Member Services Closed Today?

[WolfpackFan]

What's with MS being closed today (Monday, Jan. 3)? I would have thought most businesses gave their employees Friday the 31st off for New Years. Bummer.

 

[sheryl0521]

At my job, we follow the financial calendar (wall street) so we didn't get a recognized holiday for New Year's this year. But we did get another floating holiday for 2005, so all works out well.

I tried calling this morning too and got the recording....

 

[Mickbee]

What's with MS being closed today (Monday, Jan. 3)? I would have thought most businesses gave their employees Friday the 31st off for New Years. Bummer.

Disney observes the New Year's holiday today as part of the 2005 year.

Best of luck!

 

[chris1gill]

I also called (to make reservations for October)... what a bummer

 

[ClarabelleCow]

smaller companies can get away with giving the 31st off, we did (only 12 employees), gave the guys off the 24, 27, and the 31, 3 day work week, it was nice, no one expected us and the phones were quiet. The bigger compaines can't "play" with the books. New Years Day is a 2005 holiday, not a 2004, that's great the some companies are working today and giving the employees a "floater", that's what I wanted to do, (work friday), but husband one on this one!!!

 

[DebbieB]

I work for a large insurance company and we have today off officially. However, they discovered many of our agents were off Friday, so some departments asked some people to come in and take another day.

 

[Tiger926]

That is so frustrating as it seems that every time I'm able to call, they are closed! We just became new members, and so I'm not even sure of Member Services' hours (I know that they are open late on Wed. or Thursday, and they aren't open Sunday, but are they open on Sat.?) I understand that today they are observing the holiday, but with the new AP tickets available and all of the other new stuff, Disney should have postponed the launch of the new stuff until tomorrow, or next week since they knew that they would be observing the holiday.

I know that other people have posted before about extending hours and that this would add to our dues, but in today's day and age, the world no longer revolves around a 9-5 clock - perhaps they need to open an hour later each morning so that they can stay open an hour later each night, or on Saturday. That is one of the reasons I stopped using my travel agent, as she only worked M-F, 9-5. I worked in retail while in University, and we worked 7 days a week, and only got off for very few holidays througout the year. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Member Services does not deserve holiday time, I just find that as a DVC member, I have trouble with their limited hours.


Tiger

 

[ClarabelleCow]

you can always e-mail them your question, they respond within 24-48 hours, or call during lunch or break times?

 

[Par8hed]

smaller companies can get away with giving the 31st off, we did (only 12 employees), gave the guys off the 24, 27, and the 31, 3 day work week, it was nice, no one expected us and the phones were quiet. The bigger compaines can't "play" with the books. New Years Day is a 2005 holiday, not a 2004, that's great the some companies are working today and giving the employees a "floater", that's what I wanted to do, (work friday), but husband one on this one!!!

Well the "small" company I work for employs about 25,000 or so and we observed New Years Day on Friday Dec 31st 2004.

 

[zurgswife]

Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 9-5pm
Thurs 9-7pm

Closed Sat, Sun

Unless they have changed recently..

 

[JudithM]

As a side note ... please remember that the first three months of the calendar year - January, February, March - are the busiest for Member Serivces - Mondays being the busiest.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I also tried to call this morning. This was the first day that I could have made my very first reservation home. I was all prepared then I got the recording!! Ugh...I guess that leaves me an extra day to research rooms for my room request!

 

[poohj80]

I am used to following the government holidays and that was Friday for New Years.

 

[DebbieB]

It was kind of strange how the calendar fell. They gave us Thursday and Friday off for New Years in 2004 (New Years was Thursday), so we ran out of holidays for 2004. We have 8 fixed holidays and 2 floaters.

 

[Debby7]

So, I wonder how many of us are going to be dialing at 8:58 tomorrow ? And.......How long the hold time will be?

 

[sheryl0521]

Hopefully they will have extra people on the phones!

 

[Tiger926]

That's exactly my point - by taking off today, they are now going to be inundated tomorrow to the point where they probably won't be able to catch up! I'm sure the hold times are going to be outrageous, and since they are only open 9-5, I'm sure it's going to be a very frustrating day for all of us - most especially member services! This brings me to my point again about improving their hours - since they are not open on weekends (why is that when it's probably the best time for members to call?), and only open to 5:00, it really leaves very limited hours for booking vacations. I know that in the grand scheme of life vacations aren't a top priority to some, but since we are members who pay to belong to a private vacation club that requires us to book such vacations by phone, they really need to improve their hours, plain and simple. I also don't subscribe to the theory that this will raise our dues - why can central reservations stay open very late hours, 7 days a week, yet people don't pay dues, and they sell some rooms for as low as $49.00? Why should I as a member have to take time off of work to call to book my vacation - I joined DVC for flexibility, but I find the restrictions at Member Services to be anything but flexible!

Tiger

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

luckymommyx2, I am rotfl because I did the same thing this morning. I was all prepared with member ( and credit ) card, to order the new discounted AP`s, and got the recorder as well Ugh- !!
It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow!! lol!!
_____________________
maria

 

[DebbieB]

I called everyday last week doing my day by day. Most of the days were right after 9:00 and I was only on hold one time, the rest of the times they picked up after a few rings. The one time on hold was only about a minute. A couple of years ago when I did day by day for the first time, I was on hold for long periods. So I think they have improved the number of cm's on the phones. We'll see tomorrow.

 

[PamOKW]

Debby you're right about tomorrow. Early January is always the busiest time at MS because they say families make their vacation decisions over the holidays.

It was kind of bizarre that they were closed today. The majority of businesses in my area were closed Friday -- small ones like GE included.