Venting about a CM at the Fort.

[disneystick]

Love the Fort...not the CM that I had to deal with.

I felt I had to let you know about how upsetting it was this past vacation while staying at the Fort. First off, a little background about me.
1. Been coming to Disney since 1986, every other year, est. total of visiting almost 20 times
2. Join DVC in 2003 and have gone every year since
3. Took my Girl Scout troop here in spring, 2008 stayed at the Fort, F&W in Nov. 2008 and then at the Fort from Dec. 29-Jan. 2 with my Boy Scout Venture Crew.

So as you can see I LOVE Disney and have taken many of my friends and family there. Always had GREAT service and Disney has always exceeded my expectations. However, not this time at the Fort
When I made reservations, I wanted from Dec. 29 for 5 nights...only could get 4 nights. Kept calling and finally a day or two before we were to arrive...someone cancelled and I was able to book the night of Jan. 2 as a room only. The first 4 nights and days at the Fort was wonderful as usually...everything was perfect and everybody was helpful. I was told I had to check out on Jan. 2 and then check in again but was able to stay at the same campsite. Great news...willing to do this, no problem. So on Jan. 2 did as I was told.

Then the problem started:
1. I was told my room key for the first 4 nights...had 9 Table, 7 Quick and 14 snacks on it still...go ahead and use that card and we have until midnight to redeem all the meals and snacks. No problem...done this many times before.
2. Went to Trails End to eat breakfast after checking out and checking in....used my old card as told.....my old card did not work.
3. People at the Trails End...called the Fort front desk to figure out why not...Fort told them we had no meals left....after waiting 45 min. on the phone...even tried 7 dining cards of others in my party...no card worked
4. I called Guest Relations...they looked up my account and inform me that I indeed still have 9 Table, 7 Quick and 14 snacks....just let Trails End know to call them...
5. I instead handed my cell phone to Trails End and they were able to use some of my Table Service
6. Trails End told me to go back to Front Desk at Fort and have them cut me new cards for the everybody in my party because all the old cards did not work
7. Went to Front desk at Fort....They told me they could not cut me new cards and just gave me a business card with their number on it...every time I need to charge a meal/snack from my plan...have the folks call them to confirm
8. I was not happy with this...since, I know that snacks location did not all have phones...but now 2 hrs. in trying to get my meals resolved...willing to do this
9. Went to Magic Kingdom on our last vacation day, Friday, Jan. 2....went to test out meal at Casey's Hot Dog location to get to snacks...once again, my old card for meals did not work...and when they tried to just charge to the card it would not let them charge it either.
10. Casey took business card and called the Fort as the directions I was given to do at meals location
11. Casey called Fort...Fort said NO meals left on dining
12. NOW...I'm upset!!!!! Thank goodness...a lead at Casey saw how upset I was and offered to walk with me to Guest Relations at Magic K.
13. Another hour spent there....they research and agreed with me...that Now I still have 7 Table, 9 Quick and 14 snacks left...(Casey's went and did not charge us for the 2 drinks....since, they saw how upset I was with my card not working....very nice of them...and as usually...great guest relations here)
14. However, they cannot cut me new cards with the left over meals on them...because, new cards have already been cut for me...and they have no idea where they are.
15. They suggest that I just go ahead and charge all my snacks, TB, QS on my working new card for the Jan. 2 night and the Fort will reimburse me. OK...finally, a solution that sounds workable...after 3 hrs. into my last vacation day.
16. Charged 6 snacks, 7 QS on my card at Magic Kingdom
17. Went to eat at Cape May that night....gave them both my old card/new card/business card with the Fort number and told them what has happened....as we were being seated to make sure this allowed them time
18. Manager at Cape May...after 1.25 hr. of being on the phone still....after eating, now we are ready to go back to Magic Kingdom...Manager still on phone with Guest Relations/Fort and decided to just charge it to my new card key since old one did work and gave me receipt to sign and told me....yes...they charge to my room...but will credit me back...once they resolved with the Fort since, they are still on phone with Fort and did not want to hold me up in returning back to Magic K. (once again, great service as usual and very understanding of our frustrations)
19. 6 of us went back to Magic...I decided to go back to Fort and get this resolved once and for all
20. 8:00 p.m. Walked up to Concierge/Dining...told my story again for the fifth time...handed her all my receipts for the 6 snacks, 7 QS, 7 TB used and wanted to make sure that I get credit for it back...even have 8 snacks left that was going to be used at Magic that night
21. She goes to the back room...return 15 min. later and inform me that, "so sorry....you used your new card to charge all your meals and not your old card and we cannot give you credit for doing this"
22. Talk about truly being VERY UPSET!!!!!!!!
23. I informed her...did you not hear what I told you about how my old card showed no meals on it left and would not let me charge anything back to my room...and this was how Guest Relations told me to do it at the Fort and Guest Relations at Magic Kingdom? I ask to speak to her manager
24. Hear reply...well when my manager comes out they are just going to tell you the same thing I did...we cannot give you credit for all the meals you charged on your new card...because our system shows that your old card should work just fine.
25. I ask to speak to her manager again
26. She goes to the back room...15 minutes again she comes out and says, '"Well it shows that Cape May was able to charge you for your last 7 TB and have already credit your account...so your old card was working just fine.
27. My respond...if working just fine...why do I have the signed receipt that they gave me that showed it was charged to my new room....since, when I left they have not resolved my TB credit yet? Once, again I ask to speak to the manager
28. She goes back....and this time 10 minutes went by....she comes out and says....well fine, we will credit you for you 7 QS meals and 6 snacks that you charge to your new card....but the left over 8 snacks....are now void and we will not honor it....if you try to use it.
29. What? I have until midnight to use my 8 snacks up...and you won't honor it?
30. Will not honor it?....and I just said, FINE!!!! Because I am soooooo mad and very afraid of saying something very nasty.
31. In fact...the lady next to me was also having problems with her card....her QS/Snacks worked on her card but not her TB services for meals and she had to have them fix it.

I know this is not the normal for Disney...but I also know I should have not gone thru 4 hrs. of frustrations to only have a Cast Member at the Fort tell me I was lying about not being able to use my card(s) and by following what 2 Guest Relations told me to do was not the correct proceedure as far as the Fort was concern.

I have been a loyal Disney Fan and wish to prevent another situaution like this from happening again to me or any one else in the future.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I am hoping Disney will respond to my letter.

 

[cruising spud]

Disneystick,

I feel your pain. We, too, love Disney, but also ran into similar trouble this past summer. We arrived at the fort, paid for our campsite, and had a great vacation. Upon checkout, I was told that we owed $55 for our pet. Two things in my favor (at least I thought so at the beginning of this mess)-I had not given Disney credit card privileges, so they didn't have my credit card number(we had paid with travelers checks) and I had kept the receipt, which showed that we had paid for our pet. And, we had stayed for fifteen days, not the eleven the $55 would imply-so, I figured, a mistake. Simple, right? Thirty minutes later, I am still standing at the front desk, while the CM runs back to her manager again and again, saying I have to pay this $55, but not be able to tell me where the figure comes from. I guess my staying power was greater than hers, because she finally, after an hour, cancelled out our "debt." Go figure.

 

[auntie]

What a mess! I'm sorry this happened to you, certainly doesn't sound very "magical".

 

[AuburnJen92]

disneystick, see my pm

it will make you feel better

 

[ftwildernessguy]

See, this is why I don't do the meal plans. It looks like a significant part of your vacation was spent dealing with the plan and an associated problem. I mean, how much time did you spend at guest relations instead of enjoying yourself?

 

[TxTink :)]

Wow- that sounds absolutely terrible. Sorry for your ordeal.

 

[phins_jazy]

What a mess! That stinks!

 

[livndisney]

My favorite Fort story- We stayed at the cabins for 14 days. We paid all but 2 days before we checked in. We checked in, gave them our card for the remaining two days and went on our merry way. The day we are checking out we received a bill. No Big deal, I expect to see a charge for 2 days and maybe some minor other charges. I open the bill and see 1400.00 of my charges charged to a credit card I don't have!!!!!! So I call the front desk and explain to them 1) the room charges were already paid and 2) 1400.00 was charged to a card that is not mine. Not one CM seemed "concerned" that they were charging the wrong person. The reply was "don't worry about it. IF someone complains about charges that do not belong to them, THEN they will look into it"

Needless to say I asked for a Manager. By the time it was all over the Manager was offering me a job retrainging his CM's and for being helpful in sorting it all out.

OP-I am sorry this happened.

 

[Judy Judy Judy]

OP that's one reason that I'm weary about getting dining plan. I'm not sure in the end if it's even worth all that trouble.

cruising spud- I would flip if I had to pay twice for my pet, I'm already throwing a fit over the 5 $ a day charge as it it, I think it's stupid for a campground to charge a pet fee, it not like they are staying in their rooms.

 

[disneystick]

See, this is why I don't do the meal plans. It looks like a significant part of your vacation was spent dealing with the plan and an associated problem. I mean, how much time did you spend at guest relations instead of enjoying yourself?

4 Hours to be exact dealing with Guest Relations. We have used dining plans many times before and never had any problems...saved us quite a bit of money since, we really enjoyed the sit down places....Beginning to think better off using the Tables in Wonderland card instead?

Still for the CM at the Fort to even tell me, "You don't understand Disney's system"
Heck, I think I was was understanding the "Disney System" when she was still in diapers!"

 

[lisa8200]

Still for the CM at the Fort to even tell me, "You don't understand Disney's system"
Heck, I think I was was understanding the "Disney System" when she was still in diapers!"

Sorry this had to happen, I hope its not a sign of the future. People normally think of Disney as the place where if something goes wrong, they will make it right.
Hardly anything annoys me as much as someone telling me what I need to do when in a situation and then the next person downing me for doing it and telling me how its my fault..If I took it upon myself to do something and I manage to make a situation un-fixable then fine but, If someone in the know tells me what to do, I will come unhinged on the person that treats me like a moron for doing what I was told.

 

[lisa8200]

Still for the CM at the Fort to even tell me, "You don't understand Disney's system"
Heck, I think I was was understanding the "Disney System" when she was still in diapers!"

Sorry this had to happen, I hope its not a sign of the future. People normally think of Disney as the place where if something goes wrong, they will make it right.
Hardly anything annoys me as much as someone telling me what I need to do when in a situation and then the next person downing me for doing it and telling me how its my fault..If I took it upon myself to do something and I manage to make a situation un-fixable then fine but, If someone in the know tells me what to do, I will come unhinged on the person that treats me like a moron for doing what I was told.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Oh, gosh, this is reminding me about what happened on our December trip. I had booked this trip (Dec. 3rd to 12th) in APRIL, and paid in full at the time. (I had the money, so I paid it all.) Well, when we checked in, they said I still owed most of the money (basically as though I had just paid a deposit). I had booked directly through Disney and had paid by cheque. One cheque, for the full amount.

Nearly TWO HOURS later and after much back and forth, they finally get things figured out, or so I am told. Everything is fine, we check in, go to our room. I put down a credit card for charges to the room. Big mistake.

The morning we check out, ten days later, we get the bill on our doorknob. We are heading out for breakfast at Chef Mickey's and a last day in the parks. I nearly have a heart attack because I see that they have charged the amount they told me was all taken care of to my credit card!!!! I was so upset! So - back to reservations. The person there says there is NO RECORD of what happened at check-in, nothing to indicate there was a mistake that was resolved, just that I owed this money so they put it on my card.

The manager isn't even in yet so nobody can do anything. We go over to Chef Mickey's but we're not really in the mood to enjoy it! I kept calling back to try and get the manager. Finally, the manager comes in and I go over the whole story again. Eventually it gets resolved. I decided I wanted something in writing this time, so that I'm not trying to deal with it from Canada. So instead of going to the park, we headed back to the Fort again so I could get a reciept and letter confirming that I didn't owe anything.

So we lost several hours on the first day and again on the last day getting everything sorted out. SO frustrating!!!!

Teresa

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I feel a lot of tension in the thread today. A disturbance in the force, if you will. So to alleviate the anxiety, I offer you FWGuy's worry free vacation plan.

1. Use no credit cards, except for the initial room only reservation. This way, only the deposit goes on the card and it's paid for well before your vacation. It also eliminates the frustration of having to pay a big charge bill after the fun of the vacation is over. Pay for the campsite cash at check in, and get a receipt. No surprises when you check out.

2. Don't allow charges on the room key. Same reason - no charge bills later, and no surprises. It also allows you to control spending better.

3. Avoid dining plans. Everyone, and I mean everyone I have talked to who has used the dining plans has spent a HUGE amount of time planning meals, and spends a good portion of the day making sure they can get to the restaurant on time, not to mention the worry about using all the snack credits the last day. And if you think the CM's aren't annoyed by the plans, I know a few and I'd like to meet one who isn't. Once again, decide where you want to eat, go there and pay cash. It's fast, easy and no worries about how many credits you are using.

So there it is. I know there are the non believers among you who will resist. All I can say is, I have vacationed at WDW with the no charge/cash only policy for 25 years and I have never had the issues the above posters have. It takes a little planning in advance, but not much, and you need someone in your party who is responsible and won't lose the cash, but man, am I glad I haven't had a vacation ruined with improper charges or unused snack credits.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

You know what, you're right. I can tell you I won't attach a credit card to my room key again.

Teresa

 

[stacktester]

Jim is right. I did the dining plan over Thanksgiving and trying to get to all the ressies on time is a PITA. I will never do it again. One thing I do do, is I have a credit card with a $1k limit that I pretty much use exclusively for Disney, camping and vacation type stuff. I put charging privilages on my KTTW card because I hate pulling out cash everytime I want a coke, water or snack. I check the charges on check out to make sure all is ok. Never had a problem with OP's problems but I hate that you spent all those hours wasted when you shoulda been having fun.

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

OP, sorry to hear about your troubles. We are using the ddp for the first time on our upcoming trip in a couple of weeks, wish us luck! Hope you had a fun time anyway!

 

[auntie]

I know when Bob and I traveled alone to Disney...we didn't use the dining plan. We did have the dining experience card, where we saved 20% on meals and thought that was a great option for us.

However. when we went with the entire family, we don't always travel at the same time to the same parks. We found having the dining plan was actually convenient. If a couple of the kids were in one park and wanted to have lunch or a snack, they had their card. We weren't concerned if they had money. When we travel as a family we usually have at least one table service meal a day..it wasn't that big a deal to make 7 ADR's. Honestly..we even skipped a couple and changed our minds while there without any issues. Of course we've been to Disney many times, so we have a pretty good idea of where we'd like to eat and when.
We didn't lock ourselves into eating somewhere just because we had an ADR. Our kids are older, and I supposed we're more flexible as far as where we eat, and the times we eat. My husband was thrilled with the dining plan. He didn't find himself opening his wallet every other minute. (Jeeze, he thought I invented it or something ...he kept saying "this dining thing you got us is great!)...I naturally took all the credit!) Also..when you have the dining plan it's booked as a package, and it's all paid for before you leave anyway. Of course now the plan doesn't include appetizers or the tip..so I'm not so thrilled with its value. Although they also offer a counter service dining plan now..that would probably be great for families that don't always eat every meal together.
It seems the OP's problems with the plan was that there were two seperate check in's. At some point the seond check in voided out the dining credits they had left on their first set of cards. Why this would be such a problem
is beyond me. I'd think that they encounter this type of thing pretty often.
I'm thinking that FW staff has less experience in dealing with this. Just my feeling that not as many of their guests are using the dining plan, as opposed to those in the resorts. Maybe their front desk castmembers aren't as knowledgable as they should be.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

See, I knew someone was going to blow me out of the water. So Phyllis, you trying to tell me you didn't spend a good part of your day keeping track of meal credits and didn't end up on the last day grabbing anything you could at the hotel gift shop to use up snack credits?

 

[Paradise East]

I'm confused ...

Are not credit cards accepted for payment of dining in the various restaurants in the parks or do they only accept cash?

Dave