disney goes cheap- again

[picantel]

I am still in a state of disbelief on how low disney has sunk. After moving here a year ago I have watched them raise prices through the roof and ruin their price/quality of food. Last week we got same day reservations at Le Cellier which was unhead of and found out why since all my faves were taken off the menu. The waitress said alot of people have been cancelling and complaining about the food and menu and at 1 p.m. the restaurant was half empty.
I just checked in for 1 night at the french quarter with a passholder rate of $139 which was paid in full. I had a receipt and everything. When I gave my name they stated I still owed $22.xx because it was $159 a night for passholder. I said no your online booking has $139 and I paid in full and I even called in and confirmed with central reservations. This started, unbelievably enough, a 30 minute waste of my time and they called supervisors and reservations and they were not going to honor their rate. Since when does any hotel change their rate after payment the moment you check in? None do. Not in a million years would I ever expect disney to sink so low that they need to quibble over $20. Oh, and please do not tell me you would have paid it either. I finally had to threaten to cancel 2 prepaid long vacations and my annual passes if they did not honor their quoted and paid rate. 30 minutes I will never get back. Ridiculous

 

[MiaSRN62]

I just checked in for 1 night at the french quarter with a passholder rate of $139 which was paid in full. I had a receipt and everything. When I gave my name they stated I still owed $22.xx because it was $159 a night for passholder.

You are right....it was $139. I saw this because I'm a Passholder too. This rate started July 1 and runs through Aug 4. I would have told them to log on to the Passholder site right there and then.
I always print out my statement/receipt when I pay anything online---even if it's just the deposit. I cant understand how they could argue with your receipt ???
Sorry you were treated like that.

 

[poohbear2]

WOW

I would have been upset also!

If you only booked for one night and you have to pay for the one night ahead of time, it only makes sense that it was paid for before you arrived! Why didn't they say anything when you checked in????

This is really sad to hear.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Unfortunately, when you have 50,000 cast members, there can always be a few who don't take customer service and guest satisfaction as seriously as one might hope.

Sorry to hear you had such a difficult time with your reservation but also glad to hear that you it as originally booked.

Knox

 

[DizzDoll]

Grrrrrr - aggravation you don't need!!! Good for you for sticking to your guns. I would not have paid the additional $20 either. Paid in full means just that, not an "oh wait I need an extra twenty off you".

 

[disneyworldluvr349]

Sorry for your trouble! Hope it hasn't completely ruined Disney World for you.

 

[dburg30]

Being in the retail business, and getting to deal with the general public day to day, I usually play the retailers side of it. LOL, not this time, that was pretty crappy.

 

[kutchyone]

Could you also provide details about your dining experience at Le Cellier and more about the changes you saw.

 

[Tink415]

Sorry you had that experience with your room rate! Its an unpleasant welcome to the hotel for sure. But I don't think a room rate error is new, its just not common, thank goodness! Its happened to me twice in the last 11 years and numerous stays. I've found front desk CM's go by what their computers show them, most don't seem to know about the different rates offered.. Your confirmation or receipt will not automatically override what their computer says you owe unless a manager of some sort oks it. At POR we had a 10 night stay in 2004 or so when there was a $15 charge for the trundle. My DD's friend didn't stay with us at the last minute and I wanted the $15 per night removed. The front desk CM acted like I was crazy and said there was no extra charge for a trundle (there was). I did get the extra charge removed after considerable persistance and asking to speak to a manager. At Poly in 1997 we had a fantastic package for 3 nights ($115 for lagoon view) that included room, MVMCP and old Jolly Holidays show, I couldn't believe the rate and verified with CRO several times; at checkin the CM said we owed an additional $900 some dollars. I had feared that would happen but had the confirmation ready that showed I was paid in full for the package. He went in the back to speak to someone and came out shaking his head saying Disney was paying us to stay..not quite but it was an unbelieveable great deal!
Hope your next visit is better!

 

[cara loves the poly]

Sorry you had that experience with your room rate! Its an unpleasant welcome to the hotel for sure. But I don't think a room rate error is new, its just not common, thank goodness! Its happened to me twice in the last 11 years and numerous stays. I've found front desk CM's go by what their computers show them, most don't seem to know about the different rates offered.. Your confirmation or receipt will not automatically override what their computer says you owe unless a manager of some sort oks it. At POR we had a 10 night stay in 2004 or so when there was a $15 charge for the trundle. My DD's friend didn't stay with us at the last minute and I wanted the $15 per night removed. The front desk CM acted like I was crazy and said there was no extra charge for a trundle (there was). I did get the extra charge removed after considerable persistance and asking to speak to a manager. At Poly in 1997 we had a fantastic package for 3 nights ($115 for lagoon view) that included room, MVMCP and old Jolly Holidays show, I couldn't believe the rate and verified with CRO several times; at checkin the CM said we owed an additional $900 some dollars. I had feared that would happen but had the confirmation ready that showed I was paid in full for the package. He went in the back to speak to someone and came out shaking his head saying Disney was paying us to stay..not quite but it was an unbelieveable great deal!
Hope your next visit is better!

I cannot believe you paid in full and they wanted more when you got there!!!!!! Same w/ the OP!!!!!! That is terrible!!! A lot of the time front desk clerks don't have the empowerment to make any customer service decisions on their own. It's really sad because the company (disney) looses customer service points for that. It really helps with employee morale when they can are given the O.K. to solve problems on their own w/o the approval of a supervisor. Disney should think about that!

 

[WillCAD]

I sure as heck would not have paid it, either!

A quoted and confirmed rate from an internet or phone booking MUST be honored by law. Since OP had the printed confirmation showing the rate and that it was paid in full, the thing I find most rediculous is that it took 30 minutes of argueing for the supervisor to over-ride the computer glitch and honor the rate.

 

[peel]

Sorry you had to go through that!

I'm interested to hear about Le Cellier....I just ate there a little over a month ago and it retained its status as my favorite restaurant at WDW. What did they change on the menu? What is everyone complaining about?

 

[DizzDoll]

I'm also interested in your reviews of LeCel. We have lunch ressies there in August.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Tink415 says :Your confirmation or receipt will not automatically override what their computer says you owe unless a manager of some sort oks it.

And this is the most ridiculous part !? I currently have a reservation at WL and AKL for this year. I went to "terms and conditions" and it states on the disney.com website on the page where my reservation information shows up :

Rate Revisions

Room rates are guaranteed as long as your reservation is not changed.

So frankly, I don't know how a front desk CM or even manager can argue with this I find it wrong and poor customer service to be quibbling with a customer who holds a paid receipt in their hands (which happens to have the above disclaimer accompany it).

 

[pilferk]

Sorry you had that experience with your room rate! Its an unpleasant welcome to the hotel for sure. But I don't think a room rate error is new, its just not common, thank goodness! Its happened to me twice in the last 11 years and numerous stays. I've found front desk CM's go by what their computers show them, most don't seem to know about the different rates offered.. Your confirmation or receipt will not automatically override what their computer says you owe unless a manager of some sort oks it. At POR we had a 10 night stay in 2004 or so when there was a $15 charge for the trundle. My DD's friend didn't stay with us at the last minute and I wanted the $15 per night removed. The front desk CM acted like I was crazy and said there was no extra charge for a trundle (there was). I did get the extra charge removed after considerable persistance and asking to speak to a manager. At Poly in 1997 we had a fantastic package for 3 nights ($115 for lagoon view) that included room, MVMCP and old Jolly Holidays show, I couldn't believe the rate and verified with CRO several times; at checkin the CM said we owed an additional $900 some dollars. I had feared that would happen but had the confirmation ready that showed I was paid in full for the package. He went in the back to speak to someone and came out shaking his head saying Disney was paying us to stay..not quite but it was an unbelieveable great deal!
Hope your next visit is better!

We had something similar happen in 2001 when we stayed at AKL. We had booked a deluxe savannah view room. Requested a king bed because I have a bad back and need room so stretch out (I'm 6 ft 3) and room for my wife to sleep. Payed in full prior to arrival.

When we got our room assignment, it was on the 4th floor (we checked in early, room wasn't ready, called the number, etc). I went to the front desk and they INSISTED we had not booked a deluxe room. I whipped out my confirmation, the front desk CM looked at it....and had to go find a manager to get everything changed over. There system had screwed up and changed the ressie (but not the rate!) somehow...they had to hunt for inventory to find us a room, but they did find one (a very nice one I might add).

 

[sillyguys]

I would definitely suggest sending an e-mail to disney customer service. I recently sent an e-mail discussing some good and bad things from my recent stay. I received a call back from someone at customer service and she was very thankful that I brought the problems to her attention. She told me that the information received is passed along and used as a training tool. She also generously compensated me for my issues, even though I didn't ask for anything. The morale of the story is it is probably worth 10 minutes of your time to send them an e-mail letting them know about your problem. Good luck!

 

[picantel]

My 2 faves at Le Cellier were the french dip and that appetizer with the steak kabobs that were sensational. Both were dropped from the menu. I think my wife's fave soft shelled crab sandwich was also gone. The server said they received alot of complaints and subsequent cancellations and to file a complaint to bring them back. There were other changes but I cannot remember off the top of my head what they were. I could also swear when we went to casey's a couple of days ago that the hotdogs shrank to near normal size. The long ones are gone. There was a good 4 inches of extra bread and it even looked like the bread went to some whole grain or wheat or something. Still good but much shorter. They also combined the fries and hotdog into one package which was something like $5.79. I do not know if you can now buy the hotdog separate because I did not ask. We are local and go alot so we see the changes immediately. This is why I am quickly losing patience with Disney's money grubbing anti consumer economics which is starting to take over and it will bite them in the butt one of these days.

 

[robinb]

They also combined the fries and hotdog into one package which was something like $5.79. I do not know if you can now buy the hotdog separate because I did not ask.

You can always ask for any counter service meal to be served without fries. They will charge you about $2.00 less for the meal.

 

[peel]

As far as the menu options go, menus change all the time. I'm not sure I would go so far as to file a complaint because my personal favorite meal was no longer offered. I'd be disappointed, sure. If the food declined in quality, I guess that's another matter.

 

[kjs1976]

I would agree that the food quality has declined in some areas. The pizza used to be fantastic. We got it to go and had it in our room on our honeymoon in 2001 and it is now not even close to being the same. When I worked at BB in 1996 in food and beverage I was amazed at the quality that was put into "water park" food. Once a month the managers would have a big lunch for us of alot of the menu items plus new ones they were thinking of trying out. I'll never forget the salads and BBQ chicken pizza. I was very surprised to see the choices dimished when I was there even in 2001 and even in 2006 it was smaller. I understand scaling back on choices, but not on quality.