Member Services Hours for West Coast Customers??!!

[MagicalPins]

Yes and for the UK the opening time is in effect 2.00pm until 10pm.

Being from California, I have to say I would *LOVE* those hours! So much better than 6am to 2:30pm Disneyland Time.

Besides the hours for member services, I also hope the perks change at Disneyland now that we will have a DVC resort of our own and that the perks match what Disney World offers.

 

[stopher1]

Personally I don't mind the hours as they are now, except I wish they'd end at 6pm instead of 5:30...

I have a similar situation at work to SanDee Kath except in reverse... I live in the ET zone, but my company is based in the PT zone... so very often I'm waiting til almost noon before I can speak to anyone in person on the phone when I need help from I.T. or researching specific transactions for my customers. BUT...you learn to live with it and deal as best as you can. It's not always convenient for me - especially when someone from HQ forgets about the time difference and calls me with a question when the family is sitting down to dinner - but we move on. It's really just a matter of keeping track of the time and when something really important comes up - I rearrange what might need to be rearranged to make it work. I don't like calling MS from work - but that's what works out best for me given their opening time.

 

[SanDeeKath]

Hey Kath!

How do you handle calling Starwood then for a hard to get reservation? Their call center is in Orlando also(just pulled the info local area code is 407)

Though unless they've changed since a year ago(last time I called)they are open 9am- 9pm ET M-F.

I call right after work -- 5pm. Sit on the phone for an hour sometimes getting all the names in, addresses, etc.

I think many of you are assuming that you only need to make 1 call and it is only 30 minutes and then you are done for a year.

I called MS 8 times these past 2 weeks for various reservations, changes to reservations, bookings in Disney hotels, adding on guests names, etc.

Asking me to get up at 5:30 for all these calls is rather unclassy, don't you guys think? I mean this is a customer service oriented business that DVC is running.

As for getting up early to make ressies, I just made 3 NY ressies by calling on Dec 26, the 27th and finally a 3rd week on the 28th. I called on my lunch break at exactly 11mo out and had no problems.

Starwood has no issues with availability at all for me. I call after work and get what I want every time. Kinda like Disney. I just need the hours to go till about 5:30 or 6pm PST.

 

[kikiq]

WOW, I tried to call member services around 4 today (PST) and it was closed! The hours are 9-5:30pm Eastern Time.

I'm with you. It would be nice if they were open a little later. Right now, for the west coast the time to call is 6 am to 2:30 pm. It's tough for the early call and chancy mid day for me at school. Just saying, it would be nice.

 

[Doctor P]

Asking me to get up at 5:30 for all these calls is rather unclassy, don't you guys think? I mean this is a customer service oriented business that DVC is running.

You cannot possibly be serious. Asking you to get yourself up in the morning is unclassy? As parents, we spent four years of high school not only getting ourselves up but our teenaged daughter up at 5:00 am to be able to leave the house for school by 6:10 am. If it is important to your family, the sacrifice gets made. If it is not, then the reservation can be made on the weekend or via email. We got up several times to call Disney at 6:00 am to get CRT reservations when our daughter was younger. Was it a sacrifice and hard? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. I'm sorry, but West Coast people, IMHO, are among the ones who have the LEAST to complain about with the current MS hours.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

. . . If it is important to your family, the sacrifice gets made. If it is not, then the reservation can be made on the weekend or via email. We got up several times to call Disney at 6:00 am to get CRT reservations when our daughter was younger. . . .

As a West Coaster, I look at it this way: it could be much worse. I was just reminding my DH that I need to get up a little before 4 AM on one or more mornings in a couple of weeks to book a fireworks cruise. Now that is tough! -- Suzanne

 

[bethy]

As a West Coaster, I'm giddy about getting up early to call for ressies at VGC! I can see myself developing fond memories of that. It's kind of like Christmas - I might not sleep the night before!

 

[pycees312]

i've had dvc now for two years so i have adjusted however there are times where i've free'd myself up about 3:00 at work and go to call DVC and it's closed. I do always forget even after two years. So yes having extended hours would be great even if it were 2 hours or so.. I don't think having a seperate call center is fair.

 

[funatdisney]

As a West Coaster, I'm giddy about getting up early to call for ressies at VGC! I can see myself developing fond memories of that. It's kind of like Christmas - I might not sleep the night before!

I know I will exactly the same way when I back my first reservation for GCV. Giddy that is the perfect way to describe it.

 

[wendyinoc]

I prefer the current hours as well. Its early but if you have to go to work its great.

 

[CarolA]

As an East Coaster whose West Coast office tends to schedule calls around 4PM Pacific time...

I feel your pain, but... I have to talk to those folks at 8 PM and when I work there (like this week) I have to call DVC at 6 AM. Just one of the quirks of the world.

It's never going to be perfect. No matter WHAT DVC does there will be a thread on this board going "I AM UNHAPPY" They could open 24/7 and there would be tons of "HOW MUCH IS THIS COSTING US" posts... They could add an hour and it would be "well I need another hour" and so on....

 

[disneybride96]

Soooo, it is unfair for those of us who work.

I could say so much about this statement.

 

[anna08]

One more reason to get a really good online system in place so that I can do mine when I'm up all night on call and the kiddos are long in bed! This would be so great for everyone and I would think very cost efficient. But I fear the inevitable system crashes!

 

[jbrowna]

For difficult to get reservations, this is THE best time to call. Even if you could wait until 5 PM, the reservation you want may not be available by that time. I called on Jan 3 to book Dec 3 in a SV studio, but didn't call until 10 AM pacific and I was out of luck.

-- Suzanne

I think this is a point that a lot of West Coasters overlook. If MS were to have a West Coast call center that opened at 9am Pacific, that means the East Coast call center would have a 3 hour head start on booking reservations. If anyone on the West Coast had a reservation they REALLY wanted, they should be calling as soon in the day as MS starts making reservations. Otherwise, they may just miss out!