*UPDATE*For those interested--A Nightmare with the new segmented reservations and DDP

[alicat07]

I just saw a post in DVC Planning about doing the new segmented reservations so you can have different DDP on different parts of one trip. Well, we booked our 5 night stay in a GV in AKV at the 11 month window last year and when the new reservation system took place in October, I called to see if I could do segments in my current reservation (which we just went on 2 weeks ago). I was told I could, so they did it without us losing our reservation. We did the DxDP for the first 2 nights, then DDP the last 3. Looked on my DVC acct and it did have just one "travel plan" confirmation number for both segments, so exactly how I had imagined it to look. Thought everything was fine.

Well, needless to say, Nov 28th when we checked in it was a nightmare from the start. Front desk telling us that we could not in any way have different dining plans for our entire 5 night stay. We told them we did it in segments, that we were told it was possible. Front desk insisted that they would have to rebook everything bc it was booked wrong (and looking at my DVC acct, it wasn't--I think they just didn't understand it), and was told to come back. Went back, was told it was rebooked and we still couldn't split the DDP. So we conceded and did the DxDP for the whole trip.

Well Nov 30th, breakfast was fine, checked our dining credits and it was fine. 6 hours later at dinner the waitress tells us it didn't go through as DxDP, but she tried it as DDP and it finally went through. Also saw that our dining credits went from 90 in the morning to like 40 after dinner (we had 8 people in our GV). Spoke to front desk and they assured us it was probably the new system upgrade taking place (Dec 1) and we would be fine. Next day went to AK and at lunch our card showed as invalid key. They had to call the hotel to get the credits. Could not use our dining credits for any snacks or counter services all day at the park since it kept coming up as invalid. Went to front desk when we finally got back and they again said they had to rebook reservation. Almost missed a Le Cellier 9:15p reservation because they took over an hour to still try to rebook and it still wasn't right. At Le Cellier still invalid key and they had to call the hotel for the credits.

Next morning (day 4) my husband went down early to straighten it out AGAIN. Again they said they had to rebook it. An hour later we go back to the desk on our way to Sea World and it still didn't work. Needless to say that evening at Ohana they had to again call the hotel even though they told us once again that it was fixed. Couldn't use counter services, no snack credits. What a mess.

And finally we check out. Needless to say we felt screwed out of our money, and we brought lots of family with us for this trip, rented the GV using 3 years of points for us, and they still couldnt' get it right after 5 nights.

We have a segmented reservation for October that I booked before this trip, and I will be cancelling that one and making it just one. I refuse to go through the hassle it was, the wasted time at the front desk (at least 6 hours of standing at the front desk trying to sort it out). Not being able to use our dining plan correctly. Front desk blamed the way DVC booked it and also their new system upgrade that noone knew how to use.

Just wanted to share my experience with this new "system". Anyone else go on a new "segmented" trip?

*UPDATE*
I sent the email to DVC member satisfaction 12/15/10. By the end of day 12/17/10 a member satisfaction rep called my husband and they talked for about 20 minutes regarding the whole stay. We ended up getting half of our points back for the vacation, which we are very happy about! So we spoke with our family and half of them can make it back next year, so we are taking them back again for a week using the points we got back from Disney!

We are very happy we got compensated for this, and we are thrilled that we can take some of our family back to try it again LOL...Yay to DVC for a prompt response! DVC has redeemed themselves to us!

 

[disneymath]

Wow, I'm sorry that happened to you. Talk about frustrating.

 

[bookwormde]

Unfortunatley AKL is mostly CRO so they for the most part do not know the finner points of DVC.

If it ever happens again just call the DVC number and do a way call to get it straightened out. The most dangerouse thing to do is to let the front desk mess with a DVC reservation, even before the DDP issues it was almost always a disaster.

bookwormde

 

[manning]

You're lucky. I went to charge something to the room and found out I was checked out 3 days early. Was that fun. Had to threaten them with law suit to get those 3 days back. Kept getting the "everything is booked" I think my last words were, "do we do it the hard way or the easy way."

 

[n2mm]

OP, how terrible. Thanks for being a test pilot for us! Looks like you had a combo of problems from a new program and a major computer upgrade. Strangely most of us understand exactly what you were doing, along with MS, but some CMs unfamiliar with DVC and it's rules and program, just don't get it. I tried to keep mine simple by adding the delux ddp to just my first day of my 14 night reservation and my first day was an add on which was linked after getting it via waitlist. My situation "should" be simple and I'm well aware that I will most likely have to go back the next morning and recheckin. I hope mine goes smoother than yours. It hurt my head just reading your situation. I sure hope you write to MS about this because your feedback will help alot!

 

[alicat07]

Unfortunatley AKL is mostly CRO so they for the most part do not know the finner points of DVC.

If it ever happens again just call the DVC number and do a way call to get it straightened out. The most dangerouse thing to do is to let the front desk mess with a DVC reservation, even before the DDP issues it was almost always a disaster.

bookwormde

Funny thing is, we had to get a manager involved at the first check in, then at the end because by the day before we were due to check out, it still was totally screwed up. The manager was *supposedly* on the phone with DVC to rebook our reservation, so we thought it should have been correct. I have NO IDEA what they did because after getting home, I checked my DVC acct for my trip details, and my points were all kinds of screwy in my account!

 

[alicat07]

I sure hope you write to MS about this because your feedback will help alot!

Thanks We have a letter going out next week about it all. It was just a nightmare for us, and with 8 people in our room, it was just terrible that they couldn't get it straight for us. They are the ones who told us at check in it wasn't possible, so even though that meant more money from every person in our room, we finally agreed after it took them an HOUR at check in to still not be able to get it straight. We wasted SO much time at that front desk for it to just be screwed up. There were mornings we went down there to once again square it away, and another hour would go by and it still wasn't fixed. We literally have 4 room keys for all the times they had to "rebook" our reservation. The night of our Le Cellier 9:15p ressie, we were at the front desk to work it out at 6:30p, and would you know it that at 8:30p it STILL was messed up! My husband finally started yelling at them that we had to get going and we just left them there supposedly working on our vacation.

 

[lugnut33]

You need to get ahold of the DVC satifaction team and tell them what happened.... if you can keep it all straight. What a terrible experience. Sorry.

 

[alicat07]

Just wanted to update everyone. We were supposed to receive a credit for all those snacks, CS, and meals that we had to pay out of pocket, and our final bill showed the credit of these items. My husband and I sat down 2 nights ago to go over everything in our credit cards to make sure they match up, and of course, we never got the credit when we checked out. So we are missing almost $700 that we paid out of pocket. Just called the billing department and systems are down today, so we will have to wait on our credit.

 

[delmar411]

this may not have been a DVC issue at all. Your complaint about the room keys and dining credits is the same as many CRO guests at all of the hotels. It was the computer upgrade that did this to the room keys and dining credits.

I hope MS is able to get your points straightened out and your dining plan money back without much further hassle.

 

[disfanforlife]

So sorry to hear how much aggrevation it cause you. I know how frustrating it must have been to take time out of your vacation trying to straighten it out. Sometimes, it doesn't seem worth the trouble. I don't think I will try to split mine ever. I would totally stress out going through what you did over it. We do get the regular dining plan every trip and will most likely continue to do so.

 

[thepops]

I'd still send an e-mail to the DVC satisfaction team and let them see what they can do to help.

 

[castleri]

We also checked in the 28th and when we had the QSDP added on the 29th they said that MS had not put the reservation in correctly and that they had to unlink the days which they did. We ended up with 3 room keys for our 4 night stay and also had the invalid room key issue during that time. I had requested a room print out the night before the computers were going down so had all kinds of documentation when I had to dispute the fact that I was charged twice for the nights we did have the plan. They did fix that very quickly after i finally convinced the CM on the phone that i did not have the same amount of incidentals as the DP cost. The second charge was in three parts and was listed as something like DVC room only - a really strange set of numbers also that added exactly to the cost of the DP which I had paid for before arriving at AKV. I believe many people had problems with the room keys as there was someone at the desk when I walked by on the 1st stating rather loudly that their room key did not work and they had been waiting 25 minutes for someone to get them a new one. Be sure to check your room statements carefully.

 

[alicat07]

Thanks guys! It took a WHILE for us to get everything down on paper...what I shared here was a VERY abridged version...we had a LOT more problems with this than what I had posted, but didn't want anyone to have to read any longer than I already had typed LOL...but I did just send out the email to the DVC Satisfaction team and will be sending the same letter to Disney guest relations.

I hope it gets resolved soon. I called Disney today to talk about the credit they owe us, but the systems are going through another upgrade. They said they will call me back later on this afternoon. Thanks everyone, I just wanted to share this experience.

 

[alicat07]

We also checked in the 28th and when we had the QSDP added on the 29th they said that MS had not put the reservation in correctly and that they had to unlink the days which they did. We ended up with 3 room keys for our 4 night stay and also had the invalid room key issue during that time. I had requested a room print out the night before the computers were going down so had all kinds of documentation when I had to dispute the fact that I was charged twice for the nights we did have the plan. They did fix that very quickly after i finally convinced the CM on the phone that i did not have the same amount of incidentals as the DP cost. The second charge was in three parts and was listed as something like DVC room only - a really strange set of numbers also that added exactly to the cost of the DP which I had paid for before arriving at AKV. I believe many people had problems with the room keys as there was someone at the desk when I walked by on the 1st stating rather loudly that their room key did not work and they had been waiting 25 minutes for someone to get them a new one. Be sure to check your room statements carefully.

Thanks for this!! We actually asked for print outs and they weren't able to give them to us. But I think we asked too late, because we started having problems on the 30th, and it was just a disaster after that. And when they rebooked us the 4 times, they sometimes checked us out and then rechecked us in under a different reservation, and my CC was charged (I found out after I got home and checked my CC statement) for the room charges each time we "checked out". They did this yet they weren't able to give me a print out of our usage and room info??? We also had 4 keys for our 5 night stay. One of the "rebookings" was even rebooked under my sister's name for whatever reason, and we got a print out of what dining credits should have been available and it was still MAJORLY wrong.

Would you believe that we also JUST got in the mail, a postcard from Disney and DVC addressed to and thanking MY SISTER for her recent vacation with them, and to take a survey on her experience?! They probably sent it to her at our address because her name was on the booking for 12 hours LOL....but WE didn't get a postcard thanking US LMAO

 

[ILuvMulan]

Good grief!!! What a nightmareSending some pixie dust your way in hopes they get everything straightened out and you get all of your money back The really bad part is that you had so many family members with you. That must have been extremely frustrating. I am sure none of your family members are going to be rushing out to purchase a DVC membership any time soon. Seems like it could have been handled much better.

 

[walkdmc]

That sounds dreadful. I can only imagine the planning gymnastics one has to go through to arrange for 8 people in a GV and dining reservations. How frustrating to have to figure out which nights you want the DxDP vs. the DDP only to find out all that planning was for naught.

I hope you report your experience to CS so that someone else may be spared the hassles. (I don't usually jump on the "you deserve a comp for the inconvenience" bandwagon but I've seen people get comped for meals for much less trouble than it sounds like you went through).

Edit: I have internet ADD and often don't read all the posts before I respond. OP, I see you have already notified MS and Disney about the issues with your stay. I wish you the best in getting the credit you so rightly deserve.

 

[permavac]

OP - I have been asking about examples on some other peep's threads regarding this split dining plan business and its execution and your story is even worse than I was afraid of! My chief concern is having to go to the front desk to check-in for new cards everyday. Your horrible experience is a whole new level of nightmare! Will have to see if these first few problems experienced by guests are still part of the "upgrade", but if these types of stories continue in this vein then split dining is a must NOT do for us! Thanks for sharing,

Terri

 

[Alexander]

That sounds dreadful. I can only imagine the planning gymnastics one has to go through to arrange for 8 people in a GV and dining reservations. How frustrating to have to figure out which nights you want the DxDP vs. the DDP only to find out all that planning was for naught.

I hope you report your experience to CS so that someone else may be spared the hassles. (I don't usually jump on the "you deserve a comp for the inconvenience" bandwagon but I've seen people get comped for meals for much less trouble than it sounds like you went through).

Edit: I have internet ADD and often don't read all the posts before I respond. OP, I see you have already notified MS and Disney about the issues with your stay. I wish you the best in getting the credit you so rightly deserve.

Do they offer special help for people with this? I could use one!

 

[rlduvall]

OMG! I just got back from a 7 night stay at AKV with a heavily segmented reservation [due to cobbling together a December visit] and had the exact same problem! I was so frustrated. It started at check in when they had the wrong number of adults in the room and they couldn't figure it out - eventually they realized my friend's name was on the reservation twice, duh. How hard was that to figure out?

Then, because I didn't have the DDP the first 2 nights, I was informed it messed everything up with the new system trying to interact with the old system and they couldn't get the DDP to show for the last 5 nights - even though they could see it was paid for. I could go into all the long and aggravating details . . . but it's not good for my blood pressure. I was at the Concierge desk [and I must say the majority of them have such an arrogant attitude] for a total of no less than 5 times, an hour each time.

Finally, a Manager, who just happened to be going up and down the Concierge line asking if anyone had questions, intervened in our situation and while it was still problematic and we did lose some counter service and snack credits [last day, not worth arguing for], he did credit us a nice monetary amount for the hassle. He was wonderful to work with and I finally felt like someone cared. I don't feel like it would be appropriate to complain to the DVC Member Satisfaction Team because of that. BUT, do you know how embarrassing/irritating it is to wonder if everytime you try to use your room key for the DDP it will work?

Also, they serviced our studio no less than 3x for a 7 night stay. They kept having us checking out when a new segment would start. I have never had this much problems with a DVC reservation. I can honestly say I didn't enjoy my girls only trip very much because of all these issues and the nasty cold weather [I'm not blaming Disney for that]

I need a Disney break.

Edited to add: Originally, the front desk said if we continued to have problems to just charge to the room and they could transfer the credits. But, the 2x we tried that, the restaurants said it wouldn't accept the charge - even though our keys [cut 3 different times] said Valid for Charging!!! I need some serious counseling after this trip.