Saturday Disney dining reservation CM's not so nice?

[dreambound]

Is it just me or are they GRUUMMMMPY today? I have had 4 different CM's now (lots of calls today!) and they have all been really brusque. At 6 am one actually sounded mad at me for asking about Le Cellier. She said in a really snotty voice when I gave her a date to check, "That's our most popular restaurant so at this point you are just looking for any cancellations." I said, "I know." At the end of our call she told me not to call every day and to just wait until a few days beforehand. She sounded really annoyed with me.

The last one I just spoke to hung up before I finished saying "thanks, goodbye." They always tell me to have a magical trip or something. No, I think they tell me "Thank you for calling Walt Disney World." This one just hung up on me.

I think Maleficent spilled someone's Cheerios this morning. I don't expect them to treat me like a princess, but this grumpiness, sheesh!

 

[butterfly8]

I hear ya, I got the same treatment! In fact, I was so shocked by their tone and attitude that I got off the phone and told my husband that apparantly WDW had contracted prison inmates to answer their phones!

(By the way, just an interesting side note: I saw on a TV Special last year that some states actually DO contract prison inmates to answer their Tourism telephone lines!!!!!! So there you are, innocently planning your next family vacation.... you call up the phone # you saw on one of those "Come experience _____ State" TV commercials and unbeknownst to you it's answered by the "nice folks" serving LIFE SENTENCES in PRISON!!!!!!! YIKES!!!! Who woulda thought? You think they let them take your credit card information too?)

But anyway, back to the topic at hand, I would have been very put off if this was my first time to speak to a WDW representative.

I honestly think the first two CM's that I got on the phone were just "pretending" to look up my ADR's and then lying to me, telling me "No, sorry. There's nothing available." Because when I asked them to check alternate dates, there was no pause in the conversation while they checked the computer (or the telltale clicking of computer keys that I usually hear when they type in the new information), just an abrupt answer of "No. There's nothing available on that date either." So after a couple of tries, I just told them "OK, thanks for looking." Then I hung up and called right back. Finally on the 3rd call, I got a "nice voice". The kind of wonderful CM that I am USED to getting! Somehow she "magically" found all (but one) of my choices available and got me booked on the nights and times that I wanted!

 

[MedCruise07]

I got this too! Not just rude but clueless or not paying attention or something. I am looking for one last reservation and I had to repeat the whole thing (date, restaurant, time) THREE TIMES. After the third time I just hung up. But I'm not sure I will be calling back before Monday.

 

[Disney-Kim]

I called today too
I had a friendly cheery person and I was able to get all my PS's for all my choices expect Le Cellier.
come on...its 6 months until our trip and there was not 1 dinner ressie for any time prior to 8:50 pm on any day of our trip for a party of 6. The place is not even that great...I can't figure out the popularity. selling out at the 6 mo mark
I was able to get all the others no problem.

boy..I remember when only DIS geeks like me make PS's for their trips

 

[LostRosetta]

I just got off the phone with Disney Dining and I guess it was luck, but I had a very nice CM. I also had to call and ask for Le Cellier, I'm going in December, and of course, they were all sold out. The CM did encourage me though to keep calling back every day as something might come up.

 

[tifandjim]

I just hung up with a very nice CM and was able to get ressies at Le Cellier for 2 on really short notice, Nov 12!!

 

[dreambound]

Okay, so I called back again. This time I had a much nicer CM who also magically found Rose and Crown and Coral Reef times for me that were not available before. In fact, the second CM of the day told me there was NO R&C availability on a particular day, and this last one told me I had every ten minutes from noon to 1 to choose from. ????

 

[GailT]

well if you can afford it and don't mind flying for a while DL booking rooms and rest. is justa great experience. I just booking BWI and there rules and prices just get me.I wanted to go for 6 nights, wanted to go 3 at the poly and 3 at BWI but Noooooooooooooooooooooo, that could not be done because you had to buy tickets, what the freak is that.I am almost inclined to fly the 5 hrs just to go back to Dl and a great experience from the first time I called andmade my resurvations till I walked in the door and left to go get on the plaine to come home.......the DW CM can just be downright miserable.

 

[DJEd]

I honestly think the first two CM's that I got on the phone were just "pretending" to look up my ADR's and then lying to me, telling me "No, sorry. There's nothing available." Because when I asked them to check alternate dates, there was no pause in the conversation while they checked the computer (or the telltale clicking of computer keys that I usually hear when they type in the new information), just an abrupt answer of "No. There's nothing available on that date either." So after a couple of tries, I just told them "OK, thanks for looking." Then I hung up and called right back. Finally on the 3rd call, I got a "nice voice". The kind of wonderful CM that I am USED to getting! Somehow she "magically" found all (but one) of my choices available and got me booked on the nights and times that I wanted!

FWIW - I work in a Business (Call) Center for a major insurance company on the IT side of things.

Most companies (and I am sure Disney is no exception) records their CMs (agents, operators, whatever you want to call them). Some may record all calls, others on a random basis. In addition, some also do screen recording at the same time.

I highly recommend that if you encounter a CM that gives you less than excellent customer service, that you get their name and the time of the call.

A simple e-mail to guest relations or the sales and marketing department (sometimes this works even better) with a brief description of the call, the CM's name, and the time/date of the call can go a long way.

If they do full time recording, and you contact them in a timely fashion, they may be able to pull that phone call. If they do on demand or random recording, they may decide to record that CM full time for a few days/week to see how they are doing. Plus, if they also screen record, they will be able to match what they say to what they are actually doing.

Business (Call) Center management is typically very interested in this type of feedback. They also like to hear the good things as well, so the same would also apply to a CM who gave you excellent service.

Ed

 

[raven69david]

Some of the CM's i've gotten usually sound monotone since i call them at night close to closing time. They're tired and you can hear it in their voice. A few have gotten nasty, but there was no way i was going to stand for that. Once they took the open shot at me, i came back with a full combat strike package. I knew i wasn't gonna get anywhere so i might as well go out with a bang and not give them the satisfaction of taking it. For some reason, some CM's think they can get away with being rude and not getting yelled back at by a customer. They get away with it too much and i do not let that change escape me. If you're ugly to me, i usually just laugh it off and go my way. There are some times, however, that i just get fed up and unload.

I know it's not a nice thing to do, but to be talked down to in a way from a place like WDW is something that really gets my goat.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

Ok... this is my fear about getting a tone back at them when they are being rude. I'm sooo worried that they will note something on my ressie. What I mean by that is, if we are making any requests that they may take them off etc.....
I know that they can not do this... but that is my fear. So i just stay as sweet as pie, even though it is killing me.

 

[hapi2bme]

I've been calling alot this week and for the most part the CM's are pleasant but I've been disconnected numerous times.

 

[dreambound]

I've been calling alot this week and for the most part the CM's are pleasant but I've been disconnected numerous times.

Oh, I've had GREAT CM's all week long. Really nice chats, etc. Just very friendly. That's why today seemed so odd! I almost thought that the Saturday crew was maybe contracted out or something!

 

[Surfingstitch]

I have spoken to a couple of nice CM's today. Maybe it was just a choice few that wanted to go home.

 

[dreambound]

I have spoken to a couple of nice CM's today. Maybe it was just a choice few that wanted to go home.

Hee, the worst one was at 7am. Maybe she didn't want to be at work today!

 

[Surfingstitch]

Work on a saturday?

Don't really blame her if it was a nice day outside.

Maybe outside call centers is the answer?

 

[Luvamouse]

I have to mention that I feel pretty lucky when I read these threads-- I had nothing but kind, cheery CMs on the 4 or 5 times I have called to change/delete/add ADRs. One occasion had me sent through 3 different CMs as I was trying to change a Grand Gathering ADR without the GG phone number. Then I had to get Group Dining since it was 15 of us. Each person was funny and helpful, actually waiting to transfer me to the other CM in person.

Each time I am a little leary of whether I'll get someone less than enthusiastic, but no such luck. It's unfortunate that they aren't all pleasant on the phone though, isn't it. Kinda takes a bit of the oomph out of your planning. We all know people are entitled to have a bad day, but somedays you just can't win.

 

[burberryplaid]

I got "a tone" when I called for ADR's on Thursday and Friday for our trip in April/May so something must be going on over there.

 

[skywaywaver]

I got "a tone" when I called for ADR's on Thursday and Friday for our trip in April/May so something must be going on over there.

Maybe they all got yelled at for something recently?

 

[Robin1919]

Out of the 5 times that I have called, I have had 2 that were less than cheery. The other 3 were over the top nice so, it does kinda let you down when you get one that is grumpy.
2 out of the 5 were trying to help me make plans, offering advice and telling me which restaurants to go to.
It's also funny how some people have a hard time getting reservations and some don't. My trip is scheduled for March during spring break and I was able to get 2 different dinner reservations for Le Cellier and CRT just last week. And, there were a lot of open times available for both of them.
Robin