Would you have complained?

[SleepyatDVC]

Diane - I guess my problem was it was obvious the bed had an issue, seeing as how the fabric was ripped a couple of places where the metal piece was broken. We saw it as soon as we sat down on the couch. If it was that obvious to us, shouldn't have Mousekeeping seen it also and reported it?

I don't know what everyone else does for a living, but if I show up at my job tomorrow morning and discover something wrong, I take care of it or make sure it gets taken care of. Shouldn't I expect the same thing?

The reason we didn't complain was because of the polite, efficient manner the problem was handled, but it was also an issue that was obvious and should have been handled before 1:00 am.

We're not people who complain about much. I've never sent a steak back to the chef because it was bloody when I asked for medium well. But I also think this was something that should have been taken care of in the routine cleaning/maintenance of the room that would have removed the only issue in a throughly great trip to the World (despite the spring break crowds, but that's another thread!).

Incidentally, the replacement guts in the hide a bed was the most comfortable hide a bed I've ever slept on (and my kids agree). Maybe that's another reason I didn't complain.

I wouldn't have complained. I would have been grateful that it was taken care of so promptly and at such a late hour. It's really nice to have DVC maintenance available at such a late hour for emergencies and other problems like this. Many places have regular hours maybe 9am - 8pm for the maintenance crew and then you would have been out of luck until morning.

One time in an OKW GV the refrigerator started leaking (not too much water) late at night. I put lots of paper and the tub mats down to absorb the moisture so it wouldn't become a serious problem. I then called maintenance expecting to leave a message for someone to check it out in the morning. To my surprise I got a live person on the line and someone was at my door in 5 minutes to fix the problem. I knew how serious water problems could become so I was very impressed with the quick response. But even so, I kept apologizing for calling so late and thanking the guy for coming. Lol! He was also very polite and efficient.

In your case, I agree that it was unfortunate that the broken sofa wasn't discovered earlier. You can certainly "complain" about that to let management know that maybe they need to work on that aspect of maintenance. But if you do that, I think that it would only be fair at the same time to "praise" the management and maintenance staff for how they promptly, politely, and efficiently fixed the problem for you as soon as they found out about it from you.

I have had experiences at other places where the maintenance staff gave me the "attitude" like I was a pain in the you know what for reporting something to be fixed - like hello? it was broken and I didn't do it! Now that I would have compained about!!!!

In regards to the broken sofa bed, it is unfortuante that it wasn't discover earlier. But I can see that happening very easily. There have been many times in the past when my children were younger where we never even opened the sofa bed. The 2 girls just ended up sleeping in the king with us! There are couples that get the one bedroom and never use the sofa bed either. There are people who never even notice that the sofa was broken, others that notice but forget to report it or never bother to. As for housekeeping, we don't know if they noticed or not. Maybe they did but at the end of cleaning 20 rooms, they forgot to report it to maintenance.

I woulld expect to have problems, some minor and some major, but it is the response to it that would most concern me and it looks to me that DVC didn't drop the ball there.

Glad the sofa bed was comfortable at least!!! Aren't those new foam mattresses great? An uncomfortable bed for the whole trip would have been worse I think!

 

[mark&sue]

I don't think I would complain as they fixed it, but I certainly wouldn't expect to sleep on the floor!!! If I wanted to sleep on the floor I would not have bought into "luxury" accommodation that I pay a fair amount of annual dues for.

DVC is a luxury once a year vacation for us to fly over from the UK and there would be no way DH would expect to sleep on the floor.

I too am a little worried about the change of bedding from the previous guests but try not to think about it!!!

Susan

 

[quentina]

Things break. Stuff happens. They did the best they could. What's to complain?

I ditto this one.

Kim

 

[quentina]

If they were constantly addressing your problem as it sounds like they were, and they did respond promptly, then I personally would not have complained.
Yes it took time but if everyone put their best efforts forward to correct the problem and then I called their boss and complained, I just wouldnt feel fair to those CM's who worked so diligently for my family, even if it did take them until 1 am.
You could have received a meal or something, but those CM's would have been questioned on why it took them so long and maybe they werent as efficient as they could have been. We all know how managers are. They will make the customer happy, but sometimes it is at the expense of the employee.
In a situation where we are owners and pay to upkeep the resorts there is no such thing as a free lunch. Mistakes do happen and Im sorry you were stuck with the broken sofa but I think their response was very admirable and in keeping with Disney service.

Ahhh....Your killing me. I am a manager and well...I would never take something out on my employees

Anyway, in all seriouness, I feel that as long as someone does the best that they can, this is all we can ask. I would bet that this man did not want to be in your room at 1AM anymore than you wanted him there.

 

[Cyndy]

I am uncomfortable with the expectation of a "gift" at any DVC resort which has it's operating funds provided by DVC member dues. I think those "gifts" should only be handed out in the most difficult situations. That being said, if you are concerned about who checks these things and when, contact DVC management and tell them what happened (noting as you did here what a great response you got from staff) and let them provide you with an explanation....then share it here on the boards with all of us who are also curious! I think many of us would love to hear.

 

[jekjones1558]

The truth is, houskeeping doesn't check things to see whether they work or not. Not only that, they are not even supposed to. Not at DVC, not anywhere.

During our last trip we decided to purchase one of the toasters, since we liked it so much. To do this we had to speak to the housekeeping manager. While talking to him I asked whether mousekeepers are encouraged to report issues like broken sleeper sofas, torn curtains and bedskirts (I had tripped during the night on a really raggedy bedskirt and had also noticed that the hem on the drapes was completely ripped out; our old-style sleeper, with sheets on it, was inoperable even by engineering). He told me that they ARE expected to report these issues.
I would love to have a card available to report issues. Instead we try to take care of problems while we are in the room so that the next guest will have a trouble-free stay.

 

[drakethib]

I was wondering what some of your opinions are on whether we should have registered a complaint or not.

We spent the first 3 nights of our trip at AKL which was nice. We moved over to OKW (one BR) last Sunday evening. We went to DTD for the evening. Upon returning to our room and getting ready for bed we discovered the hide a bed was broken. It would not open. I called the front desk and they sent a lady from Mousekeeping (she arrived ~15 minutes after I called, around 9:30). Now I'm no male pig, but if I can't open the bed because there is a piece of broken metal jammed into the folding metal pieces on the side (which I explained to the front desk), I'm sure the Mousekeeping lady won't have a chance. But I let her try which took about 30 seconds for her to say they had called the wrong department and she would call engineering.

~9:50 the first CM from Engineering showed up. I explained to him about the broken piece and he proceeded to look at the opposite end of the couch for 5 minutes or so before I again stated the problem was with the other end and he finally looked at the broken piece. He then called his supervisor to determine what they should do, either fix the broken piece or replace the guts of the hide a bed.

To make a long story short, after multiple visits from CM engineers to replace the guts of the bed and a return visit from Mousekeeping to make up the bed, I was finally able to grab my oldest son who was sleeping in a chair in the bedroom and we were able to lay down at ~1:00 am.

Let me say, all the CM's were very polite and appologitic and the Engineering guys were working as fast as they could. I have nothing but praise in that regard which is why I didn't complain, but upon returning to our room after a day at BB and DTD, falling into bed to prepare for our next day at MGM would have been very nice.

By the way, we LOVED OKW. The size and quiet of the room were outstanding, the main pool fun and overall we thought the resort was great. The hide a bed was the only problem in a fantastic week (even if the spring break crowds were unbelievable).

I don't think I would have complained as they tried to fix the problem, but after 15 minutes I would have asked for a roll away or just a matress form another room and had them fix it the next day.