VERY STRANGE conversation with CRO/WTC

[susy]

OK, so I got a postcard this past weekend. My first one! When I called, there was no availability for my dates (no surprise to me).

The stange part was that I gave the CM my confiramtion #. I assumed she pulled it up on her computer. Asked who she was speaking with. I said, "Suzanne Brown". Ok, so on to check for my dates....meanwhile, she's asking me who I am traveling with and what kids will be in my room. I said, "just myself, Michael (my dh) and Marcus (my ds)". She says she sees that info and will Thomas also be in our room? Now, Thomas is my FIL and they made their reservation completely separate from ours. Now this is getting weird. I said no. She knows that we have other family coming along. Strange, since they booked their rooms on their own! Finally, we get the answer. She decides to confirm my address and this is a completely different family, with all the same names-in Massachusetts!
Also, the same day, I received one of those "It'll be great to have you back.." things in the mail. It said that I will be at the Poly in Dec- nice of someone to let me know!!!!
What on EARTH is going on over there?????????

 

[Tess]

I had the most unusual conversation with a CRO agent yesterday! I'm not sure what she had been drinking or ingesting, but she was the strangest duck I've encountered in all of our years of making reservations!

All I wanted to do was book our 9 day stay at Polynesian GV concierge in June. Should be simple enough since there are no discounts to be had at this point (no AAA membership for us). It took her a full 5 minutes to get to the "screen" to book our request. All the while she's muttering under her breath (unintelligible) and/or humming the theme from Three's Company. She was asking me all kinds of strange questions, e.g., "Do you watch cartoons?" followed by "Oh, I just love cartoons. . . ." There was also some diatribe about her name and her sister's name being only two letters different and very similar in nature. I received the information about her pharmacy and the fact that it constantly mislabeled prescriptions for her that should be for her sister--I don't even want to know what type of medication she takes. . . She giggled inappropriately and generally made me very uncomfortable. She was also either chewing gum or eating while talking to me--she had garbled speech at times hence the unintelligible aspect of her conversation. She asked me what the last four digits of the passholder phone number was--why, I haven't a clue since those rates aren't available. I advised her I didn't call on the AP line since it was a toll call and Disney VISA (as well as MKC) still offered 800 lines. Frankly, for the length of time I was kept on the phone--approximately 25 minutes--I'm glad it was toll free!

She tried to engage me in conversation about MKC discounts and offered that she felt Disney VISA was going to be a better deal. She also agreed that VISA should do something that offered room only discounts rather than strictly "packages". During the booking process she asked me if I was getting a "room only" in order to switch the reservation to AP discount when the rates are released. I told her that was my plan--provided, of course, there were discounts for those dates and I was lucky enough to grab one. She then said "Oh, don't worry, you'll get one. Those rates will be out sooner than last year too." Since she was somewhat of a strange duck, I didn't press the issue with her and I'm not very confident of her inside knowledge given the bizarre nature of her telephone manner. Still, I sure do hope she's correct. We didn't see AP rates this year for June until 4/21!!!! She did, to her credit, know about the lateness of the rates this year and the fact that they weren't released at the end of the prior promotion expiration. . .at least she showed knowledge if not proper telephone etiquette.

All of this noted, I've had the same situation in the past. It was the first year we booked a trip. There was another family with the same last name and both adults in the party were named the same as my husband and I. The difference is they were booked at a different hotel for the same week. For a while though, there was considerable confusion in our reservation. I've since found out that there is a woman living in Celebration bearing my name and she is employed with Disney. In fact, they were the first family in Celebration and while visiting Disney one year we read an article in the paper about this couple. Her husband is an entertainment attorney and works with Universal--sadly, we aren't them!

 

[Aisling]

I used to think it was cool that Disney already knew all our names and info whenever I called. But now I really think it's getting out of hand. They should never ask about so-and-so coming or not, they should just take down any further information you give and leave it at that. As some people have mentioned, what if your friend or family member has passed away or you're divorced since your last trip or whatever. It's really none of their business to ask. The more I hear about this, the more angry I become. I wish they would ask me som ething like this so that I can tell the CM off!

 

[TLinden16]

I had a weird one last week. She kept on calling me Heidi through most of the conversation (my name is Karen), and she seemed quite confused by everything. I wound up calling back the next day to make sure that she didn't mess up my reservations because she made me so nervous. Luckily, I was all set.

Another person I spoke with last week kept me on the line an extra 15 minutes because she couldn't find any of my trips in my history! She was very baffled by it, and finally found them under the names of the people I travelled with even though I made all of the reservations and did all of the payments. I told her that was why I probably never get a postcard rate!

Karen

 

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by Aisling
...The more I hear about this, the more angry I become. I wish they would ask me som ething like this so that I can tell the CM off!

Please understand that the CM is not the one responsible for this. The CM is doing their job as their employer (Disney) instructs them to do. While you may not like some of the questions, berating the minimum wage CM is the wrong approach. Let Disney know about your concerns. The more often people complain about it to Guest Relations, the more likely it will be fixed in the future.

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by Aisling
I wish they would ask me som ething like this so that I can tell the CM off!

It's not the cm's fault, they probably have been trained to ask these questions. If you are upset, ask for a supervisor and express your complaint or send an e-mail.

 

[Mary Anne]

Hey I had a CM last week that said to me there was no such place as the Rose&Crown to eat in Epcot.



Made me wonder if she ever even set foot inside a Disney park.

 

[Tigger Fans!]

I also had an interesting conversation with CRO last week. Apparently their computers have been upgraded .... my reservation was lost in computer limbo. I spent about 2 hours on the phone to get things straightened out. Fortunately, I had called using their toll free number.

Hopefully they'll get everything worked out soon!

TTFN!

 

[susy]

What's the whole point of punching in our confirmations numbers on the phone and then retelling it to the CM when they answer? Isn't this a waste of time and effort if they aren't going to see your reservation on the screen? The last few calls I've made have been a little wierd to say the least and I just may email Disney. They do seem like they are on something lately. I worked in customer service (heavy phones) for years. You look up the person's account and ask how you may help them. If the computer is slow.... SAY SO!!!!!! Don't just ramble on about whatever. What they could do is to tell their CM's that if the computer is slow, to inform the guest of maybe some new things going on at Disney and appologize for the delay. It just seems really unprofessional (lately).

 

[jdads2]

Does anyone know why they ask for you to enter your ressie # prior to speaking to a CM? Seems like a waste of time to me. I have never been called by name until the CM asks me for it so I know they must not be getting any of my info from the ressie # I just punched in.

 

[momtotwinglesx4]

I don't like all the nosey questions from CRO either! These days when I call, I'm half expecting them to ask me what birth control method I use!

 

[Jynohn]

I just spoke with CRO about an hour ago to see if they could apply the AAA discount to my reservation. I too think there's something strange going on over there. First of all, the call took over 20 minutes just to check availability for AAA rates. She kept telling me to hang on that she just had to check something, her computer was slow, etc...

That part isn't her fault, but what I was really surprised at was how unprofessional she was. Several times throughout the call she would start talking to her co-workers and I would have to say "excuse me?" because I thought she was talking to me. I heard a bunch of people laughing and talking in the background and she started joining in with their conversation while I was sitting there waiting. Then she put me on hold for over 5 minutes. Hopefully she was really checking on rates, not just chatting with her friends on my dime. This is the first time I've encountered such an unprofessional CM. Sure some have been less friendly than others, but this one was downright rude

 

[GoldenOldie]

I think everyone needs to read the explanation of why this is happening. Mmketeer posted a very detailed explanation of this a few days ago here in this DIS thread.

Pay particular attention to two items:

"When the system merging is complete the changes we'll notice is that you will no longer be able to give the reservationist your reservation numbers or client file numbers to pull up or research your reservations. You will be asked not only for your last name and zip code (which is policy now when you call) but also for all names of the people traveling in your party. Yes, even just to get a price quote."

and

"Right now their are some folks using the new SBC system (and you may have talked to someone that's using it if they put you on hold for forever just to make a payment etc. cause the system is horribally slow)."

Read the entire post. It explains a lot. Now there's no excuse for rudeness, but the questions and the long delays in getting information from the computer are not the CM's fault.

 

[hunnypotmama]

Tess:

 

[Aisling]

It's not the cm's fault, they probably have been trained to ask these questions. If you are upset, ask for a supervisor and express your complaint or send an e-mail.

GoldenOldie and DebbieB,
you're right about this. If they were trained to ask these questions, I shouldn't take it out on the CM, and I won't.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by Mary Anne
Hey I had a CM last week that said to me there was no such place as the Rose&Crown to eat in Epcot.



Made me wonder if she ever even set foot inside a Disney park.

Very possibly not, some CM's at CRO are not located in the state of Florida and are minimum wage earners and probably have not been to Disney World. Everyone needs to give them a break sometimes.

 

[momoftwins]

You mentioned a toll free number. I have the Disney Visa, but not an AP. Can you share the toll free number?

Thanks and have a nice night.

 

[Momto8]

When I called last month to make our reservations for our December trip, the CM asked if I was Denise XXXXXX and gave our last name. Denise is my daughter who is now married and no longer lives with us. I called on the DC line, so I had to punch in my membership number. Don't know why Denise's name popped up first. She's never been a member of the DC. I explained to her who Denise was and gave her my name. She did take a trip 2 years ago with her friends and maybe that's how they got it.

Anyways when I got my reservation, lo and behold, it was in Denise's name (maiden). I called to change it to mine and also to add a date. I explained the situation to the CM about the error in the name and she said I couldn't change anything, because the ressie wasn't in my name. I told her I know it was in another name, but that I made the ressie and it was their mistake. It didn't matter to her. She just kept saying it was Disney's policy that I couldn't change it. I said how could anyone change it or cancel it since there was "technically" no one by that name anymore since she's married now and changed her last name, but she wouldn't budge. I ended up making new ressies (luckily I could still get the AP discount for the dates I wanted.....I would have been very upset if there was no more availability).

When I called a third time, they asked me again if I was Denise. I explained to this CM how I had to make a 2nd ressie because it was put in the wrong name. This CM had no problem canceling the original ressie for me. She said that usually they're not supposed to do this, but since it was a mistake on their part and I was the one that originally made them, she did it. Sometimes I think they need to use a little common sense or at least check with a supervisor when something likes this happens. But I did have a really great conversation with this CM.....very friendly. She would have talked to me for an hour but I was at work and had to get off. We were talking about the parks, resorts, restaurants, etc.

I should add that I ended up canceling the 2nd reservation and made a third for Jan. because we couldn't go in Dec., so we couldn't get the AP discount. She kept saying how she wanted our ressies for PC but couldn't get the AP discount herself. She kept trying to see if she could get ours while we talked, but it must have gone back in at rack rates. She also told me that she frequents the DIS boards but doesn't post. She said that she was afraid if she did that she would get attacked as the CMs at CRO see a lot of negative stuff about themselves here. I told her that everyone here likes to see posts from CMs and encouraged her to do so.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by Sammie
Very possibly not, some CM's at CRO are not located in the state of Florida and are minimum wage earners and probably have not been to Disney World. Everyone needs to give them a break sometimes.

Are you sure about that? I mean some might be out of state but not all. I talked to a CM the other day about adding someone to my reservation. We got on the subject of weather and she asked about Isabel since I am in Maryland. She said she was so happy it had passed her in Florida this time. We talked for a bit and she was definitely coming from Florida.

 

[pamlet]

Nope - not Disney...

Anyway - for all you who've had problems with res agents - or are concerned about their customer service skills - have you ever asked to speak to a supervisor at the end of a call?

Actually - I'm wondering how it's handled....

In our center we have a "help desk" for the agents - who take over complaints (and compliments). If things are not resolved theree - an acutal supervisor takes over the call. It's very important that the feedback be given.

If you're not comfortable asking for a supervisor right then and there - call back - or email and let someone know.

Also at the start of any call here are some tips.
1. Make SURE you have a pen and paper to take notes. (this sounds obvious - but you'd be shocked at how many people don't take notes at all!)
2. Immediately write down the agents name - ask for it to be spelled if you have to. When I've called Disney they obviously have pseudonyms... I mean I've never heard such an assortment of odd sounding names... but a LOT of call centers keep a list of the pseudonyms their agents use.
3. Write down EVERYTHING... prices/times/etc. I write it down everytime...

It sounds like they have a TON of newbies on board there. That's always rough - I've taught bunches of those types of classes myself - and it takes a while to get the hang of something like this. Also - with 2 computer systems merging - even the veterans.. (or dinosaurs as we like to call them) are probably having a tough time.

All that said - there is NEVER an excuse for an agent to ramble/eat on the phone - or heaven forbid - chat with their neighbors while servicing a call....