The Kiosk CMs are paid to lie....

[marynvince]

Well, they are paid for everyone they get on a tour. I was at the Disney Princess Marathon talking to the CM at the expo booth, who was a DVC Member and should have known the "details". I listened to his pitch and he specifically said points per night NEVER change. Now if that is not an outright misrepresentation of the truth, a blatant lie, I don't know what is. Very Disappointed.

 

[jodifla]

Well, they are paid for everyone they get on a tour. I was at the Disney Princess Marathon talking to the CM at the expo booth, who was a DVC Member and should have known the "details". I listened to his pitch and he specifically said points per night NEVER change. Now if that is not an outright misrepresentation of the truth, a blatant lie, I don't know what is. Very Disappointed.

Uh, and did you correct him??

 

[alice99]

Uh, and did you correct him??

It is a shame that they would intentionally deceive people, especially this CM, who should know better, being a DVC member.
But, who knows if he is REALLY a DVC member? That may be part of the lie also.

I wouldn't have confronted him with the truth. You're not going to change anything. The only thing you'd get out of saying something is additional aggravation, an argument or probably embarrassing the guy (or yourself). It's not up to "us" to set the record straight.

When I was younger I would have definitely said something, but after years of experience I just nod my head smile and walk away...... then complain to my husband about the dishonesty.

 

[Joe T.]

I'm not sure that I agree with the premise of this thread. True, the only job of the kiosk is to get people on the tour, and the information that is given is very limited. The statement points per night increases requires some explanation beyond the job description of the CM. It is my understanding that if point requirements are increased for one season, they must be reduced for another season to keep the TOTAL point requirement constant. We have been members since 1995 and can recall only one such change at OKW. It does give DVC the capability to take advantage of changing travel trends.

I am sure that this would have been clarified at the tour. We own several other timeshares, and have attended many presentations. As a group, DVC CM are the best and least likely to make a untrue claim.

 

[CarolA]

And do DIS board members get paid to "inflame"?

Sorry, but while I think the problem is that they aren't well trained I think this title is misleading and just designed to stir folks up!

 

[WelcomeHome]

We have been members since 1995 and can recall only one such change at OKW.

May I bring you up to date, Joe? The majority of points per night have changed at all Disneyworld timeshares in the recently announced nightly rates for 2010.

Bet wishes,
Dave

 

[jodifla]

It is a shame that they would intentionally deceive people, especially this CM, who should know better, being a DVC member.
But, who knows if he is REALLY a DVC member? That may be part of the lie also.

I wouldn't have confronted him with the truth. You're not going to change anything. The only thing you'd get out of saying something is additional aggravation, an argument or probably embarrassing the guy (or yourself). It's not up to "us" to set the record straight.

When I was younger I would have definitely said something, but after years of experience I just nod my head smile and walk away...... then complain to my husband about the dishonesty.

If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem!!!

 

[Cmbar]

This is not to inflame anything, but....

We went on our third tour with our Guide on Tuesday. Now keep in mind that we went down specifically to research each DVC resort to see if we want to buy Resale or buy Direct at BLT, AKV or SSR. We told our guide that we want to see the models, hear the new incentives and see the 2010 point charts. They don't have them!!!! He thinks they are on the member website. Well I'm not a member and therefore can't see them. I can tell you that if I hadn't asked and if he didn't already know that I know more about DVC than 99% of those that sit with him, I believe he would have not even acknowledged that they are different for 2010. Once we got into the discussion he said it needed to be done. I am not against the change because in all likelyhood it needed to be changed, but I didn't like the fact that they didn't have a 2010 point chart to look at so that we could determine if we should buy 160 points or maybe a few more.

Not meant to inflame, but I did feel a little dissappointed in Disney not having those 2010 charts available. Especially since I asked for them. I kinda felt it was dishonest to those people who don't know about the change to sit there and look at those charts and think they won't change.

 

[JimMIA]

Well, they are paid for everyone they get on a tour. I was at the Disney Princess Marathon talking to the CM at the expo booth, who was a DVC Member and should have known the "details". I listened to his pitch and he specifically said points per night NEVER change. Now if that is not an outright misrepresentation of the truth, a blatant lie, I don't know what is. Very Disappointed.

Maybe I'm just rude, but I would have called him on his misinformation...especially if he was making that pitch to other visitors who didn't know better.

There are certainly linguistic gyrations he could go through to parse his words so that he was not technically lying...but it would be one of those tortured "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is..." situations. And, as most know, this is not the first report of this type of misinformation that have appeared here on the DIS recently.

I would send an email to DVC member satisfaction and report him to them. He's not making DVC look good. He's making DVC look like all of the other timeshare/snake oil marketers.

 

[Mad-Jasper]

Well, they are paid for everyone they get on a tour. I was at the Disney Princess Marathon talking to the CM at the expo booth, who was a DVC Member and should have known the "details". I listened to his pitch and he specifically said points per night NEVER change. Now if that is not an outright misrepresentation of the truth, a blatant lie, I don't know what is. Very Disappointed.

Over the weekend, we were told by two separate KIOSK CMs that the 160PT minimum equated to about 13 nights stay. Yeah, if you split up those days over 3 weekday vacations during the slow times of the year, that is the BEST you can do.

 

[disneynutz]

I hate to burst anyones bubble but Disney is a business and one of their many businesses is selling time shares.

Is everyone fully trained, no, do they have all of the information to do their jobs, no, will they omit information to make a sale, yes, do they flavor the information to make a sale, yes. That's their job, and they get paid when they make a sale.

I am convinced that the DVC Satisfaction Team is in place to placate the members and not much more. They are limited in what they are allowed to do and in most cases, it appears that our issues fall on deaf ears.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

When I set my tour up in April of last year, the CM manning the booth at Frontierland literally told me that he was not allowed to answer any questions and that I had to take the tour and that those guys were trained to know the answers.

He basically said that they (the folks manning the park kiosks) were the bottom of the ladder rungs at DVC and that their sole purpose in that position was to get folks to the tours (we were already going to go and he knew that) and that, as part of their training, they are specifically instructed NOT to answer any technical questions about the program.

This guy was following the letter of the law as he understood it and he wouldn't deviate despite how much I pushed him on a couple of simple questions. He was just as nice as he could be but empahtic about not breaking the rules.

I gathered, from that, that they aren't allowed to talk specifics. That's what he said. I wonder if the folks at the kiosks are just showing off when they really don't know and haven't been trained and could even be reprimanded for doing so if the wrong folks found out.

Has anybody else ever heard a kiosk member say this?

 

[Chuck S]

This thread is straying from the topic of the contact CMs at the kiosks to the subject of the 2010 point charts.

A reminder that all 2010 point chart discussion is limited to this 2010 thread.

If it continues off topic, it will need to be closed.

 

[dianeschlicht]

When I set my tour up in April of last year, the CM manning the booth at Frontierland literally told me that he was not allowed to answer any questions and that I had to take the tour and that those guys were trained to know the answers.

He basically said that they (the folks manning the park kiosks) were the bottom of the ladder rungs at DVC and that their sole purpose in that position was to get folks to the tours (we were already going to go and he knew that) and that, as part of their training, they are specifically instructed NOT to answer any technical questions about the program.

This guy was following the letter of the law as he understood it and he wouldn't deviate despite how much I pushed him on a couple of simple questions. He was just as nice as he could be but empahtic about not breaking the rules.

Has anybody else ever heard a kiosk member say this?

You know, every kiosk person I have talked to has said something similar....They aren't allowed to answer questions like that... It sounds like some of them take that to heart, and some don't.

 

[james'mommy]

I remember quite clearly my guide telling me that the total points needed for a week would never change. Which is obviously not the case. I'm still kinda ticked about that. But it does mean that DH will now consider an add on. Not right now but eventually.

 

[alice99]

If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem!!!

Are you serious?

That's very funny. You should send a complaint to member satisfaction, oh wait! I don't work for Disney.

 

[JimC]

......I gathered, from that, that they aren't allowed to talk specifics. That's what he said. I wonder if the folks at the kiosks are just showing off when they really don't know and haven't been trained and could even be reprimanded for doing so if the wrong folks found out.

Has anybody else ever heard a kiosk member say this?

My understanding is that the folks in the kiosks are not licensed to sell real estate and the guides are. If true, that would explain why they are are limited in what they can say.

 

[tjkraz]

I am convinced that the DVC Satisfaction Team is in place to placate the members and not much more. They are limited in what they are allowed to do and in most cases, it appears that our issues fall on deaf ears.

Does a company exist where front-line customer service staff have the power to make policy changes?

The primary duty of anyone working in a service role is to placate the customer to the best of their abilities. DVC reps do seem to have a fair amount of latitude in performing that function. There have been stories of members having points refunded and/or other compensatory actions taken when situations seem to dictate.

I'm sure that feedback is gathered and relayed to management in some manner. What we really aren't in a position to do is fairly judge whether management is properly acting on the feedback. Policy changes rarely impact all members equally and personal opinions will vary. Even in a community like this you'll get varying opinions on whether a change is good or bad--and we only represent a tiny percentage of members.

What I may think is a great policy, you may think is terrible. Which of us is right? Then factor in the opinions of 350,000 others.

 

[disneynutz]

I don't expect the Satisfaction Team to change policy, but I do expect them to take action and address errors caused by the MS Advisers. We have had point errors, request errors, and booking errors. I don't need someone calling and telling me that they are sorry and that they are working to improve. That doesn't fix my problems that I didn't make.

 

[tjkraz]

I don't expect the Satisfaction Team to change policy, but I do expect them to take action and address errors caused by the MS Advisers. We have had point errors, request errors, and booking errors. I don't need someone calling and telling me that they are sorry and that they are working to improve. That doesn't fix my problems that I didn't make.

They should correct errors and assist members within their own realm of expertise. In many organizations, CS reps do not have the knowledge (systems or otherwise) to actually fix the problem themselves. Instead they need to interface with other departments or coworkers to resolve an issue.

If it's a particularly complicated issue like a systems error, there may not be a quick fix.

The CS rep should ultimately take responsibility for following-up on the issue and making sure it's resolved. But realistically that process could take hours, days or weeks.

Personally I've had two interactions with the Member Satisfaction people over the years. Both were initiated by an email from me and they followed-up via telephone. The first had a favorable outcome and the other was discussed...well...just this morning. Get back to me in a week or two and I'll see if my opinion of them has changed any.