wifey
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2005
- Messages
- 2,507
We decided last weekend to change out room plus tickets booking with Disney (Direct) to include flights after much thought about rising costs, and finding them available online at Disney's own site (UK).
Here is where our problems began, I rang a Disney UK customer advisor on Monday to inform them we've decided to include flights with our room and tickets. They said flights were not available yet. I said strange I saw them last night on their website, they said oh sorry can't see them on our system. I politely asked if they were available or not. They said they couldn't get the info and asked me to hold the line must have been a trainee.
A new customer advisor said yes we can do that we can add flights but it would mean cancelling our existing booking and starting from scratch I asked how that would affect our deposit of £150 which was already paid for the original booking. Then I was told that a supervisor needed to be asked about that, so after a few minutes the advisor came back and said that deposit would be refunded to our bank account.
Great I thought so I asked how long that usually takes 3-4 working days . That seemed fair so then I was told to pay another £360 for the new booking (room plus flights the park tickets worked out expensive so I cancelled them).
I discussed it with DH to make sure we were both happy to go ahead and we agreed to pay it. I gave them the necessary details and received our new booking reference (which was not like the original one). Then I was told it had gone through and to expect an invoice in a week or two, then the call ended.
Odd I thought no flight details
I rang back and spoke to someone else about the flights we had just booked and they passed on the details.
No mention of airport transfers or anything. Hey I thought there must be a way to book it online and found the Disney webpage and filled it in and got on with my day.
Tuesday DH said to me there's something odd about that booking reference number.... it looks like the one we had last year when we went with Virgin. I thought maybe it was a coincidence or a format most companies use. He went off to the computer while I made Dinner and came rushing back saying it was a Virgin Booking Reference Number. I didn't believe my eyes there it was right in front of me all our details for our holiday.
Hmm..I rang Virgin this morning and gave them that same number they told me there was a problem
our deposit hadn't been paid they wanted another payment. Hang on I said our holiday was booked directly with Disney what was going on?? So they said they still needed payment I said not until I've sorted this whole mess out. Virgin said I should contact my bank. I did and explained that the deposit was to be paid to Disney not Virgin.
The bank said they only received the payment request yesterday and it can be pending for up to 7-10 days
So I asked if there was any sign of the refund they said not yet it can also take 7-10 days
Just then someone from Disney Open Ride rang me to say there was a problem they didn't know if our transaction had gone through. I explained that the bank had approved it yesterday and it could take up to 7-10 days to go through. I asked why my booking reference came up as a Virgin Holidays reference number they said it should not have done and what was my Disney reference number. About 5 minutes later they rang back say on they had experienced system problems on Monday that they were unsure what happened and didn't know if the payment had gone through. I told them it's not our fault they need to chase it up from their end. I refuse to pay anyone another penny until this is sorted out. I did 1471 and 3 and the number they rang me on , guess what folks, it was for Virgin holidays!!
Our problem now is we have to wait to see if the money gets paid to Disney and it resolves or not since we still will not get a Disney booking reference until they get paid. I'm beginning to realise things would have been easier to have booked online with VH in the first place
Here is where our problems began, I rang a Disney UK customer advisor on Monday to inform them we've decided to include flights with our room and tickets. They said flights were not available yet. I said strange I saw them last night on their website, they said oh sorry can't see them on our system. I politely asked if they were available or not. They said they couldn't get the info and asked me to hold the line must have been a trainee.
A new customer advisor said yes we can do that we can add flights but it would mean cancelling our existing booking and starting from scratch I asked how that would affect our deposit of £150 which was already paid for the original booking. Then I was told that a supervisor needed to be asked about that, so after a few minutes the advisor came back and said that deposit would be refunded to our bank account.
Great I thought so I asked how long that usually takes 3-4 working days . That seemed fair so then I was told to pay another £360 for the new booking (room plus flights the park tickets worked out expensive so I cancelled them). I discussed it with DH to make sure we were both happy to go ahead and we agreed to pay it. I gave them the necessary details and received our new booking reference (which was not like the original one). Then I was told it had gone through and to expect an invoice in a week or two, then the call ended.
Odd I thought no flight details
I rang back and spoke to someone else about the flights we had just booked and they passed on the details.No mention of airport transfers or anything. Hey I thought there must be a way to book it online and found the Disney webpage and filled it in and got on with my day.
Tuesday DH said to me there's something odd about that booking reference number.... it looks like the one we had last year when we went with Virgin. I thought maybe it was a coincidence or a format most companies use. He went off to the computer while I made Dinner and came rushing back saying it was a Virgin Booking Reference Number. I didn't believe my eyes there it was right in front of me all our details for our holiday.
Hmm..I rang Virgin this morning and gave them that same number they told me there was a problem
our deposit hadn't been paid they wanted another payment. Hang on I said our holiday was booked directly with Disney what was going on?? So they said they still needed payment I said not until I've sorted this whole mess out. Virgin said I should contact my bank. I did and explained that the deposit was to be paid to Disney not Virgin. The bank said they only received the payment request yesterday and it can be pending for up to 7-10 days
So I asked if there was any sign of the refund they said not yet it can also take 7-10 days Just then someone from Disney Open Ride rang me to say there was a problem they didn't know if our transaction had gone through. I explained that the bank had approved it yesterday and it could take up to 7-10 days to go through. I asked why my booking reference came up as a Virgin Holidays reference number they said it should not have done and what was my Disney reference number. About 5 minutes later they rang back say on they had experienced system problems on Monday that they were unsure what happened and didn't know if the payment had gone through. I told them it's not our fault they need to chase it up from their end. I refuse to pay anyone another penny until this is sorted out. I did 1471 and 3 and the number they rang me on , guess what folks, it was for Virgin holidays!!
Our problem now is we have to wait to see if the money gets paid to Disney and it resolves or not since we still will not get a Disney booking reference until they get paid. I'm beginning to realise things would have been easier to have booked online with VH in the first place
. Apologies, it didn't sound like that in my head when I typed it. What I was trying to say was that I don't think you've really got anything to worry about other than making sure the deposit payment is processed by the bank. Just deal with "Disney" via the normal channels and don't complicate the issue by phoning Virgin Holidays (albeit that you may ultimately be dealing with the same people).
Yes folks it went to the wrong people but they have said it's an internal fault from the computer system having gremlins on Monday and it has been dealt with internally. Our website to check for payments etc. is Disney NOT Virgin and that is being sorted out too. I was told they will ring back later just to confirm all our details are correct and that we are satisfied with the booking still.
and any other offers they may temp us with will be discussed between me and DH
