing over the physical card.

What a great idea to avoid this kind of fraud !

I am taking your advice, so the next time I go to Disney I will use the online check-in, and use only my resort card instead at all the restaurants and shops.

 

[Polydweller]

What a great idea to avoid this kind of fraud !

I am taking your advice, so the next time I go to Disney I will use the online check-in, and use only my resort card instead at all the restaurants and shops.

This is not a problem unique to Disney. It can and has happened almost anywhere. It has happened at ATMs, at fast food places, hotels, restaurants, almost anywhere where cards are used.

But there is a great defence that works, check your cc bill carefully when you get it and report the problematic charges to the card issuer immediately, don't delay. You won't be charged for fraudulent transactions. The only other thing that works is to not use credit or debit anywhere.

And skiingfast, as a hotelier I completely agree that Disney does not have liabilty here as long as they had industry standard procedures in place for hiring and monitoring employees. No doubt Disney did. The law does not require you catch all bad apple employees only that you did what a reasonable person/corporation would be expected to do, thus the industry standard procedures. The person who does bear liability is the employee.

 

[hushupu]

I read about a few people who got taken over on the DVC board

 

[Virtucomp]

Smart crooks can get pretty bold. We had a similar problem in New England. Some guys went into the local grocery store and replaced the credit card machine at the self checkout registers. They looked like service people so no one really though much about it. They were collecting credit card numbers for days and then went back to switch the machines back out.

They fortunately got caught because the manager thought it was suspicious to be replacing the machines so often. They had been doing this in multiple states.

 

[mitros]

Smart crooks can get pretty bold. We had a similar problem in New England. Some guys went into the local grocery store and replaced the credit card machine at the self checkout registers. They looked like service people so no one really though much about it. They were collecting credit card numbers for days and then went back to switch the machines back out.

They fortunately got caught because the manager thought it was suspicious to be replacing the machines so often. They had been doing this in multiple states.

Wow , what kind of a grocery store manager doesn't question ANY technician coming into a store doing ANYTHING in a place that he is responsible for?

 

[skiingfast]

Wow , what kind of a grocery store manager doesn't question ANY technician coming into a store doing ANYTHING in a place that he is responsible for?

One who isn't the boss? Or the Regional Manager.

 

[barbeml]

This is not a problem unique to Disney. It can and has happened almost anywhere. It has happened at ATMs, at fast food places, hotels, restaurants, almost anywhere where cards are used.

Yep, we've had a cc number (never a physical card) swiped 6 times in 7 years. Gas stations and restaurants are a big problem around here.

 

[CliffordM]

I think laws should be made much more stringent for such thefts. They are much worse because once your cc information s stolen, you are vulnerable over and over again.

 

[Bell30012]

But it would have been a great time for the Disney spokesperson to say, "We'll make it right." Even if that meant helping the people understand that they aren't liable for the charges. Educating them on how to dispute them. Giving them a discount on a future stay. Anything, to show that Disney is above the normal company.

 

[G8RFAN]

Hmm, I stayed there in April. Nothing suspicious on my card but it has been replaced twice in the past two years because of possible information being compromised. Each time they wouldn't tell me who the merchant or processor was.

 

[odrog]

But it would have been a great time for the Disney spokesperson to say, "We'll make it right." Even if that meant helping the people understand that they aren't liable for the charges. Educating them on how to dispute them. Giving them a discount on a future stay. Anything, to show that Disney is above the normal company.

For me, its more of the fact that this was THEIR employee. Sure, legally speaking perhaps Disney is not at fault but this person's information was stolen as a result of doing business with Disney. It would be good business practice in my opinion if Disney took responsibility for the employees they hire and the actions they take while working for Disney.

 

[goofy4prez]

But it would have been a great time for the Disney spokesperson to say, "We'll make it right." Even if that meant helping the people understand that they aren't liable for the charges. Educating them on how to dispute them. Giving them a discount on a future stay. Anything, to show that Disney is above the normal company.

For me, its more of the fact that this was THEIR employee. Sure, legally speaking perhaps Disney is not at fault but this person's information was stolen as a result of doing business with Disney. It would be good business practice in my opinion if Disney took responsibility for the employees they hire and the actions they take while working for Disney.

I agree with this. True, WDW did nothing wrong in this case; however, it's all about customer relations. I myself own an insurance agency with several employees. If one of my employees does something unethical with a client it reflects back on me even though I've done nothing wrong to them personally; same thing here with Disney. Some effort on WDW's part with a corporate letter of apology and perhaps some type of discount for a return visit would be a nice gesture. Of course though, if WDW is not able to obtain who was victimized then there is nothing they really can do.

 

[Purplejewel]

How sad To think that when a family takes a much anticipated, and expensive, trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth" that they should have to worry about this type of thing happening to them. I have to say though that I am not completely shocked to hear about this. My DH and I have had our credit card information stolen on two separate occassions by what we suspected was a Disney Employee. A month or so directly after the last two times we took a Disney Cruise, we noticed alot of charges on our credit card statement that we didn't make. All of the charges were on-line purchases under $100.00 each but they added up to around $500.00 total. When we contacted some of the vendors, they each confirmed that the charges were made by a person with an Orlando, Florida mailing address. We suspect that someone working in the customer service center that takes credit card information when you prepay for Disney's Magical Express bus service was using our credit card information illegally. We contacted the local police in Orlando but they said there was not much they could do about it because we had no proof, only suspicions based on the fact it happened twice right after booking the Magical Express Service. We contacted Disney and advised them of our suspicions and they thanked us and said they would check into it but we have not heard anything back from them on the matter yet. We didn't have to pay the charges because our Credit Card Company removed them from our bill, but it is just sad that it happened and we are very hesitant to give out our credit card information again when we take our next Disney Cruise. It was a "BIG" pain to have to cancel our credit card twice, wait for the new cards to arrive and change the information on all of our pre-pay accounts twice. If this ends up happening again, I am going to insist that Disney do a full investigation because 3 times is definitely not a coincidence.

 

[barbeml]

We suspect that someone working in the customer service center that takes credit card information when you prepay for Disney's Magical Express bus service was using our credit card information illegally.

Sorry to go off topic, but since when do you have to pay for ME?

 

[Purplejewel]

Sorry to go off topic, but since when do you have to pay for ME?

The Magical Express is FREE if you are staying at a Walt Disney Resort and the Magical Express is picking you up from the airport and taking you directly to the resort; however, if you are flying into Orlando and want Magical Express to pick you up directly from the airport and transport you to the cruise ship and back to the airport on your return, there is a fee charged per person for this service. We always opt to use Magical Express even though there is a fee because it puts us in the "Disney" mood to start our cruise vacation.