Phone wait times and online chat option

[gdrj]

This time of the year has always been very busy for MS due to the number of members who want 11 month reservations for December. While the online system has reduced the load, there are still members calling for reservations, to pay dues and to make modifications to their reservations. (Actually, if you can clearly explain what you want to do and the request is not urgent, email works very well. IMO, the chat feature is 100% worthless. I don't think real person is really even on the line - most of the responses appear to be canned, a way for a real person to handle multiple chats at the same time. I won't bother with it again after the chat person couldn't even add a very simple request to my existing reservation). IMO, a lot of the load these days is due to the problems members are experiencing with MDE, FP+, etc. In other words, I do not think DVC is cutting back on phone support. I think members are temporarily putting a heavy load on it. Having worked in customer call centers for several years, I know they are NOT going to staff for the peak or a temporary overload. It's not cost effective. All that said, I, also wish they would add some features to the online system. I don't think it will happen until the MM+ system is running more smoothly.

Agreed. Probably a number of factors including the above as well as lots of people have more time off meaning more time to plan and call about reservations. I called twice in the last few days to make requests on existing reservations. Wait was extensive. If I was not on vacation time/snow/ice/stuck in the house I probably would not have called. I would think like all businesses they may also have employees who are taking time off which could impact any opportunity to staffing up if they wanted to.

Prior to my Dec visit I called MS and wait time was minimal.

 

[nkosiek]

dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

Bill

Bill, thank you. They picked up after 43+ minutes at exactly 5:29. We did what I needed to do, but there can be no good reason for a 40+ minute wait on the first Sunday in January. Earlier in the day I was on hold for over 30 before I hung up because I was going into a movie.

 

[Snurk71]

I don't think it's necessarily fair or accurate to say offering online chat means the company doesn't care or have outsourced. My company added online chat because some of our customers prefer that method of communication over calling. I'll frequently choose a company's online chat over calling when I have a simple question.

And regarding the canned responses, that's also not a sign off outsourcing - but of using a knowledge base. Those are becoming pretty common in customer service functions.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-Note2 using DISBoards

 

[disneynutz]

I don't think it's necessarily fair or accurate to say offering online chat means the company doesn't care or have outsourced. My company added online chat because some of our customers prefer that method of communication over calling. I'll frequently choose a company's online chat over calling when I have a simple question.

And regarding the canned responses, that's also not a sign off outsourcing - but of using a knowledge base. Those are becoming pretty common in customer service functions.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-Note2 using DISBoards

Most companies IMO use online chat to outsource. Canned responses may be common but IMO shows that the company isn't customer focused. My guess is that 90% of my chat sessions end up with me being frustrated because the canned response doesn't answer the question and/or it's clear that the company chat person doesn't understand the question. This seems to be more common with non English speakers.

Does it make sense that DVC is chatting with members, telling them to call MS when there is a 45 minute wait to talk to MS? If the chat function was in Celebration, you would think that they would close chat down and use those people to answer phones until the phone queue is reduced to normal levels.

DVC has a new boss and this is just one of the changes that he has made.

Bill

 

[DVC Dude]

Well today (January 6) is no longer a winter holiday break and the wait times right now (2pm EST) is over 15 minutes.

 

[DVC Dude]

When I finally got a human CM on the phone, I asked why the waits are so long and she said Jan and Feb are the busiest months because everyone is booking for the year and have question on dues and banking, etc.

 

[DVC4FUN]

I have been using the online reservation system much more than in the past as it is faster and easier now than waiting on the phone for 15 minutes or more.

In the past the wait was always less than 5 minutes so I did not mind calling and now it seems like 15 minutes is the standard.

This is terrible as there are occasions when calling is necessary and I have no explanation other than it appears that DVC is cutting back on the phone support.

Not to mention the occasional wait.....silence.....click and realize you have been disconnected.

Boo-hiss!!!

OMG I have had that silence and hung up on a few times now the past week! VERY frustrating when you have waited on hold forever.

Yesterday right at 9am I had to call 4 times. First time it just kept ringing and nothing picked up. Second & third time the voice recording was so broken up and silent half the time and wasn't responding to me touching the numbers (1 to get thru). 4th time I finally got through but by then it was a few minutes past 9am and I know I waited at least 16 minutes by then to get through.

I can also tell they do not have many people working the phone because I have had to call A LOT during the past couple months and I recognize the same several cms.

Hummmm..... where does our dues go?.... Oh yea that's right flash drives and magic bands.

 

[wdrl]

I guess I've been very lucky with my recent calls to Member Services. This past Friday, I called MS at 8:00 AM CST and waited two minutes before speaking to a Cast Member. Today, I called again at 8:01 CST and was told my wait time would be 13 minutes. However, my call was picked up in just 4 minutes.

I had to call MS both times because I was adding nights to a reservation that I originally made via the Online Reservation System. If DVC would allow members to add days to existing reservations via the online system, it would not have been necessary for me to call MS. But I'm not really complaining; I'm glad we have what we have with the current online reservation system.