New Credit Card Authorization Holds

[Beachmom0317]

All this work to swipe a MB for added convenience to a trip. How is that convenient? I have no idea how Disney came up with this strategy but whoever determined this was going to be implemented without pain for many guests should be terminated, along with the rest of the clowns who agreed that this was a good plan.

DIsney will not let guests preload their account. They will not allow a large enough preauthorization to make this process slightly less aggravating. Unless Disney finds a way to manage this without hitting my card multiple times, I plan to use gift cards or cash. For my family it is no harm no foul because we are not impulse spenders and seldom spend more than we have planed, but if Disney thought the MB was going to increase that guest impulse, the $100 hold process sure did put the brakes on that, did it not?

I have to agree this is all not very convenient now. We arrive at our resort early so I think we will actually check in early at the physical front desk and just use our gift cards/debit cards and not swipe MB.

 

[bluezy]

We tried to fix it with a phone call and it wasn’t so easy. On hold for a very long time, then the CM came back on and said they were still trying to get someone from the “back office” to take the card info over the phone. At that point we just went to the front desk.

Did you call the "front desk" from your room? That may have been the issue because you weren't really talking to the front desk on that phone call and it wouldn't be a shock if a phone CM didn't know how to do something. When we've had a problem with not being able to use a MB to charge expenses and the CM at the point of sale makes the call, it's taken care of in a minute because they're actually calling the right person to get the job done. Granted, I think that's only happened twice for us so I don't know if we just got lucky or if that's the norm when the CM makes the call but based on what other people have said here and in various other threads on the subject, I think that's pretty normal. But I do know for sure that it's virtually impossible for a guest to call the front desk (or any "department") directly -- you're always going to a call center that just answers their phone with the appropriate greeting so you *think* you've called a specific department/location.

 

[marikujawa]

Did you call the "front desk" from your room? That may have been the issue because you weren't really talking to the front desk on that phone call and it wouldn't be a shock if a phone CM didn't know how to do something. When we've had a problem with not being able to use a MB to charge expenses and the CM at the point of sale makes the call, it's taken care of in a minute because they're actually calling the right person to get the job done. Granted, I think that's only happened twice for us so I don't know if we just got lucky or if that's the norm when the CM makes the call but based on what other people have said here and in various other threads on the subject, I think that's pretty normal. But I do know for sure that it's virtually impossible for a guest to call the front desk (or any "department") directly -- you're always going to a call center that just answers their phone with the appropriate greeting so you *think* you've called a specific department/location.

Yes I know all this. We had a message on our phone to call, so we did. If you follow their instructions they should be able to help you. My point is that our method of payment should never have been knocked out by their silly new policy. I was also not thrilled that both the phone CM and the one at the front desk flat out lied that the problem was not caused by this policy.

 

[LVSWL]

Pretty much done with this! In our 9 nights we have had to visit guest relations at our resort 5 different times to try to get our magic bands to charge. Just this morning we had breakfast at the Ale & Compass Lounge and our MB worked, then went to the Mercantile on the Boardwalk and it was declined. Thank goodness I had a Visa with me. Earlier in the trip this happened several times along with sometimes my MB not opening our room door. Not sure why Disney has implemented this policy, but not a fan at all. To us it feels like we are being penalized because evidently some people skip out on their bill? don't have enough credit limit? Yes, I can carry a credit card, but to me the point is that we have had to deal with this at all. We never had any issues prior to this trip. At our visit to Guest Services this morning the cast member said "It's not Disney's fault, this is a problem with your bank" ummm, and her next sentence was "I understand, a LOT of guests are having this same problem". Soooo, that means that it is NOT my bank's problem, it is Disney's problem if lots of other guests are having this same issue. Really not happy about the fact that we have spent all this time trying to get this straight. Our room charge print out looks crazy with all the $100 holds. No wonder the banks are denying charges. So now we have to spend time in our room going through these charges, calling our bank to verify. Not even going to bother discussing with the bank to not deny MB charges by Disney. We will use our cards for the rest of our trip.

 

[gwynne]

Pretty much done with this! In our 9 nights we have had to visit guest relations at our resort 5 different times to try to get our magic bands to charge. Just this morning we had breakfast at the Ale & Compass Lounge and our MB worked, then went to the Mercantile on the Boardwalk and it was declined. Thank goodness I had a Visa with me. Earlier in the trip this happened several times along with sometimes my MB not opening our room door. Not sure why Disney has implemented this policy, but not a fan at all. To us it feels like we are being penalized because evidently some people skip out on their bill? don't have enough credit limit? Yes, I can carry a credit card, but to me the point is that we have had to deal with this at all. We never had any issues prior to this trip. At our visit to Guest Services this morning the cast member said "It's not Disney's fault, this is a problem with your bank" ummm, and her next sentence was "I understand, a LOT of guests are having this same problem". Soooo, that means that it is NOT my bank's problem, it is Disney's problem if lots of other guests are having this same issue. Really not happy about the fact that we have spent all this time trying to get this straight. Our room charge print out looks crazy with all the $100 holds. No wonder the banks are denying charges. So now we have to spend time in our room going through these charges, calling our bank to verify. Not even going to bother discussing with the bank to not deny MB charges by Disney. We will use our cards for the rest of our trip.

I am sorry you had to deal with this mess while on vacation. Disney's poorly thought out "solution" has only manufactured a lot of new problems. The whole thing is just ridiculous.

 

[Nancyg56]

Pretty much done with this! In our 9 nights we have had to visit guest relations at our resort 5 different times to try to get our magic bands to charge. Just this morning we had breakfast at the Ale & Compass Lounge and our MB worked, then went to the Mercantile on the Boardwalk and it was declined. Thank goodness I had a Visa with me. Earlier in the trip this happened several times along with sometimes my MB not opening our room door. Not sure why Disney has implemented this policy, but not a fan at all. To us it feels like we are being penalized because evidently some people skip out on their bill? don't have enough credit limit? Yes, I can carry a credit card, but to me the point is that we have had to deal with this at all. We never had any issues prior to this trip. At our visit to Guest Services this morning the cast member said "It's not Disney's fault, this is a problem with your bank" ummm, and her next sentence was "I understand, a LOT of guests are having this same problem". Soooo, that means that it is NOT my bank's problem, it is Disney's problem if lots of other guests are having this same issue. Really not happy about the fact that we have spent all this time trying to get this straight. Our room charge print out looks crazy with all the $100 holds. No wonder the banks are denying charges. So now we have to spend time in our room going through these charges, calling our bank to verify. Not even going to bother discussing with the bank to not deny MB charges by Disney. We will use our cards for the rest of our trip.

I am in agreement, this was a nonsensical policy to begin with. The fact that the CM had to say that it was a "bank" issue is very telling to me. That means there has been discussion and this is the blanket response. I have no idea why folks here on the DIS foresaw this as an issue yet the folks empowered to make this policy and implement did not see any concerns. Once again the people implementing policy are not using it in advance of rolling it out to see the real world effects. When charging using the fast and easy MB method was rolled out I also wondered how long it would take before Disney saw an increased number of charges that could not be met by their guests. The entire policy is ridiculous.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am sorry you had to deal with this mess while on vacation. Disney's poorly thought out "solution" has only manufactured a lot of new problems. The whole thing is just ridiculous.

And yet I recall a lot of folks insisting that we were worried about nothing. Turns out this is a disaster for a lot of people.

 

[LVSWL]

I am sorry you had to deal with this mess while on vacation. Disney's poorly thought out "solution" has only manufactured a lot of new problems. The whole thing is just ridiculous.

Thank you so much! This is our next to last day and the very last thing we wanted to do was spend more time at GS or back in our room calling our credit card company.

 

[AngiTN]

All this work to swipe a MB for added convenience to a trip. How is that convenient? I have no idea how Disney came up with this strategy but whoever determined this was going to be implemented without pain for many guests should be terminated, along with the rest of the clowns who agreed that this was a good plan.

DIsney will not let guests preload their account. They will not allow a large enough preauthorization to make this process slightly less aggravating. Unless Disney finds a way to manage this without hitting my card multiple times, I plan to use gift cards or cash. For my family it is no harm no foul because we are not impulse spenders and seldom spend more than we have planed, but if Disney thought the MB was going to increase that guest impulse, the $100 hold process sure did put the brakes on that, did it not?

Same here. This will put a change on how we proceed with using our bands. It's not so much that it will change what we spend or how much since we spend what we spend and using a band doesn't change that but it will alter our process.
I agree with you though that there are bound to be people out there that did have impulse buys and this new process will indeed impact them. Maybe that's good all the way around? Maybe that was the intent? Maybe they want to cut down on buys that guests make that guests can't afford? Hard to imagine the corporation being responsible in that way though.

We'll just use our gift cards to pay our room in advance now, and then use our credit card to do most of the charges while there, instead of the other way around. I usually prefer gift cards there so I don't have to mess with making a phone call before we arrive but I can deal with doing that

Did you call the "front desk" from your room? That may have been the issue because you weren't really talking to the front desk on that phone call and it wouldn't be a shock if a phone CM didn't know how to do something. When we've had a problem with not being able to use a MB to charge expenses and the CM at the point of sale makes the call, it's taken care of in a minute because they're actually calling the right person to get the job done. Granted, I think that's only happened twice for us so I don't know if we just got lucky or if that's the norm when the CM makes the call but based on what other people have said here and in various other threads on the subject, I think that's pretty normal. But I do know for sure that it's virtually impossible for a guest to call the front desk (or any "department") directly -- you're always going to a call center that just answers their phone with the appropriate greeting so you *think* you've called a specific department/location.

To note, you can fix this at GS at the parks too. This is where I've dealt with it several times. For whatever reason, we've had numerous charging problems prior to this change. Always gotten them fixed but they have popped up for us every 2, 3 trips

 

[LVSWL]

I am in agreement, this was a nonsensical policy to begin with. The fact that the CM had to say that it was a "bank" issue is very telling to me. That means there has been discussion and this is the blanket response. I have no idea why folks here on the DIS foresaw this as an issue yet the folks empowered to make this policy and implement did not see any concerns. Once again the people implementing policy are not using it in advance of rolling it out to see the real world effects. When charging using the fast and easy MB method was rolled out I also wondered how long it would take before Disney saw an increased number of charges that could not be met by their guests. The entire policy is ridiculous.

I agree! Also, someone above said that hotels everywhere use this policy. Well, when I stay in hotels "everywhere", the only charges other than my room charge might be room service, laundry, meal in the hotel. That is not the same at all as people staying in Disney hotel charging meals, gifts,tours all day every day.

 

[AngiTN]

Pretty much done with this! In our 9 nights we have had to visit guest relations at our resort 5 different times to try to get our magic bands to charge. Just this morning we had breakfast at the Ale & Compass Lounge and our MB worked, then went to the Mercantile on the Boardwalk and it was declined. Thank goodness I had a Visa with me. Earlier in the trip this happened several times along with sometimes my MB not opening our room door. Not sure why Disney has implemented this policy, but not a fan at all. To us it feels like we are being penalized because evidently some people skip out on their bill? don't have enough credit limit? Yes, I can carry a credit card, but to me the point is that we have had to deal with this at all. We never had any issues prior to this trip. At our visit to Guest Services this morning the cast member said "It's not Disney's fault, this is a problem with your bank" ummm, and her next sentence was "I understand, a LOT of guests are having this same problem". Soooo, that means that it is NOT my bank's problem, it is Disney's problem if lots of other guests are having this same issue. Really not happy about the fact that we have spent all this time trying to get this straight. Our room charge print out looks crazy with all the $100 holds. No wonder the banks are denying charges. So now we have to spend time in our room going through these charges, calling our bank to verify. Not even going to bother discussing with the bank to not deny MB charges by Disney. We will use our cards for the rest of our trip.

Technically, it is a bank issue. The bank is the one creating the push back. Not every bank does it. Which is why not every guest has a problem.
A lot do, so the method being used is far from ideal, no ifs ands or buts about it but bottom line is, the bank is the one with the problem with the methods Disney is using. They aren't wrong about that statement.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Technically, it is a bank issue. The bank is the one creating the push back. Not every bank does it. Which is why not every guest has a problem.
A lot do, so the method being used is far from ideal, no ifs ands or buts about it but bottom line is, the bank is the one with the problem with the methods Disney is using. They aren't wrong about that statement.

Not "wrong" but definitely misleading.

They clearly should have known many of their customers would run into these problems, and thus it is their failure. Banks shouldn't have to change their policies to suit Disney.

 

[LVSWL]

Technically, it is a bank issue. The bank is the one creating the push back. Not every bank does it. Which is why not every guest has a problem.
A lot do, so the method being used is far from ideal, no ifs ands or buts about it but bottom line is, the bank is the one with the problem with the methods Disney is using. They aren't wrong about that statement.

The bank has a problem with the methods Disney is using because the method is ridiculous. Blaming the bank is just Disney's way of telling the guests that they just have to deal with it and spend their time trying to resolve it. Not cool. We won't be using MB for charging in the future. Might not even use them to open or door or FP since that doesn't always work.

 

[sponica]

Not "wrong" but definitely misleading.

They clearly should have known many of their customers would run into these problems, and thus it is their failure. Banks shouldn't have to change their policies to suit Disney.

Didn't we all think this was going to be a disaster? With any luck they'll do something more commonsense, like a per night hold at check in. Like other hotels. Sure the dollar amount might hurt at check in for long stays over 5 nights, but you can at least plan around that.

 

[pooh'smate]

Pretty much done with this! In our 9 nights we have had to visit guest relations at our resort 5 different times to try to get our magic bands to charge. Just this morning we had breakfast at the Ale & Compass Lounge and our MB worked, then went to the Mercantile on the Boardwalk and it was declined. Thank goodness I had a Visa with me. Earlier in the trip this happened several times along with sometimes my MB not opening our room door. Not sure why Disney has implemented this policy, but not a fan at all. To us it feels like we are being penalized because evidently some people skip out on their bill? don't have enough credit limit? Yes, I can carry a credit card, but to me the point is that we have had to deal with this at all. We never had any issues prior to this trip. At our visit to Guest Services this morning the cast member said "It's not Disney's fault, this is a problem with your bank" ummm, and her next sentence was "I understand, a LOT of guests are having this same problem". Soooo, that means that it is NOT my bank's problem, it is Disney's problem if lots of other guests are having this same issue. Really not happy about the fact that we have spent all this time trying to get this straight. Our room charge print out looks crazy with all the $100 holds. No wonder the banks are denying charges. So now we have to spend time in our room going through these charges, calling our bank to verify. Not even going to bother discussing with the bank to not deny MB charges by Disney. We will use our cards for the rest of our trip.

Your post is the one that made me decide for sure not to use our MB to charge to the room. It just isn't worth it.

 

[gwynne]

Your post is the one that made me decide for sure not to use our MB to charge to the room. It just isn't worth it.

Yup. I also decided to stop by the desk at check in to request two key cards. At least that gives me a fighting chance if/when the MB's quit working. Sheesh. This should not be part of my vacation planning.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I wish I knew which credit cards have actually been working okay. We have our Chase Disney Visa card set on our account for now, but would happily switch if there was a better one to use. Sounds like Discover might be a no-go. Not sure of any others right now.

 

[sponica]

I wish I knew which credit cards have actually been working okay. We have our Chase Disney Visa card set on our account for now, but would happily switch if there was a better one to use. Sounds like Discover might be a no-go. Not sure of any others right now.

We probably need a new thread with experiences, dollar amounts and bank/credit card used....

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

I will be using our Chase -Disney or Capital One. Also looking for any reports for these cards.

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

We probably need a new thread with experiences, dollar amounts and bank/credit card used....

I like that idea.