DME mix up experience - rare but please be aware!

[TaraPA]

I tend to book trips last minute, so I often don't have enough time to receive my yellow luggage tags. They're not necessary according to DME - you simply hand your baggage claim check stubs to the CM at DME check in at MCO & they take it from there. I've done this at least a dozen times over the last few years & never had a problem. 3 weeks ago was a different story - and extremely frustrating - so if you're utilizing DME luggage transfer without yellow tags please read this & PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK that they have your info correct!

I arrived at DME check in at MCO at 1:00pm and handed the CM my American Airlines baggage claim check stubs. He scanned my Magic Band & verified my name & resort. He added my airline info from my stubs & handed them back to me. Off I went to meet up with a friend for the day.

By 9pm I was curious where my bag was. I understand it can take until during the night to arrive, but I stopped by Bell Services on my way to the room to double check if they knew anything since I was walking by. I was told not to worry, there was still another truck coming that night with bags. I would have my bag by 11:00pm.

By 11:00pm & still no bag, I called Bell Services & was told the last drop off was made & all had been deliverer, to call DME to check. I called DME who told me they had my bag in the system but could not locate it. "Don't worry, it will show up first thing tomorrow." I wasn't too happy but went to bed, having to be up by 3am for the Princess 5K.

After the race, still no bag by 10:30am. I went back to Bell Services - "Don't worry your bag will arrive soon." I asked if they could somehow track it or double check that it was in the system. "Don't worry, your bag will arrive, go enjoy your day." (In stinky sweaty race clothing, with no clean clothing left in my carry on). I called DME again to double check & was finally told that they could not locate my bag, I needed to call the airline & file a missing bag claim. American said I could not file a claim on the phone & was chastised for leaving the airport without my bag. I explained DME & they had no idea what I was talking about (I get that their reps probably aren't aware of the service at MCO). No problem - come to MCO to file a claim, nothing they can do. Argh. Before wasting half a day to do this I wanted to check one more time with DME to see if maybe the bag had found its way into the system. During this call I was told that I should never use DME without a yellow tag. Ok wait, before you passed the buck to the airline, now you're passing it to me? I felt I was getting the run around & went to the front desk. "Can't help, go to Bell Services." Bell Services said "Don't worry, your bag will arrive." ARGH. I finally went to Concierge & a very nice CM offered to call DME & double check one last time for me before I headed back to MCO. Here, it was made clear that the CM at MCO typed in the WRONG AIRLINE when sending my baggage claim ticket info to DME! So the DME crew was looking for my bag coming in from Southwest, not American Airlines, and naturally there was no bag there at Southwest because I didn't fly Southwest! It was that simple to figure out, yet took 24 hours to get someone to look into it. I called back American Airlines who confirmed that yes my bag was at MCO. The Concierge arranged with DME to have someone get it on the next delivery. Whew, mystery solved!

But wait! I get a call back from a DME rep, to confirm my bag was located, which I was thankful for. But then she goes on to tell me that when booking a trip with another person that is flying a different airline, we really need to book them separately to avoid this in the future. Wait, WHAT?!?! I totally felt she was trying to place the blame on me. Number one, I travel to WDW with a friend that lives in a different state at least 4 times a year, we have always flown different airlines & never had a problem. We stay in the same room - we can't just "book separately!" This can't be uncommon for people on the same itinerary to use different airlines! Number two - my friend didn't even fly Southwest - so that made her argument moot - I get it if the MCO CM accidentally chose my friend's flight info for mine- but that wasn't the case. She came in on Frontier! I was so frustrated at this point, but just happy my bag was coming after 24 hours, a 5K & no clean clothes left!

The bag arrived at 3pm & a follow up call was received from DME which was very nice, but I did let them know nicely that I felt that twice their DME rep was not taking responsibility & trying to tell me this was my fault. Fact of the matter was that the DME CM typed in the wrong info. Human error - I get it - no biggie - but please just take responsibility & FIX IT!

So BOTTOM LINE - if you're not using yellow luggage tags DOUBLE CHECK that the DME CM has entered your information CORRECTLY before heading to the resort! Lesson learned!

 

[goofy4tink]

Oh man......I have no issue with making a mistake. But...I want the person responsible for making that mistake to own up to it, and at the very least (if not owning up to it) don't try to make it the guest's fault. I had a situation last May, that they made me feel like I was responsible for the error as well. I have been told by DME many, many times, that if my resort reservation number stays the same but the resort itself changes, no need to get new yellow tags. All the info is in the system accessed by using the bar code on the tags. And, not to cross off the resort name and plug in the correct one....too big a chance the bar code will be impaired. So..when I changed our resort from Pop to POR? The reservation number stayed the same. I left the tag as is. Which was nice since I was surprising my dd and her friend with the change!! Dd and I drove to MCO from Tampa, so had our bags with us. We returned the car, grabbed our bags, and met her friend who flew in from Tx. She had tagged her checked bag. So, we head to DME checkin...they scan my MB and point to the Pop line. No, I said, we are no longer staying at Pop! Well, that's what is showing..please go to the CM who can help you. So, we head to the manned scanning area. They tried to find us, and found Pop as well. But, after looking for about 5 mins, found it and changed it in the system, saying, good thing we didn't check any bags, that could have been an issue! WHAT???? Told them our friend had, indeed, checked a bag. They went over to the counter...spent close to 10 mins over there, but came back saying it was all fixed, but next time, be sure to cross off the old resort name and write in the new one! Okay...so now we have completely different info than I got a month prior.
So, we get to PoR, get to our room, drop the bags we had..it was about 6:30pm, having arrived at 5ish. We headed to the CR to meet dd's other friend who was on the DCP...and watched the fireworks from ToTW. Got back to the room about 11ish. No bag in the room. I called down...nothing had arrived yet. At midnight, I called again...still nothing. By 1am, I was getting somewhat perturbed, so called again. They said they were looking for the bag, and would bring it as soon as it was located. About 30 mins later? Knock on the door, the bag arrived, but the CM said it had been sitting at Pop since 7:30!!!! No one thought to check the bag that was sitting there?
I may have to go with untagged bags in Sept if I can't get more of the tags. We need two pp. If I don't get them? I'll be getting the bags myself. And that's too bad. The guests shouldn't have to go through this kind of stuff.

I seriously hope that you have mentioned this to someone at WDW! They need to do something about these lapses....especially if they want to 'start' charging us for DME!!

 

[seashoreCM]

In order to be aware, how would you know if the Magical Express welcoming area clerk typed in the wrong airline code? Does he give you a paper receipt?

... I needed to call the airline and file ...

You first file a claim in writing at your resort which is your final itinerary destination when you use DME. You would submit your baggage claim receipts and that would be enough information for DME to find its mistake.

You should not take ownership of the problem, which belongs to DME.

If in the rare event you do have to go back to the airport mid-vacation, it should be a round trip via DME. And you still receive a DME ride back to the airport upon checkout.

You can counterfeit the yellow tags. But laminate the entire surface of the copy with transparent tape or use a color laser printer to prevent bleeding if the bags got in the rain which too often greets arriving planes.

 

[Minnesota!]

What a frustrating story! Luggage gets lost, I get it. It's the passing the buck and the blame on anyone and everyone BUT where the problem actually was..that is where I would have lost my cool...