Something is always missing from our room

[Deb & Bill]

We had a VERY strange experience at VWL several years ago. We went down for a swim one evening and while sitting on the edge of the pool I noticed an usually strong chlorine scent. I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY strong.

DH and our DDs were splashing and swimming and having a good time. I had gotten in a few times for quick dips, but decided I wanted to take a bath so I headed back to our room.

When I got back to the room I noticed all of my silver jewelry was badly tarnished. My swimwear was also very bleached out. When the rest of the family came back their swimwear was even worse than mine was - and it was all brand new.

We called down and spoke with the manager who then sent the housekeeping manager to our room to inspect the swim wear as well as my silver jewelery. Imagine my shock when she tried to place blame on me for buying what she considered "cheap swim wear" and while it was not expensive it certainly was not cheap like she was stating. She even tried to argue with me about my jewelry not being real silver but fake or overlay. IT WAS NOT!

After telling her that now not only is our swim wear ruined, my jewelry tarnish but we are now very insulted by her accusations and I will be reporting her to the hotel manager as well as DVC member satisfaction she changed her tune and gave us a hotel credit.

It is the one and only time we have ever been treated like that and to say I was shocked is an understatement.

BTW - we got cleaned up, dressed and headed out later that evening for evening EMH at the MK and the villas pool was closed. The main lodge pool was open - but not the villas pool. The strong chlorine smell was still there and almost overwhelming. That alone proved my point that there was an issue with the chlorine level in the pool and it was not our "cheap" clothing and jewelry.

Every stay after that at VWL has been wonderful.

If I was ever told I would be charged like the OP was - you can bet your points I would be pretty irked as well. Rudeness does happen - even if you are nice when bringing a situation to someones attention.

I thought they used ozone instead of chlorine in the pools. But it would be annoying to have your jewelry and swimwear ruined by the pool.

OP, were you in a lockoff? Sometimes the guests in the studio will take stuff from the one bedroom portion and forget to return it to the main kitchen. When the housekeepers come, they just remove it because it doesn't belong in the studio portion.

 

[DVC Jen]

I thought they used ozone instead of chlorine in the pools. But it would be annoying to have your jewelry and swimwear ruined by the pool.

They may now - this was like I said - quite a while ago. Our DDs were still pretty young and they are 18 and 23 now. It was most definitely chlorine that we were smelling. Even our DDs eyes were bloodshot red from swimming underwater. We didn't get into the hot tubs so we know it wasn't bromine.

I was more worried about the health aspect when I called them than I was the swimwear and jewelry. Then when the housekeeping manager got so snippy with me - that is when I got first shocked and then angry. If she would have been kind and understanding we wouldn't have felt slighted at all by not getting "compensation". It was just her total attitude that really set me back.

BTW - now that we have our own pool (salt water) and hot tub (bromine) DH has made the same mistake with the hot tub and put waaayyyy too much bromine in it - and bleached out swim wear we bought at Kohls. Not the most expensive, but not exactly K-mart cheap either. Dang DH! Maybe I should have looked for "compensation" from him as well? LOL

 

[get_us_to_WDW]

Sorry for your bad experience. We cook infrequently so unless all the cutlery, glassware or coffee cups were missing we would probably never notice. But I understand your frustration...there is no excuse for being treated rudely.

 

[MinnieGi]

I think what angers me most was that i was ok with some of the missing items until I really needed one, so i called housekeeping and politely said i was missing it. She immediately asked me if I had looked under the stove and I replied yes and then I said that i needed it to finish my meal so could i come by and get it from someone, and then she just started to speak very rudely. I didn't expect her to drop everything and bring it to me since I knew that they were very busy so I thought i would go get it. I also mentioned that I thought other things were missing as well and asked if i should make a list and leave it for them to get to when they got a chance, or how does it work. she told me i would be charged for the missing items if i couldn't prove I didn't take them. I was shocked and spoke with the front desk and she confirmed that people would be charged, but housekeeping would send a manager by to take an inventory and the items would be replaced. Should anything be missing at the end of my stay, then i would be charged. I had to do my inventory myself and show her because she didn't believe me about everything. I don't know what to say, but we became DVC members so we could get to Florida now that we are currently in Europe, and cooking for us is a necessity, especially with the declining quality, increasing prices, and food allergies. I am beginning to be a little disappointed with disney because in the 25 years I have been coming, I have never experienced treatment like I have the past few years as a DVC member. I am currently drafting an email to let them know, but I really do not think I will be doing the large add-on we had thought we would. Thanks to those of you with suggestions.

WOW! I would be steaming angry too if that happened.

I guess we have been lucky over the years and have not had the rudeness. Our most recent trip to BWV, housekeeping was excellent in bringing things that were needed in our room including missing cookware.

 

[vandy]

We had an experience at AKL on one of our 9-night stays. There was only two days worth of dishwasher soap and since we eat pretty much all of our meals in our room, I called down on the third day to ask for more detergent to get us through to our cleaning day. I was told that they would bring it up but our room would be charged for taking extra. Needless to say I stopped at the front desk on our way to the parks and asked why I would be charged. They told me that I shouldn't be and at checkout make sure it wasn't on my bill. It never was. On our cleaning day they didn't leave any for us and I had to call down once again. This time it was not an issue and they sent some up, in fact there was even extra.

I think in my case and probably the OP's case we ran into employees that were not having a 'magical' day. Working at Disney is probably like working anywhere else and I am sure that at times the work-place stress can get to even the best of them. The other possibility is that someone is working in a position that they have no business being in and needs removed.

 

[jodifla]

I think what angers me most was that i was ok with some of the missing items until I really needed one, so i called housekeeping and politely said i was missing it. She immediately asked me if I had looked under the stove and I replied yes and then I said that i needed it to finish my meal so could i come by and get it from someone, and then she just started to speak very rudely. I didn't expect her to drop everything and bring it to me since I knew that they were very busy so I thought i would go get it. I also mentioned that I thought other things were missing as well and asked if i should make a list and leave it for them to get to when they got a chance, or how does it work. she told me i would be charged for the missing items if i couldn't prove I didn't take them. I was shocked and spoke with the front desk and she confirmed that people would be charged, but housekeeping would send a manager by to take an inventory and the items would be replaced. Should anything be missing at the end of my stay, then i would be charged. I had to do my inventory myself and show her because she didn't believe me about everything. I don't know what to say, but we became DVC members so we could get to Florida now that we are currently in Europe, and cooking for us is a necessity, especially with the declining quality, increasing prices, and food allergies. I am beginning to be a little disappointed with disney because in the 25 years I have been coming, I have never experienced treatment like I have the past few years as a DVC member. I am currently drafting an email to let them know, but I really do not think I will be doing the large add-on we had thought we would. Thanks to those of you with suggestions.

I agree that being threatened is NOT cool and I would definitely send that email.

It's ridiculous to suggest that you took it while you were there. That suggests they thought you were stashing it away and calling for more.

It's also de-incentivizing for what members should do, which is call an have things replaced as they find them so the next member isn't inconvenienced.

 

[Sheepdog23]

i am working on my email so i do not sound rude and threatening which is tough. I have to agree that they still use high chlorine levels at the wl because my daughters brand new very expensive suit bleached right away and still stinks of chlorine. I am glad to know that others have also experienced issues and I am not the only one. we were in a dedicated so everything should have been left in the kitchen but i will remember that for future visits. How does one steal the ihome? that is absurd and i definitely would have mentioned that one!

 

[connorlevismom]

i am working on my email so i do not sound rude and threatening which is tough. I have to agree that they still use high chlorine levels at the wl because my daughters brand new very expensive suit bleached right away and still stinks of chlorine. I am glad to know that others have also experienced issues and I am not the only one. we were in a dedicated so everything should have been left in the kitchen but i will remember that for future visits. How does one steal the ihome? that is absurd and i definitely would have mentioned that one!

No idea, but I know I started a thread about it because I was not sure if there was supposed to be one, or not. When I found out it was supposed to be there, I hightailed it down to the from desk and let them know it was missing.