I wrote a letter to complain about AKL

[epcotfan]

Wow, I sent an email to Disney about our poor housekeeping at AKL and we received a personal phone call from a very nice woman at Disney. She left a message on our answering machine. She at least acknowledged our letter and asked if there was anything she could do. Just the fact that my letter was addressed made me feel better.

 

[CheshireVal]

I really think there are bigger things to worry about in life than this. All of your problems sounded very minor. Does the GM of AKL really need to be bothered with that?

You got a letter-- you got a number to call. What more do you want?

 

[Hayley]

I think that you do have to remember that it's true - they get a lot of letters and maybe some from people who aren't so honest. They probably get a lot of nutty ones, too, with people complaining the CM wouldn't let their dog stay in the room or they had no view of EPCOT from the Poly like "they were promised when they made their reservation."

I really don't think that a form letter is a bad starting point because I'm sure they need some kind of weeding out process. It's probably hard for us to imagine the mail that they get. They contacted you pretty quickly, didn't you say? Call the guy. Get it off your chest and let us know how it turns out!

 

[LongIslandCouple]

Does the GM of AKL really need to be bothered with that?

You got a letter-- you got a number to call. What more do you want?

As a former GM of a retail establishment the answer is a resounding YES. The job of a General Manager is to manage all of the day to day operations of the resort. He (or she) is reponsible for ensuring that guests get what they pay for and are willing not only to come back again, but to recommend to others that they spend their $$$ there.

It is not the job of the GM to personally go and put clean towels in any room, but it is his job to ensure that it gets done.

When a customer does take the time to complain, it should be dealt with - not simply acknowledged. BostonRob had a legitimate gripe and he gave the receiver of the letter his contact information. For him to get a letter saying that if he wants to discuss it he should call and give that same information again, well, that's simply poor customer service.

There's a saying in retail/customer service - do something great for a customer and they'll tell a friend or two, disappoint a customer and they'll tell everyone they know.

My guess is that if the GM (or his representative) had called BostonRob originally, the original post would not have been written....

 

[auntpolly]

As a former GM of a retail establishment the answer is a resounding YES.
.

I think there are different ways that different categories of businesses are able to respond to complaints, and I don't know how big your retail establishment is, but I think that we have to remember the monster that WDW has become.Honestly, when I had my complaint, I received a letter just like Rob, did whatever it was it said to do (it's been about 8 years and I can't remember the exact details) but the end result was a heartfelt apology and some Disney $ (which I was owed because I'd made 10+ calls asking where my package was and everyone kept saying they'd check on it but I'd never hear from them again.)

Anyway what I'm saying is, I was a satisfied customer in the end. I wasn't all that picky about how it all came to be.

 

[GillieRose]

Last month I sent a email about are stay at POFQ and I was surprised this week with a phone call about the email. They said it was sent to all the different departments at the hotel. It was an email about the wonderful stay we had.

 

[BostonRob]

I really think there are bigger things to worry about in life than this.

No kidding Val. And when I do have bigger things to worry about in my life, I'll be sure to contact you personally for advice. But as long as I'm dealing with nit-picky little details about my WDW vacation, I'll continue to discuss them on an internet board that seems to specialize in nitpicky little details about WDW vacations. OK?

 

[auntpolly]

No kidding Val. And when I do have bigger things to worry about in my life, I'll be sure to contact you personally for advice. But as long as I'm dealing with nit-picky little details about my WDW vacation, I'll continue to discuss them on an internet board that seems to specialize in nitpicky little details about WDW vacations. OK?

LOL Rob! You're allowed. If the rest of us can obsess about thongs and their cats on the CB, you can certainly chat about this all you want!

 

[TMM]

No kidding Val. And when I do have bigger things to worry about in my life, I'll be sure to contact you personally for advice. But as long as I'm dealing with nit-picky little details about my WDW vacation, I'll continue to discuss them on an internet board that seems to specialize in nitpicky little details about WDW vacations. OK?

I agree BostonRob. You took the time out to address issues after paying your money. No one should pass judgement on the issues you have. No matter big or small, these things bothered you and that should be respected. In the end, if Disney listens and corrects the problems then everyone benefits.

 

[CheshireVal]

No kidding Val. And when I do have bigger things to worry about in my life, I'll be sure to contact you personally for advice. But as long as I'm dealing with nit-picky little details about my WDW vacation, I'll continue to discuss them on an internet board that seems to specialize in nitpicky little details about WDW vacations. OK?

My point was.... you complained, you got a letter with an option for calling an actual person. I just don't understand what you're even nitpicking about!

 

[safetymom]

Please remember this board is all about helping people with their Disney experience. If you have something to contribute please do so. If you are passing judgement on others maybe you shouldn't post.

Thank you for your understanding.

 

[auntpolly]

My point was.... you complained, you got a letter with an option for calling an actual person. I just don't understand what you're even nitpicking about!

Hi! Welcome to the DIS! Here, folks like to vent a little once in awhile and it's neighborly to let them.

 

[disneyfan3]

Well, aunt polly....here we go again! Bostonrob: why are you complaining? Don't you know that you are at the fab disney hotel??? I can't believe someone wrote that you must have more important things to worry about!! How dare you say anything negative about disney??? You got your letter...what more do you want? Do you really expect good customer service? Why can't you just be satisfied that you are at DISNEY??

I hope you know all of the above is in jest. Your letter that you received is horrible customer service! Don't ask people on this board if they think it is because you will get reponses like you did. "Quit nitpicking...get a life...there is more in life to worry about!" You know in your heart that they could care less. There are wonderful cms at disney that still show the magic and we are lucky to come across those but when you don't you can't ignore the fact that it is poor customer service. You complain to them and then they write you a form letter to complain again! How rude!!
My best advice is to complain while you are there. Never bother talking to anyone unless he is the manager. They will respond better talking face to face. I think they think that once you get back home it must not have been that bad if you didn't complain right away. I know that isn't always possible. I stayed at the bc with black mold and I was so sick I couldn't argue with anyone and I complained when I got home. They didn't make me pay for one night. Don't worry disney fans....I think they have renovated the hotel since then.
Please don't let certain posts sour you on reporting about negative experiences again. Hope you get this resolved. I would call and demand to talk to a manager on duty and tell about the stupid (waste of your time) letter and how you didn't appreciate their (lack of) response. This certainly is a "too busy..don't care...hope you don't call letter."
For all of the money you pay..you should expect better and don't let anyone tell you any different! Esp. people in a "disney trance!"

 

[CheshireVal]

Hmph, well, I wasn't exactly "passing judgment," but maybe my original post came across wrong.

I am someone who personally doesn't send food back at restaurants unless there's something REALLY wrong with it. I don't send letters of complaint unless something really HORRIBLE happened to ruin my stay. But that's just me. There are other people who have no problem writing complaint letters for just about anything.

So.... I'm just thinking, Disney resorts probably get a TON of complaint letters. Some are probably legitimate problems, some are probably nitpicky wastes of time (I'm not saying BostonRob's was either, I'm just generally speaking).

I just don't think it's reasonable to expect the GMs of any hotel to personally respond to every letter of complaint.

I also think that BostonRob overreacted to it just a bit because he said the letter said "no one will ever read your letter," when it said nothing of the sort!

I thought it was nice that they actually gave you a phone number to use. I'm sure they're hoping that a lot of people won't bother to call back, but if you're concerned enough about it, then call.

 

[Minnie1156]

OK, here's the letter:

Dear Mr. Boston Rob,

Thank you for contacting the WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT.

We appreciate the time you took to contact us and apologize for the delay in or response. When we receive comments, such as yours, they are shared with various members of our organization. The input we receive from our Guests lets us know what we are doing right and what we can do better. We appreciate your observations and assure you they will be taken seriously.

If you would like to discuss your comments, I invite you to call me at (123) (456-7890). If I am not immediately available when you call, please leave your phone number and in indication of the best time to reach you duriong normal business hours. Your call will be returned as promptly as possible.

Mr. Boston Rob, thank you again for taking the time to share your honest and constructive comments. We hope to have future opportunities to entertain you at our resort.

Sincerely,
John Doe
Executive Offices
Walt Disney World Resort

So here are my problems with this letter.

1) The reply didn't come from a member of the AKL staff, although the letter was addressed to the GM of the AKL. I don't need him to respond personally (although he should), but I would expect a member of his staff to respond.

2) There was no apology. I complained about 3 problems. I got a room with sticky spots on the floor, which weren't cleaned for two days. It took me two days to get the bedrails I requested (and my 2 year old daughter fell out of bed in the middle of the night because of it) and when they finally arrived, they were just left leaning on the wall, not even installed. And, although we had a 'do not disturb' sign on the door and had requested an early cleaning, housekeeping called my room and woke my 2 year old daughter and pregnant wife while they were napping. These aren't major, ruin your vacation type problems, but they were annoyances that built on top of one another. Am I wrong for thinking an apology is in order?

3) The invitation to call is a bit disingenous. I gave them all my compaints (ant plenty of compliments too) in my letter. I included my phone number. If they want to discuss my compliants further, they know how to reach me. Otherwise, they could address them specifically in a return letter. Instead they give me a form letter, inviting me to call and leave a message.

Am I off base here, or what?

This is a form letter sent to anyone who complains. I complains about the food court at Coranodo Springs serveral years ago and got the same letter.

 

[LongIslandCouple]

I think there are different ways that different categories of businesses are able to respond to complaints, and I don't know how big your retail establishment is, but I think that we have to remember the monster that WDW has become.

The retail establishment I was the GM for did an average $350k of business per day. So it was the monetary equivalent of 1,000 rooms filled to total occupancy at a rate of $350 per night.

Perhaps I was able to respond to every letter addressed to me because I did a better job of managing my staff and setting standards so that issues that make the customer less than satisified were minimized, I don't know.

Bottom line, it's bad customer service to send a letter to a person stating if you wish to discuss this, please call this number and leave a message with a number I can call, when that customer has already given you that number.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I wasn't really looking for any compensation, I just wanted my complaints to be heard and acknowledged, and hopefully addressed so they wouldn't be repeated with future guests.

Here is the meat of the matter. BR was not looking for a hand out, just trying to help WDW, a vacation spot he obviously loves, tweek it's customer service by alerting the managment staff of the hotel to some of the aspects of his trip could have been dealt with more professionally. He doesn't belong to a travelling group of grifters, trying to scam Disney out of money. He's basically just trying to insure that when the rest of us are there, we are treated better than he felt he was. In my book, that's not being petty, I'd say it was pretty great.

 

[DisOrBust]

What you all are failing to realize WDW has changed its view of service recovery. The WDW that many of us loved ALWAYS provided the best customer service you never left unhappy. They even had service recovery for people who complained about being rained out. Let no guest leave unsatisfied. Recently, the past 2-3 years , Disney new philosph is "its not worth trying to please everyone. Some will never be happy...cut your losses."

The company my DH is an OM for still follows WDW old school. He spends countless hours trying to satisfy ALL his customers. It is a PIA but he does have a cetain pride working for such a company with high standards.

In a recent OM meeting they discussed WDW new thoughts on service recovery. They, "the company" had looked at WDW as the standard in customer service. Now we wonder how long before DH is told to use the "quit nitpicking..tough luck " approach.

BostonRob was expecting the service of old that is no longer there...at least at the upper management level. How about we stop the bar-b-que.

 

[InnerStrength]

Rob,

I empathize with you over your complaints and also learned a lesson from them = if I truely wish to not be disturbed, I will place a sign on my door and take the phone off of the hook. I never had to request bedrails, however if I did I would just assume that I (or DH) should install them onto the bed as it would be our responsibilty to keep our child safe. If mousekeeping did take the liberty of installing them, I would double-check them anyhow just to be sure that they were secure, therefore I would rather install them myself in the first place. The sticky floor problem is simply not called for, - if the mousekeepers in question were conciencious and proud to be doing their job, they would have cleaned the room properly and not have left a sticky stain to begin with.

That being said, I'd say that in your situation, I would have at least expected a phone call as a follow-up to my initial letter - not just a form letter with a long distance number to call if and when I desired to discuss the matter in greater detail. You did say that you provided your home phone number, so why should you have to call them, and better yet, perhaps leave a voice mail message. I could see if "John Doe" contacted you first by phone and you were not at home, and he left a call back number - well then it would be up to you to call him back. That was not the case. If the matters of complaint were that serious to you, then call him - if not.......chalk it up to experience.


I say this because I had an "issue" after our last visit to WDW. We had DD and DS photo taken for the Leave a Legacy tile monoliths inside of Epcot, and several months later still did not receive the negative of the photo. After 3 months, I called and inquired, and was basically told they had no record of the photo, nor any info in the computer. I was offered a voucher (by the CM working the booth) to have another photo taken "someday" when we returned to WDW. I felt that was not satisfactory and asked to leave a message for the manager. Well, the manager did call me back several times, first explaining a "computer glitch" whereby my info and the kids photo was "floating somewhere in space", and he had to find it. ??? His updated calls continued until one day several weeks after my initial call, he called with news that the photo was found, and would be printed and would be added to the monoliths within weeks. When we received the negative keepsake in the mail, he had 2 sent along - one for DD and one for DS as mementos. Overall, I'd say I was thrilled not only to be aknowledged but also to have someone follow through on my complaint and rectify the situation.

Moral to my story - the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I did squeak, however did so without adding any blame - just my disappointment and a request to have the matter looked into. Because of the overall good service that we received with Leave a Legacy - we will have another photo of the kids taken during our next trip if they are still providing this service.

 

[brettb]

"When we receive comments, such as yours, they are shared with various members of our organization."

My cynical translation:

comments such as his = not his
various members of our organization = the mailroom clerk and the person that sends out the form letter

Change that sentence to "We have forwarded your comments to the staff at the Animal Kingdom Lodge" and you have a much different letter. Not necessarily great customer service but significantly better.

Sheesh! Talk about not acknowledging BostonRob's complaints -- they don't even commit to actually sharing HIS complaints, just complaints like his, or who they share with!

Oh, I don't expect bed rails to be installed, BTW. But maybe because they use the same kind we have at home, and though they can be a bit tricky, I'm used to them. BTW, with the extra thick matresses at the Grand Floridian are so thick the rails barely extend above the top of the bed. We made sure we piled all the extra (decorative) pillows next to the bed but luckily they were never tested. Maybe I should write a letter.....