Recent Guest Services Interaction

[Lesverts]

I went to Disney for 11 days right after Thanksgiving. While being a wonder trip (despite being sick), there was a few issues:

Had a water leak in our room on the 2nd night. I went to the front desk and spoke to the duty manager. I was actually more concerned about the potential damage to the room/resort than any inconvenience to me. I was told that there is an issue with the buildings that means when the bathroom floods from the shower that there is a chance that there is a leak. The duty manager said that was the reason the renovations are behind schedule. In the morning the leak stopped, they spoke to room above me and everything was settled enough that I just stayed in the room.

Now onto what I wrote the e-mail to guest services about.

The housekeeping was awful. When we got the room there was what looked to be a smashed cookie in the carpet that stayed there for the entire 11 days (after the first bit we started to refuse housekeeping). The towels were changed, but twice the old dirty towels were left in the room. Three times the garbage wasn't changed. And to top it off, it looked like our suitcases had been rummaged in (we are neat packers so it was noticeable).

The second issue was the complete lack of enforcement of resort rules around noise during the last weekend when Pop Warner was going it. When I went to speak to someone at the front desk about it I was told pretty much, what do you expect you can move to another resort on your own dime.

I get a response back thanking me for the feedback and offering me three free nights. I was completely floored by this I wrote the e-mail out of wanting to say I had a great time but you should look at improving this. Not, I am unhappy give me free stuff.

Now the final part of my story. I told a friend that is a DVC member. She reacted by saying she wished Disney would not give so much away and that it just encourages scammers. Now I kinda feel guilty about writing the e-mail.

Thoughts?

 

[hllb]

Nothing to feel guilty about. I would have complained about the housekeeping for sure.

 

[Timothy02359]

I would have complained also.

 

[mcall12]

After our trip last April, I contacted guest services aboubtwo separate issues. One was at our hotel, AKL, and one for something I bought during flower and garden at Epcot.

I’m not going to go into details but for the hotel issue they offered me something and for the Epcot issue they offered something much bigger than what I thought was necessary. As I was speaking to the person resolving the Epcot issue (the issue itself was fairly minor but it was escalated to the executive level because of how it was handled), I told him I was uncomfortable with the offer he made as it was proportionately much larger than needed based on my initial issue and I fully and freely shared with him my additional compensation from the hotel issue to be up front and he insisted that this is what they wanted to do for us, but offered me a cash equivalent instead and gave me as much time as I wanted to think about it.

Sometimes things go wrong. On that trip we had a couple things go very wrong. I complained because in my position in my own line of work, I would want to know if this was happening in departments that report to me. I wasn’t seeking compensation in any form and attempted to decline it. Beyond that, I feel no guilt. I did what I thought was right as in both cases Disney failed to deliver the services they offer. Don’t feel guilty about complaining and your DVC friend and that reaction. Disney doesn’t always give away the farm and they track what they do give in these situations. Weeding out scammers is their problem and whatever they give or don’t isnt the business of other people. They have a wide range of options for guest recovery and I’m guessing even the free nights and comped ticket days have a relatively small impact to their bottom line.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm starting to really believe that it's easier, and cheaper, for Disney to 'compensate' unhappy guests rather than actually address an issue. They don't want to look into a possible dishonest housekeeper, it's a pain in the behind. They don't want to send maintainence up to a room multiple times, so they beg forgiveness and give us stuff. It goes on and on. I don't want a credit on my account, I want my door to open! Yes, I had that issue. Took 90 mins to remedy the situation Multiple trips back and forth. Another guest with the same issue, was given a nice room credit for his trouble. I wasn't a squeaky wheel, so got a thank-you and that was it. Did I want something? No. What I wanted was for someone to take me seriously the first time I went back to the lobby! It shouldn't have taken 4 trips, back and forth, before someone believed that it wasn't my MB causing the issue...it was a weak battery. But they didn't listen to me when I mentioned that. Nope.
I've had addtl FPs put on my account to compensate for issues. Of course they added them the day before I had to leave, so couldn't use them. And they didn't carry over to the next trip.
I understand that stuff happens. But, it's all about how you fix that stuff that matters. I had one situation, in early Nov, that was miserable, and they just couldn't figure it out. I had to book two rooms, one for me, one for my dd. But the system wouldn't let me book in her name, so I was listed on both. Fine. We got there, checked in. I explained the situation to the front desk. That poor CM just couldn't wrap her mind around the issue. She kept saying "Yes, I see you're on both reservations..that's strange.'. Ah, yeah, I know. So, she changed the cc on file for dd's room, and 'said' she took me off the reservation. Nope. When I got to my room, my MB wouldn't unlock the door. But it unlocked dd's door...right next door. Her MB didn't unlock my door! So, back I went. They tried to fix it. Back I went. Nope. The third time was a charm. BUT...I couldn't use that MB to get into a park! I have an AP, attached to all my MBs, but no. I now had to carry two MBs..one for the door, one for park entrance. It was nuts! And no one really seemed to care very much.

 

[jo-jo]

Just talking about housekeeping. We were at BLT for 8 nights. We had requested only doing trash and towel for the two cleaning days. The first day was fine except for not getting any paper plates/bowls and utensils. We didn't say anything, we had a couple left. Next cleaning day, housekeeping we got clean towels and trash removed. Nothing else, no soap, no shampoo, no coffee , etc. I called. About an hour later, housekeeping shows up with a bag of soap, coffee, tissues, etc but no paper plates/bowls or utensils. How can they come to the room three times and never have those items???

The previous poster mentioned MB, we did two trips back and forth, I was heading out to the front desk again but DH saw a manger going by. We had two MB for each of us. Manager did a phone thing and got one set working, he blamed us having too many active MB. I just checked my account. I have 3 active bands and 2 active cards. I'm sure people have active MB to match outfits for everyday of the week.


I spoke to front desk on our last day about housekeeping and wrote to MS. Both times I got a "thanks for letting us know". I wasn't looking for money or anything, but it still bothers me a tad. Those are things I pay dues for. I just wanted the paper plates. With the tips I left, I could have bought my own plates.

 

[Disneytam]

The IT department at Disney is the one that gets me the most upset and seems to be the thing that Disney is the least worried about. This fall I had two trips booked on MDE. One for my husband and I in November (we both have AP's) and a December trip for my son and his girlfriend. For some reason my trip in November never showed up on MDE page. I called and was put through to the IT dept. who said that yes they could see it but for some reason it wouldn't come up on my computer unless I went to the show tickets section. She tried a bunch of different things and finally said she couldn't fix it. OK so I just wrote everything down like back in the good old days,lol. ADR's and our FP's and just hoped for the best. That worked out fine but then when my son went on his trip in December he wanted to link his MB to his credit card and his girlfriends card to her MB. They sat down at the CL desk and he said it took about twenty minutes but they had it set up with each one of their card's and a separate pin number for each. On check out morning he stopped at the desk and asked to have a print out of all the charges. They hadn't had any problems charging anything back to the room through the bands for the whole stay, each one of them using their own pin number. When he looked at his bank statement nothing showed charged but the balance for the room was $0. The CM looked into it and everything for both of them had been charged to MY bank card from our trip a month before! Basically got a "well that shouldn't have happened" but nothing else. My son called me and I checked and yes all the charges were on my account and since the account was paid in full Disney didn't want to change anything. They said that would be really time consuming and asked if my son could just pay me back. Which he did but why spend all that time changing the pin numbers and everything for nothing.

Sorry that took so long to say but they really need to fix these problems or at least care that they are happening.

 

[buzznina]

I'm starting to really believe that it's easier, and cheaper, for Disney to 'compensate' unhappy guests rather than actually address an issue. They don't want to look into a possible dishonest housekeeper, it's a pain in the behind. They don't want to send maintainence up to a room multiple times, so they beg forgiveness and give us stuff. It goes on and on. I don't want a credit on my account, I want my door to open! Yes, I had that issue. Took 90 mins to remedy the situation Multiple trips back and forth. Another guest with the same issue, was given a nice room credit for his trouble. I wasn't a squeaky wheel, so got a thank-you and that was it. Did I want something? No. What I wanted was for someone to take me seriously the first time I went back to the lobby! It shouldn't have taken 4 trips, back and forth, before someone believed that it wasn't my MB causing the issue...it was a weak battery. But they didn't listen to me when I mentioned that. Nope.
I've had addtl FPs put on my account to compensate for issues. Of course they added them the day before I had to leave, so couldn't use them. And they didn't carry over to the next trip.
I understand that stuff happens. But, it's all about how you fix that stuff that matters. I had one situation, in early Nov, that was miserable, and they just couldn't figure it out. I had to book two rooms, one for me, one for my dd. But the system wouldn't let me book in her name, so I was listed on both. Fine. We got there, checked in. I explained the situation to the front desk. That poor CM just couldn't wrap her mind around the issue. She kept saying "Yes, I see you're on both reservations..that's strange.'. Ah, yeah, I know. So, she changed the cc on file for dd's room, and 'said' she took me off the reservation. Nope. When I got to my room, my MB wouldn't unlock the door. But it unlocked dd's door...right next door. Her MB didn't unlock my door! So, back I went. They tried to fix it. Back I went. Nope. The third time was a charm. BUT...I couldn't use that MB to get into a park! I have an AP, attached to all my MBs, but no. I now had to carry two MBs..one for the door, one for park entrance. It was nuts! And no one really seemed to care very much.

I totally agree with this.

 

[bluejasmine]

On of our stays at the Poly they had to move us to another room bc the room upon arrival door wouldn't even close all the way, we were already in Hawaii Concierge but they upgraded us to TPV which we didnt expect but was very grateful, so they moved us up to the third floor and as we began to unpack we realize my DS brand new Raybans were left in the other room so we go down to Concierge desk and the lady tells us that we will have to wait until she isn't the only one there she cant leave the area, so an hour and a half later we go back and she goes herself to the room, comes back telling us that there isn't any sunglasses, of course we were upset these are $180 sunglasses that DS bought with his own money. Cant get anywhere with concierge which is odd bc they have always been able to help us if even just point in right direction. Ended up going to see the manager in GCH who basically says I upgraded you to TPV what more do you want? So he sends a security guard and the guards boss to take a report so we can file insurance claim, an older gentleman comes in, in a security uniform and a lady, they ask us to go over the story and before we can even start the guard says, weren't you here last yr and claimed stolen glasses? Stunned we said yes we were there but reported nothing missing, husband continued with the story and two other times the guard interrupted with basically the same question but worded differently each time. Mean while the supervisor standing there writing everything says nothing to him, I ended up bursting out crying bc I was just in shock and hurt to be treated like a thief or liar.

My DS was able to file the claim and get his money back a few weeks after we get home, I email guest services who calls me a week later and we go over my story, she said she would call back and let me know what was going to happen, I never got another call.

In 2012 we stayed BC CL check into the room at 8 am and notice that the room is very dusty and the balcony is covered in spider webs and trash. We left concierge know on our way out to Epcot. Come back after 11pm nothing had been done, DH calls for a manager who tells him that she wont move us until the morning, husband tells her that's unacceptable bc not only am I highly allergic to dust (I really am) how do we know sheets had even been changed its obvious room hadn't been cleaned in awhile. 10 min later by now its after midnight a housekeeper comes in and changes the bedding.. We ended up checking out the next morning and was given a refund of the days we didn't stay, again I emailed guest services and got no return email or call.

I use to work for Disney so I know they do keep guest "files" and I didn't want one on my family so I just gave up bc I adore Disney it didn't put a damper on my Disney love at all but for DH he was done.... I finally am getting to come back..lol

 

[Melissa Perez]

I'm starting to really believe that it's easier, and cheaper, for Disney to 'compensate' unhappy guests rather than actually address an issue.

THIS!
Back in November 2016 we arrived to OKW, checked in, get to our room and find our door ajar. OK, I love law&order so I made my fiance go in first - no biggie right? Wrong. In the height of the Zika virus there were mosquitos everywhere in the room - dead ones in the sinks, big ones flying through the kitchen, I still have the photos. Called Guest Services and no sympathy - I didn't want anything free, I just wanted a room that was mosquito-free. It actually took me to threaten going to the Boston Globe (we're from Boston) saying we had an incident where Disney did not accommodate a couple who yanno, could have a child in 9 months. Once I did that, everything changed. We were escorted to a GV at SSR for the night then given a new room at OKW. We got anytime FP+, cupcakes (there for a birthday), etc. But honestly, I just wanted a manager to actually care about my situation and not just go through the motions until I escalate to a certain point.


About your friend's comment - I don't think you should feel guilty about writing the email. Disney is a customer service company and at the end of the day it is very important for them to hear from their customers. Scammers will be scammers no matter where they go. I posted this on another thread about I write those positive emails about experiences that sweep me off my feet as much as the ones that leave me disappointed. And not just Disney. And I hope that it makes all the companies I deal with a little better (or I just have a hundred "files" on me in which case w/e)

 

[kirstenb1]

NOt only did you have every right to bring up your concerns, I believe it's somewhat of a duty. If no one is made aware of issues, they'll never get fixed. And I'm also a DVC'r, like your friend. DH and I have been visiting WDW for nearly 30 yrs. Occasionally, we have an issue, and I walk down to the front desk so I can bring it to a supervisor's attention.

 

[fla4fun]

I now had to carry two MBs..one for the door, one for park entrance. It was nuts! And no one really seemed to care very much.

I had todo that on one trip, and it’s a real pain. My MB would turn everything green at the front desk, but would not open the door. I had a spare old band that they programmed to open the door, but then it didn’t work at the gate. So I had one on each wrist for the whole trip. I quit going back to the desk after the third time though.

 

[MrKnight]

I'm starting to really believe that it's easier, and cheaper, for Disney to 'compensate' unhappy guests rather than actually address an issue.

This pretty much nails it. As a former WDW Resort Front Desk CM I can attest that this is indeed the case. The job of Front Desk CMs and Front Desk Managers is to provide guest service to guests, ensure that they are happy with their stay, and addressing concerns on the spot, with the volumes of guests that WDW deals with there is really no time to "research" issues, it is a very fast paced environment and the focus is making guests happy and turning guests around as fast as possible to avoid long waits at the Front Desk, nothing beyond that. This is the reality and it's the reason why Disney gives away so many free things when guests complain.

Sometimes WDW guests fail to remember how large WDW is and how complex of an operation it takes to run the largest vacation resort in the world, I myself have been guilty of sometimes forgetting this especially when upset about something gone wrong or when faced with something not up to Disney standard.