Strange experience with Member Services & ADRs

[JPL]

Today I called Member Services to make some ADRs for my trip in December and had the strangest experience. Before I called I tried to make reservations online but the site seemed to be down or very slow. I talked to a CM and only got 1 out of the 3 reservations I wanted so I left it at that. I mean for my entire stay she kept saying the only place available at Epcot was Biergarten. A few minutes later I decided to try online and got everything I wanted with multiple openings available for the time frames I was looking for and the same exact days that member services said they had nothing. Now are there 2 different systems or was the CM I spoke with clueless on how to make dining reservations? I'm just glad I decide to go online instead of taking their word for it.

[faline]

Sounds like you got someone who couldn't be bothered or who was clueless!

[JPL]

I thought about the couldn't be bothered factor but she sounded so cheerful and then disappointed when there was nothing LOL!

[eas423]

Makes you wonder how often that happened before there was an online tool and you couldn't double check for yourself!

[JPL]

I'm sure it happened quite often. I do know they would do it when using the online form to book resorts through DVC. They would steer you towards OKW & SSR even if the resort you requested was available.

[btharvey]

It sounds to me like your first online experience (no information) was the same as her computer experience trying to help you -- no information.

The same computer database provides the information for the web as it does for the call center, so she merely reflected what you saw earlier.

I'm confident that she would have been able to help you with no difficulty had you called back when you saw the new openings.

They're also at the mercy of the computer systems and can't make any promises beyond what they see on their screens.

I don't work for Disney IT, but I've worked in IT for over 26 years, and this sounds like somebody in my business goofed ... she's probably blameless.

[AHOTE]

You're not alone in what you experienced. I hit some of the same problems as you encountered when I changed my arrival and departure dates. I was able to get most of my reservations changed but for a few days nothing was available according to Member Services. A quick online search later in the day did get me what I wanted...I had no problems with accessing the web site.

[GusNJacque]

This is why it always pays to check and check again.

Glad you finally got what you wanted.

[JPL]

See I understand the server might have been slow or they were having some type of problem but the tell me that. Don't tell me nothing is available without saying you know we are having server problems so you should call back later or try later on your own.

[PopPhan]

See I understand the server might have been slow or they were having some type of problem but the tell me that. Don't tell me nothing is available without saying you know we are having server problems so you should call back later or try later on your own.

The problem is that the CM you talked to may not have known there was a server problem. They are manning phones, not doing IT work.

[Ropachs]

Whatever the problem was, how frustrating! Glad you were able to get your ADR's in the end.

[Ian]

I don't think it was an IT issue ... At least not a failure related one, anyway. When a front end can't communicate with the database it doesn't typically return an empty response. Usually it will throw an error or just time out.

Now it could be some sort of bug in the code or something. That I might believe, because Disney's technology is, for the most part, terrible.

[JPL]

Personally I think the CM made the 1st ADR and then just stopped trying and figured it would be easier to say nothing was available then go through the process of looking for the others the more I think about it. She also tried to say the weekend of December 10th is their busiest time of the year! Really I have been down there the past 3 years during this time frame and it was moderately busy but definately not that busy at all.

[DVC2004]

Just make dining reservations through the regular dining phone line. Those CM's are doing that all day long. MS does several things but mostly they are booking the rooms. Yes, I agree they should be capable of making ADRs but who knows...I call the regular line.