Not Happy Right Now ...

[pxlbarrel]

So last fall, I called and was put on a wait list for a deluxe studio or one bedroom for the VGC for February. Nothing happened for a while so I called in and asked what was available ... they told me a grand villa 3 bedroom was available so I said that I would take that for sure instead of waiting on the wait list. With a 3 bedroom, I invited some friends to stay with us for that one night.

I called today to book for November... and discovered they had cancelled by 3 bedroom and stuck me with a deluxe studio for 2 nights. They had neglected to cancel the wait list and it automatically cancelled my 3 bedroom reservation when it matched my deluxe studio wait list. This happened in October and they said they sent me an email ... they didn't.... and if they had, I could have booked something in October. It's rather pointless to be on a waitlist now for something in 1.5 months.

They apologized and asked me how I would like to proceed. ?????????????? I'd like them to put me in a 2 bedroom at least!!!!!! CS person on phone says she can only put me a waitlist... how would I like to move forward.... ?????????????????????????????

I'm now on hold while she finds a supervisor. I've only been a member since August and it's already the second screwup with the SAME reservation. First they put me in the DL hotel and then called me the next day saying I couldn's stay there and now this. I am now questioning the "investment" of my vacation dollars.

 

[pxlbarrel]

So their response is ... nothing we can do. No more inventory. Sorry. We'll put you on a waitlist. Anything else?

 

[disneypoor]

I'm so sorry! I'm hoping some pixie dust will be sent your way and soon! I'm a fairly new member myself, and maybe I'm just paranoid, but after reading about mess ups with MS on this board, I double check my reservation on the member site quite often and especially after I have called to inquire about anything, even if I don't change anything during the phone call.

Not sure that would have helped in your situation because I've never had a waitlist and don't know if waitlists show on the member site or not, but I always double check things. In fact, we're going to Maui for spring break, and on a fluke, I went online and checked our airfare the other day and discovered that our flight had been canceled. It was with American Airlines and with all that has been going on with them, it scared the you know what right out of me. Turns out, our flight was canceled and we were placed on a different flight. If I hadn't checked myself, I would have never known that.

Good luck! I hope MS can get something figured out for you!

Susan

 

[Chuck S]

Why couldn't you stay at the Disneyland Hotel? Did you purchase resale or direct?

 

[pxlbarrel]

Well, I made them put me on my minimum requirement wait list ... a 2 BR and I've been prioritized for all the good it will do. I figured there are more 2 BR's in inventory than Grand Villas.

I now have the unenviable position of emailing my friend and tellin her her mom and her can't stay with us that night because in all likelihood, we'll be in that deluxe studio.

LOL... I'm more calm now...but when I said we needed 2 beds, she said there were two beds in the deluxe studio.... a bed and a sofa bed. I retored that a sofa bed was a stop gap measure between a cot and a real bed and we needed 2 real beds. <sigh>

Oh well.... to end this on a good note (although...now I will be checking my reservation every month), we are going to Boardwalk Villas in November and it's a 2 bedroom garden view. Coincidentally, I now have enough points to stay in a deluxe studio at GVC in February next year.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Resale.... the first time when they put me in the DLH, I said...I'm resale, are you sure that's ok??? Ohh, that's ok. Next morning, i got a call.... oh...problem.

Hmmm...yeah, right.... I did ask.

 

[Chip n Dale's Dad]

This is why we are continually vigilant with all of our vacation plans and reservations. Unfortunately, we had a horrible experience with an airlines once and it wreaked havoc on our plans. Will never fly American Airlines again, if I can help it. I hope everything works out for you and this trip will be more magical than expected.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I would urge you to use the website to check your reservation every month rather than calling.

The website may be a bit tricky to use.

Calling might lead to human error, though. It would be easy, sadly, for a CM to mistakenly cancel your reservation.

 

[Deb & Bill]

So last fall, I called and was put on a wait list for a deluxe studio or one bedroom for the VGC for February. Nothing happened for a while so I called in and asked what was available ... they told me a grand villa 3 bedroom was available so I said that I would take that for sure instead of waiting on the wait list. With a 3 bedroom, I invited some friends to stay with us for that one night.....

When you booked the GV, did you tell them to cancel your waitlist? If not, it's your fault not theirs. You have to say, cancel the waitlist, not just I'll go ahead and book....

You can be on the waitlist for up to 30 days out. Then you get on a second waitlist for up to 7 days out. The last seven days you call daily to see if what you need comes available.

 

[BUDDYBEAR]

sorry and good luck

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Waitlists are really something I wish they would show on the website. It's where I've experienced the most problems - either in my forgetting to cancel, the CM not canceling or where the CM has waitlisted for the wrong month. All times it was caught when I called in and had a CM that went over everything I had showing on my membership but it would make me feel better to have it in black and white where I can review it.

 

[pxlbarrel]

When you booked the GV, did you tell them to cancel your waitlist? If not, it's your fault not theirs. You have to say, cancel the waitlist, not just I'll go ahead and book....

You can be on the waitlist for up to 30 days out. Then you get on a second waitlist for up to 7 days out. The last seven days you call daily to see if what you need comes available.

So when I said, "I'll take the Grand Villa now for one night instead of waiting for the 1 bedroom or studio" was not sufficient enough to tell them to kill the waitlist? At no time in the conversation in October was I told that when reserving the Grand Villa, my reservation would be cancelled if a studio came up. In fact, I said to member services that I might as well use up the 100 points that are banked since I wasn't going to have a chance to use it any other time before they expired so book me that 3 bedroom and then I don't have to wait for something to come up. Uh.... please do not tell me I have to say the exact words, "Cancel my wait list." to the person on the phone.

And I was never notified. Even now, I haven't received the email confirmations for what I reserved today and that was hours ago. I even had her confirm that my email was correct.... and before anybody asks, I have no filters that automatically direct email into a spam folder or junk folder. I see everything that comes in before I choose to delete.

I don't see how it's my fault ... especially since they've screwed up before on this ressie. And they tried to do it again today when I was booking something else ... let's see if there's anything available in the Disney collection. I had to stop her and say, "No, you can't. I'm a resale." ... pause ... pause ... pause .... "Oh, ok, you're right." I don't blame today's person, she was helpful and sympathetic to a point but the person(s) in the fall were terrible.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

So when I said, "I'll take the Grand Villa now for one night instead of waiting for the 1 bedroom or studio" was not sufficient enough to tell them to kill the waitlist?

Uh.... please do not tell me I have to say the exact words, "Cancel my wait list." to the person on the phone.

I don't see how it's my fault

I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it was your fault your GV was canceled. A reasonable person would have thought your intent to cancel the waitlist was clear from the conversation.

As you've just found out in a very unfortunate way, though, you need to be very proactive to ensure what you want is exactly what is done when it comes to working with Member Services. Never assume. Verify everything. It's in your best interest to ask questions -- even if they seem very obvious or unnecessary. Double-check dates, resorts, room types, names on the reservation, etc. Check them against the letter/email. If a reservation involves multiple contracts or multiple use years, ask them exactly which points they plan to use before they do the transaction (or better yet, tell them which ones to use).

If you're doing something with a waitlist or a special request, ask them to read it back to you. There's no way to see these on the web site, so you can't verify them yourself.

And finally, not all cast members have the same level of knowledge or experience. If you're working with a cast member and it seems that they don't know what they're doing... chances are, they don't. Just hang up and call back.

 

[Pakey]

I always make sure and specifically state that I want to cancel the waitlist. I've had multiple villas and villa types booked at the same time so I'd never assume MS would know what I wanted to do. I've been a member for a long time and what may be clear to me is not necessarily clear to the person on the other end of the phone.

I also check the website daily to see if my waitlist has come through. My confirmations have went to Spam before so I'm proactive.

 

[Chuck S]

I agree that you would have needed to have been more specific with cancelling the wait list. I would bet that others may have had an identical conversation with MS as the OP, and MS cancelled the wait list and the caller actually did not want it cancelled...lead to the opposite problem of the OP.

It is also possible that with the "new & improved" software that MS reps do not see the wait lists displayed on the same screen as bookings. I'm sorry for the OPs situation, but with any MS transaction you really do need to be very specific.

 

[JWG]

It really matters what MS person you get on the phone. I've, fortunately, had very good luck thus far. They've been very knowledgeable and things have happened correctly whether that be banking, booking, wait lists, etc.

They've been very careful with banking, or asking which points to use if I have bankable points available.

Though, I too, always check my reservation frequently on the website. We did have points go into holding randomly a couple of months ago. We were told we canceled a reservation. Which, we asked them to find because we sure didn't. They did put the points back, but we noticed the error.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I find it utterly ridiculous that one has to check their reservation ALL the time to ensure that it doesn't get changed. It's not a reservation anymore, it's a headache. Who has time to do that???? I mean, I checked the reservation when it was first made ... checked it on the website and it was there. Checked it a few days afterwards to make sure (after the Disneyland Hotel crap, I wanted to make sure ...), checked it a week later and it was still there. Didn't check after that cause I had other things to do...and who checks their hotel reservations weekly??? It doesn't make sense. And I would have thought that if they were going to cancel something on me, I would be notified in some way first. What crazy software or brain dead person thinks that going from a GV to a deluxe studio won't affect anybody? I mean if you from small to large, at least you'll still fit but going from a 3 bedroom to a studio... c'mon. It defies logic.... but I guess I'm talking to the choir on this.

And I guess lesson learned about telling them specifically to cancel the wait list. It was only the THIRD time I had talked to member services. The first time they put me the DLH when they weren't supposed to and the second time, the day after was when they called and told me I couldn't stay there but we'll put you on a wait list.

If they have these wait lists floating around without anyway to know if they're still active, then no reservation is safe if you've started one. They should have at least a wait to acknowledge you want to cancel an existing reservation in favour of the wait list match before they actually cancel it. Why can't they do that as a safeguard??

Whatever, we'll make the best of it ... and my November reservation is without a wait list. Will check it again later in the week and maybe put something in my iPhone that beeps me to remember to check it monthly. Somebody tell me why I paid for this?

 

[Sammie]

I agree that you would have needed to have been more specific with cancelling the wait list. I would bet that others may have had an identical conversation with MS as the OP, and MS cancelled the wait list and the caller actually did not want it cancelled...lead to the opposite problem of the OP.

It is also possible that with the "new & improved" software that MS reps do not see the wait lists displayed on the same screen as bookings. I'm sorry for the OPs situation, but with any MS transaction you really do need to be very specific.

Have to agree with Chuck, not sure the booking agent you were talking to when you called in, was even aware you were on a Wait list.

As you use it more, you will learn that ultimately you have to be on top of all of it yourself. With 500,000 members you are always going to be more interested in your bookings than they are.

It stinks but it is what it is. Another tip I avoid the weekends like the plaque, I think they let the calls go to overflow. Pretty soon you will be able to book online, can't wait for that train wreck.

 

[rentayenta]

I'm sorry OP, I'd be fuming mad.

 

[crisi]

Yes, you did need to be more specific. Not that this is "your fault" - this is a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, it isn't a misunderstanding that can be fixed easily after the fact. At the end of every transaction with MS confirm everything.

What you have booked, dates, waitlist status, how many points, from what use year, whether any points used were banked or borrowed..

Member services doesn't make the right assumptions all the time - so it behooves us to be very specific.