McGoofy
03-30-2008, 11:22 PM
I recently posted on a thread entitled "CM's going downhill?" That thread made me think of some telephone calls that I have dealt with within the last 2 weeks. Throughout the parks, I normally have excellent customer service by the CM's. However, I have an interesting contrast/comparison of two different Disney telephone operator CM's that I recently dealt with. Sorry this will be a little long, but it is quite interesting.
Here is situation #1:
One evening a couple of weeks ago, my DH called the reservation number to make a few changes to an exsisting reservation, and at the same time was going to make some dining reservations. He got a rude CM who was very short with him, and he decided not to make the dining reservations at that time because he just wanted to get off the phone with her.
The very next day I called to make the dining ADR's. After my phone call, I e-mailed the following e-mail to my DH at work:
I just called and booked Hoop Dee Doo. First the lady said there were no tables left then she said that she had one table in Cat 3 seating at 7:15pm. I think she was one of the rudest CM's that I have ever had on a reseravation line. She asked how many were in our party and my response was "2 adults and one child." She said sort of sarcastically, "so you mean there are 3 people in your party?" I know....I didn't answer exactly what she asked, but seriously, she didn't need to be rude about it. She was flying through all the material that they read and wouldn't let me ask questions. Then she finally paused to ask me for my credit card number. So that's when I stopped her to ask why I had to give a credit card number since we were on the DDP. She said it was to "guarantee the reservation." I asked her what "guarantee" meant because I wanted to know if my card was going to be charged at that time. She was very short with me and said in a I- can't- believe- you're -so -stupid tone, "If you don't show up, your credit card will be charged $127.97." So since she was taking a tone with me, I said I just wanted to be sure that it wasn't being charged now. She said, "No Mam...what's the number?" So I gave her my credit card number. Then she said "What's the name on the card?" I had given [my DH's] name for the reservation, so I asked her if she wanted his name or my name because we both had the same card. Again with the tone, like she was talking to a small child with emphasis on every word..."I NEED THE EXACT NAME ON THE CARD IN YOUR HAND!" I was boiling at this point. I got my confirmation numbers and hung up. Remind me to hang up and call back if I ever get Jo Ann again!
Would you beleive that my DH sent me an e-mail back shortly after that and said that was the name of the CM he had talked to the night before when he decided to hang up!! Unbelieveable!!!
Compare that to situation #2:
Now fast forward to just a few days ago when I called back to book Spirit of Aloha for a different trip that we are taking.
I had already decided if JoAnn answered my call, I was just going to hang up and call back. It turned out that I got this great girl named Dorothy. She was above and beyond the normal happy Disney CM. Dorothy was 100% the opposite of JoAnn. She was most helpful and very friendly. When I told her that I wanted to add the dining plan to our September trip, she said that we had to cancel the first ressie. and then make a new reservation since we were going from "room only" to a "package." I told her that I would have to call back b/c I didn't have the credit card. My DH happened to have it with him at work. She said, "Can you call him? I'll wait, if you would like to do that." She could have easily just said, "Ok. call back when you can." and hung up. In fact, I would have expected her to do that. So I had Dorothy on hold on my cell phone and called my DH at work from my home phone. I told him, "I have this wonderful lady named Dorothy on the phone, and she needs your credit card number." I could hear Dorothy laughing. So we got the new res made for WL and dining plan included. When she was asking about how many in the party, I said 2. You know how family names are in the system from prior reservations? She said, "Oh Christopher isn't coming?" I said, "no, and we have one disappointed little boy at home!" She said, "but oh....you are going to get some alone time!" :-) That just made me laugh, but also I thought it was great how she made it personal and asked about my DS. Another thing she did was in between punching stuff on the computer, she kept asking me Disney trivia questions...like "when was Space Mountain opened?" I said, "well, I rode it when I was a little girl, so it was there in 1979...I'll say 1974"...she said... "close--1975." She was just totally making this phone call fun. Once we got the DDP arranged, we then looked at the Spirit of Aloha and booked a time for that. Remember when we booked Hoop de Doo, I told you that JoAnn just asked for my credit card # and didn't really offer the info as to why. Here's how Dorothy's approach was..."Now, I know you are on the DDP, and you will use 2 TS credits to pay. However, I still need a credit card # on file in case you do not show. You will not be charged anything unless you do not show." After saying that THEN she asked me for my credit card number. Wasn't that much simpler and easier to say? She didn't use the word "guarantee," and she told me that I would not be charged before she ever asked for my number. At the end, I told her "thank you so much for everything. You have been awesome." She said, "no, shut up...YOU'VE been awesome!" Now that was a little Disney magic in my day that day! :-) I hope you guys get Dorothy when you call the reservations line! :-)
It's amazing how practically the same booking situation was handled so differently by 2 different CM's!
Here is situation #1:
One evening a couple of weeks ago, my DH called the reservation number to make a few changes to an exsisting reservation, and at the same time was going to make some dining reservations. He got a rude CM who was very short with him, and he decided not to make the dining reservations at that time because he just wanted to get off the phone with her.
The very next day I called to make the dining ADR's. After my phone call, I e-mailed the following e-mail to my DH at work:
I just called and booked Hoop Dee Doo. First the lady said there were no tables left then she said that she had one table in Cat 3 seating at 7:15pm. I think she was one of the rudest CM's that I have ever had on a reseravation line. She asked how many were in our party and my response was "2 adults and one child." She said sort of sarcastically, "so you mean there are 3 people in your party?" I know....I didn't answer exactly what she asked, but seriously, she didn't need to be rude about it. She was flying through all the material that they read and wouldn't let me ask questions. Then she finally paused to ask me for my credit card number. So that's when I stopped her to ask why I had to give a credit card number since we were on the DDP. She said it was to "guarantee the reservation." I asked her what "guarantee" meant because I wanted to know if my card was going to be charged at that time. She was very short with me and said in a I- can't- believe- you're -so -stupid tone, "If you don't show up, your credit card will be charged $127.97." So since she was taking a tone with me, I said I just wanted to be sure that it wasn't being charged now. She said, "No Mam...what's the number?" So I gave her my credit card number. Then she said "What's the name on the card?" I had given [my DH's] name for the reservation, so I asked her if she wanted his name or my name because we both had the same card. Again with the tone, like she was talking to a small child with emphasis on every word..."I NEED THE EXACT NAME ON THE CARD IN YOUR HAND!" I was boiling at this point. I got my confirmation numbers and hung up. Remind me to hang up and call back if I ever get Jo Ann again!
Would you beleive that my DH sent me an e-mail back shortly after that and said that was the name of the CM he had talked to the night before when he decided to hang up!! Unbelieveable!!!
Compare that to situation #2:
Now fast forward to just a few days ago when I called back to book Spirit of Aloha for a different trip that we are taking.
I had already decided if JoAnn answered my call, I was just going to hang up and call back. It turned out that I got this great girl named Dorothy. She was above and beyond the normal happy Disney CM. Dorothy was 100% the opposite of JoAnn. She was most helpful and very friendly. When I told her that I wanted to add the dining plan to our September trip, she said that we had to cancel the first ressie. and then make a new reservation since we were going from "room only" to a "package." I told her that I would have to call back b/c I didn't have the credit card. My DH happened to have it with him at work. She said, "Can you call him? I'll wait, if you would like to do that." She could have easily just said, "Ok. call back when you can." and hung up. In fact, I would have expected her to do that. So I had Dorothy on hold on my cell phone and called my DH at work from my home phone. I told him, "I have this wonderful lady named Dorothy on the phone, and she needs your credit card number." I could hear Dorothy laughing. So we got the new res made for WL and dining plan included. When she was asking about how many in the party, I said 2. You know how family names are in the system from prior reservations? She said, "Oh Christopher isn't coming?" I said, "no, and we have one disappointed little boy at home!" She said, "but oh....you are going to get some alone time!" :-) That just made me laugh, but also I thought it was great how she made it personal and asked about my DS. Another thing she did was in between punching stuff on the computer, she kept asking me Disney trivia questions...like "when was Space Mountain opened?" I said, "well, I rode it when I was a little girl, so it was there in 1979...I'll say 1974"...she said... "close--1975." She was just totally making this phone call fun. Once we got the DDP arranged, we then looked at the Spirit of Aloha and booked a time for that. Remember when we booked Hoop de Doo, I told you that JoAnn just asked for my credit card # and didn't really offer the info as to why. Here's how Dorothy's approach was..."Now, I know you are on the DDP, and you will use 2 TS credits to pay. However, I still need a credit card # on file in case you do not show. You will not be charged anything unless you do not show." After saying that THEN she asked me for my credit card number. Wasn't that much simpler and easier to say? She didn't use the word "guarantee," and she told me that I would not be charged before she ever asked for my number. At the end, I told her "thank you so much for everything. You have been awesome." She said, "no, shut up...YOU'VE been awesome!" Now that was a little Disney magic in my day that day! :-) I hope you guys get Dorothy when you call the reservations line! :-)
It's amazing how practically the same booking situation was handled so differently by 2 different CM's!