OKW Problems

[Cruelladeville]

Why don't you call the resort and ask/demand(nicely) to speak to the manager, and then give him the sob story about how you gave your brother the points, telling him how terrific OKW is and that he just HAD to stay there to believe how WONDERFUL it is, and then ____________ happened. It's just about ruined his trip, and you are just grief-stricken because he didn't get anywhere near the level of service you were sure is standard, etc, etc.

I was there two weeks ago, and some CM's are NOT very nice. I checked in, and was put in building 11. I said that I had asked for 16--a building out in the open, could I get another room in a wide open space? No. No explanation, no mention of the resort being full(it wasn't), nothing. They wouldn't even check. I spent an awful night, and couldn't wait to leave--I am claustrophobic, and there was a forest outside my first floor villa, so I spent the night having a panic attack. I finally checked and was able to move over to SSR, where there was enough air for me to breathe, no forest, and no panic attacks. I was not happy, either. I love OKW, and request buildings with limited vegetation, so I don't have things like this happen. It sounds dumb, I know, but, believe me, it's very real when you are in the middle of an attack.

 

[kkmauch]

Excuse me Vernon, I just want to point out a couple of things that may or may not change your mind about this situation. My brother does seem to be experiencing a string of bad luck. The CM who did his check in and the CM who was late picking up his clubs with not explanation or appology were two different CMs on two different days. The manager he talked with was again talked to on a different day. Please understand this also, my brother is extreamly shy and non-confrontational. There is NO WAY that his actions in a conversation would have in any way made the CMs he was speaking with feel like they were being attacked or that they needed to be on guard. This is anoter reason he asked me to talk to people for him, he doesn't like any form of confrontation.
And no, time was not an issue with picking up his clubs. He called the night before to ask that his clubs be picked up by 10:00 as his tee time was 1:00. He got to the bell services stand by 11:45 to check on his clubs and then go get lunch. They had not been picked up nor was any explanation given. So, bell services went to get them and didn't even offer an appology. He got the clubs about 12 and went to his tee time. So again, time was not the issue.
Finally, my brother's attitude was not to blame. In fact, he wasn't even that upset the first time. But when it happened two more times, then he was a little upset. That's why he called me. These are my points and I want my brother to enjoy them.

 

[CarolA]

I don't think anyone is blaming your brother, but by the time you get this dealt with he will be gone.... and complaints after the fact are never as important to folks in the hospitality industry.

 

[vernon]

And no, time was not an issue with picking up his clubs. He called the night before to ask that his clubs be picked up by 10:00 as his tee time was 1:00. He got to the bell services stand by 11:45 to check on his clubs and then go get lunch. They had not been picked up nor was any explanation given. So, bell services went to get them and didn't even offer an appology. He got the clubs about 12 and went to his tee time. So again, time was not the issue.

So what are you complaining about? He was told to call and his clubs would be collected, he called, they were collected ( granted it took a while but then it wasn't a priority) he made his appointed tee time with no problems.
With the greatest respect, if I was a duty manager and someone came to me and said, it took 90 minutes for my clubs to be collected, but I allowed plenty of time because I wanted to go shopping, I think my attitude could quite well come across as "what the hell are you moaning about, it hasn't affected your day one iota" Now with the check in, I have no idea what the problem was there, but either a genuine complaint would be weakened by , what seems to me, a storm in a teacup over the golf clubs or the "check in issue" was as weak as the other complaint. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but I think you ( and/or he) are making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Maybe his shyness led to him not explaining a genuine problem correctly, but from the only "complaint" I've seen, I don't think you have genuine cause to make a fuss.

 

[kkmauch]

Vernon--time would have been an issue had he not checked to see if his clubs had been picked up. They had no idea where his clubs were until he asked for them. If he had not checked to see if they were there before he went to meet his shuttle, then he would have been late to his tee time. Not to mention the fact that he asked them to be picked up by 10:00. He never mentioned to anyone at bell services what his tee time was--so for all they knew, his tee time could have been at 10:30.
Really, we weren't making a big fuss about anything until you got all huffy about these issues. All I wanted to know was who we could talk to about the few instances of rude behavior. I'm not expecting them to do anything grand for him at all. In fact I've already been in touch with them and things are all fine. I wasn't making a mountain out of anything, and yes I had plenty of ground to stand on...or so the 3 CMs who sent me PMs said. All were appologetic and offered solutions rather than trying to make me feel like these problems weren't worth the effort of reporting. You'll see that I've never complained about Disney service before, anywhere, so this was a rare occurance and I wanted to be sure that the proper people were aware of the minor issues. I never once claimed that this was a MAJOR problems which required grand gestures on behalf of Disney.

 

[JimMIA]

Okay...okay folks!

How 'bout if we stop the senseless arguing and somebody just does something which is actually helpful and gives the kkmauch the name and contact info for the DVC Owner Satisfaction person.

kkmauch obviously believes their brother was treated poorly. I wasn't there, you weren't there - our opinions are irrelevant, and you're certainly not going to convince them of your point of view. We don't have to have all the answers to all the questions here. We're not going to fix anything here - including the blame.

Let's just let them file a complaint through the proper channels.

 

[kkmauch]

JimMIA--thanks for your post. I really didn't feel like anyone was blaming me or my brother, with the exception of Vernon. But, I was perhaps too harsh with him in my response. I appologize. As I stated above, there is no need to give me any more contact information, I have already been in touch with the kind folks at Disney and everything is taken care of. I do thank the Cast Members who contacted me with the appologies and current phone numbers, thanks for caring and helping us out.

 

[manning]

I just notice something--------Vernon's a moderator???

Hey Vernon, I thought you are suppose to prevent the situations your involved in from happening.

Erase your posts please!!

 

[smjj]

If I hear or read about a complaint, I usually ignore it unless a pattern starts to develop and then I take it with a grain of salt. Some people tend to get their nose bent out of shape when others don't. In any case, the complaint should come first hand at the time of the incident, not a few days later by someone who was not there...smj

 

[SlyHubby]

In any case, the complaint should come first hand at the time of the incident, not a few days later by someone who was not there...

Excellent point smjj - couldn't agree more.

 

[manning]

Complaints made before or after does serve one purpose. It let's management know that there is a possible problem and you need to know if there is one before you can address it.

It is better to make a complaint while the problem is still an issue and one should still be made after the fact for the above reason.

 

[vernon]

Hey Vernon, I thought you are suppose to prevent the situations your involved in from happening.

IMHO making a formal complaint about staff "behaviour" is a serious issue. It should be fully investigated and if found to be genuine the organization concerned should take steps to eradicate that behaviour from it's staff. If that means that people need to lose their jobs over it, then that it what should happen. I did not and still do not think that the issues as they have been explained warrant the waste of time and effort by the company to investigate them.

If we, as regular visitors to the company, want genuine problems dealt with and we want to keep costs down, because investigating bogus/ completely unjustified claims (which I do not think this situation was ) or someone needing their ego massaged ( which I think is more likely) cost time and money. Disney doesn'y just eat up those costs, they pass them on to you and I.

If I see a case that genuinely warrants a formal complaint I'll be the first person to push that someone follows the correct proceedure, but if we do not want those justified complaints to become drowned in a sea of irrellevances we need to say to those people that don't feel they have been given their due respect. "stop, think about the situation, does it really require the time, effort and money that should be put into all these cases to root out genuine unacceptable behaviour" so far nothing I have seen has given me cause to think that there was anything missing other than one CM saying " Oh, I'm sorry, we've overlooked your pick up I'll get it done now" instead of saying " I'll go get it done now" , nothing was lost, nothing was broken, nothing was missed. When you cut through to the bare bones what actually happened? Someone forgot to appologise enough (or at all), they just went and did what was asked of them quickly and efficiently. I know it would have been nice and polite, but it didn't happen, get over it and move on. It doesn't warrant Disney spending ANY man hours on an investigation. If they receive a letter that details the events as they have been described here, they will send out a token grovelling appology that "things have been fully investigated" which they won't be. If that makes the OP feel better great, but nothing will be done to address the "problem", because as far as I can see there is no problem.

Genuine problems need to be dealt with, but if every visitor were to report in on every slight they feel they had received then Disney wouldn't be able to deal with those genuine issues. I fully agree with smjj, if there was a problem at check in, speak to the duty manager of check in at that time, if there was a problem with bell services, speak to the CM at the time and explain what you expect in those situations, if that doesn't get the response you expect speak to the manager of that department or the duty manager at the time.

Unless there is a whole heap of other stuff that happened that has not found it's way onto this post I think the whole thing would be a complete waste of Disney's time and money. It does us, the customers, no good to encourage futile bleating about non-cases when there are genuine situations that need to be addressed.

Complaints made before or after does serve one purpose. It let's management know that there is a possible problem and you need to know if there is one before you can address it.

I agree with you completely, and as an impartial reader of "the problem" I don't see that there is a problem. People forget to say sorry, please and thank you at times, particularly when they are busy and 10.00 am to 12.00 is probably the busiest time of the day for bell services. A formal complaint isn't going to alter that fact, where as a reminder to the CM at the time might.

Is there a lesson to be learned from this, IMHO yes, if you want your bags collected from your room, don't (just) call down the night before you want them collected, call on the morning you want them collected (as well). There is much less chance the ticket/paperwork will be lost or you'll be forgotten about. By definition if you call the night before the chances are you will be dealing with different people than you will in the morning. I think you're asking for a problem if you assume that by calling the night before ( to a different shift) there is never going to be a mistake or a loss of the note/paperwork.

Personally I'd have either waited in the room for them to be collected ( and called when they were 10-15 minutes late) or I'd have taken responsibility (and my clubs) and made my own way to the pick up.

Was the OP'ds brother at fault for this? IMHO no, but did he contribute to his own problems, IMHO yes. Even at Disney don't assume that everything will go as planned or explained. Think about how things may not go as expected and plan how to reduce the risks of things going wrong due to the errors of others. Take personal responsibility for events that happen to you, because you can alter how those things impact upon you.

 

[princessgirl2238]

*warning it is sort of long*


I had the same problems your brother did (I was also staying about the same time he did).
First- I made the ressie in december. i had made a couple of requests. one was to be in building 23-26 (it's not that hard to do seeing how there are a lot of rooms in that area) for the reason that everyone staying with me are competive swimmers and even thought we are on springbreak, we like to swim (expecially with waterslides and in the evening hours after eating) and second to have a studio on the ground floor because one of the swimmers just had knee surgery about 2 weeks ago and was on crutches (i knew this when i was making the ressie).
-now i use to be an intern for disney (at one point i was even trained/ working front desk for several of the resorts- including some of the top ones such as Poly, GF and BW). i know that if a request is made at the time of the ressie and if the ressie is made 3 months or before the request must be honered (hence the reason why i made the ressie in december).
so you can imagin my shock when i was told that we were being put in a 3rd floor room on the other side of the resort. then the front desk lady was like "well, because you rented on points we honor all the cash ressies first." I was furous because it shouldn't matter if i rent on points or not. i tried working on a better solution with her for several minutes (mostly because we really couldn't stay on a 3rd floor room with someone on crutches) and she refused to even try to move us. finally when i asked to speak with a manager, did the cm try to fix the problem herself. but i still insisted on speaking to a manager, so when the manager came out and heard about the problem, she started to repermand the cm infront of all the guests checking in. to which i am also shocked because in the cast member handbook it states that all fighting, dissagreements, relationships and repermands from managers are to be kept away from all guests and out of all guest areas.
*the next problem i had was with housekeeping. now i know i didn't pay for housekeeping to come and clean the room, just drop off towels half way through the week. but the lady from housekeeping came at 7:30am on wednesday as we were getting ready to leave for a character breakfast in a park. she demanded to have all the old towels right then and there, and we had told her that there was someone going to the bathroom, she started yelling at us, then barged in and proceded to bang on the bathroom door until the guy in the bathroom open the door, then she busted in there grabbing all the towels (i had to wrestle her for my tinkerbell towel i had bought the day before and left laying in the bathroom) and yelled at the guy, screeming that it was his fault that she is now going to be running behind and that because of him she wouldn't get off work on time to pick up her kids from daycare. I mean hello, that is something that should never be said by a cast member to a guest.
-and when i went to put in a formal complaint at the front dest (i made sure it was a different castmember this time), the cm at the desk first asked if i was staying on points or not (which it shouldn't have mattered until after i actually told him why i was there in the first place). and then gave me a speal on how i wasn't suppose to be getting housekeeping, just clean towels. to which i replied that i knew that and i just wanted to put in a complaint about how we were treated when the housekeeping lady came to give us the towels. after i told the cm about the problem and that i wished to put in a formal complaint, he replied that he would do it for me and then said goodbye with out a "i'm sorry that happened" or anything like that and with out taking down my name or room number for the complaint. he just walked away i would have tried to flag him down but i was already running late for my character breakfast. so i decided to come back in the evening after the parks closed and put in another complaint. and when i did so, the cm told me there was nothing they could do and just to let it be and move on from what happened that morning.
the 3rd problem (yes there were many) happened when i went to see if there was anything i set or have done for my boyfriend who was lucky enough to turn 21 at disney. i knew going in that he would be able to get a phone call the morning of and that he could get a button at the parks, but i wanted to find out if there was anything else special we could to to make his birthday even more special (i was also very open to any ideas besides Pleasure Island). when i went to talk to someone at the front desk (after asking if i was staying on points once again before i could even talk to him), the cm said that they no longer do the phone calls to guests staying on points and that there was nothing really special that i could have set up for a birthday and to just go get him drunk at a bar somewhere or at Pleasure Island (the cm this time was older and seemed to be put off when i asked for help to plan a 21st birthday at disney), which was entirely rude because he didn't know my boyfriend or me to begin with and if he would have actually asked what i was looking for he would have known that my boyfriend doesn't like to drink and didn't wish to do so on his birthday. i was just trying to make the day more special for him.
-Lastly (yea only one more problem left), on the day of checkout (friday) when we were suppose to check out by 11am,a cast member came around 8am to see if we were still there (which we were still sleeping), then housekeeping (a different person this time)came a little later expecting to come in (it was a little after 8:30am) and clean and was supprised to see there were people in a room that she was told half hour ago was empty (by the cm going around checking to see who was still there and who had left) so she called security on us to try and get us out of the room. when security arrived, i had to show them my comformation letter (thank God i kept it with me and didn't throw it out after we checked in), my room key and my driver's license to get security to let us back into the room.
-so there goes going up to front desk to put in a final complaint while checking out, and finally i got an "I'm sorry that happened" but no hint of willing to help me put in a complaint or anything else of the sort.

- i was actually renting points off of someone this week to see what DVC was all about because i was wanting to buy in to it (i've taken over 25 trips to disney world in a span of the past 15 years, had an internship there for a year and am hoping to get a job within the corperate office after i graduate from college), so i really love the place. but after seeing what happens when you have a ressie made on points and not a cash ressie (which i think it should not really matter) i don't want to buy into it because i have never had such horrible treatment at disney under regular cash ressies and while staying at the other places (i've stayed at almost all of the deluxe and moderate resorts - none of the value ones because i think they are too tacky looking). i hope no one else staying on points or is a DVC member has gotten this treatment.
-ash-

p.s.- does anyone know where to call and send formal complaints? i would like to make sure my problems don't go unheard of.

 

[Jen D]

if I was a duty manager and someone came to me and said, it took 90 minutes for my clubs to be collected, but I allowed plenty of time because I wanted to go shopping, I think my attitude could quite well come across as "what the hell are you moaning about, it hasn't affected your day one iota" Now with the check in, I have no idea what the problem was there, but either a genuine complaint would be weakened by , what seems to me, a storm in a teacup over the golf clubs or the "check in issue" was as weak as the other complaint. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but I think you ( and/or he) are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Wow, I'm really glad you don't work in customer service for Disney.

It isn't really the place of the manager to make a value judgment on how much or little the customer was inconvenienced by his staff's screw-up. His job is to take responsibility for the screw-up.

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

-now i use to be an intern for disney (at one point i was even trained/ working front desk for several of the resorts- including some of the top ones such as Poly, GF and BW). i know that if a request is made at the time of the ressie and if the ressie is made 3 months or before the request must be honered (hence the reason why i made the ressie in december).

I am sorry that you had a bad time but I am a little leary with most of your comments about the room situation, Especially if you were an intern at at Disney Front Desk....I don't mean to sound rude but I know this is going to... If you worked front desk you know that request are NOT guaranteed they are requests... There is no rule and never has been (I have been front desk at WDW since 1995) that states that you are guaranteed your requests if you book your reservation 3 months in advance... Reservations in general don't even download to the hotels until 7 days prior to arrival (DVC is a little different on that one...but you state you worked at NON-DVC resorts so you would know that). Requests are honored on a first come first served basis unless you are traveling with another party (requesting to be together), there is a notation on your reservation stating that your requests are for medical needs and/or you book the reservation through the special needs department. Any other request is looked at on a "best fit room" at your time of arrival. Rooms are not pre-assigned otherwise.

 

[SueOKW]

PG2238 - - beyond the room issue - which i believe how the rooms are assigned changes like the wind...

The things that happened to you are appalling. I would have been stunned.

I hope we don't get any of that treatment in April. We never have our confirmation letter!!!

 

[DebbieB]

First- I made the ressie in december. i had made a couple of requests. one was to be in building 23-26 (it's not that hard to do seeing how there are a lot of rooms in that area) for the reason that everyone staying with me are competive swimmers and even thought we are on springbreak, we like to swim (expecially with waterslides and in the evening hours after eating) and second to have a studio on the ground floor because one of the swimmers just had knee surgery about 2 weeks ago and was on crutches (i knew this when i was making the ressie). -now i use to be an intern for disney (at one point i was even trained/ working front desk for several of the resorts- including some of the top ones such as Poly, GF and BW). i know that if a request is made at the time of the ressie and if the ressie is made 3 months or before the request must be honered (hence the reason why i made the ressie in december).

Buildings 23 to 26 is a common request. There's no way they can honor everyone who requests it. There are only so many rooms, keeping in mind that each building has studios, 1 bedrooms, 2 bedrooms and some GV's, there's no way they can guarantee a request. It's very possible those buildings could have no checkouts on your arrival date for your size room.

*the next problem i had was with housekeeping. now i know i didn't pay for housekeeping to come and clean the room, just drop off towels half way through the week. but the lady from housekeeping came at 7:30am on wednesday as we were getting ready to leave for a character breakfast in a park. she demanded to have all the old towels right then and there, and we had told her that there was someone going to the bathroom, she started yelling at us, then barged in and proceded to bang on the bathroom door until the guy in the bathroom open the door, then she busted in there grabbing all the towels (i had to wrestle her for my tinkerbell towel i had bought the day before and left laying in the bathroom) and yelled at the guy, screeming that it was his fault that she is now going to be running behind and that because of him she wouldn't get off work on time to pick up her kids from daycare. I mean hello, that is something that should never be said by a cast member to a guest.

 

[MiaSRN62]

but the lady from housekeeping came at 7:30am on wednesday as we were getting ready to leave for a character breakfast in a park. she demanded to have all the old towels right then and there, and we had told her that there was someone going to the bathroom, she started yelling at us, then barged in and proceded to bang on the bathroom door until the guy in the bathroom open the door, then she busted in there grabbing all the towels (i had to wrestle her for my tinkerbell towel i had bought the day before and left laying in the bathroom) and yelled at the guy, screeming that it was his fault that she is now going to be running behind and that because of him she wouldn't get off work on time to pick up her kids from daycare.

when i went to talk to someone at the front desk (after asking if i was staying on points once again before i could even talk to him), the cm said that they no longer do the phone calls to guests staying on points and that there was nothing really special that i could have set up for a birthday and to just go get him drunk at a bar somewhere or at Pleasure Island

on the day of checkout (friday) when we were suppose to check out by 11am,a cast member came around 8am to see if we were still there (which we were still sleeping), then housekeeping (a different person this time)came a little later expecting to come in (it was a little after 8:30am) and clean and was supprised to see there were people in a room that she was told half hour ago was empty (by the cm going around checking to see who was still there and who had left) so she called security on us to try and get us out of the room.

OMG Is this all for real ? Sounds like the makings of a vacation horror story ? We've never even come close to be treating like this at OKW---let alone any resort (on or offsite !!!). And to be asked continually if you were staying on points or cash .....and cash paying guests get first priority ??? Just doesn't sound right to me ?

I'm just falling off my chair over these experiences I've honestly never heard anything like it in 18 years of visiting WDW. Sorry these were your experiences. I do agree about the specific bldg requests.....very common areas because they are close to HH and there is no guarantee one will get them---you only made ressies in Dec. But I feel had you listed "medical necessisty" (this should have been your 1st request) and that someone was on crutches in your reservation request, you would have gotten a ground floor. We requested "medical necessisity" three times in the past 4 years at OKW and it was always honored. My mil was fighting cancer and going thru chemo and radiation on and off.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I have to agree with you Maria! I have never had ANYTHING even remotely close to that at OKW or any WDW resort. The closest thing would have been the half hour wait to get our room at AKL when we came in at midnight!

I really question the "asked if we were booked on points" thing. First of all, a quick look at the ressie in the computer tells them this....no need for them to ask. I have never had any contact with houskeeping stopping by early on checkout day at OKW either. Of course, I usually call down to the front desk and inform them of the time we will be leaving. Our last trip, as DH was carrying stuff down to the car, a housekeeper asked him if we were leaving, and he told her we would be gone within the hour. She never bothered us again, but when we left the room, we happened to see her at the elevator and told her the room was now empty. I think so much of what happens depends on the attitude of the guest. You catch more bees with honey than vinegar!

 

[SueOKW]

fwiw - because I never remember to call ahead - we get a knock early am on check out mornings to see when we are leaving- or if we have left. I need to remember to call, but usually by then I'm so relaxed that I haven't even begun to tell DH to start packing!