Just a little rant

[BEACHCLUBVILLAS]

How else can we express our displeasure with the wait times so they pay attention than give them a bad rating? Write or say some extra comments if you want to give the CM extra praise but honestly my overall satisfaction with call is severely hindered by waiting 2 hours to get answers to my questions.

 

[irazabul]

It used to be that the survey had separate questions for the CM and the wait time.

 

[TomorrowlandOfYesterday]

Everything rated on those after-call surveys relate to the cast member only and effects their job. Give people 1’s for something they have no control over, they get laid off and your wait time goes up again.

 

[eandt]

The complications are Disney laid off massive amounts of staff. There literally are not enough employees on staff to answer the phones. And the websites rarely work. I still cant book with borrowed points without calling for instance. So it just increases the call volume and wait times.

I get that they laid folks off when parks were closed ...... what I don't get is why they weren't brought back long ago either in preparation for reopening or very soon thereafter. The "complications" now are either self induced ( don't want to call them back despite high call volume) or supplemental unemployment benefit induced (refuse to return to work) Definitately not a safety issue at this point as a call center would be among the easiest workplaces to be made safe and/or call takers work from home like they have for the past year for the multi billion dollar company for which I work.

 

[eandt]

To add, many of the CMs who were furloughed and laid off in many areas of the company found jobs elsewhere.

So, even CMs who were call center or MS people didn’t wait around for the hiring to start again. It certainly has to be frustrating to be stuck like you are.

I think the call back que would be such a great feature. I had an airline to call a few months back and the wait was 3 hours so it was great to simply get in line without having to be in line!

Shhhhhh Disney might try to turn it into a paid FP for call backs

 

[AliceIn]

I’m so sorry and I have heard different reports about getting the DVC deal applied to tickets already bought.

I do wonder if it has to do with all parks being sold out for the dates you want? Could they not want you to have extra days that can’t be used?

But, I agree that they should have a different line or system for those that want the ticket deal and have a call back. This is part of why we are seeing waits this long. Add Aulani and now the extension for international owners of points...which require a call...you have way too many members needing too few CMs

Even if all CMs are back from furlough, I still think we’d see this. I am thinking of getting one of those for a friend in July but just haven’t wanted to hold for an hour yet. Aye doesn’t really need a ticket this long but it’s not that much more abs we could use the extra day of she had it.

I was able to change my existing tickets to take advantage of the extra 2 days. I did that about a month ago. Waits weren’t crazy like the are now.

 

[Sandisw]

I get that they laid folks off when parks were closed ...... what I don't get is why they weren't brought back long ago either in preparation for reopening or very soon thereafter. The "complications" now are either self induced ( don't want to call them back despite high call volume) or supplemental unemployment benefit induced (refuse to return to work) Definitately not a safety issue at this point as a call center would be among the easiest workplaces to be made safe and/or call takers work from home like they have for the past year for the multi billion dollar company for which I work.

I can tell you that many CMs who were furloughed or laid off may not have still been available to come back. They took other jobs. So, its not that simple. My DD who was a CM of 6 years ended up having to leave the company with all of this and knew several friends who worked in the Orlando for parks and resorts who did the same.

 

[eandt]

I can tell you that many CMs who were furloughed or laid off may not have still been available to come back. They took other jobs. So, its not that simple. My DD who was a CM of 6 years ended up having to leave the company with all of this and knew several friends who worked in the Orlando for parks and resorts who did the same.

Understand and don't dispute any of that, frankly I don't blame CMs for moving on if that is what they did and I admire them for choosing work when deemed safe to do so at a time when it's, for some reason, been made more lucrative not to .... in any event the parks have been open since mid July and 8 months later folks are still having hours long waits to connect to get simple issues resolved. Disney should have had this figured out a long time ago, its inexcusable.

 

[Carol_]

I was thinking of going that same week. Legoland and Aquatica are looking better and better.

 

[Sandisw]

Understand and don't dispute any of that, frankly I don't blame CMs for moving on if that is what they did and I admire them for choosing work when deemed safe to do so at a time when it's, for some reason, been made more lucrative not to .... in any event the parks have been open since mid July and 8 months later folks are still having hours long waits to connect to get simple issues resolved. Disney should have had this figured out a long time ago, its inexcusable.

I get it. Just wanted to share that certain things have occurred that has compounded getting staff back and not simply Disney failing to bring back.

I do agree that it’s crazy that we are seeing wait times for MS this long and it hasn’t helped the situation with tech issues and specials.

 

[Chuck S]

Understand and don't dispute any of that, frankly I don't blame CMs for moving on if that is what they did and I admire them for choosing work when deemed safe to do so at a time when it's, for some reason, been made more lucrative not to .... in any event the parks have been open since mid July and 8 months later folks are still having hours long waits to connect to get simple issues resolved. Disney should have had this figured out a long time ago, its inexcusable.

Don't forget that there has historically been a labor shortage in Orlando. And that Disney has, for now, lost all of the CMs that came from outside the US. I can tell you, long ago I was manager/trainer for customer service in a chain of video stores. It is not only a thankless job, but many potential employees just aren't cut out for that type of work. Finding people with the personality to handle the job isn't easy.

 

[eandt]

Don't forget that there has historically been a labor shortage in Orlando. And that Disney has, for now, lost all of the CMs that came from outside the US. I can tell you, long ago I was manager/trainer for customer service in a chain of video stores. It is not only a thankless job, but many potential employees just aren't cut out for that type of work. Finding people with the personality to handle the job isn't easy.

Was there a labor shortage and issues with hours long waits on hold before March 2020?

 

[Chuck S]

Was there a labor shortage and issues with hours long waits on hold before March 2020?

Labor shortage, yes. There has been a labor shortage for years in the Orlando area. That is why Disney had the college program and guest workers from other countries. Neither of those programs are back up and running, yet. And likely won't be for a while. And many locals that worked for Disney have moved on to other jobs in the meantime, they had to while the parks were closed.

 

[mistysue]

It's terrible this is happening this way!
I needed to get tickets (because they won't sell us new AP's due to expiring a couple months too early ) And spend a weekend road trip calling every 10-15 minutes. For basically three entire days. Got home and called every couple hours- ALL of those calls I got busy signals. Twice I got through and it hung up on me after 20 and 45 minutes! I finally got through on day 5. That is not acceptable, there truly is no excuse.

 

[LPnerd]

The complications are Disney laid off massive amounts of staff. There literally are not enough employees on staff to answer the phones. And the websites rarely work. I still cant book with borrowed points without calling for instance. So it just increases the call volume and wait times.

There was quite a period of time where NO Disney park was open. So no money in, no money to pay employees, however they did keep their health insurance paid for longer than any other company I've heard of. We need to be careful, however, if they can fill park to 50% capacity, then they need to call back 50% of employees. IMHO every dept is well understaffed except maybe housekeeping? Complaining on here is fine and all, but complaining to Disney will actually incur a few changes if enough people call and complain. Trust me, it works.
For instance, more people, means longer lines, and less social distancing as not enough CM's to enforce it. I haven't been in a few weeks, but others that have were very disappointed in the amout of people in the parks, and NO fast passes which would keep the lines shorter, and distancing MUCH easier!

 

[eandt]

Labor shortage, yes. There has been a labor shortage for years in the Orlando area. That is why Disney had the college program and guest workers from other countries. Neither of those programs are back up and running, yet. And likely won't be for a while. And many locals that worked for Disney have moved on to other jobs in the meantime, they had to while the parks were closed.

Maybe the answer is to "farm" their call center out to another part of the country that has a surplus of labor idk. They closed a bunch of Disney retail stores natiion wide recently, perhaps they could have trained some of those employees to answer the phone instead of firing them. The supplemental unemployment benefit is a problem that can not be denied and is going to get worse as places like my state finally start to reduce restrictions on businesses like restaurants and bars. Here the issue is not a labor shortage, it's that they are having trouble getting their employees to come back because it would actually cost them money to return to work. Can't blame them I guess.

 

[Luv2trav]

Don't forget that there has historically been a labor shortage in Orlando. And that Disney has, for now, lost all of the CMs that came from outside the US. I can tell you, long ago I was manager/trainer for customer service in a chain of video stores. It is not only a thankless job, but many potential employees just aren't cut out for that type of work. Finding people with the personality to handle the job isn't easy.

I agree 100% with this. It takes a special person to work in customer service. I would imagine even more so with Disney. The expectations and entitlement of guests is extremely high and sometimes unattainable. As I said before I work for FedEx and we have very similar expectations when it comes to service. Some people feel we can do the impossible (Like drive/deliver in blizzard/hurricane conditions just because where they are it's 75 and sunny).... Hiring employees to do this type of work is difficult because pay is really not what it should be to attract top talent.

However answering phones is where their money is coming from. If you don't answer your phones people can't give you their money. This needs fixed and should be a priority for them. It still wouldn't fix my problem because I was trying to add on my "free" days but it really has made me think twice about my DVC membership some.

My DVC guide just called me and left me voicemail asking if I thought about adding on. I asked him to send me the deals in email last week. No way am I thinking about adding on right now. Not until all this is resolved. They just lost out on 200 points purchase because of all the issues they are having right now. We will wait to add more points and that is if we ever do..

 

[keishashadow]

IMO, with everything else they have on their plates as to gettting the parks fully operational, disney just doesn’t see the current, excessively long wait times to be an issue that particularly concerns them.

If anything, the long wait times probably discourage all but those with immediate & pressing problems from pressing forward with the call.

Rather surprised in lieu of call centers they aren’t offering work at home opportunities to staff, unless it’s a technical issue with secure line

 

[LPnerd]

I agree 100% with this. It takes a special person to work in customer service. I would imagine even more so with Disney. The expectations and entitlement of guests is extremely high and sometimes unattainable. As I said before I work for FedEx and we have very similar expectations when it comes to service. Some people feel we can do the impossible (Like drive/deliver in blizzard/hurricane conditions just because where they are it's 75 and sunny).... Hiring employees to do this type of work is difficult because pay is really not what it should be to attract top talent.

However answering phones is where their money is coming from. If you don't answer your phones people can't give you their money. This needs fixed and should be a priority for them. It still wouldn't fix my problem because I was trying to add on my "free" days but it really has made me think twice about my DVC membership some.

My DVC guide just called me and left me voicemail asking if I thought about adding on. I asked him to send me the deals in email last week. No way am I thinking about adding on right now. Not until all this is resolved. They just lost out on 200 points purchase because of all the issues they are having right now. We will wait to add more points and that is if we ever do..

you should answer back and tell them this.

 

[LAX]

How else can we express our displeasure with the wait times so they pay attention than give them a bad rating? Write or say some extra comments if you want to give the CM extra praise but honestly my overall satisfaction with call is severely hindered by waiting 2 hours to get answers to my questions.

Stop giving them your hard-earned money?

LAX