New people on the phones?

[PrincessMer]

Are there lots of new people on the phones these days? I knew the wait time would be long (and it was), but then when I got through I got a ton of incorrect information.

I was calling to link a reservation with a wait list that came through (yay!). That was successful.

I have a second reservation booked, but a waitlist for a different room type and selected that if the waitlist came through it should replace the current reservation. The CM at first said the waitlist came through (which was surprising since I was looking at the dashboard and it still said waitlisted). She then said that they would have to delete the waitlist because if it came through it would cost more points than I had. I said that didn't make sense because it was replacing a reservation... she said that wasn't possible. Given that I had been on the phone for a while and didn't want to argue, I just said ok.

My wait list is still there but now I am paranoid. I know I selected the option to replace the reservation when I created the waitlist... but reassure me, that is an option right? LOL

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Are there lots of new people on the phones these days? I knew the wait time would be long (and it was), but then when I got through I got a ton of incorrect information.

I was calling to link a reservation with a wait list that came through (yay!). That was successful.

I have a second reservation booked, but a waitlist for a different room type and selected that if the waitlist came through it should replace the current reservation. The CM at first said the waitlist came through (which was surprising since I was looking at the dashboard and it still said waitlisted). She then said that they would have to delete the waitlist because if it came through it would cost more points than I had. I said that didn't make sense because it was replacing a reservation... she said that wasn't possible. Given that I had been on the phone for a while and didn't want to argue, I just said ok.

My wait list is still there but now I am paranoid. I know I selected the option to replace the reservation when I created the waitlist... but reassure me, that is an option right? LOL

Yes there is that option. It's always been possible.

 

[Jack_Sparrow_NJ]

It’s possible that Disney, or actually the third party that answers their phones has added new and perhaps hastily trained staff. I have called twice recently and the CM I spoke with did not seem to really know what they were talking about and seemed to just be going through a script for frequently asked questions. I did not rate them very high in the post-call survey.

 

[Sandisw]

DVCM has said they would be hiring new CMs to help with the current phone wait situation.

So, I think we may be seeing these new people in training answering phones sooner than maybe they would have in the past?

 

[_19disnA]

When we were planning a Disney trip back in 2019 before covid, I found the people you got on the phone to be all over the map. Some seemed very knowledgeable/helpful and provided good information. Others didn't seem to know or care about giving accurate information and made no effort to help or didn't seem to know how to use their computer to look at our reservation. They seemed to guess at an answer if they didn't know instead of looking something up, asking their supervisor, etc. I could call on 3 different days and get 3 different answers to the same question.

I could tell in the first minute or so if the person knew what they were talking about based on how they would answer. If you get someone that doesn't seem to know, trying calling later and you will likely get a different person who may be more helpful.

My experience with many call centers is they only know how to read from a pre-printed script and have no real knowledge of the product/service they are supposedly supporting. Whether they don't get enough training or don't really care if they are helpful seems to vary by company. Some companies do a very good job in customer support, others are just a waste of time to call.

 

[New Mouse]

DVCM has said they would be hiring new CMs to help with the current phone wait situation.

So, I think we may be seeing these new people in training answering phones sooner than maybe they would have in the past?

The problem now is its likely they also furloughed (read fired) their training staff which consisted of all front line cast.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

It’s possible that Disney, or actually the third party that answers their phones has added new and perhaps hastily trained staff. I have called twice recently and the CM I spoke with did not seem to really know what they were talking about and seemed to just be going through a script for frequently asked questions. I did not rate them very high in the post-call survey.

All of the third party company are hastily trained and judged more on turn metric than accuracy.

 

[PrincessMer]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. My waitlist came through this morning and it replaced the old reservation, just as I had thought it would. Thankfully it all worked out. I am glad I didn't waste time arguing!