upcoming trip, need to vent

[chmurf]

For the last 2 weeks, planning has become a nightmare. Forgive me, I'm about to vent.

Item #1 : Disney ticketing services.
I ordered MNSSHP tickets on may 1st, for 10/23 party. I chose etickets. I was billed for the 10/23 party, receipt showing that date, but etickets show 10/26 a date for which tickets are not even on sale (not to mention that this date would require some major replanning as I'm not even in Orlando at that time)
Emailed ticketing services as soon as I noticed, 30 minutes after purchase on may 1st. They answered saying that they were aware of the issue and I would need to download tickets again "in a few days".
15 days later, no tickets (still 10/26) and Disney no longer replies to my emails. I can't call.
I can't let it go, since I don't know if my tickets will work.
If the barcode reads 10/23 party it could be ok, but what about the actual date on the ticket. If a CM spots that, I might have trouble as they might think it's a forged ticket. If I consider it's really a 10/26 ticket and I change lots of plans (including gulf of mexico trip cancellation) and the ticket's barcode reads 10/23 I would miss the side trip and the party (and the money altogether)

item #2 : travel agent and flight
I booked through govoyages, the #1 online travel agent in france. Supposed to be reliable.
For nearly 15 days I haven't been able to display my reservation on the US Airways website. I check every other day to see if better seats are avalaible.
I decided to call US Airways to know why their website told me there was an error.
I then learned that my flight back to france (CLT-CDG) had been discontinued. US Airways informed my TA over 2 weeks ago and my TA was supposed to inform me of that fact and try to find an alternate flight.
As of now my itinerary is as follow : MCO-CLT PHL-CDG, yep right, how am I supposed to go from charlotte to philadelphia ?
Called my TA, got a lady who barely spoke french and was even less litterate in english (offshore call centers) ... she reviewed my info and finally told me "sir I don't understand what your problem is" ... well my problem is that I have a hole in my itinerary.
She put me on hold for a good 20 minutes, and then she told me she'd give me the number of the service that would handle my request ... as she gave me that number I recognised that it was US Airways' number, the same that directed me to my TA ... I informed the lady, she put me on hold for another 10 minutes before telling me that I would receive an email with a set of flights to choose from. (I'm still waiting for this email)
I told her that it was rather urgent, she sighed and told me I had plenty of time, and she made it sound like I was bothering her. As a matter of fact, I had US Airways website opened and all but 2 MCO-PHL flights were already sold out. Without speedy action I would eventually end up with a flight taking of at 6am from MCO for a 6PM connection in PHL ... yeah great ... talk about losing one day of vacation. (I should be taking off around 4pm)
Without any news, I emailed directly their technical staff (I had the adress form a previous mishap) got an automated response, and so far no news either.
The way things go I might no longer have a flight on my return date and might have to cancel the trip altogether as my dates are not flexible and I can't make them be flexible.

I had another issue with that TA early this year. They had a wrong itinerary on file for my reservation, and when I informed them (they never notice by themselves) they tried to force the change to United Airlines, not once, but twice in 3 days.
They could just have updated their files with my real itinerary and the info provided by united, but no, they informed united (2 times) that I had requested an itinerary change (which was false) so that my itinerary looked like what they had on file.

Right now I'm furious.
Oh and did I mention that yesterday the Euro lost 1% over the sterling pound and the US dollar ? (I know it might eventually go up again, fingers crossed, but it didn't help save my day ...)

 

[Lisa x]

I absolutely cannot blame you for that rant

If I were you, I would not change my gulf plans, I would take my receipt stating the correct party date and also the emails trying to tell them the eticket was incorrect and go to guest services on my first dat at Disney. I can't see how they would refuse you entry into the correct party when your receipt clearly states the date you requested and paid for!

As for the flight, what an absolute nightmare, I really hope they sort this out for you sooner rather than later. I can't offer any advice but I totally understand why you are so frustrated especially if some of the changes means you may have to cancel your trip altogether


Hope these people pull their finger out and put your mind at ease very soon and actually let you enjoy the run up to your trip

 

[dixonsontour]

Sorry you are having trouble.

I think you will be fine for 23rd - don't change your plans. if you can't sort in advance then go to guest services with your receipts and copy emails and they will sort.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Oh dear, what a nightmare! I hope you sort everything out.

 

[igk]

I guess the advice given that you have plenty of time is correct if not helpful. You do have time to sort it out.
As Lisa x says, you should be fine with the MNSSHP tickets, but leave it a few days/weeks and call/email ticketing again and have another go at getting it resolved.

The flights are more of a hassle. You do have time though, although I appreciate flights are getting sold out. You need to contact the TA again, and if you get fobbed off again, demand to speak to a supervisor, preferably someone 'onshore' (i.e. not foreign call centre). I don't know how things work legally in France but it seems to me the TA must either sort the connections out for you or give you a full refund.
Take a deep breath and try again - you'll get there in the end!

Oh, and the euro is up a bit vs the pound today so it's not all bad news

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

What a nightmare for you - I sympathise as I had trouble with my accommodation the other year with Virgin and know how frustrating everything can be until you eventually get to speak to someone who CAN help

Hope you manage to get is sorted

 

[chmurf]

just got a very rude email from Disney

"hello
please call ticketing services to talk to a CM"

no polite form, no nothing

if it wasn't rude enough, I can't call ticketing services. Due to medical condition I can barely talk, especially under pressure or under a strong emotion.
And nobody else here speaks english correctly enough to make that call.
Calling is not an option

I also really don't want to spend valuable time at guest relations. I will eventually, but I'm more furious than ever

 

[joolz1910]

I think after-sales service is such an important element in any transaction. Unfortunately many companies take your money and then shrug off all responsibility. I really hope that this is resolved to your satisfaction. I would have thought that the responsibilty would be with the TA. Have you got an ombudsman/direct-gov equivalent in France?

 

[chmurf]

Have you got an ombudsman/direct-gov equivalent in France?

yes we do, but the way things go here, I'll be lucky if my great-grandchildren ever get news for my case ... (almost not kidding here)

 

[paulh]

Oh and did I mention that yesterday the Euro lost 1% over the sterling pound and the US dollar ? (I know it might eventually go up again, fingers crossed, but it didn't help save my day ...)

think the euro will lose more ground sadly as the crises in grease will worsen
Paul

 

[chmurf]

I hope things will get better. I need to pay my balance with WDTC-UK by the end of August

With the current exchange rate drop since I booked, and if I had to pay the balance today, it would cost me 130 euros more (with a balance due of only £1700) that's a 6% increase in cost ...

and as PP said it might only get worse

 

[paulh]

I hope things will get better. I need to pay my balance with WDTC-UK by the end of August

With the current exchange rate drop since I booked, and if I had to pay the balance today, it would cost me 130 euros more (with a balance due of only £1700) that's a 7.5% increase in cost ...

and as PP said it might only get worse

can you not pay now and avoid any drop or pay some off?might help
Paul

 

[catherine]

Sorry to hear that you're having so much hassle! Hope that everything gets sorted soon!

 

[wayneg]

Hope you get it sorted. I am not one for using the phone, I will if I really have to but in your situation I wouldn't do anything, I would just expect them to work on arrival if they didn't I would want it sorting there and then but that is me, I don't expect to waste my time on other peoples errors (we also have a CM friend in security if required)
Same as the thread a few days ago about not having DDP on the vouchers, if I had my original invoice with the DDP on I would take that and expect the CM on arrival to correct any mistakes, I wouldn't put time into doing it now.

As for the flights I had a similar situation with Ebookers, I knew they had cancelled our route (New York to MAN) for this August. Delta contacted me no problem but Ebookers never got intouch with relatives, I contacted Ebookers on their behalf. Took about a week to re-book relatives yet ours direct with Delta were sorted in a few minutes.

Good luck with it all.

PS, as for the weakening Euro, nothing personal but I hope it continues to go the way it has recently, a high % of my stock is imported from Holland so the weaker the Euro the better for me. When the exchange was near £1vEuro1 it was crippling, I buy about 500 Euros of stock each week from Holland so £500 was crazy, far easier at £400 at todays rate.

 

[chmurf]

can you not pay now and avoid any drop or pay some off?might help
Paul

nope
we decided to squeeze in another WDW trip this year in addition to our annual spring trip. We wanted to go for Halloween season while DS was still allowed to skip school. In sep/oct 2013 we'll no longer be able to go outside of holidays

So this second trip is really on a budget and we'll need to dig into our savings to pay the balance. It might even cost us more to withdraw the money now than paying for the exchange rates change (not to mention we hope it will eventually go up). We've already agreed with DW that should the € go below $1.15 we would cancel the trip to cut our losses since the trip would just become a budget nightmare (currentely € is $1.27 down from $1.32 15 days ago)

---

Next, TA update.
I was told I would get an answer within a week for my flight change. A week's passed.
DW just spent 1.5 hours on the phone arguing with the TA. She was even driven to tears at one point ... 2 operators hung up on her after putting her on hold for ages. And the third one bluntly told her that since our flight was only due in over 5 months, their procedure wouldn't allow them to adress the issue before 15 days have passed, as they have "more urgent cases" to adress ...
It seems each time we get an operator, the procedures and rules change and we're made different (and sometimes conflicting) promises.

I'm now boiling.

 

[bex7583]

not much help but i know somebody else had a thread that there e ticket halloween tickets had the wrong date on them

 

[madmumof2]

I've only read your first post so apologies if I've missed anything since but I had the same problem as you re tickets.

I booked for the 23rd and my e tickets said, and still say, the 26th.

I sent two emails and got the 'try again in a few days reply'. Still didn't work so sent one last email asking them to pleas sort this issue out as I am not even in the country on the 26ht and the 23rd is the only day we can go, and since I've paid for that date I expect them to fix it.

The very next day I got an email saying my tickets had been dispatched! I emailed and they said they had instead sent my tickets with express/emergency post, free of charge. They arrived 2 days later, so I now have the physical cards with the correct date on.

I would email them and tell them since they have not corrected the problem you're asking them to send the tickets to you free of charge. I didn't have to ring anyone.

 

[madmumof2]

not much help but i know somebody else had a thread that there e ticket halloween tickets had the wrong date on them

That was me! lol

 

[chmurf]

I'm now at email #6
Ticketing Services are less than helpful

The CM who answered my last email dismissed the issue, since I can go to Will Call or guest services with my confirmation. ( read : "we don't care since you'll eventually get them " )

I emailed back that there was no way I would spend time waiting in line and waiting for a CM to solve the issue while in Orlando
I also made a point that if I had wanted my tickets at will call that's what I would have chosen when I booked.
I asked (again) that my tickets be sent by mail

now waiting for a reply from Disney

 

[chmurf]

update :

so far, the flights have been sorted out.

we end up changing our itinerary completely, going through Philadelphia instead of Charlotte. Seems like US Airways discontinued most of its international flights to and from Charlotte

That's an even tighter connection outbound than before, with only 1h45 so we won't take checked bags (we're glad we decided to rent a stroller, so no gate check either)

Connection inbound will be 1 hour, that's tight but it should be enough since there is no security to clear at PHL and we will already have our boarding passes issued at MCO. Anyway, if they say it's a legal connection, then so be it.

We'll arrive half an hour later than with our previous itinerary, but we'll also have one more hour in florida before taking the plane back at the end of our stay

let's hope no further change occurs.
Even if things seems to end well, it still needed several calls and emails with rude people

now it's up to Disney to make things right regarding MNSSHP tickets. Still no news from them