Venting about Reservations phone call!

[Tricializ]

Arghhhhh!

48 minutes. That's right. 48 minutes it took to call Disney and add one person to my reservation. And, oh wait! It didn't work. Somehow they couldn't do it. First, I called to add my daughter who is joining us for 3 of the 7 days. They said I would have to add her for ALL of the days if I added her to the reservation. So, I thought, "Well, that is stupid to pay for 7 days when she is coming for 3" and thought I would buy her tickets later. Then I look online and see that it is $3.00 more to add her for the entire 7 days than to buy a 3 day magic your way pass. Considering I need to use the Magic Express for her to get to the airport, the additional $3.00 was worth putting her on the entire package even though she will only use 3 days of it. So, I call back. That's when the 48 minutes started. After 25 minutes, the lady comes back to me and says it's all set. I say ok and that I wanted to pay the balance. The trip is already paid for but I wanted to pay for my daughter's ticket additional money. She says, "You want to pay the balance?" I say yes and ask what the total is and she says, '!600 and blah blah". I was like, "WHAT!???" and told her that the trip was paid for. She tells me in a really snippy way, Well, I don't see any payments here. I told her that the trip was already paid for and I already had my travel documents. She then realizes that I am right and says (also in a snippy tone), "Well, then what do you want to pay for?" Uh duh!!!! I want to pay the additional cost of adding my daughter. Oh. She then tells me that the system won't even put her in the reservation and keeps kicking her out, so hold on. Another 20+ minutes on hold for her to tell me that she's going to have to have someone call me back. What the heck!!! That call though came quickly and all is set I hope. They were able to take my payment and we should be good to go. But, I just have to say that the level of competence lately on reservations has been a lot less than desired. Usually they are at least nice. This lady was a jerk. It definitely hurts some of the magic, you know?
Thanks for letting me vent.
Tricia

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Arghhhhh!

48 minutes. That's right. 48 minutes it took to call Disney and add one person to my reservation. And, oh wait! It didn't work. Somehow they couldn't do it. First, I called to add my daughter who is joining us for 3 of the 7 days. They said I would have to add her for ALL of the days if I added her to the reservation. So, I thought, "Well, that is stupid to pay for 7 days when she is coming for 3" and thought I would buy her tickets later. Then I look online and see that it is $3.00 more to add her for the entire 7 days than to buy a 3 day magic your way pass. Considering I need to use the Magic Express for her to get to the airport, the additional $3.00 was worth putting her on the entire package even though she will only use 3 days of it. So, I call back. That's when the 48 minutes started. After 25 minutes, the lady comes back to me and says it's all set. I say ok and that I wanted to pay the balance. The trip is already paid for but I wanted to pay for my daughter's ticket additional money. She says, "You want to pay the balance?" I say yes and ask what the total is and she says, '!600 and blah blah". I was like, "WHAT!???" and told her that the trip was paid for. She tells me in a really snippy way, Well, I don't see any payments here. I told her that the trip was already paid for and I already had my travel documents. She then realizes that I am right and says (also in a snippy tone), "Well, then what do you want to pay for?" Uh duh!!!! I want to pay the additional cost of adding my daughter. Oh. She then tells me that the system won't even put her in the reservation and keeps kicking her out, so hold on. Another 20+ minutes on hold for her to tell me that she's going to have to have someone call me back. What the heck!!! That call though came quickly and all is set I hope. They were able to take my payment and we should be good to go. But, I just have to say that the level of competence lately on reservations has been a lot less than desired. Usually they are at least nice. This lady was a jerk. It definitely hurts some of the magic, you know?
Thanks for letting me vent.
Tricia

You get what you pay for with employees.

 

[nbodyhome]

It probably would have been worth just using Mears without ME. It's maybe around $30, and there might not be as much frustration!

There are times I get frustrated with DRC also, most agents I talk to are wonderful but not everyone knows what they are doing.

 

[hatchmo]

They must use this as an entry level job for WDW. Have had several not-so-good experiences with reservations.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I'm not positive, but I don't think CRO is onsite anymore. I'm pretty sure it is out of state, in fact. Someone on the board has worked there and can clarify this if they read this thread.

I gotta say, though, in 24 years of going to WDW, I have never had a bad experience with CRO. Maybe it is just my dumb luck, but hasn't happened. My longest wait is for a real person to answer the phone, and one time they had someone else's address hooked up to my name and it took a while to correct, but that wasn't the castmember's fault. The last couple of times I made reservations and ADR's, the CM has thanked me for 1. making my reservations well in advance and 2. knowing exactly what I wanted when I called.

 

[Gatordad]

The reservations folks are in Tampa, actually.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I'm thinking there are some offices in Louisianna and Texas.

 

[nbodyhome]

The offices are in Orlando (where I once worked) and Tampa. There are overflow calls that go elsewhere when it's busy, to places that aren't Disney park related.

It doesn't matter though if you have someone that is new, or there 25 years - there are some long-timers who don't seem to understand the system and some who are new that do. I have to call a lot, and most agents are terrific.

 

[Gatordad]

I'm sure they spread it out for disaster recovery reasons.

 

[nbodyhome]

I would bet they did it more for a new pool of workers. Tampa is much smaller than Orlando, they'd be able to get some calls (if Orlando went down), but they'd not be able to handle everything.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

It's probably only a matter of time before Disney outsources this to India. You think you got troubles now?

 

[Colson39]

I've been lucky as well, never had a problem, although with anything it's bound to happen, considering the volume of calls that they take in a day. I don't think their is probably any other reservation system in the world where people just call as much to book "maybe" vacations, to ask numerous questions. I can't imagine it's the easiest of jobs

 

[Shannone1]

Arghhhhh!

48 minutes. That's right. 48 minutes it took to call Disney and add one person to my reservation. And, oh wait! It didn't work. Somehow they couldn't do it. First, I called to add my daughter who is joining us for 3 of the 7 days. They said I would have to add her for ALL of the days if I added her to the reservation. So, I thought, "Well, that is stupid to pay for 7 days when she is coming for 3" and thought I would buy her tickets later. Then I look online and see that it is $3.00 more to add her for the entire 7 days than to buy a 3 day magic your way pass. Considering I need to use the Magic Express for her to get to the airport, the additional $3.00 was worth putting her on the entire package even though she will only use 3 days of it. So, I call back. That's when the 48 minutes started. After 25 minutes, the lady comes back to me and says it's all set. I say ok and that I wanted to pay the balance. The trip is already paid for but I wanted to pay for my daughter's ticket additional money. She says, "You want to pay the balance?" I say yes and ask what the total is and she says, '!600 and blah blah". I was like, "WHAT!???" and told her that the trip was paid for. She tells me in a really snippy way, Well, I don't see any payments here. I told her that the trip was already paid for and I already had my travel documents. She then realizes that I am right and says (also in a snippy tone), "Well, then what do you want to pay for?" Uh duh!!!! I want to pay the additional cost of adding my daughter. Oh. She then tells me that the system won't even put her in the reservation and keeps kicking her out, so hold on. Another 20+ minutes on hold for her to tell me that she's going to have to have someone call me back. What the heck!!! That call though came quickly and all is set I hope. They were able to take my payment and we should be good to go. But, I just have to say that the level of competence lately on reservations has been a lot less than desired. Usually they are at least nice. This lady was a jerk. It definitely hurts some of the magic, you know?
Thanks for letting me vent.
Tricia

I think it is hit and miss with them, sigh. When I first made my reservations the woman was WONDERFUL. But then I called back to add my dog and request a pet loop and the people on the phone didn't know what a pet loop was...but assured me she took care of it. I called back a week later and sure enough, the ressie hadn't changed. Someone else took care of it and it was finally fixed. I was still nervous about it though.

I wish we could request certain people when we call to book. I agree it does take some of the magic away when you get people that don't know what they are doing. And it is all too common with other campgrounds as well. The person answering the phone is really your "first impression" of a place.

 

[proudmomof4]

The offices are in Orlando (where I once worked) and Tampa. There are overflow calls that go elsewhere when it's busy, to places that aren't Disney park related.

It doesn't matter though if you have someone that is new, or there 25 years - there are some long-timers who don't seem to understand the system and some who are new that do. I have to call a lot, and most agents are terrific.

Denise is right. I used to work in the Tampa office and at that time it was just Orlando and Tampa, when I made the phone call to book POFQ for my DB's wedding I got an agent in Salt Lake City, but she was very knowledgeable.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

It's probably only a matter of time before Disney outsources this to India. You think you got troubles now?

Every time I speak to a customer service person who's english is their second language, I cross that company off of my list of places to buy things from. I should not have to strain to understand what the person is saying.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

It's getting harder and harder, though. A couple of months ago a squirrel chewed through my phone line. My local phone company is Verizon. I had to talk to someone in India to schedule a local service call!

 

[nbodyhome]

Denise is right. I used to work in the Tampa office and at that time it was just Orlando and Tampa, when I made the phone call to book POFQ for my DB's wedding I got an agent in Salt Lake City, but she was very knowledgeable.

I don't really get agents often from other areas, maybe occasionally. I know one airline used to field calls during the busy time.

There were agents in Orlando who I knew that hadn't ever been to the parks. And sometimes, they were the best ones - sometimes not! It doesn't really matter where they are located, as long as they understand the system they are working on. I know Disney well enough!

 

[bradisgoofy]

Early in the month I called to make my reservation for April '08 and the person never asked about what type of camper I would be using. I had to ask and then she said she'd make a note of it. That is the first time I've not been asked.

 

[nbodyhome]

Early in the month I called to make my reservation for April '08 and the person never asked about what type of camper I would be using. I had to ask and then she said she'd make a note of it. That is the first time I've not been asked.

Make sure it's on there. The whole camper thing was like a foreign language to me - hopefully I didn't forget, it was drilled into our heads enough in class. But I can see where someone would.

 

[tungpo1]

Its getting harder and harder to even get reservations!!! you almost have to make them a year in advance.