Servers Treating Guests on Dining Plan Badly?

[safaulk]

I read on another post that one family was treated as second class citizens by the wait staff when told they were on the dining plan. Has anybody experienced this? Why would they treat those on the dining plan any different?

 

[newchic99]

We were there the first week of free dining. Had no problems with the waitstaff at all. They were all very helpful in helping us with any questions we had. We ate at LeCellier, Mama Melrose, Prime Time, Whispering Canyon, and LTT.

 

[Hanover]

We were also there the first week of free dining and were treated great. Just like always. In fact, not one asked us how we were paying until we were ready for our bill.

 

[honeymo78]

If you are treated poorly, you should say something to the server or the manager. There is no way for anyone to tell if you are on free dining or if you paid for it. Also you can't tell whether the server was having a bad day in general and had nothing to do with being on a dining plan. Some have thought that dining plans may give servers a reason to provide less attention since the tip is automatically included. My suggestion is that if the service is that bad, ask for a manager and even ask for the tip to be removed in whole or in part (we've had that done before).

 

[WOODY13]

We didn't experience any bad service while on the dining plan. I don't think they can tell if you got the free dining or if you paid for it. That being said there is no reason for them to treat you any differently. The only thing I noticed was some of the servers tried to build the check up a bit. Higher bill higher tip, more power to them.I'm still full from all that food.

 

[maxaroni]

We were also there the first week of free dining. No problems at all. The waitstaff were all personable and eager to please.

 

[Kim In NC]

We were on the free plan and our only issue with the waitstaff was at Alfredo's. The waiter took our order and then totally disappeared (and I mean totally). The assistant came over after someone else had brought our salads out and questioned why we didn't at least have water - we gave her our order and she brought our drinks out. She later came and cleaned off the table (including silverware) and after we sat and sat she refilled our drinks and we asked where our dinner was - she was dumbfounded - she thought we hadn't ordered any. Finally, she checked on it and someone totally different brought it out - the original waiter finally showed up and disappeared again. The assistant came over and took our dessert order and we did it to go. DH went over to a manager to complain and the manager wanted to give us free dessert. We already had free dessert so we didn't take him up on it. He acted very surprised that we would have issues with his waiters. I don't think we have let this die yet - I'm planning on writing a letter this week to management at Disney. I hate that the waiter got the tip and the person that truly helped us didn't. We did give her a tip as we left - because if it hadn't been for her - we would have never gotten dinner or drinks.

 

[anut4disney]

We got back on the 3rd and we never had a problem with being on the dining plan. I told them up front I was on it and it didn't make a difference. The biggest problem was some (2) would forget by the time we were ready to leave and bring a check. They were very apologetic and would go back and do it right. We actually left a little extra for all our servers because they were so good.

 

[PattnFmly]

We were there 8/28 - 9/4 and had no problems at all with service and being on the dining plan. We also a left a little extra tip at all our sit-downs!

 

[Texian@WDW]

Sounds like a new reality t.v. show "Servers Behaving Badly" (ha).

Anut4disney: That picture is absolutely adorable!

 

[scarlett873]

we were just there (Sep 1-5) on the dining plan and had no issues at all! All of the servers were wonderful and eager to answer our questions.

 

[poohfan]

We were there 9/3 - 9/10 and didn't have any problems. I always told the servers or cashier that we were on the dining plan and everyone was very helpful explaining what was included. I didn't fee that I was treated any differently at all.

 

[deltachi8]

We ate at the Crystal Palace, Sci-Fi, San Angel Inn, Tony's and Donald's with our Table Service credits. The service was excellent everywhere except San Angel Inn where the gentleman seemed indifferent - not bad, just blah. The only reason that sticks out is the service there (in my experience) has always been excellent.

 

[keishashadow]

We were among the 1st to use the dining plan in February (no, it wasn't free ).

At the Sci Fi, the servers had no idea what we were talking about when we mentioned we were on the plan...uncomfortable, but, we cleared that up after talking to manager.

We received the absolute worst reception @ the Yaughtsman. We were dressed in our best & on good behavior , but were treated like 2nd class citizens - once we indicated that we were on the dining plan. The server, in an imperious voice, announced that we better not try to have my child order from the Adult menu????? What a pompuss stiff! This was the one time we did not leave an extra tip for the waitstaff.

At Cindy's for dinner we were treated grrreat, recommend highly.

Good Luck.

 

[indigoxtreme]

We just returned and had extremely wonderful service. No problems at all. We always told our servers we were on the plan if they didn't ask and they let us know what all was covered. We alsways increased our tips to 20% from the 15% that they received. We ate at Whispering Canyon, 50's Primetime, LeCellier, Hoopdedoo, Boatwrights, CRT Breakfast, Teppi in Japan. The only placed that we were told something was not covered was at LeCellier. Everywhere else my DS got Apple Juice to drink. At LeCellier we had to pay for it and no refill on it. But that was okay. All the food and service was up and above that is why we increased the tip.

 

[DisneyMom5]

I did say that in one post, but maybe I should clarify. I went in expecting no difference in service, b/c I didn't believe what I had read. But, in our first Dining Plan TS experience, Sci Fi, our waiter seemed to stop being interested in us after we told him we were on the plan. Maybe he's like that to EVERYONE, but it seemed he wasn't too happy about us using the plan. He didn't refill drinks, and wasn't there too often. I was kind of surprised, but nothing was bad enough to want to complain, especially since it was our first day, and we had nothing in WDW to compare it too.
Not the worse service we had, but really seemed to change after we mentioned the plan.
Same thing at Chef Mickey's, though they were busy, so that might explain her inattentiveness, but we never got drink refills here, EXCEPT for my dh's beer, for which we paid out of pocket, and a 18% gratuity was guarenteed due to our party size (8+). But maybe she was just not a good waitress.

On the other hand, at both Le Cellier and Crystal Palace, we were treated very well, and had refills even though the place was extremely busy. If we had eaten at one of these first, the other 2 would have seemed worse.

 

[dyna]

We told the waiter up front we was on the free dining and I can't say the poor service we received at the Rose and Crown was because we was on the free dining I think we just had a bad waiter. Alfredos service was a bit off as well to many ppl taking care of us yet not always gettin taken care of. DH's salad came long before my appetizer etc like that.

Le Cellier, CRT, and Mexico we got excellent service and tipped more for those meals.

 

[Lizzybee]

We had wonderful, friendly servers at all 4 table services we went to on our last trip. 3 of the 4 were on the free dining plan, the 4th Donald's was OOP and probably least attentive. I don't know . I tipped them all the same as I would have if I weren't on the plan (yes I know the tip is included, but it's a free meal and it doesn't hurt me to at least provide the tip). To be honest, while the Donald's server wasn't 'bad', the other servers, who know up front we were on the free plan, went above and beyond to provide good service.

 

[DisneyMom5]

Just wanted to say that is not necessary to say anything about the "free plan", just the dining plan. Servers do not differeniate based on how your dining was paid for. I never mentioned anything to our waiters about "free".
So that had nothing to do with our poor service.
Like I said, we might have had just as bad service if we had paid oop, but I am sure I would have been more upset about it.