Updated w/ Disney response. Confirmation email and reciept are jokes! Beware

[sethschroeder]

I travel a lot for my job, both in the US and in other countries. Not a single time has it happened that I made a reservation and when I showed up the price was different or the number of nights was different. I almost 100% of the time use the webpages (online vendor point of sales) to get these rooms reserved. I never go and double check the rates, I never go and call and make sure they had me down for 4 nights and not 2, and the only time I ever use their system to look at my reservation again is when I have to go in and cancel one. Why is it so hard for Disney to do this? They used to pride themselves on how much better they were than anyone else, now I don't see it as much. I leave for FL in a few days and we are flying into Orlando even and the mouse is not getting any of our $$'s this trip, we are doing other things.

Not only are their systems flaky, but the customer service sounds like it is not a priority anymore either. Just sayin.....

Have fun on your trip.

To your point though this is NOT a customer service issue. This is 100% an IT issue. Customer service can do a lot to keep a customer happy. Possibly they can give a welcome basket or something but its very doubtful that they have the ability just to say "okay, here is 2 free nights". It sounds like this is slowly going up the chain and someone might have the power to give the 2 free nights but I don't think its required to have good customer service but they should do something.

Also with all this business travel have you ever went up to your room and had someone already in it because the system screwed up and put 2 people in the same room? I have heard of this across hotel chains and across the US happening to people, not a pricing or number of nights thing but its still an issue.

 

[ziravan]

The average satisfied customer tells 1-3 people about their experience. The average unsatisfied customer tells 10 or more.

The OP has told 13,117 people, and counting, about her experience. The $700 savings Disney kept by not making this right yields a savings of 0.05 cents per negative social media impression, and counting. The final total will likely be twice that.

Negative impressions stick harder and longer than positive ones do. Letting this fester without a positive solution says as much about the current status of the company as the original complaint.

The sooner Disney makes this right, the sooner the bleeding stops. Disney reads this board. THIS thread merits the attention of your supervisor. And his. And hers.

 

[flatlandcycle]

No its not... This is only the case when dealing with non-reasonable people. A reasonable person would understand that the price was too good to be true.

A

I am unreasonable by your definition. I have no idea what the room rates are. I can get quoted for parking-lot-view, in season, out of season but, Marathon season, monorail down season, pool construction season... I get discounts all the time. If you add in the foamy-jello desert plan, I wouldn't come close to predicting what my stay should cost. I would rely totally on the check-out-button price.

From a purely ethical position the OP needs to pay for the extra two days. From the Disney "Computers are Hard," point of view they should comp the OP the two extra days for the hassle.

 

[PlutoMars]

The average satisfied customer tells 1-3 people about their experience. The average unsatisfied customer tells 10 or more.

The OP has told 13,117 people, and counting, about her experience. The $700 savings Disney kept by not making this yields a savings of 0.50 cents per negative social media impression, and counting. The final total will likely be half that.

The sooner Disney makes this right, the sooner the bleeding stops. Disney reads this board. THIS thread merits the attention of your supervisor. And his. And hers.

And just because someone else has a negative experience in regards to something with a reservation system that in truth they may or may not have contributed to does not mean that I will have that same experience with a company.

Also, there are scammers out there using social media. Again look at KFC being drug through the mud for something that never happened. And then there was that waitress who said she was denied a tip because of her orientation that also turned out to be a scam.

And as a recent thread on here about tripadvisor reviews has demonstrated not every perceived negative experience is to be taken at face value.

 

[MeridaLove]

There have been so many valid points made on this thread. To add my 2 cents, I'd have to say:

1) I truly believe the vast majority of people who book online would not question the price they received on their booking (or if it was a little less - would certainly not try to argue it if the dates showing were correct. Save me a few hundred bucks? Don't mind if I do!)

2) For several reasons, Disney is not obligated to honour the price they gave. HOWEVER - for many more significant reasons they should have. This is one of the many good reasons for booking with a TA. A TA will fight these issues on your behalf (and take on the time committment, frustration, etc.) and generally has a little bit more leverage behind them to do so (one client unhappy versus a whole book of clients being represented)

3) For me the point is not whether or not the OP should have paid the original price or not, but that she was made "promises" by Disney not once, but TWICE and then these were not fulfilled. That's unacceptable customer service. At this point, it really boils down to what your time/frustration is worth and whether you want to take what they offer and let it go or take it to the top and fight for a better service experience. Whatever works for you!

Just my VERY humble opinion

 

[ziravan]

And just because someone else has a negative experience in regards to something with a reservation system that in truth they may or may not have contributed to does not mean that I will have that same experience with a company.

Also, there are scammers out there using social media. Again look at KFC being drug through the mud for something that never happened. And then there was that waitress who said she was denied a tip because of her orientation that also turned out to be a scam.

And as a recent thread on here about tripadvisor reviews has demonstrated not every perceived negative experience is to be taken at face value.

I agree with your points but don't believe they apply. There is enough here that enough people can reasonably interpret that Disney's response has been less than magical, for it to create validity. Especially since it reinforces a perceived trend in customer service.

Disney should make this right. They have a customer willing to spend four grand for a trip, plus whatever they spend in the park, and they're going to tank that and reinforce a negative image in the minds of thousands of readers - all for a few hundred bucks.

To me, the ultimate story here is the ending. That is up to Disney.

 

[AngiTN]

They don't. Those dates usually just mimic the trip dates. If you have a split stay the area dates would include the full stay, but if you just called up and booked something today both sets of dates would be the same. Whether you're doing a split stay or not both sets of dates need to be input.

It's really not that hard to comprehend. Like I said, they genuinely serve no reasonable purpose being there, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I'm not really trying to get on your case about it, but I genuinely detest people calling CMs liars when they aren't. There's enough CMs getting a bad rap for legitimate reasons.

When you book online I don't believe that happens. When you book via phone, sure, maybe. But in this case, you enter dates online that correspond to when you intend to check in and check out. When it's an electronic booking the "in area dates" can simply not apply. Not calling the CM a liar so much as wrong. That explanation can not apply in this case.

No hacking, just a simple mistake of the two sets of dates not matching. The two sets should always match. Some CMs will make the area dates broad so they do not have to change those dates every time a guest changes resort dates when checking on pricing or availability. This allows a faster response time ( you pull up two calendars, arrival/departure, rather than four) but after the guest decides on a set resort date the area dates are matched as well.

That's why Disney records calls. Every call ends in a recap where every aspect of the reservation is reviewed. I am sure the OP was told the seven day stay. The resort stay, not the area arrival dates are shown in recap. The OP must have misheard the dates.

All fine and good. If OP had booking on the phone. OP said they booking online, no phone calls till after the error was found.

 

[ziravan]

13,847. Another 700 readers, this hour alone.

 

[fbb]

The OP has told 13,117 people, and counting, about her experience. The $700 savings Disney kept by not making this right yields a savings of 0.50 cents per negative social media impression, and counting. The final total will likely be twice that.

Negative impressions stick harder and longer than positive ones do. Letting this fester without a positive solution says as much about the current status of the company as the original complaint.

The sooner Disney makes this right, the sooner the bleeding stops. Disney reads this board. THIS thread merits the attention of your supervisor. And his. And hers.

We should not assume this event disposes everyone who reads it negatively towards Disney.

 

[aaarcher86]

When you book online I don't believe that happens. When you book via phone, sure, maybe. But in this case, you enter dates online that correspond to when you intend to check in and check out. When it's an electronic booking the "in area dates" can simply not apply. Not calling the CM a liar so much as wrong. That explanation can not apply in this case. All fine and good. If OP had booking on the phone. OP said they booking online, no phone calls till after the error was found.

I wouldn't have any doubt that the system just auto fills in those dates. Citing that issue as a glitch (which absolutely happens) in this case makes too much sense. She could have easily just said 'it's a glitch' with no other clarification. When someone calls from booking online there are still area arrival dates when the CM looks up the reservation. The internal system doesn't change because it's was done online. It's genuinely the only thing that makes sense in reasoning for her to get an email with 9 nights priced for 7. I assume the CM just pulled up the reservation and saw the dates didn't match.

And sorry, saying the CM pulled something out of her *** is just an impolite way if calling her a liar.

It's not that big of a deal, and I'm genuinely surprised they didn't just comp the. It's and call it a day, but like I said I just don't like people being called liars when they a) aren't and b) it sounds like the woman is trying to get this resolved in any capacity she can.

 

[aaarcher86]

13,847. Another 700 readers, this hour alone.

You're acting like those numbers represent people canceling reservations. This won't be the last time someone writes something negative about Disney and their customer service, and it's certainly not the first. Yet, their attendance continues to go up and their prices continue to increase.

 

[asmit4]

I've read all the posts and I still cannot wrap my head around why so many people think the OP is 'unreasonable, should have known better, just wanted to get a fabulous deal'....

I have a girlfriend who is booking a trip for 2015. She has never been to disney. She has NO clue what a value resort costs, or mod or deluxe. So say she goes online and books her trip for 9 nights...and comes to a price- 3900...she pays the bill. Not everyone is nearly as disney savvy as DIS members. Is she also not reasonable because she didn't price check each item individually?

We aren't talking about $8 computers here or $5 dishwashers....in those instances everyone knows it's a mistake. I believe in this disney scenario a good portion of society would genuinely not know a mistake was made.

 

[ziravan]

We should not assume this event disposes everyone who reads it negatively towards Disney.

Agreed, but there are thousands of readers here. So, if it ONLY disposes half of the readers negatively, then ONLY thousands of people will be reinforced with a negative impression by this.

 

[Kalea]

The average satisfied customer tells 1-3 people about their experience. The average unsatisfied customer tells 10 or more.

The OP has told 13,117 people, and counting, about her experience. The $700 savings Disney kept by not making this right yields a savings of 0.50 cents per negative social media impression, and counting. The final total will likely be twice that.

Negative impressions stick harder and longer than positive ones do. Letting this fester without a positive solution says as much about the current status of the company as the original complaint.

The sooner Disney makes this right, the sooner the bleeding stops. Disney reads this board. THIS thread merits the attention of your supervisor. And his. And hers.

Don't assume everyone is walking away from this thread with the same opinion.

I'm one of the readers (or more than one depending on how the counter works). It's my opinion that Disney went above and beyond to fix this situation. Nothing I've seen in here today would dissuade me from visiting.

I've had airlines do far more inconvenient things to me and offer less in compensation.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I guess I am confused. I read the OP's post a couple of times. She says she looked at rates online and booked, then she received her confirmation email and linked to MDX.

I get the impression she called to book. Is this incorrect? Usually you do not have to link a reservation booked online to MDX because you are booking through MDX.

 

[ziravan]

You're acting like those numbers represent people canceling reservations. This won't be that's time someone writes something negative about Disney and their customer service, and it's certainly not the first. Yet, their attendance continues to go up and their prices continue to increase.

No, but I know something about internet advertising. Disney pays dollars per click through without batting an eye. 0.05/click (the cost of making this right versus page views), working its way quickly to 0.025/click, is a bargain for internet advertising.

Unfortunately, Disney is getting this bargain in bad press.

My math was off, by a factor of ten. A nickel a click through. WOW.

 

[asmit4]

I guess I am confused. I read the OP's post a couple of times. She says she looked at rates online and booked, then she received her confirmation email and linked to MDX.

I get the impression she called to book. Is this incorrect? Usually you do not have to link a reservation booked online to MDX because you are booking through MDX.

I think she went to make dinner reservations and found out.

 

[ilovemk76]

Have fun on your trip.

To your point though this is NOT a customer service issue. This is 100% an IT issue. Customer service can do a lot to keep a customer happy. Possibly they can give a welcome basket or something but its very doubtful that they have the ability just to say "okay, here is 2 free nights". It sounds like this is slowly going up the chain and someone might have the power to give the 2 free nights but I don't think its required to have good customer service but they should do something.

Also with all this business travel have you ever went up to your room and had someone already in it because the system screwed up and put 2 people in the same room? I have heard of this across hotel chains and across the US happening to people, not a pricing or number of nights thing but its still an issue.

I travel for business 3-4 days a week. I have had my room messed up. I do all the reservations online. One time I got the worst room in the hotel. It was not what I booked and certainly not worth the money that I paid. King bed room that ended up being the room behind the elevator with a full bed (only one bed). The room was half the size of the one I booked and the bathroom was about 40% smaller.

 

[wen8jr]

Well, thank goodness the OP found out about the error when trying to plan reservations. What if they didn't know until they arrived?

A lot of people just book a vacation and go and don't do a whole lot of planning like most here on the DIS.

This is Disney's fault, they should honor the package price on the receipt.

 

[norybell]

OP, just chiming in with some more support; I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. And I think most of the people giving you a hard time about it are being, frankly, disgusting (and also that many aren't reading your posts closely enough).

Sadly, I think the reservation clause quoted by sethschroeder ("All prices are in U.S. dollars and are subject to change until package is paid in full") probably means you don't have a legal case, but I still don't know what I'd do in your situation. I would certainly be tempted to make a stand, not for the sake of the 600ish dollars, but for the principle of the thing.

(And can I mention that the ice cream might actually make the situation worse? Talk about insulting!)

I cannot believe that Disney, gazillion-dollar company that they are, wouldn't just have honored their quoted price right off the bat. The fact that they didn't is beyond ridiculous. I agree that social media might be a good option...at the very least, send them the link to this thread.