Strange cruise add-on experience

[skierrob]

Was on the Disney Wonder in Alaska a few weeks ago and attended the DVC member presentation.

Next day decided to talk to the on-board guide about costs for adding on 25 additional points to my tiny 30-point DVC membership and to see if there might be any cruise discounts for doing so.

Explained what I wanted to talk about to the guide, and was fairly abruptly (but nicely) told that she could only assist me with adding on 100 or more points to Aulani or Animal Kingdom and that I should call my guide once I got home if I wanted to do anything else.

Is this normal behavior on the ship? Just seemed strange that she didn't even want to discuss taking my money.

Of course, I would have only done so with a good discount (and I doubted there would be).... otherwise I'd add-on via resale anyways but never told her that (obviously, my original 30 points were resale also). It's just been hard to find another small contract with the same use year.

 

[erionm]

Normally there aren't discounts on add-ons of less than 50 points (even on a cruise).

 

[skierrob]

Fine... then the guide on-board should take the time to explain that to me. What concerns me a bit is that the on-board guide wouldn't even "give me the time of day" -- she just told me to call my guide when I got home. Just seems a bit strange that she wouldn't even want to discuss my needs with me? *shrug*

Maybe she just didn't want to 'waste her time' since she might not get any commission?

 

[DVCMomofThree]

We were on the Dream in Feb and I remarked to the guide (while waiting in the line for the cruise rebooking we started chatting) that I was surprised they sold a lot of DVC on the cruises anyways since IMO the value of using it on the cruise isn't great.

He wasn't overly nice to me after that remark

 

[chalee94]

Is this normal behavior on the ship? Just seemed strange that she didn't even want to discuss taking my money.

different guides may be compensated differently.

the CMs manning the DVC kiosks are not trained as guides so they can't even discuss the costs with you from what i've seen.

it's been discussed on the DIS that many guides act as if you cannot buy "sold-out" resorts like BCV or OKW directly...most likely because they are compensated for selling new resorts like aulani and AKV, but would take a lower percentage (if any) for selling BCV.

so it doesn't surprise me that much that while DVC might have gotten a few bucks from you, you may have been wasting that guide's time. (and, frankly, asking about discounts for tiny contracts probably identified you as a newbie who needed a lot of hand-holding.)

 

[skierrob]

Interesting thought that someone thinks I'm wasting their time.
I never thought talking a sale was ever a waste for a salesperson.
But I guess business must be so darn good that they couldn't waste time with me.
Kinda short sided from a company side but again -- I guess they must be selling tons of contracts to not have to worry about anything less than 100 points at certain resorts.

 

[disneynutz]

Interesting thought that someone thinks I'm wasting their time.
I never thought talking a sale was ever a waste for a salesperson.
But I guess business must be so darn good that they couldn't waste time with me.
Kinda short sided from a company side but again -- I guess they must be selling tons of contracts to not have to worry about anything less than 100 points at certain resorts.

Think about it from the Guides stand point. Do you want to spend your time selling 300 points at the resorts that make you the most money or waste your time with a 25 point add on?

The reality is they are in it for the money and most of us don't want to admit it. We want them to be our friend and to make us feel special, we hold all things Disney on a pedestal and we feel crushed when reality starts to sink in.

Bill

 

[CMOORE185]

Could it just simply be that since they are only allowed to sell a minimum of 100 points on the ship there just wasn't much else to talk about?

 

[chalee94]

Interesting thought that someone thinks I'm wasting their time. I never thought talking a sale was ever a waste for a salesperson.

i wouldn't care to spend a couple of hours on someone who "might" make a tiny purchase that would net me a tiny commission. i'd focus more time on people who were interested in larger purchases who would actually allow me to make a livable wage.

she was polite and that was appropriate. but she had a limited window of time to sell, sell, sell on the cruise so directing you to your guide, who has more time to handle your smaller sale was also appropriate.

that's just real life.

 

[XGrumpy1]

Many years ago my brother-in-law was working on the weekends trying to sell land at a vacation resort. He told a story about how an older "hippie" looking couple drove up and all the sales people were like, "it's your turn, no it's your turn". Finally one of the guys went up to the couple.

They were the only ones who bought that weekend!

Sales people should do their best to help their potential customers and any salesman who doesn't is making a mistake!

 

[jennypenny]

We had the same experience on DCL last summer. I wanted to add 100 pts, but at BCV. Once I said the resort, she told me to call my guide as she walked away. It was rude. Maybe she wouldn't get anything from that sale, and that's fine. I get it, but she could have taken 30 seconds to politely explain that to me.

 

[disneynutz]

We had the same experience on DCL last summer. I wanted to add 100 pts, but at BCV. Once I said the resort, she told me to call my guide as she walked away. It was rude. Maybe she wouldn't get anything from that sale, and that's fine. I get it, but she could have taken 30 seconds to politely explain that to me.

Her actions may have been a result of the Disney compensation system and not you. People hit her up for add ons and she either doesn't want to take the time to process you or she isn't allowed to and she finds referring you to your Guide upsetting.

On the other side, just think how your Guide feels, you tried to buy from someone during a cruise and your Guide would be cut out of a full commission plus they aren't allowed to offer the same incentives.

Bill

 

[OKraysLoveDisney]

We were on the Fantasy 2 weeks ago and went to the DVC presentation. We took one of the time slots after the meeting to meet with a DVC rep later that day.

We ended up buying 120 points at Animal Kingdom and 120 points at Boardwalk. The guide was more than happy to even go to another computer in another room and locate the Boardwalk points with our use year! We could not close on Boardwalk on the ship like we did AKL, but we are closing in the next few days via Fed Ex.

We felt like we got a great deal for buying on the ship and we don't use our points to take cruises by the way.

 

[jennypenny]

On the other side, just think how your Guide feels, you tried to buy from someone during a cruise and your Guide would be cut out of a full commission plus they aren't allowed to offer the same incentives. Bill

I like my guide, but I'm not going to give up an incentive just to keep him happy.

I wish offers were standard across the board.

 

[ELMC]

We felt like we got a great deal for buying on the ship and we don't use our points to take cruises by the way.

Congrats! Out of curiosity, what was the deal that you got by buying on the ship that you couldn't get buying at WDW?

 

[disneynutz]

I like my guide, but I'm not going to give up an incentive just to keep him happy.

I wish offers were standard across the board.

I pushed Disney for an explanation several years ago on why they don't have the same incentives at all sales locations. Their answer was weak at best, something to do with the more expensive sales locations getting the best incentives.

Telesales Guides who work from home receive the worst incentives, we changed Guides because of this.

Bill

 

[bumbershoot]

Sales people should do their best to help their potential customers and any salesman who doesn't is making a mistake!

I agree. Honestly, seasoned, aware salespeople should be aware that *anyone* can get them a nice sale. Our jeweler, when he was making my engagement ring, had learned the lesson back when there were brand new Microsoft millionaires in the area but people weren't used to it yet. He almost treated this ripped-jeans and sandals guy poorly, but decided to take a chance, and the guy bought 10s of 1000s worth of jewelry from him, in cash, over a period of time. He learned to stop assuming.

I won't buy from salespeople who do a hard sell, and I won't buy from someone who doesn't think I'm worth their time. I'm so sad my guide isn't with DVC anymore, because I *loved* him. He spent ages with us, and then he waited nearly 2 years for us to call, without ever acting put out. Don't get me wrong; he told us he knew we would be calling, and he kept our info on file, and whipped out the information when I said "well we probably didn't lose much by waiting" and told us exactly how much more we were paying b/c we waited, but that's just attention to detail, not saying we weren't worthwhile or we had wasted his time.

 

[ELMC]

I'll take it one step further and say that we should treat everyone respectfully, regardless of whether or not they can do something for us. That being said, we are only human, and everyone is entitled to a bad day and to make a mistake. That's not to forgive their rudeness, but maybe just to understand it a little.

 

[luv2sleep]

Congrats! Out of curiosity, what was the deal that you got by buying on the ship that you couldn't get buying at WDW?

2 people I know recently became new DVC members on their cruises. One purchased 200 points and the other 260. They each got $500 with of on board credit applied to their on board accounts. Other than that their deal was the same as the current one is now.

 

[GOOFY D]

2 people I know recently became new DVC members on their cruises. One purchased 200 points and the other 260. They each got $500 with of on board credit applied to their on board accounts. Other than that their deal was the same as the current one is now.

Recently purchase AKV on ship. 240 points @$106 per point (after incentives) and $500 shipboard credit. Was told deal ended June 15.