Ticket upgrade snafoo - what happened here?

Applemomma

DIS Veteran
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Dec 3, 2006
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So I think I know what happened here but it's still bugging me, especially since it's making me think twice about doing it again...

Bought two 5 day basic tickets for my trip last week, one through Undercover Tourist and one redeemed through Airmiles, with the intention of upgrading them after first use. Used them to enter Epcot but only wanted to stay there for a couple hours and hop to Magic Kingdom. Went to Guest Relations inside Epcot to upgrade them from the 5 day basics to 6 day parkhoppers. Should have only been $78.81 per ticket to get the upgrade however, I got charged $116.43 for one and $129.38 for the other!!

Told the cast member that that seemed way to high to me (I had unfortunately not done the math before hand so couldn't say it's only supposed to be x amount) and she kept saying the price went up, it's bridging, the price went up. When I asked why two different prices she said you get a discount because it's two. She was having trouble explaining why so high a price and I wasn't apparently making my explanation clear either. There was unfortunately, a bit of a language barrier as the cast member's first language was not english and she seemed to be having trouble translating what she wanted to tell me/ what I was saying. I've gone to guest relations before and her level of english didn't really match up to what I've experienced in there before but they were exceptionally busy so perhaps they were pulling in extra help. She did not have an "in training" tag on.

Finally I gave up because I clearly was getting no where and yes, I perhaps should have asked to speak to a supervisor, but I'm one of those "oh maybe it's my mistake" type of people and they were very, very busy. However, it kept bugging me and late I did the math to discover that I was right. So the next morning I went to concierge at my hotel and told them what had happened. Told the gal helping me that I bought tickets how and when I can to try and spread out the cost. Was up front with them about who I had gotten tickets through, but that everything I had read told me that once used they can be upgraded at no extra expense, other then the cost of the one day and the hopper option. She kept talking about how the price had gone up...I pointed out that I was going by the price on the app and there was no way it had gone up that much. And yes, I was being polite, not demanding or raising my voice...drives me nuts when I see people doing that to cast members. Long talk with her supervisor away from me where I have no idea what she was telling them because she didn't seem to know what I was talking about either. Finally I said "let's do the math...I have five day tickets...I wanted to upgrade to 6 day park hoppers...the difference in the two is x amount and I was charged $44 more per ticket, never mind where I got them from initially". The light seemed to dawn then and she seemed to get it, and most of the confusion for her seemed to come from her not being able to understand how the first cm came up with those numbers in the first palce. In the end she couldn't refund me the $88 because it was done in the park, and apparently their computers don't talk to each other, but she did credit my room account the money....I see it came up as "Guest Inconvenience".

So what it boils down to was the original CM wrong? Did she see the value I "paid" for the discounted tickets and charge me to bring the ticket up to a full price ticket and then the upgrade, which is what I suspect happened? I didn't think I was breaking any Disney rules by doing this as I see it gets discussed over and over and I'm sure I upgraded an extra day last year with no issues. As I said I had already used the ticket to get into the park so how could I avoid this happening again? The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth...
 
So what it boils down to was the original CM wrong?


Yes.

It doesn't matter what she did to arrive at your errant total, just know that it was incorrect.

Congrats on getting it resolved!
 
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I'm glad you went back to get the overage!

When I do this in the summer, I plan do bring a print out of all my numbers and hand it to the CM at GR!
 
Yes.

It doesn't matter what she did to arrive at your errant total, just know that it was incorrect.

Congrats of getting it resolved!

Thank you!...I suppose there's no terminology I can use, or measures I can take, to avoid having it happen again though, other then knowing what the total should be when I'm standing at the desk and calling on my inner "diva" to speak to a manager if necessary...
 

Next time, make sure you know exactly how much you're supposed to pay.

Agreed.
And, if the manager there still doesn't get it right, nicely ask for your original ticket back (or just decline the incorrect offer) and
go to another Guest Relations or ticket booth location… and find a CM who knows the correct procedure.

If in doubt, before you go, ask your questions here.
 
Agreed.
And, if the manager there still doesn't get it right, nicely ask for your original ticket back (or just decline the incorrect offer) and
go to another Guest Relations or ticket booth location… and find a CM who knows the correct procedure.

If in doubt, before you go, ask your questions here.

ITA. The last time I tried to upgrade a ticket, both a CM AND her manager gave me the incorrect price. I said, "Thanks, but no thanks." and left that location, which was GS inside Epcot. We were on our way out of the park anyway, so I just stopped at the ticket booth there and asked the CM if he knew how to price bridge, he said yes, and upgraded us for the correct price immediately. These two interactions happened within 10 minutes of each other.
 
I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but because of the whole "international exchange" thing at Epcot, my impression is that the Guest Relations CMs at the front of Epcot are often less experienced than those you will find at other locations. And the less experienced ones are more likely to be under-informed on proper procedures for ticket upgrades.
Granted you can get well-informed and under-informed CMs anywhere, and not all of the Epcot GR CMs are on an exchange program, but I suspect the likelihood of a problem is higher at that location. This doesn't seem to be an issue at the International Gateway.

It's always a tricky thing finding the proper words to try to explain to a CM that you know this part of their job better than they do, without driving them to get defensive. Kids are kids, after all. Thankfully I've only had to deal with that situation once, and even though the supervisor didn't know the proper procedure either, he was willing to give me the proper price as an ever-popular "one-time exception".
 
As far as the "guest experience" goes it shouldn't have to be a crap shoot as to getting CM's that know how to do this! I know why they don't worry about it though...because they get extra money from folks like me that don't like to push it or know any better...

Will definitely be going to a GS location outside of the park next time and be prepared to know my numbers.
 
I tend to upgrade at DHS and MK guest relations. Not sure why but I've always had good luck with them.


And (as you already know) go with the figures / prices already figured out - in January when we upgraded to APs I had the price down pat - the CM started with the dollar amount and then paused (perhaps giving me time to have a panic attack?) and then I chimed in with the change amount - CMs mouth dropped open. I completely credit Disboards with educating me!
 
As far as the "guest experience" goes it shouldn't have to be a crap shoot as to getting CM's that know how to do this! I know why they don't worry about it though...because they get extra money from folks like me that don't like to push it or know any better...

Will definitely be going to a GS location outside of the park next time and be prepared to know my numbers.

I think that you're better off at a ticketing window (which is where I went) rather than a GS location. The GS CMs handle all sorts of issues, but the ticketing CMs are ticketing specialists and therefore are more likely to know all the ticketing ins and outs.
 
Thank you!...I suppose there's no terminology I can use, or measures I can take, to avoid having it happen again though, other then knowing what the total should be when I'm standing at the desk and calling on my inner "diva" to speak to a manager if necessary...

When she said that it was price bridging, you could have stopped her right there, because price bridging brings the price DOWN. She needed to be stopped there. If she couldn't define bridging correctly, that's the place to stop.

And, of course, as you know, to know your numbers and to have the ability to stop the transaction right there, is another big thing.

As far as the "guest experience" goes it shouldn't have to be a crap shoot as to getting CM's that know how to do this!

With any company that involves more than one employee, it can be difficult. Not everyone listens during training, not everyone hears things the same way. It's why there are manuals, and at Disney it's on their computers, it's why there are directions on how to do things. When they decide that they are correct and they don't need to look it up, that's when problems happen.

Doesn't really matter where you go. I had a *perfect* upgrade experience at the in-the-park GS at Animal Kingdom in December 2010, and less than one month later another Dis'er had a nightmare of an upgrade experience at the exact same place.
 
Doesn't really matter where you go. I had a *perfect* upgrade experience at the in-the-park GS at Animal Kingdom in December 2010, and less than one month later another Dis'er had a nightmare of an upgrade experience at the exact same place.

Bingo!
 
Jumping on with a question: When I go to upgrade my tickets purchased through Undercover Tourist, all I need to know is Disney's price between the 2? I have 2 6 day hoppers I need to upgrade to 7 day hoppers. Is all I need to know that Disney considers each current ticket to be worth $414.29 and the new one worth $414.94?? And all I need to pay is $10.65 each?
 
Jumping on with a question: When I go to upgrade my tickets purchased through Undercover Tourist, all I need to know is Disney's price between the 2? I have 2 6 day hoppers I need to upgrade to 7 day hoppers. Is all I need to know that Disney considers each current ticket to be worth $414.29 and the new one worth $414.94?? And all I need to pay is $10.65 each?
Yes.
 


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