Disney Just Called Me About Flordia Rate Glitch...

[AdventurerKat]

Eric, what was the name of the person who called you btw?

 

[ECurto]

She didnt give me her name. And she keep trying to get me to change the reservation to reflect the new rate. I told her no, and to leave it. Im trying to find the "RPNFAMILY" member...i think that was his name. Who said he spoke to 4 supervisiors and had their names, and that Disney will honor this rate. According to this lady, if we get that they will honor the rate.

Oh and this may help too. She is saying shes from the "online billing/booking" which is different then regular disney booking. Which is why "they will cover the first night", but when you try and check in at the hotel, Disney will make you pay the rack rate b/c they are seperate from the online system.

It all doesnt make sence. Bottom line... we need the managers name who said Disney will honor this.

 

[AdventurerKat]

I think its RParmFamily you were looking for and I think he is doing hurricane relief work. I could not find a post where he spoke of talking to managers but maybe I missed it. Did he PM that to you by chance? I saw yours about talking to managers but I guess you did not get any names. I always do that kind of stuff and then proceed to forget where I put the piece of paper I wrote it on.

 

[Poohsmommi]

She didnt give me her name. And she keep trying to get me to change the reservation to reflect the new rate. I told her no, and to leave it. Im trying to find the "RPNFAMILY" member...i think that was his name. Who said he spoke to 4 supervisiors and had their names, and that Disney will honor this rate. According to this lady, if we get that they will honor the rate.

Oh and this may help too. She is saying shes from the "online billing/booking" which is different then regular disney booking. Which is why "they will cover the first night", but when you try and check in at the hotel, Disney will make you pay the rack rate b/c they are seperate from the online system.

It all doesnt make sence. Bottom line... we need the managers name who said Disney will honor this.

You just keep that print out showing the dates you booked for and the rate you booked for. You don't change a thing. When you check in, if they give you a problem, you show them your confirmation showing the rate. When you check out, if they charge you more, you send a copy of the confirmation to your credit card company along with a dispute. You booked at a certain rate; they cannot arbitrarily change it. Trust me on this - I am a certified litigation paralegal in the state of Florida. They can only change it if you AGREE to modification of that reservation - UNLESS the terms and conditions PRINTED on the reservation screen state they can modify your rate at any time - you need to check that - otherwise, DO NOT AGREE and enjoy your trip.

 

[CharlesTD]

Good luck with that but AFAIAC Disney has no need to honour this rate and honestly shouldn't. I wouldn't expect them to after all it was a mistake. How would you like it if your company you ran made a pricing error and then caught it before people could actually check in or complete the purchase. I know I would be giving a small discount like the first night that they are doing but the rest would be full price no if's ands or buts about it.

 

[CharlesTD]

You just keep that print out showing the dates you booked for and the rate you booked for. You don't change a thing. When you check in, if they give you a problem, you show them your confirmation showing the rate. When you check out, if they charge you more, you send a copy of the confirmation to your credit card company along with a dispute. You booked at a certain rate; they cannot arbitrarily change it. Trust me on this - I am a certified litigation paralegal in the state of Florida. They can only change it if you AGREE to modification of that reservation - UNLESS the terms and conditions PRINTED on the reservation screen state they can modify your rate at any time - you need to check that - otherwise, DO NOT AGREE and enjoy your trip.

Good advice the only problem is there may be some unhappy people if all of a sudden there is no room available for you when you get there I have seen that happen oops sorry we have overbooked here is a refund kinda like the airlines.

 

[gigi1313]

because i'm a curious sort, i read thru this whole thread... even though it has no bearing on me or mine! LOL!

color me confused on one thing, ecurto... if you did not speak w/a manager and did not get a promise that the rate would be honored, even if RParmFamily did, what good will it do you to get the name of the person that promised RParm the rate? if you didn't speak to a manager, then you didn't... if you did not get a guarantee, then you did not... if they won't honor the rate, then they won't... are you hoping to get the name of the person someone else spoke to and say they promised you too? i don't understand...

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

I would be very surprised if Disney did NOT run this past a bunch of their attorneys and know exactly what they are doing as far as whether it's legal or not.

 

[ECurto]

because i'm a curious sort, i read thru this whole thread... even though it has no bearing on me or mine! LOL!

color me confused on one thing, ecurto... if you did not speak w/a manager and did not get a promise that the rate would be honored, even if RParmFamily did, what good will it do you to get the name of the person that promised RParm the rate? if you didn't speak to a manager, then you didn't... if you did not get a guarantee, then you did not... if they won't honor the rate, then they won't... are you hoping to get the name of the person someone else spoke to and say they promised you too? i don't understand...

I did speak to a supervisior (is that the same thing as a manager) But i did not get there name, b/c I assumed the info would be on reservation. So now i need the name of ANY manager. All she wants to do in confirm somebody said this rate would be honored.

 

[AdventurerKat]

Poohsmommi - This comes up on my reservation on-line as the terms and conditions:


Terms and Conditions – Resort Accommodations
Deposit Requirements

A credit card deposit must be received at time of booking or the reservation will be automatically cancelled.
Cancellation Policy

In order to receive a full refund of your deposit, notification of cancellation must be received at least 6 days prior to your arrival date. To cancel or modify an existing reservation, call (407) 939-7429†. The cancellation and refund policy is subject to change.
Rate Revisions

Room rates are guaranteed as long as your reservation is not changed.
Please Note the Following

For reservation information and modifications PRIOR TO ARRIVAL, please call (407) 939-7429†.
Non-Transferable

Reservations are not transferable, and the guest for whom the room(s) or package(s) are reserved may not be changed.


†If you are under 18 years of age, you must have your parent or guardian's permission to dial this number.



That's what it says. I am also a paralegal but as a recent transplant to Florida, I am not up on all the laws here quite yet. My boss, who is not a contract attorney, did tell me when this originally occurred that in his opinion by taking the deposit on that reservation as it was, they formed a contract to provide that room for the amount quoted. If I argue it, that's what I will argue. If it doesn't work, oh well.

 

[gigi1313]

but the burden of proof is on you... it was your responsiblity to get that name, no? i'm not trying to argue but to say that jane doe supervisor said it was okay when in fact it was john smith supervisor that said so, well, you could be getting jane doe in trouble for making her responsible for something she did not do... i guess i have a moral/ethical problem with that... but again, this is really not my issue and i should probably just butt out! LOL!

 

[vascubaguy]

Not trying to stir things up or spark debate, but is this the glitch where it was calculating the wrong tax amount? In that case the room rate was actually correct, but the taxes were coming up in the negatives. In essence, they wouldn't be changing the room rate, just charging the correct tax amount.

Also, I would imagine if they cancel the reservations of the few that took advantage of the glitch, that they will still get those rooms booked by someone else, so I doubt they'd be losing anything.

Good luck with keeping those ressies though!

 

[ECurto]

That's what it says. I am also a paralegal but as a recent transplant to Florida, I am not up on all the laws here quite yet. My boss, who is not a contract attorney, did tell me when this originally occurred that in his opinion by taking the deposit on that reservation as it was, they formed a contract to provide that room for the amount quoted. If I argue it, that's what I will argue. If it doesn't work, oh well.

I think the problem with that argument is that "the room rate" is correct. Its the "tax" that the error is on. So they will honor the room rate, its correct. its the -XXX.XX on the tax section that is the problem.

 

[AdventurerKat]

I told him exactly what the issue was when I was explaining it to him so I don't know. I also have my reservation that shows I owe them $80.00 so we talked about that too. He's in court right now but I may bring it up to him again when he gets back.

 

[Sammie]

I did speak to a supervisior (is that the same thing as a manager) But i did not get there name, b/c I assumed the info would be on reservation. So now i need the name of ANY manager. All she wants to do in confirm somebody said this rate would be honored.

Phone calls are monitored for this very reason, unless you have the name of the person you spoke to, having the name of a manager/supervisor someone else spoke to is not going to help you.

She wants to confirm that you actually spoke to that manager/supervisor.

 

[lillygator]

I would like to know what my cost will be before I get over there...if they are only going to honor it for the one night I don't want to find that out once in Orlando....
I can't pull my reservations up online for some reason...

AdventurerKat....how recently did you move here? Do you like it?

 

[ECurto]

Phone calls are monitored for this very reason, unless you have the name of the person you spoke to, having the name of a manager/supervisor someone else spoke to is not going to help you.

She wants to confirm that you actually spoke to that manager/supervisor.

Im sure if one manager is saying yes to it, that will be enough verification.
But im not going going to turn this into an ethcial debate, obviously if we are taking advantage of a rate glitch, we dont have good morals to begin with. lol (THAT WAS A JOKE...ALSO NOT UP FOR ARGUMENT!)

 

[C.Ann]

Doesn't sound too promising, does it? I had hoped that Disney would honor these rates for those who jumped on it - considering it was their own mistake - but as everyone has so often been reminded on the AP call-in discounts threads, Disney is in business to make money and it appears that really don't care if people cancel trips, decide to stay off-site, don't renew their AP's, etc.. Just a fact of life (or business) that people are going to have to get used to and respond to in a manner that works for best for them..

 

[Lewisc]

I'm sure Disney's attorney's have reviewed the situation. I wouldn't rely on the advice given by non-lawyers on this board. So the room rate is correct but the tax rate shows as being negative.

Sounds like an obvious mistake. Does anyone really believe the state of FL or a local county is subsidizing your resort stay? Business are allowed to correct obvious mistakes. Typos in newspaper ads don't get honored. It would have been better if the discount was something like 50% or even a 60% discount. That wouldn't have been an obvious mistake and Disney would have been more likely to honor it.

Disney can either honor the mistake for goodwill, void all the reservations or allow it for one night which is what it sounds like they're doing. HI honored the rates, I guess for goodwill.

I guess the negative tax number makes the mistake beyond debate.

I wouldn't count a credit card company backing you on a dispute. Disney says the negative tax was an obvious error. The guest was notified in advance and given the opportunity to cancel. How would you argue the negative number wasn't a mistake?

Not sure of the answer but I thought we pay the tax rate in effect when we check in. If the tax rates goes up or down aren't our rates adjusted?

 

[Snurk71]

I know a little about sales tax (I'm an accountant), which the theory should apply similarly to occupancy taxes. Disney is on the hook for the taxes on the room, regardless of whether they charge you for it or not. The only way Disney is off the hook for the taxes is if the customer does not pay - and that is generally a messy process - a business has to file for a tax refund based on the writeoff of the receivable (I know - accounting babble).

So Disney would need to do some accounting two-stepping to keep the total charge to the customer and still keep the government happy. Maybe Disney just eats the tax as an operating cost.

I doubt this would happen, but Disney could possibly turn over the customer to the state for not paying the tax and the customer could get a nasty use tax call from the government down the line.