DVC Customer Service due to poor lodging?

[kim_d]

I think it really is a 2 way street between DVC members and housekeeping.

Since DVC doesn't get daily housekeeping, I as a DVC owner try to leave my room(s) neat and tidy- don't leave wet towels on the floor, don't drop something on the floor and not clean it up, etc. So when I check out housekeeping doesn't have to spend hours cleaning my room (b/c we all know there is someone downstairs chomping at the bit to get in as early as possible).

 

[disneynutz]

Unfortunately you will find that some people just don't care and they live like pigs. It doesn't matter if we are talking about DVC, other hotel rooms, or the parks, Disney needs to do a better job cleaning up after the pigs. It makes sense to me that the more people that you have using the facilities, the more Disney needs to clean. During the last several years Disney seems to have reduced their cleaning budget and kept the money as profit.

 

[CarolA]

Have any of you ever had to WAIT an hour for your room while the "inspection" took place? I have

Apparently from what I was told, the housekeeping supervisors randomly put "holds" on units they plan to inspect.

Of course in my case the guests didn't leave until the last possible minute which meant it got pushed to the end of the cleaning... (I mean they go to the rooms that are empty and work BACK to those that are occupied) I have no idea what condition it was in, but.....

So at 4:30 I was told that the housekeeping had left the room but it had a 'manager' hold on it (something like that) so the supervisor could inspect it... at 5 I kind of got rude and said I wanted in room and I didn't care if it was "inspected" They gave me the key.... it was fine. (I asked why they didn't clean "selected" rooms first and the manager told me it was not told to the housekeepers which makes sense.)

So if you want a 100% inspection... Assume that rooms will be ready even later or dues will rise to pay for more supervisors...

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Misery??? Why is it that when someone post a laundry list of complaints that, and I have said this b/f we make excuses for DVC. If you don't mind paying that kind of money and are satisfied great, but lets not always jump on someone who is listing what was wrong. I have read wonderful great reports so I do not agree that people only post the negative.
I think that there has been much talk about the lack of mousekeeping and standards in recent times. Sorry I bought DVC because it was able to provide me with the way I like to vacation. 1st class and stay in deluxe resorts, if I am there and it is not up to par, I am not making excuses. Go look up the price of the rooms and ask if I paid for a vacation and spent this for my length of stay for a resort, would this be acceptable? I would have to say that if you were going to anywhere USA and your stay was costing you thousands for that stay at that resort, you would not find these things acceptable.
Forget emailing as long as there are those who have no problem spending money and think that lack of upkeep and poor mousekeeping is okay, then DVC has no worries or a need to improve.
I am not planning on selling my DVC, but it is sad to see it is not the same DVC that we purchased 11 years ago, though those maint. fees do keep going up.

Don't misunderstand my reference to misery and validation. I am talking to Lynn and trying to help her not be alarmed! We can go for weeks and months without a complaint about a particular resort and then someone has a complaint (a valid complaint) and all of a sudden you have a flurry of complaints and it is all a matter of validating feelings and experiences. Some people are shy about complaining and won't be the first to complain, but will quickly add to complaints thus validating the original complaint and their own complaint. I would never say DIS posts are all about the negative. You will find me on most every VB thread validating positive posts.

These flurries of activity are expected, normal, and ongoing. You see it on any forum and ranging all issues. To a new comer (or new owner) it is alarming and disheartening. It is like you can't see the forest for the trees. So I am just trying to help Lynn understand she is not seeing forest in this case.

 

[TDC Nala]

I think at this point you probably can't expect compensation.

 

[bookwormde]

Just from a commercial builders perspective, if it was one of the first units finished it may well be ready for carpet replacement, but to have the carpet almost worn through would indicate inadequate quality carpet was specified when the resort was built (Quality also effect cleanability, you would think WDW would have this figured out though, unless the penny pinchers got involved in specification). I wonder if this caries over to some of the other maintenance issues, fridge, drawer slides etc.

I wonder if the good and poorly maintained room relate to specific area and their length of service.

I know that the durability rating time frames are different from hotels to timeshares on carpets, though I am not sure of what all the underlying reasons are.

bookwormde

 

[conandrob240]

We stayed in a 1 bdrm in Congress Park this past weekend and the room was immaculate and appeared to be BRAND NEW. I noticed absolutely no wear in the furnishings and the carpet was spotless. I did notice the bags of trash in the hallways (left there by housekeeping) and in a few cases, the trash did remain there for 2 days. That is unacceptable IMO.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Just from a commercial builders perspective, if it was one of the first units finished it may well be ready for carpet replacement, but to have the carpet almost worn through would indicate inadequate quality carpet was specified when the resort was built (Quality also effect cleanability, you would think WDW would have this figured out though, unless the penny pinchers got involved in specification). I wonder if this caries over to some of the other maintenance issues, fridge, drawer slides etc.

I wonder if the good and poorly maintained room relate to specific area and their length of service.

I know that the durability rating time frames are different from hotels to timeshares on carpets, though I am not sure of what all the underlying reasons are.

bookwormde

Disney in general has lots of carpet issues because they are always balancing "show" with durability. On the backstage tours at Epcot, you get to see the CM locker rooms where the floor is made up of lots of different carpet samples laid out to test durability. So Disney does try to get the most bang for the buck, but in some cases it is obvious that the 'look" wins out over the quality. -- Suzanne

 

[disney54us]

Don't misunderstand my reference to misery and validation. I am talking to Lynn and trying to help her not be alarmed! We can go for weeks and months without a complaint about a particular resort and then someone has a complaint (a valid complaint) and all of a sudden you have a flurry of complaints and it is all a matter of validating feelings and experiences. Some people are shy about complaining and won't be the first to complain, but will quickly add to complaints thus validating the original complaint and their own complaint. I would never say DIS posts are all about the negative. You will find me on most every VB thread validating positive posts.

These flurries of activity are expected, normal, and ongoing. You see it on any forum and ranging all issues. To a new comer (or new owner) it is alarming and disheartening. It is like you can't see the forest for the trees. So I am just trying to help Lynn understand she is not seeing forest in this case.

Got it and I get that Lynn was worried, which we know this could happen at any of the resorts Disney or not. I realize people have different threshold's of what is acceptable or not, just I have seen some threads where someone voicing a legitimate complaint gets flames as if they are expecting to much. Sharing of mousekeeping b/t OKW and SSR is part of the problem. SSR is much to big to be sharing in any dept.
BTW, congrat's on giving up smoking, just noticed in your siggie

 

[tjkraz]

We stayed in a 1 bdrm in Congress Park this past weekend and the room was immaculate and appeared to be BRAND NEW. I noticed absolutely no wear in the furnishings and the carpet was spotless. I did notice the bags of trash in the hallways (left there by housekeeping) and in a few cases, the trash did remain there for 2 days. That is unacceptable IMO.

I hope nobody views this a making excuses for DVC ( ) but in many cases the bags of garbage are left outside villas by guests. Rather than taking the bags to the trash room, they seem to think that it's an acceptable practice to dump them outside of the villa and wait for housekeeping to play trash collector. Depending upon the time of day the bags are left on the stoop, they can easily sit around unclaimed until the next afternoon.

I've seen this practice openly endorsed by some members and I really, really wish people wouldn't do it. Some may argue that it's housekeeping's job to clean up after guests. IMO, it's about the same as dropping your garbage in the middle of Tomorrowland and expecting a CM to come along and relocate it to the nearest trash can.

 

[jboysen]

Wow, this is quite disappointing to hear. We stayed at SSR last Nov. Our room along with my parents room was quite disappointing also. Ours was just extremely worn looking, but my parents had the mold on the shower curtain and it was really dirty. Although, the ding bats we are bought points there anyways in hopes that Disney would come to there senses and fix things. We also got a pretty good deal on resale. My plan is to just bombard them until the situation gets better. Oh, my mom did complain and she was offered a supperior cleaning her next visit. My mom asked what this was and the gal told her the room would be cleaned like a celebrity would be staying in it. I thought she should have replied with "doesn't Disney treat all their guests like celebrities". I would have liked to here the response to that.

 

[GuySmiley]

Doesn't SSR have the lowest, or one of the lowest maintenance fees/point?

 

[Chuck S]

I hope nobody views this a making excuses for DVC ( ) but in many cases the bags of garbage are left outside villas by guests. Rather than taking the bags to the trash room, they seem to think that it's an acceptable practice to dump them outside of the villa and wait for housekeeping to play trash collector. Depending upon the time of day the bags are left on the stoop, they can easily sit around unclaimed until the next afternoon.

I've seen this practice openly endorsed by some members and I really, really wish people wouldn't do it. Some may argue that it's housekeeping's job to clean up after guests. IMO, it's about the same as dropping your garbage in the middle of Tomorrowland and expecting a CM to come along and relocate it to the nearest trash can.

And in resorts like OKW, where there are separate buildings, that particular building may not have any guest scheduled for T&T or housekeeping that day. So the trash sits there. We had neighbors do that at OKW, on the ground floor. Bags sat there for 3 days, literally steps from the trash room.

 

[RLRDA]

Mousekeeping needs us to help alittle. That's where we all come in.

Make sure when we leave, All evidence of us being there is GONE!
If We make a spill, we clean it up!!
At our home we never walk in it with shoes!!
That's not happening here, if the carpet is that dirty. Report it.
And TRY not to leave extra messes!!
We All want to get in our rooms by 4:00!!
They don't have a team of cleaners for each villa.
OK I'm done.
Love my DVC!!!

I agree totally! This is definitely part of the solution IMHO. Unfortunately not everyone treats the villas as they would their own homes.

 

[disneynutz]

As I stated earlier, Disney needs to budget based upon requirements and expectations.

A few years ago we would see more trash picker up people in the parks and it seemed that if one of the pigs, I mean Guests tossed something on the ground it would be picked up within a hour or so. Today I have seen the same trash by my favorite bench in the MK for a couple of days in a row.

The public restrooms in the parks never seem to get cleaned during the day. We have also had trash and laundry bags left out side our door by the Mousekeepers at SSR. We reported it everyday but they didn't pick it up until our T&T day.

These observations and personal experiences tells me that Disney is aware of the problems but that they have decided that they would rather use the cleaning and rehab money somewhere else. Meanwhile they continue to issue press releases about how profitable they are.

If we need to increase our dues to maintain our DVC resorts at the rehab and cleaning level that we expect, then raise the dues. Provide us with a detailed accounting of where our money is going and put a service and satisfaction questionnaire in each room.

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

We are fairly recent members (2004), but we have enjoyed at least two trips every year (sometimes three) since joining. Only once did we have a room that obviously was not cleaned properly. A call to housekeeping prompted a quick response and everything was good. Their have been minor issues due to wear and tear. If it bothered us and it seemed quickly fixable (can't expect them to replace the carpet for you immediately), we called and all items were attended to. A dirty showerhead was immediately replaced with a brand new one, balcony doors that were dirty were immediately washed etc etc.

I have always found their responses to be quick and courteous. Sorry the OP had trouble but I don't think it is indicative of the DVC as a rule. If you have an issue, let them know immediately and then give them the respect to allow them time to respond.

As a side note, we are SSR owners and avoided staying at SSR initially because of all the negative posts on these boards. When we finally 'settled' for a stay, we fell in love with the resort and were sorry we postponed our visit. The negatives get reported and the positives rarely.

 

[conandrob240]

I can tell you for 100% sure that the bags of garbage we saw in the halls were NOT left by guests but by mousekeeping. I saw them come out of the two rooms, place the bags of trash there next to the dirty laundry (in baskets) and the bags of trash were both still there 1 1/2 days later.

 

[disneynutz]

Calling to get you room cleaned properly or a obvious maintenance item repaired should not be acceptable and considered OK. The fact that they were quick to respond is nice but if they had performed their jobs correctly in the first place a call and our fellow Members vacation time should not have been required.

 

[disney54us]

Calling to get you room cleaned properly or a obvious maintenance item repaired should not be acceptable and considered OK. The fact that they were quick to respond is nice but if they had performed their jobs correctly in the first place a call and our fellow Members vacation time should not have been required.

 

[DisFlan]

As I stated earlier, Disney needs to budget based upon requirements and expectations.

A few years ago we would see more trash picker up people in the parks and it seemed that if one of the pigs, I mean Guests tossed something on the ground it would be picked up within a hour or so. Today I have seen the same trash by my favorite bench in the MK for a couple of days in a row.

The public restrooms in the parks never seem to get cleaned during the day. We have also had trash and laundry bags left out side our door by the Mousekeepers at SSR. We reported it everyday but they didn't pick it up until our T&T day.

These observations and personal experiences tells me that Disney is aware of the problems but that they have decided that they would rather use the cleaning and rehab money somewhere else. Meanwhile they continue to issue press releases about how profitable they are.

If we need to increase our dues to maintain our DVC resorts at the rehab and cleaning level that we expect, then raise the dues. Provide us with a detailed accounting of where our money is going and put a service and satisfaction questionnaire in each room.

The trouble is - it's not just a DVC problem. The whole Disney image of "clean" is slipping. There's a general feeling of "not as clean as it used to be" just about everywhere at WDW - even if where you happen to be standing IS clean. The dirty/trashy restroom you just used or the badly cleaned villa you just left sticks with you even while you walk through beautifully landscaped grounds. It used to be called "Bad Show" - anything that detracts from the magic. Maybe they've forgotten the term.

It's becoming a generalized, ingrained corporate problem, and I'm not sure what the cure is. A dedicated will to fix a resort-wide problem needs to start higher up the ladder than street sweepers or housekeeping personnel.

DisFlan