Phew. I dodged a bullet.
First of all, I thank yall who contributed to this thread for my success. Seriously. If it wasn't for the reassuring words and claims that Disney is usually pretty good to its customers, I might would have given up when they first said "no".
And believe me, they said no quite a few times before I got some results. I should have clarified this in my first post, and it would have saved yall from debating on CSM vs. my fault, but it was technically my fault. See, I booked both rooms online. If it was done over the phone, like most of yall said, I would have really had a leg to stand on. That would have probably been their fault. But, since I did it online, the customer service agent explained to me that I must have done our reservation by going through the promotion page, but I must have went through the regular booking page to do our friends'. That would explain the difference.
So, at this point, I guess she thought the issue was concluded, and she asked if I would like to purchase the quick serve plan for their room. I thought "not so fast". Very politely, I explained my case that I didn't realize my mistake when I made the reservation, and I apologized profusely for not catching the mistake sooner. I asked if there was anything she could do.
As expected, after a few moments, she came back with the tried and true line of "I understand your point, but unfortunately our system won't allow the expired code to be added." So then I sort of begged. "Ma'am, can't you please do anything?" And I sort of put a little burden on them. "You know, it isn't all that clear when you make a reservation for a promotion period that it has to be done through the promotion section of the website. I know I should have immediately caught the mistake after getting the confirmation, but somehow I overlooked it"
A few moments of hold while she discussed the issue with her supervisor, and again, she came back with a polite "no, sorry." At this point, I asked to speak with the supervisor. Her supervisor came on the phone, and we basically went through the entire spill again. She said "no" due to the system not allowing it. She offered to check for any other promotions for their room during our period of stay. This probably took ten minutes to run through them all. Nothing would work. At this point, she also asked if we would like to purchase a quick serve plan for their stay. I almost said "look lady, either add it or we are cancelling their room" but she was being nice, and I kept cool.
I started going over other options with her, such as Melct recommended. We spent awhile on this. All to no avail. Finally, after about 40 minutes since I first called, and 30 minutes with her specifically, she put me on hold for awhile. She came back, and said "Sir, I have added the quick serve plan to their reservation free of charge out of Disney's Good Will"
I wouldn't say Disney sprinkled their fairy dust on me. I sort of had to grab Tinker Bell by the ankles and shake it myself, lol. Regardless, by remaining polite but persistent, they helped me out. All in all, it really was my fault by reserving it wrong and not catching the mistake, but the mistake was very clear and innocent. It would have been nice if they immediately said "Oh yes sir, this happens from time to time. Let's take care of that". But, fairies, princesses, and anthropomorphic mice aside, Disney is a business, and a giant one at that. You can't blame them for looking out for themselves.
Regardless, it worked out!!
glad it all worked out!!
