Disney messed up our reservation--Help!!!

[JacksLilWench]

Okay, I need some serious comforting here and I hope some of you awesome podcasters can help me out!

We are less than 40 days away from our yearly trip to The World banana However, we got a call from our AAA agent today saying she got an email from Disney to inform her that during their (Disney's) system upgrade, a $200 payment never went through. This is after we made what we believed to be the final payment and all our paperwork told us we had a zero balance left on the trip.

I have so many things running through my head right now, it's unreal. First, how could this have happened? Second, what's going to happen now to the yearly vacation I so desperately need after this year? Third, (and I feel like I might get flamed for this, but) is this even our fault?

If Disney is the one that made the mistake while upgrading their systems, telling us all the while we had what we believed was the correct balance, why should we have to pull $200 extra out of our behinds to "correct" this? Am I wrong to think this? I certainly don't expect to be handed anything in life, however, if you're the one that makes the mistake with your system, it only seems fair that you should be the one to fix it. My mom and I have never had a problem with Disney or their travel company before, but this makes me rethink quite a bit.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? What did you do about it, and what was the outcome? Any advice/opinions/input would be really appreciated! Thanks so much, Disers!

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Okay, I need some serious comforting here and I hope some of you awesome podcasters can help me out!

We are less than 40 days away from our yearly trip to The World banana However, we got a call from our AAA agent today saying she got an email from Disney to inform her that during their (Disney's) system upgrade, a $200 payment never went through. This is after we made what we believed to be the final payment and all our paperwork told us we had a zero balance left on the trip.

I have so many things running through my head right now, it's unreal. First, how could this have happened? Second, what's going to happen now to the yearly vacation I so desperately need after this year? Third, (and I feel like I might get flamed for this, but) is this even our fault?

If Disney is the one that made the mistake while upgrading their systems, telling us all the while we had what we believed was the correct balance, why should we have to pull $200 extra out of our behinds to "correct" this? Am I wrong to think this? I certainly don't expect to be handed anything in life, however, if you're the one that makes the mistake with your system, it only seems fair that you should be the one to fix it. My mom and I have never had a problem with Disney or their travel company before, but this makes me rethink quite a bit.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? What did you do about it, and what was the outcome? Any advice/opinions/input would be really appreciated! Thanks so much, Disers!

If I'm reading correctly, you made a $200 payment that never went through, yes? Were you ever actually charged? As in, does it show up as a charge on your credit card or anything? I wouldn't think it would be wrong of Disney to ask for this money. If the you WERE charged, then it would be an issue, since they'd be asking you to pay $200 extra. But if the charge just didn't go through... they're only asking you to pay what you originally owed right? Then you should have an extra $200 that was planned for the charge, so it isn't like an extra $200

 

[carebee21]

Can't you just look at your statements and see if the extra $200 was actually deducted from your account or charged to your credit card?

And I don't think they expect you to pull $200 out of your butt. If your package was say, $1000 and you actually only paid $800, did you not notice the extra $200 in your account, or on your credit card balance?

 

[JacksLilWench]

I went back and looked at my bank statements, and I can't find a charge for the Missing $200, but it's on all the other paperwork we have from AAA and Disney. That's why it's so confusing and so stressing. I also don't use credit cards, just debit cards. That's something else I don't understand either-I would be WELL aware of an extra $200 floating around in my bank account, or if I was charged an overdraft fee because a $200 charge didn't clear. So it's just adding to the insanity of the whole year and the whole situation.

 

[mrsxsparrow]

I went back and looked at my bank statements, and I can't find a charge for the Missing $200, but it's on all the other paperwork we have from AAA and Disney. That's why it's so confusing and so stressing. I also don't use credit cards, just debit cards. That's something else I don't understand either-I would be WELL aware of an extra $200 floating around in my bank account, or if I was charged an overdraft fee because a $200 charge didn't clear. So it's just adding to the insanity of the whole year and the whole situation.

Why would you be charged an overdraft fee for a charge that didn't go through?

If the charge isn't there, then they probably didn't charge you. I don't think Disney really has done anything wrong here, though neither have you. I work in the accounting department of a family business and these things happen. That $200 has to be somewhere -- if there's no charge, then it has to still be in your account, and I'd expect that I'd have to pay it.

 

[eeyoresnr]

I agree with the others....if this was $ that you had intended on paying for your trip anyways, what is the problem? If the money has been charged to your account then they will fix it, but if the payment never left your bank or credit card how do you think you are pulling it out of your behinds....you were going to be spending that money to begin with...if it was never taken out of your bank account then YES you owe them the balance and they didn't do anything wrong... I'm not understanding why you would think you shouldn't have to pay the balance

 

[JacksLilWench]

And if it's my mistake, I'm more than willing to pay for it. I'm just so confused about the whole situation. We have about five different reciepts saying we were paid in full, and then today with 39 days to go (which is way past their cutoff time for payment) we find out we're $200 short. At this point, we don't even know if we still HAVE a reservation at all. So quite frankly, I'm pissed and in a little bit of disbelief that this could happen--it's not like Walt Disney Travel Company is a two-bit operation. I guess I'll just have to call them tomorrow and find out!

 

[mrsxsparrow]

And if it's my mistake, I'm more than willing to pay for it. I'm just so confused about the whole situation. We have about five different reciepts saying we were paid in full, and then today with 39 days to go (which is way past their cutoff time for payment) we find out we're $200 short. At this point, we don't even know if we still HAVE a reservation at all. So quite frankly, I'm pissed and in a little bit of disbelief that this could happen--it's not like Walt Disney Travel Company is a two-bit operation. I guess I'll just have to call them tomorrow and find out!

I'm imagining since they emailed you that you still have the reservation. They know you tried to pay and something went wrong.

I can try to explain to you how charges work at my store. Disney might do it a little differently, but I imagine the gist is the same. The charge was treated like a credit card charge, just like anything online/over the phone, etc. When you give your card number, they run it through a system to make sure its valid. At that point, all of Disney's info would say you've paid, thus your receipts. The bank gets notice that you used the card to pay $200, but the payment doesn't happen immediately. Disney or the bank then gets some time to change or cancel the amount you charged, and this is where things go wrong. If a payment was somehow cancelled during this time, YOU would have info saying you paid (via Disney, not a bank statement), however, the payment never happened. That money would still be in your account.

The scarier issue would be if something happened where you paid, the charge went through, but Disney had no record of your payment. But is sounds like that is not the case.

 

[eeyoresnr]

I'm thinking if they just notified your AAA agent of the error then they will let you pay the rest now....if you can't call yourself have your TA call and fix the problem...but you owe $200 and there is no getting around that

 

[JacksLilWench]

I'm imagining since they emailed you that you still have the reservation. They know you tried to pay and something went wrong.

I can try to explain to you how charges work at my store. Disney might do it a little differently, but I imagine the gist is the same. The charge was treated like a credit card charge, just like anything online/over the phone, etc. When you give your card number, they run it through a system to make sure its valid. At that point, all of Disney's info would say you've paid, thus your receipts. The bank gets notice that you used the card to pay $200, but the payment doesn't happen immediately. Disney or the bank then gets some time to change or cancel the amount you charged, and this is where things go wrong. If a payment was somehow cancelled during this time, YOU would have info saying you paid (via Disney, not a bank statement), however, the payment never happened. That money would still be in your account.

The scarier issue would be if something happened where you paid, the charge went through, but Disney had no record of your payment. But is sounds like that is not the case.

I gotcha there...but if the charge came back unpaid or anything else screwy, wouldn't the bank have alerted me? And wouldn't it have changed the information on the next set of reciepts? The Missing $200 was "processed" in June, but stayed on all the following reciepts. But we're just now finding out today that this is an issue? Arghh!!! I am definitely gonna have to call Disney tomorrow and find out what's going on.

Thank you for being so helpful (and patient!!) with me, mrsxsparrow. I really appreciate it!

 

[eeyoresnr]

it really doesn't matter who's fault it was....I'm sure if for instance you had paid twice by mistake (and you knew it was your fault) are you saying you would not expect Disney to repay the over payment? it works both ways. If you owe $200 pay it and have a wonderful trip

 

[djblu883]

check you bank account to be positive the transaction did not go through. If it did then contact your TA and show her the debit from your account and let her take it from there! If not then I'm sure Disney will allow you to make the final payment now since it was a glitch in their system that caused the mistake. They are pretty good to straighten things out!

 

[JacksLilWench]

check you bank account to be positive the transaction did not go through. If it did then contact your TA and show her the debit from your account and let her take it from there! If not then I'm sure Disney will allow you to make the final payment now since it was a glitch in their system that caused the mistake. They are pretty good to straighten things out!

I'm so panicking, haha. I've just never had a problem with Disney reservations before, not even dining! So this is just mind-blowing to me. At the same time too, I've had nothing but problems on top of problems ever since Wachovia merged with WellsFargo. But the panic is starting to set in! Because even if they do "let me" make the last payment, I wouldn't even be able to make it until next Friday. There's a lot of frustration here and it's starting to come to a head

 

[mrsxsparrow]

I gotcha there...but if the charge came back unpaid or anything else screwy, wouldn't the bank have alerted me? And wouldn't it have changed the information on the next set of reciepts? The Missing $200 was "processed" in June, but stayed on all the following reciepts. But we're just now finding out today that this is an issue? Arghh!!! I am definitely gonna have to call Disney tomorrow and find out what's going on.

Thank you for being so helpful (and patient!!) with me, mrsxsparrow. I really appreciate it!

The bank wouldn't have alerted you, but if this happened in June, Disney certainly should have known and let you know earlier. I know it can sometimes take up to a month for charges to go through, and if Disney had some issue with their system, it could be possible that the charge was just left sitting there, without Disney confirming it, for quite some time. But I agree that if this was in June you should have known much sooner.

That being said, there's not much you can do about it know. Make sure you don't actually have a charge on your account, then (unfortunately enough) you're going to have to pay up. I haven't dealt with anything like this with Disney before, but I would imagine that since they did let you know something was wrong on their side, they shouldn't demand payment right away. I'd expect that they give you until check in, like with a room only reservation, but that's just my opinion

So again, just double check you weren't charged. Then have your TA call Disney (no reason you should get the long distance phone charge!) and figure out where to go from here. I know it will seem like an extra $200 charge since you've thought it was paid for so long, but just remind yourself that this is something you've had to pay since the beginning. I hope the rest of your trip is awesome, after all, you'll be at the second happiest place on Earth (the first being Disneyland, my native home)

 

[kaligal]

This kind of stuff is why God invented travel agents. I don't know how AAA works, but if you have an agent, let them do the fighting. Fighting with airlines over frequent flyer miles is my #1 reason for using a TA. #2 is fighting with anyone over anything else they might screw up.

Let the TA sort it all out. They generally have it done in minutes, hours at worst.

Then you get your miles credited or your funds returned or whatever.

And if you owe money, which I would think they'd have figured out already, they'll know that, too.

Having other people fight with companies is so much more pleasant than doing it yourself.

 

[tmli]

There really isn't a big mystery as to how it happened. You have AAA paperwork showing a zero balance because the AAA TA made the payment to Disney on your behalf and would enter that payment in their system and generate your invoice with a zero balance. I do know around the 40 day mark your agent gets a fax (or email) to say this reservation is not paid in full. Up until this point I am sure she assumed it was paid as well.

I am not sure what paperwork you have from Disney with a balance on it...any dealings I have had with AAA the invoicing etc was always from them not Disney.

Assuming you do have paperwork from Disney, I am sure the payment showed as entered in their system when the TA called to make it. It was behind the scenes when accounting charges the payment that it didn't get through. Probably not some big mistake on anyone's part, just a system issue as they said. Although it could have beena human error being blamed on the system upgrades. But really either way I would say it's an honest mistake.

If you are 39 days out and all that is owing is $200 you still have a reservation. It's around the 30 day mark that it would become an issue.

The solution is simple, you know the amount of the original package. If after reviewing your records you were charged $200 less than you should have been, you have to pay it. Mistakes happen, your agent has no way of knowing your payment didn't clear until she hears from Disney to say they didn't receive it or you to say it hasn't come out of your account.

 

[Jaime]

This kind of stuff is why God invented travel agents. I don't know how AAA works, but if you have an agent, let them do the fighting. Fighting with airlines over frequent flyer miles is my #1 reason for using a TA. #2 is fighting with anyone over anything else they might screw up.

Let the TA sort it all out. They generally have it done in minutes, hours at worst.

Then you get your miles credited or your funds returned or whatever.

And if you owe money, which I would think they'd have figured out already, they'll know that, too.

Having other people fight with companies is so much more pleasant than doing it yourself.

Hi, I agree 100%. You gave your TA payment on time for the remaining balance. They are responsible to help you. I am actually surprise you were contacted by your TA without a solution. Really it should be as simple as charging your card again. Did your TA just want you to confirm payment did not go through on your statement?

 

[robinb]

I'm a little confused. If you made the $200 payment in June and that payment didn't go through, how did your checking account balance in July-October? Didn't you have $200 extra laying around?

 

[disneym2m]

Okay, this is what I have discovered about AAA....

When you are sitting in their office and you put down the $200 for a down payment and they take your credit/debit card or check or cash, they should have you sign some type of payment form. You need to find all these receipts where you made the payments. Take them to AAA and have them call Disney and find out where the payment is.

If you don't see this $200 on any bank statement, then the payment never went through. I find that just because AAA records say one thing, the Disney records may say something else.

Just be prepared to have to make this payment, if AAA can not prove that they even made the payment, then all will be fine. Maybe the AAA agent meant to run the payment through and it just never happened.

I remember this year, that my agent took the credit card information and told me that she would run the payment through later in the day with the other payments she had to run through. On my receipt it said I made a payment, so I basically watched all bank statements to make sure it actually went through...which by the way was a week after the original date.

Good luck. And no I don't think your reservations have been canceled.....yet. Your AAA would know ahead of time if this were to happen. Disney will give you plenty of time to figure things out before just canceling.

 

[dixiegirl]

I don't think this is a huge deal - if the $200 payment never got deducted from your bank acct, it has not been paid. There are alot of ways that this could have happened but again, if it never came out of your account, you owe the $200. Yes, it's inconvenient and annoying as you thought it was paid. If the $200 wasn't paid out of your checking account, it should still be reflected in your available balance from the bank.

Disney nor you did anything wrong, just a system or clerical error. Systems can time out and get cut off - could be the bank, could be Disney. It happens. No one's fault.