WDW Guest Communications?

[Okh]

I recently had cause to contact Guest Communications last week and I received my reply today, at about 1pm on Easter Sunday. The reply was obviously canned and I'm wondering one or two things:

1 - are these robo-responses? It seems odd at best that they would be answering e-mails on a Sunday afternoon, nevermind Easter Sunday.

2 - if it's not a robo-response, was it an outsourced canned response from elsewhere with an American sounding name plugged in at the end?

3 - holy geezalou, does Disney really make their office people work on Easter Sunday?

Just wondering - Thanks!

Dave
Exactly 4 weeks to go!!

 

[Sammie]

The email could have been generated on Friday but not sent out until today. But yes Disney works on Easter.

The replies do come from Guest Communications at Disney World.

 

[I Love Pluto]

All replies from Disney Guest Communications are canned. It drives me nuts! If there is a problem at WDW, they should have SOMEONE who can empathize better than the standard letter received by all.

The canned letters make me feel that no one is listening. Why can't Disney be more personal? We feel a personal connection to Mickey & the Gang, we deserve a personal answer to an email or letter.

 

[Missytara]

I had to cause to contact Disney two years ago, because I had an extraordinary experience. Last year, I had yet another extraordinary experience.

I contacted guest relations. I got the first canned response, but then got not one, but two personal phone calls regarding my experience about a week later.

Seriously, it is spring break...they might actually be a bit busy. MK is open almost 20 hours today.

 

[disneynutz]

Canned responses are reviewed and approved for use by Disney Legal. Disney doesn't like to put anything in writing that could possibly come back to bite them.

Phone calls aren't recorded by Guests so there isn't any record.

Bill

 

[Okh]

So, things go actually pretty badly on a not inexpensive vacation, speak nicely to CMs about it and get absolutely no where. Write a well-thought out letter to Guest Communications about the experiences and no one actually reads the letter - they just hit a button and send a canned response.

Nice.

 

[dclfun]

ALL letters are read. There is a team of CM's who work on emails only. They have standard "canned" phrases and responses to use, called "shells", but they are carefully chosen and the team is also carefully trained on which responses to use for each situation or question someone has. They don't just hit "send" on an entire canned letter. The name signed at the bottom of the letter is a real person from the email team. Individual, more personal responses will come in the form of a phone call.

Years ago I had a horrible experience with transferred life support medical equipment that got lost in transit from one WDW resort to another. It's a long story but I wrote a well-thought-out letter to Guest Communications, mainly because this was the end of my son's WISH trip and I didn't want anyone else to have the same experience, thinking they needed to change their procedures. I got a written "canned" response then a call from someone in that department who was authorized to assist us with compensation, that we weren't asking for. I really liked having the phone call as it felt much more personal to me. I would assume that they have certain issues that will escalate to a phone call. One thing to be assured of is that Disney is all about improvement and if they have a chance to learn something due to a Guest's experience, then they will take the opportunity to do so. Oh...and if you email your letter, they will respond via email. If you send a letter via snail mail, they will respond back that way.

 

[Okh]

Thank you for sharing your experience, but more importantly, putting my own issue in perspective.

 

[mb187143]

I had a relatively minor issue with booking on Friday, they erroneously charged my card but the reservation didn't actually go through - and when I called to have it fixed, i got huffed and puffed at like i was the one who caused the problem. So i wrote a polite email to guest services, with the name of the CM who gave me a hard time, and i got the standard, canned email back. I then got a phone call from guest services, and a follow up on Saturday from her manager to make sure I was satisfied with the outcome. All I really wanted was for them to perhaps talk to the CM about not making me feel like I was asking for them to move a mountain when all I really needed was for them to fax my bank a quick note that they were not going to finalize the charge on my card. I felt like they went over and above what they needed to do in my case.

 

[Okh]

Awesome - now I'm upset again

 

[mb187143]

Awesome - now I'm upset again

I honestly think the only reason they moved fast on what I said was because it involved them holding my money for a reservation that didn't complete - the only other time i sent communication to guest services, i got a canned email about 3 days later, and then a phone call 3-4 days after that. But they still handled it to my satisfaction.

Don't lose faith yet! I hope you get a good resolution to your situation.

 

[Okh]

I honestly think the only reason they moved fast on what I said was because it involved them holding my money for a reservation that didn't complete - the only other time i sent communication to guest services, i got a canned email about 3 days later, and then a phone call 3-4 days after that. But they still handled it to my satisfaction.

Don't lose faith yet! I hope you get a good resolution to your situation.

Oh, at this point I'm being facetious. My issues are small potatoes compared to what others deal with. It doesn't excuse Disney, but it doesn't have to be a big thing in my book.

 

[dclfun]

Thank you for sharing your experience, but more importantly, putting my own issue in perspective.

I'm not sure what issue you had, but everyone's issue is important! I hope you get the response you were hoping for. If not, write again and ask for someone to contact you by phone.

By the time I got someone on the phone I was an emotional wreck and cried about the whole thing. My son missed his birthday dinner reservation at Artist Point because the ventilator battery charger was lost...and no one even bothered to ask if we'd like to have a sandwich or *anything* sent to our room as we couldn't leave the room due to them losing the charger. His birthday dinner was a boiled egg. I was relieved that they found the equipment, after the ambulance was about to haul us off, but things were not handled to my satisfaction at the resort.

Rest assured that if you ask for a phone call, you'll be contacted and you may still be contacted anyway.