- Joined
- Jul 22, 2006
- Messages
- 5,539
I gave the ol' cast member roulette wheel a spin, today, and got a very friendly, very helpful cast member who "got it."
Last Saturday was the day I calculated I could call to replace a room I'd booked on cash with a points reservation. (I'd not had enough home resort points to book all 8 nights originally, and had booked two cash nights to ensure we'd be able to stay on our planned dates. If points nights hadn't been available for those nights at the 7-month point, I would have just kept the cash reservations and hoped the front desk would work with us to stay in the same villa.) After waiting in the Member Services phone queue for more than 30 minutes (I guess they were on reduced staffing to allow people time off for the holidays), I explained to the cast member what I wanted to do.
I had one night reserved for 7/27 7/28 on points. (Previously a cash night that I'd replaced with a points reservation last week at the 7-month mark. They'd given me a second reservation number for that night, which I didn't question at the time.)
I had a points reservation for 7/28 - 8/3.
I had a third reservation for a cash night for 8/3 - 8/4.
All three reservations were for a dedicated two-bedroom theme park view at BLT.
I wanted to add the night of 8/3 to the points reservation and cancel the cash night. I also told her I eventually wanted to add the dining plan to this trip, and asked if there was a way to get the entire eight nights on a single reservation number.
I was put on hold for about five minutes, then this is what was explained to me. "You're not entitled to add a night to the 7/28 - 8/3 reservation because it was made during the home resort booking priority period, and the only points you have left to use are from other resorts. You'll need to call back on January 3rd to book the night of 8/3. It may or may not be possible at that time to link your reservations to create a single dining plan because of the way you booked things."
Technically, everything she told me was true. Since there was still inventory available for all 8 nights, though, I thought there was a way around this. I started questioning the cast member if there was a way to cancel/rebook, and she got short with me (remaining polite, but making it clear through her tone of voice that she was done with me). I'd reached the point where I decided I didn't want this cast member changing my reservations anyway, and ended the call. I was visiting my parents' house for our belated Christmas celebration, and my sister and her family arrived just as I was having this conversation. Things at the house got hectic, and I couldn't afford to wait on hold for another 30 minutes to try again with another cast member. I let it drop, resigned to have to call back on Thursday.
Today, I went online and saw that all eight nights of our stay are still available for booking. I decided to give Member Services another try. (I may have been tempted just to cancel/re-book online, but the reservation dates cross our August use year anniversary date -- something the online booking system can't accommodate.)
This time, the cast member understood exactly what I wanted to do and was able to accomplish it without any issues. Looking at the points transactions online, it appears she cancelled the home resort priority reservation for 7/28 - 8/3 and then added the additional seven nights to the non-priority booking reservation that started on 7/27. Problem solved as there was no longer a home-resort-priority reservation involved! Only after she'd ensured she had everything booked on points did she come back online and tell me she was cancelling the cash reservation and processing the refund for the deposit.
I'm all set with all eight nights booked under a single reservation number. Count me as one happy camper!
I'm still a day early for the 7-month point for the 8/3 reservation, so there was nothing technically different during the second call than there was for the first. The only difference between the two calls (the unsuccessful call and the successful one) was the level of training/knowledge and the attitudes of the two cast members. It's a shame that the continual lesson learned when dealing with Member Services is to never trust the first answer you receive because it probably won't match the answer you get if you ask again.
Last Saturday was the day I calculated I could call to replace a room I'd booked on cash with a points reservation. (I'd not had enough home resort points to book all 8 nights originally, and had booked two cash nights to ensure we'd be able to stay on our planned dates. If points nights hadn't been available for those nights at the 7-month point, I would have just kept the cash reservations and hoped the front desk would work with us to stay in the same villa.) After waiting in the Member Services phone queue for more than 30 minutes (I guess they were on reduced staffing to allow people time off for the holidays), I explained to the cast member what I wanted to do.
I had one night reserved for 7/27 7/28 on points. (Previously a cash night that I'd replaced with a points reservation last week at the 7-month mark. They'd given me a second reservation number for that night, which I didn't question at the time.)
I had a points reservation for 7/28 - 8/3.
I had a third reservation for a cash night for 8/3 - 8/4.
All three reservations were for a dedicated two-bedroom theme park view at BLT.
I wanted to add the night of 8/3 to the points reservation and cancel the cash night. I also told her I eventually wanted to add the dining plan to this trip, and asked if there was a way to get the entire eight nights on a single reservation number.
I was put on hold for about five minutes, then this is what was explained to me. "You're not entitled to add a night to the 7/28 - 8/3 reservation because it was made during the home resort booking priority period, and the only points you have left to use are from other resorts. You'll need to call back on January 3rd to book the night of 8/3. It may or may not be possible at that time to link your reservations to create a single dining plan because of the way you booked things."
Technically, everything she told me was true. Since there was still inventory available for all 8 nights, though, I thought there was a way around this. I started questioning the cast member if there was a way to cancel/rebook, and she got short with me (remaining polite, but making it clear through her tone of voice that she was done with me). I'd reached the point where I decided I didn't want this cast member changing my reservations anyway, and ended the call. I was visiting my parents' house for our belated Christmas celebration, and my sister and her family arrived just as I was having this conversation. Things at the house got hectic, and I couldn't afford to wait on hold for another 30 minutes to try again with another cast member. I let it drop, resigned to have to call back on Thursday.
Today, I went online and saw that all eight nights of our stay are still available for booking. I decided to give Member Services another try. (I may have been tempted just to cancel/re-book online, but the reservation dates cross our August use year anniversary date -- something the online booking system can't accommodate.)
This time, the cast member understood exactly what I wanted to do and was able to accomplish it without any issues. Looking at the points transactions online, it appears she cancelled the home resort priority reservation for 7/28 - 8/3 and then added the additional seven nights to the non-priority booking reservation that started on 7/27. Problem solved as there was no longer a home-resort-priority reservation involved! Only after she'd ensured she had everything booked on points did she come back online and tell me she was cancelling the cash reservation and processing the refund for the deposit.
I'm all set with all eight nights booked under a single reservation number. Count me as one happy camper!
I'm still a day early for the 7-month point for the 8/3 reservation, so there was nothing technically different during the second call than there was for the first. The only difference between the two calls (the unsuccessful call and the successful one) was the level of training/knowledge and the attitudes of the two cast members. It's a shame that the continual lesson learned when dealing with Member Services is to never trust the first answer you receive because it probably won't match the answer you get if you ask again.
