My disgust with Staff

[CaptinJackSparrow]

wait this is all pretend? oh no the space time continuium broke down in my head again, that thing is is on the fritz more then a VMK event. quick someone put cork in my ears before every thing pours out of my skull.........splat!!! to late disregard

 

[LisaInNc]

I dunno guys...I just think we are getting way too uptight over something so silly. I was a little frustrated too, but I am not letting it saturate my mind.

I still stand strong behind my belief that if you are truly 100% upset and bothered by everything, take a break. It's just not worth getting this aggravated over something so trivial.

Just my two cents...

Well lets think about this for a minute. I am not in a lather. I am part of a healthy debate.

This site is run by Disney. Disney has always set the standard for excellence in customer service and for all areas of their enterprises. I feel that VMK is falling way, way short of that. I was in the VMK booth during the maze event, phycially there and I talked with the Cast Members about it and their dissaticfaction was open. They were on the front lines looking into live faces of upset people when their server crashed. They had to answer the questions from live bodies, a lot more difficult than these VMK staff members do from their computers.

I am a wholehearted lover of Disney and they get thousands of dollars form my family every year from the merchandise I order on the internet and from the parks and hotels. We are annual pass holders and we live 12 hours away! I love it for it's fantasy but mostly for how well it is run. I know that when I get to a Diseny hotel it is going to be run as well as any hotel anywhere, same for the restaurants, the parks. Anything they do, they try to do better than anyone else. I count on that. That is a big part of why they get most of my vacation budget.

Yes it is a game and it is virtual but isn't the entire Disney concept based on fantasy? The two are closely linked. I started to play VMK because of the Disney name. I have never played any of the other virtual games I have no experience with them. But you attach the Disney name and it got my attention, that is what Disney was counting on. It is called the Virtual Magic Kingdom! It is supposed to be a virtual extension of their park. Those two parks, in Florida and in California are without question the most well run amusement parks in the country. Am I wrong to expect a certian level of that to run over into the virtual park?

There is an argument that it is free and there for we should not complain and I do not agree. When Disney puts their name on something I expect a certian level of competancy and the staff at VMK is falling far short of that.

I do not think that it is the person sitting behind the VMK Characters of Red and Mocha etc but with the management that is overseeing how it is run.

What I am saying is if it is going to be done. It needs to be done well or not at all. I am of course referring to events. They seem to be betting worse not better.

 

[NJ Mike]

Amen. Glad somebody else said it before I had to.

We're playing a FREE GAME here where there are PRETEND ITEMS in a PRETEND WORLD.

with REAL people, getting paid REAL money, to do a REAL job. Which they are not doing very well.

i also had two REAL kids crying REAL tears on sunday.

I have no beef about the prizes, or who got what. My beef is with how it was planned, carried out, and handled after the fact.

 

[Disneyfan_77]

Amen. Glad somebody else said it before I had to.

We're playing a FREE GAME here where there are PRETEND ITEMS in a PRETEND WORLD.

I am trully confused as to how this can be considered a "free" game ?

If it were truly free, we would be able to send in a request to be able to get all these virtual cards for free without having to go to the real parks with real money! I would not have to buy a real movie for a virtual costume nor buy a hat with real money for a virtual one!


This may be a free game to start playing, however when you become as entertained and involved as I am, like many on this board, in playing this game, you eventually will start to have to shell out some cash! Money will be spent to go to the park to experience the tour, the quests and what ever else VMK has to offer at the parks! It is interactive adware! So with that fact, you know money will be spent!


And as far as it being in a pretend world, I sure hope the friendships I have made playing this game are not pretend! And all those kids I have heard of in tears, those are not pretend tears, those are real tears and real disaapointment from a real world! There are real people playing behind these virtual characters with real feelings and real opinions! Please, remember that.

Yes, we are mostly adults on this board speaking and communicating on these threads, however most players on VMK are in fact kids. Would you let staff at real disney parks treat your kids that way? Would you let Disney disappoint your kids that way without so much as one peep? I think not!
It is my opinion that VMK needs to step up and produce Disney quality! As I have said before virtual or not, it is still disney and I expect disney quality!

 

[McHootle]

It was the way HOST_Hula said to me "i have no control over the events". Hmmmm.... What you getting paid for then?

 

[Ravensdark99]

Well what to say... I´m an expert for customer service here in Germany and I spent a lot of my time teaching people how to treat customers properly.

I use Disney a lot for examples because they usually do a great job in WDW for example.

I really must say Im quite concerned about VMK though.

I mostly heard about couple of incidents which happened online but I must say that this is beyond poor customer service.

It is a free game..ok..BUT as far as I understood the concept of VMK it is a big (not to say) HUGE platform for marketing, surverys aso.

So if you basically make mistakes there it´s the same as putting a guy in a commercial on TV who says:"Got questions about our amazing product???? Naaaa leave me alone dude!"

Surely Micheal Eisner himself would turn in his grave...wait he´s still alive well he would kick somebody´s *** if someone would do the same in one of the parks.

Imagine you ask a cast member why an attraction stopped and in response he don´t answer you and you are kicked out of the park...wouldn´t be that nice would it?

Ok it´s quite an extreme example, but doing the same in VMK (even if its a game) has quite a same destructive effect on customers. They accept it a couple of times, but sooner or later this behaviour will reflect on the whole company which is EXTREMELY bad.

A word for the "online cast members": It´s a hard job to be on the front line, with nearly no information...BUT it´s their job and they get paid for it. If they don´t know whats going on, there is a SERIOUS lack of information and it should be fixed. They also should consider some training about customer care.

Last point: I must say I wondered if VMK slowly turns into some form of dictatorship, where the staff tells us what to say and what to ask and if someone does something unpleasent he is removed from VMK.
We had quite the system in eastern Germany couple of years ago and I can remember they handled it quite the same ^^

It is still a game ok ^^ I understand...just a thought

 

[DarkSideMoon]

exactly, nikkibell and gbshorts, we are not mad we did not get our little inferno, we are mad teh real people behind real computer make real people on teh other end cry, and waste our valuable time.

 

[VirtuallyMe]

You know my whole frustration with the event and staff- stems around my children being upset during the event.

I understand that this is a free game but it is a game for kids- and it is a game run by Disney.

I don't expect things to run perfectly all the time- I understand that errors can occur, servers can crash, and the unexpected can happen.

I'd expect some waits for larger events- because more people than usual would be trying to participate- no big deal- and had the wait been 100-200 people queue length it would have been okay- sure some would have crashed waiting but far more would have made it in.

I know I touched my daughter's back one time when we made it into the room her little heart was beating so fast- she was so excited to finally make it in there- and then we move up in the line and have 3 people in front of us only to crash there because we are timed out. After so much frustration and the bodies physiologic response to the stress of it she had to have a melt down and it would have either been the tears she had or my lap top flying across the room (so glad it was the former).

After I calmed her down- I sent her out to play but I continued to try to get into the room. So on one computer I watched the room numbers go down and crash getting into the room a few other times but never making it to spin. But I wasn't really expecting much at that point. It was just my own stubborn determination to try to get through- lol. On another computer I was checking out email, reading DIS board, Nedding with kids characters or waiting in line to get judged for costume contest... I wasn't in some futile effort to get inferno- I may be one of the few who really doesn't care so much about magic (although I'd like the ghost one- it is cute- I don't even wear the kellog magic or fireworks that I do have) -I just wanted to try to do the game. I wasn't concerned about winning a candy cauldron- I did win that in their testing of this game the week before that and credits too- so my own reason was to say- I met my goal of actually getting to click that stupid number generator lol.

When I sent a letter to VMK- it wasn't because I wanted anything in my inventory- I wanted them to acknowledge the fact that they didn't handle this event well and yes to apologize to my kids for what they experienced- it was not a happy time for them. I get back a "we are sorry you didn't enjoy it again and I hope you attend the next one" And I've said on the boards already that I will probably be sucker enough to try again at another event (forever the pollyanna here and I try to see the good in people) because I can understand the concept of this is a game and it isn't real life and hey cool if I get to do it but meh- if I don't. But my children will not participate in future events until VMK can improve on how they do them- or my kids are old enough to log on and join in on their own.

And I think most people are upset with VMK and how they handled things- because although it is a free game it doesn't give Disney the excuse to have castmembers that behave in such a way- and to have produced something that was so obviously flawed. I don't think anyone expected to walk right into the rooms and play the game- I don't think anyone expected to NOT have server crashes or their own disconnects during the day. Most understand that when there is something special going on- more people will be in line and more people will mean waits and crashes and disconnects that aren't there in the day to day play. We all know that in the real Disney parks during a special event or peak season times there are long waits for rides and all- and I'm sure the cast members there hear complaints non-stop all day- But I 've never heard of one being ugly about it- I know the cast members who are characters probably get rude questions and comments all the time and they do not break character in their response- they maintain a calm attitude in front of the public and sure they may respond with a practiced answer but they don't make you seem stupid in the process- and I'm sure if something happened that was purely disney's fault in the real park that caused my young child to cry that they would do something- even if it was have a character take a picture with her- or just take a few minutes to let you know that they care about her feelings.

But the response I got didn't even acknowledge my kids- and yes I'm sensible enough to know that I wouldn't get a personal response - I'm sure with 1.1 million characters (even with a third of those being mules) that they got quite a few complaint letters during and after the event. But I did expect some sort of acceptance that the event didn't do well thing- heck now is the time to say ghosts, goblins or poltergiests caused the problem- but with an added line that we are working to remove them and hope the next event will be even better...

[/rant]

 

[deba]

Amen. Glad somebody else said it before I had to.

We're playing a FREE GAME here where there are PRETEND ITEMS in a PRETEND WORLD.

Hmmm...I think we've had this discussion before!

... and all those kids I have heard of in tears, those are not pretend tears, those are real tears and real disappointment from a real world! There are real people playing behind these virtual characters with real feelings and real opinions! Please, remember that.

Well said! Again, a reminder that this might be a virtual world with pretend things, but there are REAL people attached to each little person, and real people have feelings. More than once I have witnessed people being spoken to in a very hurtful way, and I always wonder if that is a tenderhearted child on the other end, and the thought makes me so sad. I usually try to follow up if I can and help the offended person shake it off, if possible. But I can tell you for sure, if I were eight instead of an adult, there have been times when I would have cried and left the game for good, and no one would have noticed. And we ALL should take responsibility for that! Just my two cent, for what it's worth.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

What we must all remember is that VMK is essentially one big test and advertisement that goes hand in hand! The best thing we can do is go to official disney site and comment through there! It is apparent that the Disney Values are not of real concern at VMK! Therefore, the most effective way to get through to Disney about our dissatisfaction ( sp? ) is to voice our opinions through the main Disney site or Disneyland site or WDW site and not through VMK!

Staff is staff virtual or real, if they are not treating you with utmost respect as Disney upholds then this should be reported directly to Disney and not to VMK!

Disneyfan, I think you made *EXCELLENT* points! We all have to remember to play from both angles here when reporting dissatisfactions. I was actually thinking about all of this last night because it really is a drag coming onto this board and seeing loads of negativity.

I think in order to address the appropriate people Disney (whose name is being used here and whose park is being modeled online) must be contacted as well as VMK. This will ensure that all associated parties are involved and aware of what is going on. For this to be effective, though, large quanities of idential complaints would have to be sent as I ultimately feel they will end up at the VMK department's desk anyway.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

While I recognize and respect everyone's opinions, I guess what I am having the most trouble with is figuring out why everyone continues to play VMK if it is so utterly upsetting. Don't you all think it would send a bigger message of unhappiness with the game if you did not play it? Besides, you would not be upset anymore and kids would not be crying. I really do not get it. But again, this is me and my opinion. I know many of you take VMK very seriously and as a regular part of your daily routines. I personally have sent in my complaints and have moved on.

 

[Disneyfan_77]

. . .For this to be effective, though, large quanities of idential complaints would have to be sent as I ultimately feel they will end up at the VMK department's desk anyway.

Ah, but you must use honey to attract the fly! LOL

To avoid the letter being sent directly to VMK . . .

First, send the letter to customer relations telling of the wonderful experience at the parks, etc, etc Explain what a wonderful idea VMK is and then BAM! ATTACK THEM WITH BAD! LOL

Former Customer Service Manager do not try this at home without parental supervision! lol

 

[Beherenow]

I guess what I am having the most trouble with is figuring out why everyone continues to play VMK if it is so utterly upsetting.

Why do people eat hot dogs, fries and candy? Something may not neccessarily be good for you, but you still like it, right? I understand that this is 'just a free game', but that does not make it any less upsetting when things like this happen.

 

[tolkien7]

I was actually thinking about all of this last night because it really is a drag coming onto this board and seeing loads of negativity.

And yet you still come, yes? I think you have disputed your former assertion that if something bothers you, such as VMK, don't play.

I think venting can be healthy.

 

[shadow pirate]

Ah, but you must use honey to attract the fly! LOL

To avoid the letter being sent directly to VMK . . .

First, send the letter to customer relations telling of the wonderful experience at the parks, etc, etc Explain what a wonderful idea VMK is and then BAM! ATTACK THEM WITH BAD! LOL

Former Customer Service Manager do not try this at home without parental supervision! lol

Genious. Geniousness in it's highest form.

 

[DarkSideMoon]

think of it this way. say, you play, football. you love to play, but they change the rules and make it really dumb. you would be upset but if you really loved the game you would stick around.