tusker house warning

[nkereina]

Why do you consider it an overreaction to contact guest services and let them know there was a problem...? That's the only way issues get noted and hopefully resolved.

I just don't know what a CM in a call center is supposed to do, save for refunding the OP the cost of the meal. Which to me seems like a lot of effort to go through however many days/weeks later. They did end up eating - it's not as if nothing was put out at all. Even if OP managed to get a refund, it won't change the situation at Tusker House. It's par for the course at character meals.

 

[wilkeliza]

We don't book the breakfasts that turn right into lunch for this exact reason. You can see online when the swaps happen based on the posted hours. I almost got a 10:45 reservation for breakfast at Tusker House and realized there was no way we would be eating breakfast food since lunch starts there at 11.

I would suggest writing your experience to the guest relations email someone posted above. Let them know that a good option to prevent this from happening would be to add a buffer period of no reservations between lunch and breakfast. I'm sure all the 10:30 people would be in and at least have plates by 11:30 so if they didn't accept seats for 10:30-11:30 and didn't switch to lunch until 11:30 there wouldn't be this issue.

 

[wilkeliza]

I just don't know what a CM in a call center is supposed to do, save for refunding the OP the cost of the meal. Which to me seems like a lot of effort to go through however many days/weeks later. They did end up eating - it's not as if nothing was put out at all. Even if OP managed to get a refund, it won't change the situation at Tusker House. It's par for the course at character meals.

The call center CMs or email CMs can pass it along to the proper department. The restaurant manager may not have logged this as an issue and just said sucks to be them his restaurant is still meeting its quota with only a 1 hour window of guests who didn't get what they thought they were getting. If the phone or email CMs log the complaint and thus pass it along maybe they will realize having the buffets switch over form breakfast to lunch and the same time they are still taking breakfast reservations with no room for running late they are setting up bad experiences that will happen every day.

 

[GreatLakes]

The problem I'm seeing in the OP was with the wait time and you are right to be less then thrilled with it.

I am not sure what you wanted the manager to do after the delay though. They offered you some of the pastries but there is no way they are going to alter their schedule and delay putting out the lunch food to make more breakfast food. It is all prepared on a schedule and a non-starter to move that schedule around because of a problem with seating.

I think writing a letter so they are aware of the problem with their timing is known but I don't think the manager did anything really wrong by not continuing to make breakfast food.

 

[maxiesmom]

Interesting. I tend to book meals around this transition time, so it could affect me some day!

I don't get why ppl are saying the OP is overreacting. Her reaction sounds pretty reasonable. They were w/in breakfast hours by 1/2 hour, and were seated late at the restaurant's fault. I think you're w/in your right to expect something. I would guess a discount off the breakfast. Not huge, but comping one adult plate would seem acceptable to me. It is tough though because they can't really set the precedent that if you're in this situation you can expect a free meal, or those 10:30 ressies start to look a lot more attractive. In all fairness, you got the more expensive lunch for the breakfast price, so there's that, but you didn't want that. Personally I would have enjoyed getting the lunch entrees for cheap.

Unfortunately an ADR does not guarantee you will be seated at that time. Only that you will get the next table available for your party size. And given that the Tusker House is the one restaurant known for not turning away any extra guests, I can easily see how the OP was shuffled into the lunch part of the day. I have no idea why they should comp them their meal, unless they didn't eat and left and had breakfast someplace else.

 

[PoohsHunnyBee]

Asking for a refund for a character meal is complicated by the fact that a good portion of the meal charge is related to the character entertainment and people can be charged the full price of the meal even if they don't eat anything for that exact reason.

OP, I am sorry for your bad experience. I thank you for the warning to others who may be planning a meal at a similar time. But I wouldn't expect anything in the way of compensation...You got to see the characters. There was fresh food available presumably of higher value than what you paid for.

 

[nkereina]

The call center CMs or email CMs can pass it along to the proper department. The restaurant manager may not have logged this as an issue and just said sucks to be them his restaurant is still meeting its quota with only a 1 hour window of guests who didn't get what they thought they were getting. If the phone or email CMs log the complaint and thus pass it along maybe they will realize having the buffets switch over form breakfast to lunch and the same time they are still taking breakfast reservations with no room for running late they are setting up bad experiences that will happen every day.

Anything is possible. If OP wants to take time out of their day to log this for the greater good of Disney guests, then by all means. But from my perspective, I would have forgotten all about it by the end of THAT day and wouldn't think twice about it now that I was home. In the grand scheme of things, it just doesn't sound like that big of a deal when they did get food (more expensive lunch food) as well as conversation with the manager, which is what should have been done.

 

[buzznina]

Why do you consider it an overreaction to contact guest services and let them know there was a problem...? That's the only way issues get noted and hopefully resolved.

The OP said multiple families were complaining. I don't think it would have been that difficult for the kitchen to make an extra tray of eggs and waffles.

It shouldn't matter that lunch is a more expensive meal; that has nothing to do with it. If I go to a restaurant and order a chicken dish, the waiter can't just bring me steak and say "well, we're out of chicken but the steak is pricier so you're getting a better deal!" If the restaurant was THAT delayed on breakfast seating, they should have accommodated those diners (and not with pastries and cookies).

I totally agree I would definitely contact Guest services and tell them what happen. How else is a company going to know if there may be an issue going on? I work in the IT department and there is nothing worse then someone calling with an issue and when you ask when did it start so you can look into it and they tell you that the issue has been happening for more than a few weeks

 

[wilkeliza]

Anything is possible. If OP wants to take time out of their day to log this for the greater good of Disney guests, then by all means. But from my perspective, I would have forgotten all about it by the end of THAT day and wouldn't think twice about it now that I was home. In the grand scheme of things, it just doesn't sound like that big of a deal when they did get food (more expensive lunch food) as well as conversation with the manager, which is what should have been done.

I can understand her being upset. If this was their only breakfast reservation and her kids were really looking forward to Mickey waffles this trip and they didn't get them I can get the upset. Also I can get not realizing that when you book a breakfast reservation you were not necessarily guaranteed breakfast foods.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I completely understand being upset! You booked breakfast, they were incredibly late seating you so you didn't get breakfast. IMHO pastries don't make up for hot eggs and Mickey Waffles.

I would definitely contact guest services. Sounds like they need to adjust how and when they seat people. ADR's should have priority over walk ups and if TH is trying to accommodate everyone, it's really not fair to those who have reservations.

Interestingly I've had opposite experiences at TH, from being seated very early to getting there for early lunch to find all of breakfast still out.

If you didn't like your experience it doesn't hurt to let them know!

 

[sharona]

Kind of shocked at the casual acceptance of OP's shoddy experience. I didn't realize that expectations had sunk so low.

 

[JOE DELL]

A good manager would have made it right period.
Good job OP and I'm glad you didn't just settle or "chock it up", this wasn't Ihop.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We stopped reserving 1030 for this reason as well. Too many things can go wrong. You can still log a complaint and mention you spoke to the manager too.

 

[maxiesmom]

A good manager would have made it right period.
Good job OP and I'm glad you didn't just settle or "chock it up", this wasn't Ihop.

If the kitchen has switched over to lunch food, there was no way for them to bring out breakfast food. The manager did offer what breakfast foods they could, which the OP refused. It may not have been the experience the OP wanted, but they did indeed get a more expensive experience. Again, an ADR is not a guarantee of getting seated at that time. Book one that is close to the time a restaurant switches from breakfast to lunch and there is a chance you will get a different one than you anticipated.

 

[JOE DELL]

If the kitchen has switched over to lunch food, there was no way for them to bring out breakfast food. The manager did offer what breakfast foods they could, which the OP refused. It may not have been the experience the OP wanted, but they did indeed get a more expensive experience. Again, an ADR is not a guarantee of getting seated at that time. Book one that is close to the time a restaurant switches from breakfast to lunch and there is a chance you will get a different one than you anticipated.

I understand the dynamics of the switch over, but there is a lot more a manager/supervisor can do to take care of the customer. And yea I would have refused the cookies too.
As others have stated this is a known issue at Tusker, OK so fix it Disney.

Most are saying par for the course and chock it up, OK that's like getting rearended and being told by the cop "yup that's par for the course at this light oh well accept it and chock it up"

I can understand not wanting to make a seen but this is why "customer service" as a whole is going in the toilet in this country because people settle.

OP didn't say how big her party was, but a family of 4 that meal with tip would be pushing 70 bucks, yea I'd be calling someone out on that crap. Like I said this ain't Ihop.

 

[maxiesmom]

I understand the dynamics of the switch over, but there is a lot more a manager/supervisor can do to take care of the customer. And yea I would have refused the cookies too.
As others have stated this is a known issue at Tusker, OK so fix it Disney.

Most are saying par for the course and chock it up, OK that's like getting rearended and being told by the cop "yup that's par for the course at this light oh well accept it and chock it up"

I can understand not wanting to make a seen but this is why "customer service" as a whole is going in the toilet in this country because people settle.

OP didn't say how big her party was, but a family of 4 that meal with tip would be pushing 70 bucks, yea I'd be calling someone out on that crap. Like I said this ain't Ihop.

No, it is like renting a compact and getting a mid sized sedan, even though you like smaller cars. The OP was upgraded, even though it was an unwanted upgrade.

I'm guessing from your post you have no idea how kitchens work. If they turned over to lunch there was no way to turn back to breakfast. I believe the time frame for each meal are given. If it was getting close the OP could have gone to the manager or whoever and said they didn't want lunch, could they either be seated right away or the no show charge waived. They were seated at lunch time so they got lunch. I would be bummed too, but would eat my food and move on. It isn't that big of a deal, and settling for something more expensive than what you purchased is not a travesty.

 

[JOE DELL]

No, it is like renting a compact and getting a mid sized sedan, even though you like smaller cars. The OP was upgraded, even though it was an unwanted upgrade.

I'm guessing from your post you have no idea how kitchens work. If they turned over to lunch there was no way to turn back to breakfast. I believe the time frame for each meal are given. If it was getting close the OP could have gone to the manager or whoever and said they didn't want lunch, could they either be seated right away or the no show charge waived. They were seated at lunch time so they got lunch. I would be bummed too, but would eat my food and move on. It isn't that big of a deal, and settling for something more expensive than what you purchased is not a travesty.

I do agree the op could have got hold of the manager and worked something out before the change over but knowing how restaurants are in the parks getting a walk up is next to impossible so they stuck it out. From a cs stand point they should have been comped something as an hour wait with a reservation is crap. If I'm spending that kind of coin I expect a certain level of service but that's just me.

 

[nkereina]

I understand the dynamics of the switch over, but there is a lot more a manager/supervisor can do to take care of the customer. And yea I would have refused the cookies too.
As others have stated this is a known issue at Tusker, OK so fix it Disney.

Most are saying par for the course and chock it up, OK that's like getting rearended and being told by the cop "yup that's par for the course at this light oh well accept it and chock it up"

I can understand not wanting to make a seen but this is why "customer service" as a whole is going in the toilet in this country because people settle.

OP didn't say how big her party was, but a family of 4 that meal with tip would be pushing 70 bucks, yea I'd be calling someone out on that crap. Like I said this ain't Ihop.

Your scenario compares apples to oranges so that's not a fair comparison. As far as people "settling", where do you draw the line on entitlement then? There's been many situations on here where Disney has dropped the ball to the detriment of their guests impacting their whole day or stay, and they need to make it right somehow. This is not one of those situations, IMO.

I do agree that the manager should have discounted their meal or at most comped one of them. That's about the best they could have done in the scenario, since OP & family were still dining there presumably. We don't know the whole story, so we don't know if that was ever offered, if perhaps they were talking to a team lead or supervisor who didn't actually have the authority to do that, etc. It's not as if there was a cockroach in their food or their reservation was lost and they couldn't eat at all.

If this scenario were truly a problem for Disney, they'd fix it. My guess is they'd rather tick off 5 guests and get those extra tables in than shut down during a meal switch over and lose that revenue. It is what it is. Certainly nothing that should be weighing on one's mind days/weeks later.

 

[JOE DELL]

Your scenario compares apples to oranges so that's not a fair comparison. As far as people "settling", where do you draw the line on entitlement then? There's been many situations on here where Disney has dropped the ball to the detriment of their guests impacting their whole day or stay, and they need to make it right somehow. This is not one of those situations, IMO.

I do agree that the manager should have discounted their meal or at most comped one of them. That's about the best they could have done in the scenario, since OP & family were still dining there presumably. We don't know the whole story, so we don't know if that was ever offered, if perhaps they were talking to a team lead or supervisor who didn't actually have the authority to do that, etc. It's not as if there was a cockroach in their food or their reservation was lost and they couldn't eat at all.

If this scenario were truly a problem for Disney, they'd fix it. My guess is they'd rather tick off 5 guests and get those extra tables in than shut down during a meal switch over and lose that revenue. It is what it is. Certainly nothing that should be weighing on one's mind days/weeks later.

Zero entitlements here!!! Just saying they could have gotten comped better than a cookie.

Yea lol that was apples to oranges but w/

You hit the nail on the head as this is a known issue at Tusker and its all about the $$$ so OP remember to book a 9am for a 10am.

 

[nkereina]

Zero entitlements here!!! Just saying they could have gotten comped better than a cookie.

I know, I'm just saying it's a fine line. The in house manager should have done more for sure, but I just don't think it's worth escalating. Don't sweat the small stuff or whatever