DVC Customer Service due to poor lodging?

[DisneydaveCT]

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.

With all due respect, it is our job as DVC members to place a call or visit the front desk to report an unacceptable condition in any of the rooms. The DVC CM's in effect work for us, and as such we need to give them feedback. Just as we would expect our supervisor, or our customers, at work to give us feedback if we are not doing our jobs correctly. Now I am not suggesting that we track down individual CM's and chastise them for unacceptable conditions, but rather we bring it to the attention of a supervisor or higher.

By not reporting the issue, we are implying that poor Mousekeeping or other maintenance issues are an acceptable way of conducting business; which it is not.

In response to the posters about watching other guests leave trash, or otherwise poorly treat the property, I too have observed such guests. Not only have I experienced them in the resorts and the parks, but I have also seen them on the golf course.

Disney Golf maintains a seed/soil mixture on its golf carts and elsewhere on the course so that golfers can fill-in divots created by our golf shots. I use this mixture regularly at the Disney courses as well as at other golf courses where the mixture is provided. On the other hand I have encountered guests (not many thankfully) that when I mention the seed/soil mixture their response is "for what I pay to golf at Disney, the Disney maintenance staff can repair the divots." It takes a moment of time to help maintain the course for your fellow golfers, yet some people feel it is someone else responsibility.

Clearly, some people feel they can abuse the WDW facilities without a care in the world since Disney has CM's to clean up after they are done for the day.

 

[disney54us]

With all due respect, it is our job as DVC members to place a call or visit the front desk to report an unacceptable condition in any of the rooms. The DVC CM's in effect work for us, and as such we need to give them feedback. Just as we would expect our supervisor, or our customers, at work to give us feedback if we are not doing our jobs correctly. Now I am not suggesting that we track down individual CM's and chastise them for unacceptable conditions, but rather we bring it to the attention of a supervisor or higher.

By not reporting the issue, we are implying that poor Mousekeeping or other maintenance issue is an acceptable way of conducting business; which it is not.

In response to the posters about watching other guests leave trash, or otherwise poorly treat the property, I too have observed such guests. Not only have I experienced them in the resorts and the parks, but I have also seen them on the golf course.

Disney Golf maintains a seed/soil mixture on its golf carts and elsewhere on the course so that golfers can fill-in divots created by our golf shots. I use this mixture regularly at the Disney courses as well as at other golf courses where the mixture is provided. On the other hand I have encountered guests (not mainly thankfully) that when I mention the seed/soil mixture their response is "for what I pay to golf at Disney, the Disney maintenance staff can repair the divots." It takes a moment of time to help maintain the course for your fellow golfers, yet some people feel it is someone else responsibility. Clearly, some people feel they can abuse the WDW facilities without a care in the world since Disney has CM's to clean up after they are done for the day.

Agree, but I think what we are saying is that the standards have fallen and when you get to the room there shouldn't be all these things wrong. If there is then yes a supervisor should be notified.
Not golfers here, but never new that. It is sad that there will always be people out there who think like that, but I still want a clean well kept room when I get there.

 

[crisi]

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

Its a corporate culture problem.

Disney has never been a cheap vacation, but somewhere along the way Disney made a decision to make the vacation "affordable" for a wider variety of families - and increase the volume of guests they put through the parks. Simultaneously, they've faced pressure to keep margins up. So now they have both downward price pressure to continue to bring in the volume of guests they need to support four parks and 10,000 hotel rooms and the pressure to hold margins. So their costs have got to go down - and currently - with everyone's costs rising fairly quickly, that's hard to do. That means more efficiency from an organization that already was considered highly efficient, it means cost cutting and it means that quality suffers. It means they outsource more and more functions and that employees are pinched to do more for less.

 

[Chuck S]

But there have been times at WDW where the attendant was cleaning the restrooms, and 15 minutes latter is was in really bad shape, again. (OK, I drink tooooo much coffee in the mornings) But still, how ca it get so messy in such a short time? I think overall, we as a society are "dirtier" than we used to be, too.

I remember a few years ago at Knotts, using the restroom, and using the paper towel I had dried my hands with to give a quick wipe to wipe some soap off the sink. Some other guest said "You know, they have people to do that!" Well, if everyone was just a little bit cleaner, it would make their job easier AND keep the restrooms cleaner for everyone.

 

[toocherie]

I remember a few years ago at Knotts, using the restroom, and using the paper towel I had dried my hands with to give a quick wipe to wipe some soap off the sink. Some other guest said "You know, they have people to do that!" Well, if everyone was just a little bit cleaner, it would make their job easier AND keep the restrooms cleaner for everyone.

LOL Chuck--because I always "wipe up" after washing my hands too. (It's just an automatic thing, takes NO time and keeps everything neater.)

I also have another funny story--years ago I was brushing my teeth after lunch in the building restroom and this lady approached me: "I notice that you brush your teeth every day. Is it a company requirement?" "No" I said--"just good hygiene."

 

[tjkraz]

I have very mixed feelings about these issues.

On the one hand, I certainly do want everything to be perfect when I arrive. But I also know that other guests are slobs and to have that expectation means that it will ultimately cost all of us more of our hard-earned money. Look at the things OP mentioned:

Stained rug: We don't let stains set-in on our own carpets at home, do we? Why wouldn't someone clean up their mess?
Broken fridge
Broken sofa
Broken drawer
Burned iron and ironing board

These are all situations that were either a result of guest neglect, or normal wear and tear that could have been easily reported.

To implement a better process is going to cost all of us more money in the end. And I'm not just talking about the replacement cost of the items--that is a given. But suggesting that Disney should be more proactive in discovering these problems is going to generate even more expense. You either have to pay higher wages to get a better quality of worker, increase staffing levels so that additional maintenance checks can be performed, add supervisors to cross-check the lower level employees...all of those solutions have a price tag involved.

It would also mean later check-in times while housekeeping/management went to greater lengths to review the rooms before guests are admitted.

Personally I've resigned myself to doing what I can to report issues with my rooms, and following-thru to make sure they are addressed. So far Disney is batting 1.000 with me in that regard.

In OP's situation, I think most would agree that some, if not all of the problems SHOULD have been caught by Disney staff. But they weren't. Bemoaning the hand we've been dealt without offering solutions is a game for the politicians.

I don't view my approach as a lowering of my own standards or letting Disney off the hook. It's making the best of an imperfect situation. After all, if the guest who occupied that room before OP had taken any sort of initiative to report these problems, she would have had a flawless room report. And when we factor in the guest(s) who caused the problems in the first place and the CMs who didn't discover the problems before releasing the room, it seems to me like there's plenty of blame to be shared.

I wish people would put more energy into caring for our Homes Away From Home as they do pointing fingers at Disney for its own shortcomings.

 

[hakepb]

Has Disney or safety regs reduced the mousekeeping / maint CM's power to get results?
Just asking about the "water on the stairs" I noticed at SSR. Yes, this was a really minor issue to me, but I wonder if it signifies something bigger. Some CM took the safety precautions to place the yellow "wet floor" signs by the stairway, but why not also grab a broom or squeege to push the water down, or mop up that water. It was not a continious source of water, just seemed to be a one time deal.
Sure the long term deal would be some leveling compound so water could not accumulate, but how could someone's job be complete when they put a sign out?

I never bothered reporting that issue because I assumed it was being "worked on", there were official yellow warning signs.

 

[Markeymouses]

did you ask to be moved to a different room all together? either at SSR or at a different resort? If the room was that nasty, I would have never stayed there! Usually when they agree that there is something wrong, they will move heaven and earth to fix it!

Yes we did but then they offered to clean and that was good. I just thought when you check in it was already clean. Maybe just a pass through....they cleaned the room really well the next day when we told them we were going to be gone most of the day. They cleaned the carpet too because it was a little damp and also replaced the burnt out bulbs.. We also clean up after ourselves because... well... that's just how we are which most people do (just not everyone). The only wierd thing is that we found someone elses clothes on top of my luggage at that point we started to laugh and turned to each other and said maybe they brought extra clothes in case they were going out after idk we were on vacation we just brought the clothes to the ladies at the front desk and just to see their face was so funny we chalked everything up to being there at a busy time...we'll see next time, I have very high hopes

 

[disneynutz]

With all due respect, it is our job as DVC members to place a call or visit the front desk to report an unacceptable condition in any of the rooms. The DVC CM's in effect work for us, and as such we need to give them feedback. Just as we would expect our supervisor, or our customers, at work to give us feedback if we are not doing our jobs correctly. Now I am not suggesting that we track down individual CM's and chastise them for unacceptable conditions, but rather we bring it to the attention of a supervisor or higher.

By not reporting the issue, we are implying that poor Mousekeeping or other maintenance issue is an acceptable way of conducting business; which it is not.

In response to the posters about watching other guests leave trash, or otherwise poorly treat the property, I too have observed such guests. Not only have I experienced them in the resorts and the parks, but I have also seen them on the golf course.

You miss understood me. If you have a problem, yes it should be reported. My point was that if Disney was doing thier job, you shouldn't have a problem to begin with.

 

[disneynutz]

But there have been times at WDW where the attendant was cleaning the restrooms, and 15 minutes latter is was in really bad shape, again. (OK, I drink tooooo much coffee in the mornings) But still, how ca it get so messy in such a short time? I think overall, we as a society are "dirtier" than we used to be, too.

I remember a few years ago at Knotts, using the restroom, and using the paper towel I had dried my hands with to give a quick wipe to wipe some soap off the sink. Some other guest said "You know, they have people to do that!" Well, if everyone was just a little bit cleaner, it would make their job easier AND keep the restrooms cleaner for everyone.

I agree, and if Disney is going to put an additional load on the restrooms by increasing the park attendance or if the public is messier then they should increase the support services proportionately.

 

[CarolA]

But there have been times at WDW where the attendant was cleaning the restrooms, and 15 minutes latter is was in really bad shape, again. (OK, I drink tooooo much coffee in the mornings) But still, how ca it get so messy in such a short time? I think overall, we as a society are "dirtier" than we used to be, too.

I remember a few years ago at Knotts, using the restroom, and using the paper towel I had dried my hands with to give a quick wipe to wipe some soap off the sink. Some other guest said "You know, they have people to do that!" Well, if everyone was just a little bit cleaner, it would make their job easier AND keep the restrooms cleaner for everyone.

Since you are a man I am clueless.

However, the women going to Disney think that Disney provides an attendant to trail around behind them cleaning and flushing.

I routinely see a woman go into the stall. PAPER EVERYTHING within 10 yards and then walk out WITHOUT flushing!!!!!! It's gotten so bad I have confronted some of them with "get in there and clean up after yourself I KNOW it didn't look like that when you went in there" And they often have a few kids they are "training" in the 'mess up an entire restroom' method.

When these women wash their hands they seem to think that getting the paper towel somewhere NEAR the trashcan was acceptable. In the trashcan is beyond thier skill sets!!!!

Short of stationing an attendant in there for EVERY stall I don't know what they can do. I have literally seen the woman clean from one end to the other and by the she gets one stall over Miss "I am allergic to germs and can't touch ANYTHING" has made it into a DISASTER!

 

[bzzelady]

Did you buy at another resort or are you done with DVC?

No...I am adding to my VWL contracts when the last SSR closes in two weeks.
I am not unhappy with DVC as a whole and have stayed in all the resorts except for AKV. We have had several stays at SSR and have encountered the same "mountains in the outer hallways" (garbage, linens, and occasionally furniture) which sit quite often for the entire day before they are removed. On the stay over Thanksgiving weekend last year, my husband (who rarely says boo to a goose) just up and said to sell the contracts as he was tired of climbing over the piles to get to the room. I emailed Member Satisfaction with pictures enclosed and received a canned response and nothing further. My guide also knew about the issues and directed me back to Member Satisfaction. Heck, I got more response from Member Satisfaction over the "Cupgate" letter I wrote...which was CC'ed to Disney Environmental Initiatives

 

[DisneydaveCT]

Agree, but I think what we are saying is that the standards have fallen and when you get to the room there shouldn't be all these things wrong. If there is then yes a supervisor should be notified.
Not golfers here, but never new that. It is sad that there will always be people out there who think like that, but I still want a clean well kept room when I get there.

I agree that the standards have fallen. I have discussed this fact with non-managment CM's. But I also believe that not enough DVC members, and Dis'ers, are complaining to Disney management while on property. I have read plenty of posts on other threads where people are complaining about conditions, but later admit that they did not bring it to the attention of Disney or DVC until they were checking out, or after they got home and someone suggested that they should file a complaint. If they wait until they get home, they are helping the public image of poor Mousekeeping to continue instead of telling Disney it needs to be corrected immediately. And if CM's are not hearing we are dissatisfied, then they are more likely to overlook issues.

In addition to encouraging other Dis'ers, DVC members or not, to report problems, I hope that DVC management CM's will read these posts and recognize that they have a problem with DVC Mousekeeping and Maintenance.

While I am not willing to accept a culture of continued poor Mousekeeping, I am very willing to accept that CM's are human and subject to human errors including not reporting problems quicker than guests can spot the problem. And to those who feel that CM's should find every problem before a guest does, can you name one other company that finds all the problems before their customers?

 

[bzzelady]

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.

And this is exactly what we experienced. These were also not your usual small bags from the cans...they were very large bags with multiple smaller bags in them that actually stood almost 3 feet tall. You actually had to walk around these puppies. They were there on check in on Friday from 11 am and not removed until late at night. The next day they were not removed at the time we went to bed (and it was late when we came back to the room from DTD). I just felt as though the mousekeeping was not very efficient at SSR at all.

I treat my DVC rooms like I am at home. I check the unit when I check in, report any issues to mousekeeping, and take care of small issues on my own. If I am in a 1 or 2 bedroom, I generally run all the dishes I am going to use through the dishwasher and make certain my dishwasher has been run and is emptied before I leave. I have all my garbage ready on trash/towel day in one location in the villa. When I check out, I clean out my own refrigerator, gather all my towels into one area, and strip off the sofa bed and other beds we have used. If I spill something (which I have only done once at BCV on my August trip), I blot it up quickly and immediately call mousekeeping so a stain doesn't set.

Any why....because I expect to be held accountable as an owner. Other timeshare places I have seen inspect your room with you present prior to departure and have a list of the expectations you are expected to meet before checking out or you do not receive your deposit back if renting on cash. Perhaps the "room recovery fee" should not only apply to smokers...but those rooms that are trashed by the occupant, whether they stay on points or stay on cash through CRO.

Generally when I post on the boards, it is friendly chatter, I don't whine, and I don't come out and attack others...like I felt both the OP and I were attacked at the beginning of this thread when I responded to the OP's post to share that we had the same experience. This was a recurring issue over several stays so we decided to sell our SSR shares to solve the problem. We would rather have our home priority period at a resort that is better cared for and has better mousekeeping services so we personally made that choice. Sure, it is going to cost me a few dollars in the end and my contracts will end sooner than if I kept my SSR shares, but that is okay with me. I made a statement for quality when my eagerly awaited response from Member Satisfaction never reached me.

Christina Barnes

 

[Rowaena]

This is one of those things that I fear is going to take a lot more noise from a lot of us.

Life is hard work. We all spend a lot of time earning the money to bring our families to WDW. Once we get there, we don't want to have to deal with problems. It's easier to ignore the small stuff and just go have fun, than it is to take the time to bring problems to a CM's attention. Unfortunately, small problems become big problems; the little leak under your sink this week may be a flooded, soaked carpet halfway through the next guest's stay because you did not bother to call to have it fixed.

Yes, it's not "fun" to be responsible on vacation, but everyone needs to do more of it and be more proactive about notifying DVC of issues.

DVC and Disney park services are not without fault though.

We have definitely noticed a deterioration in overall cleanliness and quality in the last 12 years. The parks have become a lot more profitable, but some of that profit has come at the cost of less service, less cleanliness, and lowered food quality. Since 2000 our economy has been suffering; in order to remain profitable and grow, WDW has transformed itself into a less costly vacation place than it used to be, relatively speaking. Adjusted for inflation the average American is making $2000 less per year in 2008 than he was in 2000. You begin to see why Disney offers free dining and nearly free park tickets in these off season bounce-back deals and such - lots of people would not come to WDW if not for these deals. I guess Disney feels that a room booked with a break-even or tiny profit is better than a room empty.

What will be interesting to see is whether Disney's standards go back up, once this recession is over and the economy finally truly starts to improve in a year or two. They certainly will be busier even than they are now, once more people can afford vacations again. Will they keep the profits or plow more back into maintenance and service? Time will tell.

But as for us, we may not be able to control the cleanliness of the parks and public restrooms, but it is our job as owners to let DVC know about issues immediately, and make sure they fix it before you check out. (If you don't, chances are they won't do it before the next guest checks in.)

 

[Lenc324]

I would think that there is a Mouse Keeping supervisor that should inspect each room, and grandvilla. I would think there is at least a check list each Mouse keeper needs to follow when cleaning rooms.
If the Mouse keeping Supervisor isn't inspecting these rooms after cleaning that is sad and it seems no one is. I stay at Marriott's when I travel for business because I know I will get a clean room and if not they will find one for me. I feel and what I am seeing here is that Disney is taking their Mouse keeping very lightly. NO ROOM SHOULD BE FILTHY OR HAVE MOLD. All cabinets and refrigerators to be checked and cleaned out.
I don't get why these problems keep happening in Disney resorts esp vacation club properties.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I would think that there is a Mouse Keeping supervisor that should inspect each room, and grandvilla. I would think there is at least a check list each Mouse keeper needs to follow when cleaning rooms.
If the Mouse keeping Supervisor isn't inspecting these rooms after cleaning that is sad and it seems no one is. I stay at Marriott's when I travel for business because I know I will get a clean room and if not they will find one for me. I feel and what I am seeing here is that Disney is taking their Mouse keeping very lightly. NO ROOM SHOULD BE FILTHY OR HAVE MOLD. All cabinets and refrigerators to be checked and cleaned out.
I don't get why these problems keep happening in Disney resorts esp vacation club properties.

In reality, the only rooms that have ever been checked are those reserved "for medical reasons". When DVC still had smoking buildings and you had to reserve non-smoking for medical reasons if you had asthma...they WOULD inspect those rooms before occupancy. I know that because they told me several times at check in that the room was ready but needed to be inspected because of the asthma issue. Now that there is no smoking designation, I doubt that is happening anymore. In fact, a couple trips ago I had to have them come and clean away the smoke smell in our unit before I would stay in it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Pigs are pigs, whether they are million dollar pigs or ten cent pigs. I've been shuttling volunteers from the airport in our town to the Federal Medical Shelter that has been set up about 70 miles from here for Hurricane Gustav. Yesterday, I had a bunch that needed to get back to the airport and asked if I could take them. I drove them to the hotel near the airport and dropped them off. When I got back to my hospital, I looked in the back of the van and found partially eaten bags of chips, old newspapers, water bottles. You would have thought that these people could have taken their trash with them. No they just left it on the van for me to throw away. Pigs.

You have to wonder what is wrong with our society that we just can't pick up after ourselves or that we can't keep our children from destroying a hotel room by drawing on the furniture or walls or we can't clean off an iron after we use it.

And don't get me started on shopping carts in the parking lots. Talk about lazy people.

 

[mvc1997]

Pigs are pigs, whether they are million dollar pigs or ten cent pigs. I've been shuttling volunteers from the airport in our town to the Federal Medical Shelter that has been set up about 70 miles from here for Hurricane Gustav. Yesterday, I had a bunch that needed to get back to the airport and asked if I could take them. I drove them to the hotel near the airport and dropped them off. When I got back to my hospital, I looked in the back of the van and found partially eaten bags of chips, old newspapers, water bottles. You would have thought that these people could have taken their trash with them. No they just left it on the van for me to throw away. Pigs.

You have to wonder what is wrong with our society that we just can't pick up after ourselves or that we can't keep our children from destroying a hotel room by drawing on the furniture or walls or we can't clean off an iron after we use it.

And don't get me started on shopping carts in the parking lots. Talk about lazy people.

How disheartening! Apparently their Mom never taught them to treat Other people's stuff better than their own!! But keep up the good deeds, we need more people like you!!

 

[robinb]

We stayed at SSR the week before Labor Day as one of POR's overbooked refugees and I also saw some minor problems. Our 1BR's refrigerator was missing a shelf, the shelves in the living room unit were broken and there was a stroller abandoned outside a room (and never moved) for the entire time we were there. I called the front desk on the first two problems when we checked out. We had a great location next to the Grandstand pool. I wonder if the stroller is still there.