Warning - NOT allowed to use available dining credits at Yachtman Steakhouse

[JLS]

DISCLAIMER - this post is not intended as a renewal of the "can you use child credits" debate, but I did want to share our recent experience, which was not consistent with the reported allowed uses of the dining plan here on the DisBoards.

It was our last night at WDW and we had planned a special evening at Yachstman Steakhouse. Our party for the DDP was 3 adults and 1 child, and we invited my best friend along for the dinner as well (who was not staying at Disney and not on the dining plan). I had meticulously saved up credits during our 8 day stay in order to have the 8 credits that we would need for 4 adults to dine at Yachstman. With the amount of food that we would get, I figured that my young son could eat off of our plates or we could order a child's meal for him and pay OOP. I had specifically paid OOP for several adult meals at Boma earlier in the week so that we would have enough credits for this meal at Yachtman to cover our meals and my friend's meal.

We advised them at the outset of the meal that we have the dining plan, and we proceed to eat (food was OK, but not great IMO - will cover that in a later dining review). My son had been cranky shortly before dinner and I basically gave him dinner in the room before we left, so he hardly ate at all at the restaurant (just off of our plates a bit, nothing ordered). We ordered several side dishes and a bottle of wine that we planned to charge on my friend's credit card (she offered to pay for the "extras" as a thank you for being invited).

When the bill came, our server told us that she could not let us use the dining plan for 4 adults because our room key said "3 A, 1 Ch" - the room key indicates how many people are in your registered party, but as far as I know this is not a restriction on how your dining credits may be used). I asked her to check with her manager. The manager came out and told us that his restaurant is "audited" and that what we were trying to do was use a "child's credit" for an adult meal and that he would NOT allow us to do that. I asked him how he could possibly know that the two credits left in our account were so-called "child's credits" when the system does not distinguish between credits used by adults or children. I explained that we very well could have used my son's allotment of child's credits already, and that I had specifically paid out of pocket for several adult meals prior to last night in order to have enough credits to visit his restaurant. I also said that in the 8 days we had been here, that we had used the dining plan in various ways with various party sizes, both with and without my son eating, and there had never been a problem, never been any mention of the number of people listed on the front of our card, only the number of credits left, and I was surprised that the dining plan was being applied inconsistently at the Yachtsman. I also pointed out that every receipt we had ever gotten in the 8 days only tells you how many total credits you have left, not how many "child credits" or "adult credits" we have left. The manager was very rude and basically accused of trying to scam the system, which I resented very much, since there was no way for him to know how we had utilized our dining credits over 8 days. The manager's exact quote was "well, if I speed home every day for 8 days and then on the 9th day I get caught, that doesn't mean that the rules are inconsistent." That really made me mad, and I told him that his analogy was completely inappropriate and offensive.

Ultimately, during my discussion with the manager, he actually agreed with the points I made, namely, that the receipts don't distinguish between adult and child credits and that there was no way for him to know how we had previously used the credits or whether the last 2 credits we were trying to use were rightfully "adult" credits or "child" credits. Despite agreeing with my points, however, the manager insisted that because our room key indicated 3 adults, 1 child, that we could not use dining credits for 4 adults during the meal. I disagreed with him. Ultimately, he agreed, very reluctantly, to "comp" (his term) one of the meals, and he went off in a huff, but not before he made a comment about how I had "wasted 20 minutes of his time."

Overall, aside from the manager's behavior, we did not have an outstanding meal and I probably would not go back there due to the food being fairly mediocre.

 

[magicmouse2]

Thats just terrible service. I would write a letter of complaint. Sorry this happened to you

 

[mskay]

I'm sorry. I would have been upset too if I were you. Definitely write some type of letter. He should not have talked to you using those words or in that tone (regardless of what he thought you were trying to do). That is just not appropriate. I'm sorry. Thanks for letting us know about your experience.

 

[beattyfamily]

Although he was rude to you, I see nothing wrong at all with the restaurant making you stick to what is on your room key 3A, 1C.

 

[bicker]

And this specific scenario is precisely why they must put more stringent systems in place to keep things fair and equitable. The manager was put in a terribly unfair position of having to balance the auditing his restaurant is subject to with the fact that the system doesn't make it clear whether you're scamming the system or not.

 

[CamColt]

I wonder if the issue here was because the dining plan is supposed to be for the people in the party. If you had tried to use the child credits for the 3 adults in the party it may not have been as much of a problem as you using them for 4 adults...1 who isnt in the party. Isn't the dining plan nontranferrable?

FWIW, I have no idea if this is correct, I'm just throwing the idea out there.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Wow. I am surprised at his demeanor.
And saying you cheated the system. How you spent your credits is your business. And I agree, if your pool does not separate Child's from Adults, how did he know what you had remaining? They could all have been child's credits for all he really knew.
It is interesting some restaurants are starting to look much more closely. I take it they have been getting burned too many times in order for them to start caring.
I will be awaiting your food review too.

 

[brutus]

I don't want to get into a debate about the usage, but how can Disney NOT know what credits are being used or have been used?

This seems like a simple computer program.

 

[bicker]

The Dining Plan is non-transferable.

 

[Stacerita]

That manager was extremely rude and showed very poor customer service. I would definately write a letter of complaint.

And as far as what was on the room key, who cares. You said yourself that you paid for adult meals OOP earlier in the week to save up for that night. If they want to distinguish between kids and adults, then they need to do so consistently and show it on the reciept. Not just when they feel you aren't scamming them. I think you saved your credits and used them how you wanted.

If they want to be more strict on how we use our credits, they need to define it better and use it across the board.

 

[bicker]

This seems like a simple computer program.

The "simple computer program" is a myth invented by product managers who have no clue about information systems.

It's only simple until it affects someone's wallet. After that, it requires rigorous testing. I can develop the software for a new feature in my product in about 20 minutes that would take our QA department three weeks to test.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I think it seems like a simple program fix. But consider how many systems there are and they all have to read each other, and combine that by all the dining guests. It would be mind boggling.
But it does seem there should be a better way.
It would be interesting to know how the system works. If it is like a credit bank. And do those credits get swiped and eliminated at the time of meal check out? (Which I assume is what happens.)
Have there been guests who knowingly or not, depleted their credits and the restaurant got stuck holding the tab?
Just interesting how they are now auditing the credits, and wonder how many restaurants are doing it.

 

[LakeAriel]

I wonder if the issue here was because the dining plan is supposed to be for the people in the party. If you had tried to use the child credits for the 3 adults in the party it may not have been as much of a problem as you using them for 4 adults...1 who isnt in the party. Isn't the dining plan nontranferrable?

FWIW, I have no idea if this is correct, I'm just throwing the idea out there.

I agree with this. If it says three adults and there are four surely something is amiss.

 

[melomouse]

I agree with this. If it says three adults and there are four surely something is amiss.

I agree. Op - you spent lots of time calculating credits and OOP - I am wondering now if you might have been better off paying OOP for your friend at Yachtsman and using TS for Boma earlier in the week.

There were physically 4 adults sitting at your table and one child, and it did not match your card.

 

[jessica52877]

It is sad for all the "dishonest" or whatever you want to call it people out there it ruins it for others who save them honestly. Although if the dining plan says non transferable then that is that.

Sorry about your dinner as the manager was put in a horrible spot. And I think something needs to be done about the plan so there aren't more incidences like this. I would offer to bet that 8 out of 10 though use child credits since some see nothing wrong with it.

 

[magicmouse2]

I have in all honestly planned our meal for our trip using adult for adult and child for child credits as I predicted something like this would happen. I nw see though that it is probably the extra adult that caused you to get noticed not using child for adult credits as I originally thought.

 

[WeddingPavilion]

DISCLAIMER - this post is not intended as a renewal of the "can you use child credits" debate, but I did want to share our recent experience, which was not consistent with the reported allowed uses of the dining plan here on the DisBoards.

It was our last night at WDW and we had planned a special evening at Yachstman Steakhouse. Our party for the DDP was 3 adults and 1 child, and we invited my best friend along for the dinner as well (who was not staying at Disney and not on the dining plan). I had meticulously saved up credits during our 8 day stay in order to have the 8 credits that we would need for 4 adults to dine at Yachstman. With the amount of food that we would get, I figured that my young son could eat off of our plates or we could order a child's meal for him and pay OOP. I had specifically paid OOP for several adult meals at Boma earlier in the week so that we would have enough credits for this meal at Yachtman to cover our meals and my friend's meal.

We advised them at the outset of the meal that we have the dining plan, and we proceed to eat (food was OK, but not great IMO - will cover that in a later dining review). My son had been cranky shortly before dinner and I basically gave him dinner in the room before we left, so he hardly ate at all at the restaurant (just off of our plates a bit, nothing ordered). We ordered several side dishes and a bottle of wine that we planned to charge on my friend's credit card (she offered to pay for the "extras" as a thank you for being invited).

When the bill came, our server told us that she could not let us use the dining plan for 4 adults because our room key said "3 A, 1 Ch" - the room key indicates how many people are in your registered party, but as far as I know this is not a restriction on how your dining credits may be used). I asked her to check with her manager. The manager came out and told us that his restaurant is "audited" and that what we were trying to do was use a "child's credit" for an adult meal and that he would NOT allow us to do that. I asked him how he could possibly know that the two credits left in our account were so-called "child's credits" when the system does not distinguish between credits used by adults or children. I explained that we very well could have used my son's allotment of child's credits already, and that I had specifically paid out of pocket for several adult meals prior to last night in order to have enough credits to visit his restaurant. I also said that in the 8 days we had been here, that we had used the dining plan in various ways with various party sizes, both with and without my son eating, and there had never been a problem, never been any mention of the number of people listed on the front of our card, only the number of credits left, and I was surprised that the dining plan was being applied inconsistently at the Yachtsman. I also pointed out that every receipt we had ever gotten in the 8 days only tells you how many total credits you have left, not how many "child credits" or "adult credits" we have left. The manager was very rude and basically accused of trying to scam the system, which I resented very much, since there was no way for him to know how we had utilized our dining credits over 8 days. The manager's exact quote was "well, if I speed home every day for 8 days and then on the 9th day I get caught, that doesn't mean that the rules are inconsistent." That really made me mad, and I told him that his analogy was completely inappropriate and offensive.

Ultimately, during my discussion with the manager, he actually agreed with the points I made, namely, that the receipts don't distinguish between adult and child credits and that there was no way for him to know how we had previously used the credits or whether the last 2 credits we were trying to use were rightfully "adult" credits or "child" credits. Despite agreeing with my points, however, the manager insisted that because our room key indicated 3 adults, 1 child, that we could not use dining credits for 4 adults during the meal. I disagreed with him. Ultimately, he agreed, very reluctantly, to "comp" (his term) one of the meals, and he went off in a huff, but not before he made a comment about how I had "wasted 20 minutes of his time."

Overall, aside from the manager's behavior, we did not have an outstanding meal and I probably would not go back there due to the food being fairly mediocre.

We found the manager there very rude also and for that,we won't go back.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

But, haven't we read reports in the past where people have extra TS credits on their last day and, as an act of kindness, "pay" for another patrons meal?

Is that now not allowed???

 

[gshumaker]

The official policy is the credits are to be used for those in the "party" -- not guests.

If you can get away with it fine but don't complain about it if you can not!!

 

[bicker]

It was never permitted, but was allowed. That's a key distinction that is very important for folks using the Dining Plan to understand. Just because someone else was able to use the plan a certain way doesn't mean we will be able to do so. All we can count on is what the brochure promises to us.