Disney's left me in tears...

[Dug720]

Bad Disney moments happen. Doesn't mean they should but they do.

Remember that these people are calling 200 people and likely having the same sort of conversation with each one. They are seeing these unpaid packages and probably are mystified as to how they are out there. And they are trying to fix it. Quickly.

Having worked customer service before I can tell you it takes nearly superhero strength to not let the last (30) calls not seep through to the next one. In a perfect world CS reps would get breaks when they need it, shoulder rubs when the last person on the phone threatened them, and hugs when they themselves want to cry. That world doesn't exist. (DH was amazon Seattle CS and they got crepe makers come in during the big holiday push in '99. And then in January were told they were all being laid off in May. So don't trust mobile crepe makers lol)

It does seem like someone made a big exception for you, both before and now. I'm glad that you get to keep it. I'm sorry that you cried and were still crying an hour later. That's no fun.

I hope the dining plan works out for you. If it's one with table service I hope you are able to make dining reservations as needed. Best of luck.

I agree with this 100%.

I also know that when I'm feeling stressed I tend to hear things much harsher than they actually are being said - especially if I've pinned all my hopes on one thing like it seems this vacation is.

 

[buzznina]

I would definitely send guest services an email about the 2 calls. I totally disagree with "since you got what you want to just let it go" as well as since they bent the rules, you cannot fault them. Bull puckies! "THEIR" employee gave you a payment plan, (as well as 200 other folks) so they need to be talking and training their staff better and not threatening the customer. I can tell you neither of the CMs you talk to would fair well at our company. Our customer service manager would have written them up for that.

 

[grandmomhop]

I have sent emails when I have had outstanding CM's. You can also write your complaint to this address.
I don't know if you noted their name. I try to always take names and notes anymore when dealing with any customer service.

compose an email to Disney Guest Services
wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com
correspondence will be responded to appropriately.

 

[perditax]

With the ever-increasing number of people desperate to get to Disney by any means necessary, there is no way for them to make everyone's experience "magical". One reason to consider is that there probably aren't enough qualified customer service reps willing to work for the pay and listen to entitled abusive callers all day and still be cheerful. (Not saying OP was entitled, I'm saying these jobs would try the patience of a saint.)

Am I saying it's okay for CSRs of a megacorp to be rude? No, I'm saying it's a numbers game and Disney is losing. No one really wants to do customer service for a living and I'm betting the phone reps work grueling hours for pretty marginal pay, with spotty information flow. And they probably hear sob stories all day long.

Again not saying rudeness is okay. Just giving context. (Also consider that half the country is having a very hard time right now.)

Disney is still just a business.

 

[bryanb]

I'm so sorry to read about this. If it makes you feel better, the reservations cast members are not the same people who actually run the resorts. Some of them have never actually had a family vacation to Disney World... they do their jobs from call centers and some even answer phones at home according to a work schedule. Regardless of the policies, you did not feel respected. I would let Disney World know that. I'm guessing you could've been on a recorded line, and this could be used as a teaching moment for executives to hear how people are treated -- and how they need to be treated.

But in the meantime, do not let this incident cloud your vacation! Go make some magical memories with that child! There is plenty of time to set Disney straight later. And when you do that, try not to be stressed about it. You can explain to them in a very clear, strong, and reasonable voice about what went wrong and what they need to do to fix it.

I wish you well. Safe and happy travels!

 

[Nancyg56]

I'm so sorry to read about this. If it makes you feel better, the reservations cast members are not the same people who actually run the resorts. Some of them have never actually had a family vacation to Disney World... they do their jobs from call centers and some even answer phones at home according to a work schedule. Regardless of the policies, you did not feel respected. I would let Disney World know that. I'm guessing you could've been on a recorded line, and this could be used as a teaching moment for executives to hear how people are treated -- and how they need to be treated.

But in the meantime, do not let this incident cloud your vacation! Go make some magical memories with that child! There is plenty of time to set Disney straight later. And when you do that, try not to be stressed about it. You can explain to them in a very clear, strong, and reasonable voice about what went wrong and what they need to do to fix it.

I wish you well. Safe and happy travels!

I agree that I would not let this incident ruin a magical trip, and that I woudl let disney know what occured. It does not matter where the customer service cast members are located, they are the face and voice of Disney.

In call centers a percentage of calls are recorded, some have high rates and others much lower percentages. I would not count on this call being recorded, but because the OP knows what transpired she can share this with guest services. All reps should know how to handle this level of stress that the upgrade caused, as well as how to manage a guests expectations when they have been provided information that was not accurate. Honestly, considering that the call center cast members have a reputation of providing inaccurate info, it seems to me that Quality and Training should be informed about this treatment.

It is my opinion that while the treatment the OP received from the rep is not usual, the issues that led to her experience are. I think that if I was sending that email, that is what I would be focusing on because the misinformation that the OP was provided in the first place led to the debacle. Coaching cast members to manage stress and upset guests is important and should be an ongoing portion of training, but providing those cast members with complete and accurate information to provide to guests would alleviate a large portion of the issues that occur.

In this case the guest recieved a call from guest services to correct a DISney mistake, and thankfully Disney seems to be honoring a promise made, but how many times does the misinformation a guest receives from a phone CM hit the guest at the resort, a restaurant or one of the parks or attractions? It is at that point DIsney either plays catch up after a guest either loses it with a cast member or leaves the guest hanging because the policy is the policy?

This is an area that baffles me because it is possible to ensure that the cast members are all on the same page, but DIsney seems to continually drop the ball in this area.

 

[Elizakapeka]

Should everyone with unpaid packages be worried about their ressie getting cancelled if they arent paid in full or was this an issue because it was less than 30 days out?

 

[dansdad]

Should everyone with unpaid packages be worried about their ressie getting cancelled if they arent paid in full or was this an issue because it was less than 30 days out?

It was only as issue because it was under 30 days.

 

[Elizakapeka]

got it, thank you.

 

[StanH]

Did you get a name, title, time, date? If yes, then report it. Then let us know what happens.

 

[Pats Dragon]

I am sooo sorry that you had this experience. Disney is only as good as their worst employee. I had a nightmarish experience when my sister was dying of cancer which woke me up to the truth. Disney is a nice vacation spot but it is not magical and just like the world elsewhere there are hateful and mean people. Try not to let it ruin your fun. Disneyworld will be good memories and just pray that the meanies realize what they are some day. That would be their worst consequence.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

I'm sorry for your experience! I believe the CMs go out of their way to make vacations magical. The outsourced call center person not so much and Disney will have to get on the training for those "front line" folks. I know they take the surveys at the end of the call seriously (when you call them).

My experience was different. I was at WDW when my mom died. I can't tell you how wonderful the folks at the BWI were. They were all so caring and accommodated everything. AK CMs too (that's where I got the call). They hailed a cab for me and my family to get back to the hotel and covered the cost.

These are people, dealing with the public all day long, that have very high expectations. I think on whole they do a fantastic job.

IMO, the OP should put everything in the past and I hope they have a wonderful time.

I am sooo sorry that you had this experience. Disney is only as good as their worst employee. I had a nightmarish experience when my sister was dying of cancer which woke me up to the truth. Disney is a nice vacation spot but it is not magical and just like the world elsewhere there are hateful and mean people. Try not to let it ruin your fun. Disneyworld will be good memories and just pray that the meanies realize what they are some day. That would be their worst consequence.

 

[adisneyaunt]

Glad this Did work out for you. I would let Disney know of ur experience with the 2 calls being concise and include dates/times/names u know.
Don't let this dampen ur Disney Spirit!

Here's hoping some Pixie Dust comes on ur trip. Enjoy!

 

[Aurora0427]

I would email.... your experience is a definite future training moment for Disney. For several reasons.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I'm glad that you were able to keep your trip, it is a bummer that they were so rude to you both times. I too would be upset. And even though "you got what you wanted" as the rep said I would still be upset about the treatment. I would send an email about it, if anything to let them know of your disappointment about the treatment and voice your concerns. And then once the email is sent you have done all you can do (unless you want to bring it up to a manager at your resort but that seems like wasting vacation time), and then forget about it. Perhaps they will follow up with a phone call. I had an issue on my last trip about a bus situation, that had I not emailed it would have eaten away at me. But once I sent the email I felt better and Disney did follow up with a call once I got home which I thought was nice.

 

[married2mm]

Op-hope all goes well tomorrow paying off your balance.
Please keep us informed.

I've had good & bad experiences with disney.
The good far outweighing the bad-however the bad sticks with me as I don't expect it.
It's not like the gas company for instance or cell phone providers where I feel I'm happy to at least manage to talk someone-an issue to be resolved would be a bonus!
I believe disney (in the majority) pride themselves on making your dreams come true-they may not be perfect -but should be as close to...
The option to give feedback is there for a reason - and should be utilised for both positive and negative.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

We have booked a package or two and were told when we booked that if we didn't pay the balance by the due date (30 days out from trip I believe?) then we would lose our deposit and reservations canceled. That doesn't seem unreasonable to me, but your experience sounds very unreasonable. Over the years I've talked to a couple of very unhelpful Disney reps on the phone but generally have had a good experience. I'd probably call back and place a complaint over the phone with a representative (and get the call elevated as high as possible) as well as place a written complaint. Even if you couldn't pay this package for some reason I suspect that Disney gets a lot of repeat customers and does not want to lose those people.

 

[wishing4PA]

About 45 min ago, a very loud and brash woman who said she was from guest services said she needed my credit card for a payment right now, that is I didn't pay the whole balance by noon tomorrow, my trip was going to be cancelled .

I would call the regular Disney number and speak to someone. That sounds very irregular. I would not trust anyone calling me and telling me I had to make immediate payment on anything.

Thank you to everyone who commented. it appears this wasn't a scam. A supervisor called me back, also quite rude and abrupt.

...

Should I still call and report them? I definitely don't feel like it's resolved....I feel like I have been strong-armed into feeling grateful that they are allowing me to give them large amounts of money on the day they agreed to.

bkellar, if it were me, I still would call Disney directly. I don't see anywhere that YOU initiated a call to them.
Okay, perhaps it's legit. If so, you still have a complaint as to how all this was handled. You may need to pay up though, if you at all can. But here's the thing. I don't think you should give someone who calls you the payment info. Even if the callers do somehow have your actual reservation info, maybe you shared it with some friends or your computer got hacked or a million other things.
You really don't know you spoke to Disney at all unless YOU call THEM. If you call them, and they say you need to pay up, then at least you know you are giving your credit card number to Disney and not to a scammer. And btw don't call them at a number that they gave you. Call the number you know is Disney.

Sorry for the caps, I just strongly think that's the key. Some scammers are very good at scaring people into giving away information that can let them steal money.

 

[North of Mouse]

bkellar, if it were me, I still would call Disney directly. I don't see anywhere that YOU initiated a call to them.
Okay, perhaps it's legit. If so, you still have a complaint as to how all this was handled. You may need to pay up though, if you at all can. But here's the thing. I don't think you should give someone who calls you the payment info. Even if the callers do somehow have your actual reservation info, maybe you shared it with some friends or your computer got hacked or a million other things.
You really don't know you spoke to Disney at all unless YOU call THEM. If you call them, and they say you need to pay up, then at least you know you are giving your credit card number to Disney and not to a scammer. And btw don't call them at a number that they gave you. Call the number you know is Disney.

Sorry for the caps, I just strongly think that's the key. Some scammers are very good at scaring people into giving away information that can let them steal money.

This!!!!! Be very, very careful!!! You do your own calling, and if it's legit, you are fine. But, please report these very unusual calls. 'Anyone' could have called you back posing as a supervisor. This is 'not' the way Disney usually calls, or responds.

Our credit card # was stolen just a couple weeks ago while we were traveling. Scammers are 'everywhere'!

DON'T EVER GIVE OUT YOUR CREDIT CARD # UNLESS 'YOU' INITIATE THE CALL YOURSELF!!!!
Sorry for caps, but 'please' be careful!!

 

[writerguyfl]

The outsourced call center person not so much and Disney will have to get on the training for those "front line" folks.

Please do not spread false information. The Disney Reservations Center/Walt Disney Travel Company Cast Members are NOT outsourced.