MS Astounded!

[momx2]

I realize that there are special situations where one can't do it the other way so I'd prefer not to see the option go away totally, that's why I hope people will think before they take up MS time and not do so lightly. I also realize there are those selfish enough that don't care because they paid for it and it was the way it was when they bought in.

Why is it selfish to expect good customer service from one of the most expensive timeshares in the business? I just bought in so I don't know how it's always been, but that statement seems a bit harsh.

 

[bevis]

I call to check availability on 4/22/2009 at 2 pm

Me: "Hi. I'd like to check availability for a 1bdr PV at BWV for Dec. 5-12"
MS: "Okay. Let me check"
Me:
MS: "Yes sir. We have a 1bdr available. Would you like to place a reservation?"
Me: "No, not yet. we are still planning our trip but I just wanted to see where we stood for those dates. I'll check back when I finalize everything. Thank you"

I call back on 4/24 after confirming the original dates for my trip

Me: "Hi. I'd like to make a reservation for a 1bdr PV at BWV for Dec. 5-12"
MS: "Okay. Let me check"
Me:
MS: "Sir, there are no rooms available at BWV for those dates"
Me: "NOTHING" "I just called a couple days ago and there were rooms available. I've already planned my trip"
MS: "I'm sorry sir, as of right now there is no availability. Would you like to waitlist?"
Me:
and on and on and on.............you get the picture.
I'm sure this has happened to most of us at one time or another.

I understand we all plan our vacations differently. We always book our room first, then air, car, etc. I learned long ago that availability changes daily if not hour by hour, sometimes minute by minute at times of the year when DVC demand is very high. When you call for AVAILABILITY, the room will be either available or not, 50/50, when you call back to RESERVE. If your vacation is dependent upon an absolute date, it just seems a little too much of a chance to set those dates based upon a check on AVAILABILITY. So what's the point of checking AVAILABILITY if it's not absolute. A reservation is absolute...well as much as it can be anyway. I think this is the point some here are making. Of course, for now, we can call to check availability, but another thing a lot of us have had to deal with at times is a long wait on the phone for a rep. One has to wonder how many calls ahead of them are availability checks. And I don't think those 1-800 numbers are free?

As for the reps. attitude, it was obviously uncalled for. Just make sure you let MS know your feelings.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[MrDiamond]

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I think that's a poor way to do it from both your perspective and that of DVC's. Why not make your decision then book it if it's available. If not, then regroup.

Last comment from me because I'll end up repeating myself and I hate doing that. You say that it is a poor way for me to do this. Then what you saying is the proper way must be this; when my wife submits her vacation request, which is taken in order of seniority, I should NOT know if the week she is asking for is already booked up at the resort we want to stay at. Rather, commit to the week of vacation, that can't be changed, then call and hope that it wasn't already booked up a month ago?

This is nonsensical.

BTW, what does "regroup" mean? Stay somewhere else? Where I do not own and pay annual dues? Because I shouldn't make a call ahead of time?

 

[disneynutz]

So I called a little bit ago to check on some availability, I was selected at random to take the satisfaction survey at the end of the phone call. It said to just stay on the line and I would be connected to the survey after speaking with my CM at MS. So after the call I waited and there was silence for just a moment then I heard the CM I was just speaking with calling me crazy and that I should have told her what I wanted from the beginning and basically unjustly complaining about me asking her to look up availability. Needless to say the call never went over to the survey and I was astounded . I then decided to hang up and think about what to do. As I sat there for a moment I became very angry . I felt like hey, we have invested a TON of money into this and this is NOT the way I should be treated even if you think I can't hear you. So, I called MS back and told the whole story to the CM that answered. She asked for my member number, the time I called and the phone number I called from. There were going to see if they could look it up with the hopes that they recorded it. (I was told they record every third call or so). The moral of this that I am taking away is to ALWAYS write the persons name down that you spoke with even if you think you are just making a simple, quick phone call about almost nothing. If I had her name it would have been much easier to bring this to her attention. And I guess the other lesson is, you never know who can hear you and who is watching you.

Lastly, I am reminded of this motivational quote Watch you thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Amazing. I really expected more from them.

To get back on topic...

I am sure that MS talks about us, just like we talk about them, it's human nature. The sad thing is that you heard them and it upset you.

MS works for the Membership and we have a duty to demand excellent service. If you have a problem or commendation it should be directed to Management or the proper department. Calling another MS Adviser isn't advisable.

Send a copy of your post and your phone number to: dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

A DVC Satisfaction Team Member will call you back in a couple of days and discuss the situation with you.

 

[cpdwiz]

I love this post. Again, It is ok to talk bad about people and insult the customer(either knowing or not) that is asking you a question that pays for the DVC business for which you work. Please... Plenty of people have "worked in the public" and dont act like complaining idiots. It is only people attitudes like this that makes everyone feel they have a right to do this. I would bet a large majority of customers are nice and appreciative of a CS reps help. I know I am. And I totally have had the type of CM the OP is talking about. No personality, no kindness in their voices. So what if they had a bad caller before you. They need to check that attitude. Then next caller didnt' do anything to earn an attitude. It is called customer service for a reason.


Sorry...Disagree....This CM has a right to say what they want when they are not on the phone with a customer. If the CM did what the caller asked during the call, they did their customer service job. If the CM believed they were speaking to someone else and said something, so be it. It was NOT directed at the caller. Plenty of people have worked in the public sector and not been idiots. good for them. MOST people cannot just turn off their emotions in one second. As I said, maybe the caller before called this CM names. Maybe they got bad news. No one knows. All I am saying, is that, to me, its not a big deal. I would have done as someone else said, and said excuse me or something like that.......

 

[Dean]

Why is it selfish to expect good customer service from one of the most expensive timeshares in the business? I just bought in so I don't know how it's always been, but that statement seems a bit harsh.

Good customer service is appropriate, not caring what it cost others to get there is what I was referring. All I said was people should think about what they are doing.

Last comment from me because I'll end up repeating myself and I hate doing that. You say that it is a poor way for me to do this. Then what you saying is the proper way must be this; when my wife submits her vacation request, which is taken in order of seniority, I should NOT know if the week she is asking for is already booked up at the resort we want to stay at. Rather, commit to the week of vacation, that can't be changed, then call and hope that it wasn't already booked up a month ago?

This is nonsensical.

BTW, what does "regroup" mean? Stay somewhere else? Where I do not own and pay annual dues? Because I shouldn't make a call ahead of time?

IMO, the best way to do this would be to plan what you WANT, call and book it then put in for your vacation assuming you can wait until 11 months out to request vacation, some can't. I think calling to check but not booking, scheduling a vacation then calling back to book is too risky to your situation. I did acknowledge there were some special circumstances and that's why I indicated I didn't want the option to go away, only people to use it reasonably. However, I'll be the first to tell you that a given timeshare system may not work for everyone and those that have too difficult a time scheduling vacation combined with getting a reservation can be in that group with DVC, esp if they can't ask until 7 months out or less. Ultimately one has to take the chance on one or the other in your situation, at least if you book first, you can change that.

Regroup means to go to plan B. There is no guarantee of a reservation at your home resort the way DVC is set up and for many options, if you wait until under 11 months, you may have a difficult time getting anything. All the more reason to book when you call. I know some have a problem with booking for something you might or might not use but I DO NOT. I don't care if you book 10 weeks in a row then cancel all but one of them later but I realize you could make the same argument in the reverse and that DVC COULD institute restrictions or fees in that area as well.

 

[Cee]

I used to work in the Box Office of a theater and I know from many years of experience that most folks aren't prepared with the information they need when they place the call. I had to endure a very lengthy call from an extremely irate customer once only to discover that she had called the wrong theater. When I told her, "Oh! You want ******, this is the *****". She only said, "Oh...."
and hung up in my ear. Grrrrr.......BELIEVE me, what I said to my co-worker after THAT call was for nobody's ears!

 

[dianeschlicht]

I call to check availability on 4/22/2009 at 2 pm

Me: "Hi. I'd like to check availability for a 1bdr PV at BWV for Dec. 5-12"
MS: "Okay. Let me check"
Me:
MS: "Yes sir. We have a 1bdr available. Would you like to place a reservation?"
Me: "No, not yet. we are still planning our trip but I just wanted to see where we stood for those dates. I'll check back when I finalize everything. Thank you"

I call back on 4/24 after confirming the original dates for my trip

Me: "Hi. I'd like to make a reservation for a 1bdr PV at BWV for Dec. 5-12"
MS: "Okay. Let me check"
Me:
MS: "Sir, there are no rooms available at BWV for those dates"
Me: "NOTHING" "I just called a couple days ago and there were rooms available. I've already planned my trip"
MS: "I'm sorry sir, as of right now there is no availability. Would you like to waitlist?"
Me:
and on and on and on.............you get the picture.
I'm sure this has happened to most of us at one time or another.

I understand we all plan our vacations differently. We always book our room first, then air, car, etc. I learned long ago that availability changes daily if not hour by hour, sometimes minute by minute at times of the year when DVC demand is very high. When you call for AVAILABILITY, the room will be either available or not, 50/50, when you call back to RESERVE. If your vacation is dependent upon an absolute date, it just seems a little too much of a chance to set those dates based upon a check on AVAILABILITY. So what's the point of checking AVAILABILITY if it's not absolute. A reservation is absolute...well as much as it can be anyway. I think this is the point some here are making. Of course, for now, we can call to check availability, but another thing a lot of us have had to deal with at times is a long wait on the phone for a rep. One has to wonder how many calls ahead of them are availability checks. And I don't think those 1-800 numbers are free?

As for the reps. attitude, it was obviously uncalled for. Just make sure you let MS know your feelings.

Just my 2 cents.

Excellent post, and that is EXACTLY what I was refering to when I said way back on page one that calling to check available rooms is a useless excersise. We too do the booking first and then look for the airfare etc.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I've always done pretty much what it says in the DVC book, figure out what you want and when you want to go, have a few other options ready if what you want isn't available. It's worked for me.

Referring to the OP, MS maybe just had a bad day and is it right to sound off, no but we all do it to a degree. I don't work with the public because quite frankly, I don't have the patience. I love it when I hear people complain about a food worker or salesperson in saying "She/He shouldn't have this job if they don't like working with the public". Do we honestly think that people who make minimum wage at a job really took the job because they just love serving the public.

OP, you may have been at the end of a long string of calls that ended up in her having to vent! Should you have heard, no. Was it professional, no Did it upset you, yes and hopefully you get an apology. These are stressful times for everyone, epople losing their jobs left and right, pay cuts, these are all excuse of course, but let's cut people some slack!

 

[Eliza'sMom]

To be frank, if I encountered this scenario with another business to whom I had not already committed years of business and thousands of dollars, that business would lose my money and any future business from me. Whether it's OK to vent or not, and whether it was intentional, the OP was treated poorly and left with a bad taste in her mouth. That's not OK.

Before buying DVC, I had made dozens of calls to CRO to check availability and pricing and not booked (usually because I needed to discuss with my husband once we knew the pricing info). I'm sure those CMs were disappointed, but not once was one ever rude to me or did one make me feel like my inquiries weren't worthy of their time. I'd expect the same from MS. Otherwise, accurate or not, it leaves the impression that once Disney has my money, service is no longer a priority.

And heaven knows, when we booked our first DVC trip a few months ago, we had no clue what we were doing and took a lot of that CM's time. The first question I asked my husband when he got off the phone was, "Was the person you were talking to nice?" Customer service is so important. No one wants to be made to feel insignificant, especially when they're paying thousands of dollars for the service. If we had had the OP's experience on that first call, though I'm sure the CM was probably getting frustrated or impatient with us, I would have seriously questioned our decision to buy into DVC. I hope the OP's concerns are taken seriously at MS so no one else has to have that experience.

 

[buzz5985]

I can honestly say that over the past 8 years of being a member, I have never called to question availability. I call to book. It seems senseless to me to check - the room may be available today - but gone tomorrow. DH and I both work - so getting time off together at times can be difficult - but we manage. Plus put in the mix children and school vacations, sports, you get the picture.

If the CM are wasting all this time checking availability for people - maybe the next step will be limiting the amount of phone calls we can make a year. It seems to me that the rules change when people take advantage of loop holes. So I can see an instance that if you call to check availability that does not produce a reservation when a room is available - strike 1. Three strikes and you are out. If it can lower MF's I'm all for it.

Janis

 

[BroganMc]

Silly question, but when overhearing this conversation, why didn't the OP just say very loudly "I can still here you."

I can bet the CM would immediately turn red-faced at that realization.

Geez, reading some of the vents we post on this forum (public and immortalized forever) makes me blush at times. If I were a CM, I'd probably go nuts reading this board.

I'm inclined to cut people slack for a vent. We all do it and few of us fully mean what we say. It's just a way to blow off some frustration. Try working in the computer industry sometime. Tech support there can get very frustrating. Especially when you yourself can't replicate the problem and have a solution.

 

[marynvince]

Does a crazy person know they are crazy?

 

[FindTheMickeys]

I work 2 jobs, both in the Customer Service industry. Call me a nut, but I love people, even when they get 'testy' with me, especially over something that I have no control over (Don't kill the Messenger).. So I know about the need to vent. I always make sure that I go to our build room where no customers have access to do my venting and then it is only to my co-workers. This venting helps me with my own 'attitude adjustment' so that I can check my frustration at the door before I go on to help my next customer. This way, the next customer only gets smiles and help from me, not sullen and rude.
That said, I call to book my room, usually with 2 resorts and 2 different time frames for travel, just in case. Once I get that confirmation, I make plane ressies and the rest of the vacation falls into place...

 

[MaryD73]

I did not want to join in here, but I could not stop myself.

I actually develop Global call centers for a living. The availability question is not one of if they should be able to call but how these requests are handled. As owners/customers we have the right to request that information. At this time we have to call in for it.

Now I am sure that MS does many activity analysis' on their CMs and they will strive to remove all 'non value-add' activities. We have seen this with the new waitlist and booking rules. They changed the processes to remove burden on the CM time, but did not take away our overall ability to book or waitlist.

I am sure they are also looking at the 'information only' calls too. To eliminate these they will have to provide and push us to self service. (I am sure this was an issue with checking points prior to their publication online.) And as we know, the DVC website is not at a point to provide us that information at this time. When that time comes they will definitely push us there. In the meantime, those wanting that information will still have to call.

I don't think we, as an external group, can tell someone you cannot make a call if they want that information. It is their right no matter what anyone personally thinks. We just have to wait for DVC to arrive at a better solution.

(sorry - the analyst in me came out)

 

[Disneyhappy]

I did not want to join in here, but I could not stop myself.

I actually develop Global call centers for a living. The availability question is not one of if they should be able to call but how these requests are handled. As owners/customers we have the right to request that information. At this time we have to call in for it.

Now I am sure that MS does many activity analysis' on their CMs and they will strive to remove all 'non value-add' activities. We have seen this with the new waitlist and booking rules. They changed the processes to remove burden on the CM time, but did not take away our overall ability to book or waitlist.

I am sure they are also looking at the 'information only' calls too. To eliminate these they will have to provide and push us to self service. (I am sure this was an issue with checking points prior to their publication online.) And as we know, the DVC website is not at a point to provide us that information at this time. When that time comes they will definitely push us there. In the meantime, those wanting that information will still have to call.

I don't think we, as an external group, can tell someone you cannot make a call if they want that information. It is their right no matter what anyone personally thinks. We just have to wait for DVC to arrive at a better solution.

(sorry - the analyst in me came out)

Great post!

 

[kdzgon]

First when I call for just availablity say that immediately - then no hard feeling when don't book. mostly they are disappointed because no reservations means they don't get a commission (this to me is a bad system - want it back like it was - when they got paid no matter what we wanted)
...

Am I understanding you correctly - are you saying the CMs at MS get paid based on the numbers of bookings completed by members?

That doesn't seem logical to me. What advantage is there for MS to "push" bookings using points already owned? The only motivation I can think of would be to "encourage" CMs to hurry the calls that are about anything other than actual bookings. If that is the case, why does DVD offer - and advertise - things such as meal and entertainment reservations, AP purchases, etc through MS?

 

[BevS97]

Last comment from me because I'll end up repeating myself and I hate doing that. You say that it is a poor way for me to do this. Then what you saying is the proper way must be this; when my wife submits her vacation request, which is taken in order of seniority, I should NOT know if the week she is asking for is already booked up at the resort we want to stay at. Rather, commit to the week of vacation, that can't be changed, then call and hope that it wasn't already booked up a month ago?

In this scenario, I would make the booking for the intended week, and then if I couldn't get vacation request approved I would call back and cancel it.
I can see the argument that you are wasting member services time by making a booking that may be cancelled, but imho, requesting vacation time without a firm booking is very risky - you could easily end up with a week off work that you can't use. I would assume it's easier to change a DVC reservation than it is to change the week you have off work.

 

[MaryD73]

Great post!

Thank you. Sometimes you just don't know if you should throw you're hat in the ring.

 

[Dean]

I don't think we, as an external group, can tell someone you cannot make a call if they want that information. It is their right no matter what anyone personally thinks. We just have to wait for DVC to arrive at a better solution.

We can certainly share what we think is inappropriate and hopefully get people to think about what they are doing and how it affects the system as a whole which ultimately affects all of us. If we don't worry about it and let DVC comeup with a solution, we may like the solution far less than being discussed here.