Did anyone ever have 'reservation assistance''?

[mrmcgiv]

We have 'reservation assistance' for our upcoming trip. We had some bad experiences during our 12/2008 trip and I emailed disney to bring this to their attention. We had several bad table service dining experiences and our room at CSR was not very clean, extrememly BEAT UP and it was an adjoining room and we heard eveything form the strangers next door. It took 2 days to move us and when they finally did, it was complicated and they did not close the fridge in the new room and milk and food all went bad that we bought and got delivered. It wasted most of a day too as we did not get to the parks until close to dinner that day!

The CSR who I spke w/ about the complaint said we can call 10 days ahead of our arrival and the resort will make sure we have none of the same experiences. I should hope not and you should not have to call for this. I had hoped when they told me about this initially that perhaps they would compensate us for our bad dining experiences. I would have appreciated a few dining credits (as we do not have the dining pan this time) and perhaps a guarantee that we will not get a far off room with a parking lot view etc And make sure it is clean! Or I thought they may give us some sort of discount.

i had talked to someone at Disney in Feb and they said call when ready to book and when i called I was a little disappointed that what they had to offer was a call to the resort to make sure we did not encounter any of the problems we encountered on our last trip - as it should be a given that people do not routinely encounter bad service and dirty rooms. After the last trip we did say we would not go back for quite sometime, but here we are less than two yrs later going again.......there is just something about disney.

Has anyone else experienced this? What did the resort do for you? Also, the lady said there was no way to give us any dining credits to compensate for our bad dining experiences, that the dining is totally seperate. When I expressed my disappoinment she offered me a $100 giftcard, which woud not even cover the cost of one Table service for 4 of us - but it is better than nothing.

Our bad dining was at Le Cellier (cold food and a horrible waitress), The Maya grill for breakfast (poptarts would have been better) - it was a disappointing waste of a TS credit... and Ohana (while the food was good they had us seated way over in a corner and they ended the entertainment before we got there) And chef Mickey's for breakfast - we were seated late and some of the characters LEFT before coming to our table and they were cleaning up the buffet - they should ot have taken a reservation that late if they were closing! The food was so good at Ohana though I would go back there!!!! We did have some good dining experiences though at 1900 PF, WCC, Coral Reef and Crystal palace...all were for dinner.

As for the room, I know CSR was in the middle of the refurb and boy did our first room in Ranchos need it bad! It was very disappointing. The new room after they moved us was not refurbed either but still a bit better and in the cabanas. Oh and they lost our stroller for a day! Maybe they would comp us a double stroller for the trip or even a few days :) That'd be nice! My kids are now too big for a regular stroller.

I just really felt like it was a great deal of $$ to pay last time for a trip that was disappointing on many levels! And it was hard to relax and enjoy the trip after the disappointment of the dirty room and adjoining room (we could clearly hear the neighbor conversations, movements etc

Anyone else have probelms with dining and complained after the fact? They said we should have complained on the spot. To do so, would have caused my husband more stress, he does not like to complain or have attn drawn to him. How did they remedy it?

All this being said about CSR, I will say the pool area was very nice, we loved the Pepper Market and if I knew i was not in an adjoining room and I knew it was a refurbed room I would not hesitate to stay there again.

Also, our first trip to CBR in May 2007 was GREAT in every way - how a disney trip should be! We had great dining experiences at Akershus, Chef Mickey's (dinner), Crystal palace, Hollywood and vine and Captains galley. Maybe that is why Our next trip was so disappointing! It will be interesting to see how this trip goes.

[MonoMan]

I'm sorry your last trip was such a disappointment. I think it's great that Disney has offered you assistance with your upcoming trip and the gift card.

In my opinion, Disney probably get flooded with complaints - my experience is that most people are willing to call, write, email to complain over compliment - so when they receive a complaint after the fact it's harder for them to try to fix it. If the issue is brought to their attention when it occurs, it's much easier for them to remedy the situation and hopefully keeps from spoiling your trip.

Best wishes for a magical trip!

[mrmcgiv]

I did make sure to tell them about the positives as well in my email because like you said people do not usually call to compliment on exceptionally good svc, but they do on bad svc. The hostess at the Coral Reef went way out of her way to accomodate us and I let them know!

[SBETigg]

Lessons learned- you really need to complain on the spot. It doesn't always get you much satisfaction (especially if the management is as inattentive as the staff) but at least it is duly noted. And then any further complaints should be addressed and sent off immediately, don't wait. If the meal is not good enough to pay for, you're probably going to pay anyway. The only remedy to this is on the spot, if you send it back until they get it right (of course, you have to trust they're not going to mess with it in the kitchen... but let's hope not). If the service is bad, your only remedy is to say something right then. "We want..." faster service, more attention, less attention, more time... whatever it is. If your room is not acceptable, you have to let them know and hope for better. Ask for it if it's important to you. If not (and even if so) there are no guarantees. But to wait until it's over and then expect some compensation, well... most times that just isn't going to happen, or it won't be enough to make up for your bad experience. Unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

My husband is like yours, though-- he wants to avoid the additional stress or being the one to complain too much. So I understand. But it's not likely they'll offer much to make for it when you complain later. It's no longer a problem right in front of them, and a lot of people go in with high expectations and then have complaints. I hope your next trip is much better!

[mrmcgiv]

I totally agree, lesson learned! We did complain immediately about the room.

I waited too long to complain about most else. When I wrote the email I honestly did not expect anything, I was just voicing my dissatisfaction, but a very nice lady from Disney called and we talked and she said when i am ready to book to call and they woud do something, but it was unclear excatly what. When I was ready to book and did call is when i found out they would make sure that I did not encounter the same problems. From our previous conversation with teh Disney re I was under the impression that they planned to do something more as to compensate for our bad trip.

Also, at least I know now that if something is going wrong I will not get the run around and it better not take 2 days to remedy it!


Lessons learned- you really need to complain on the spot. It doesn't always get you much satisfaction (especially if the management is as inattentive as the staff) but at least it is duly noted. And then any further complaints should be addressed and sent off immediately, don't wait. If the meal is not good enough to pay for, you're probably going to pay anyway. The only remedy to this is on the spot, if you send it back until they get it right (of course, you have to trust they're not going to mess with it in the kitchen... but let's hope not). If the service is bad, your only remedy is to say something right then. "We want..." faster service, more attention, less attention, more time... whatever it is. If your room is not acceptable, you have to let them know and hope for better. Ask for it if it's important to you. If not (and even if so) there are no guarantees. But to wait until it's over and then expect some compensation, well... most times that just isn't going to happen, or it won't be enough to make up for your bad experience. Unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

My husband is like yours, though-- he wants to avoid the additional stress or being the one to complain too much. So I understand. But it's not likely they'll offer much to make for it when you complain later. It's no longer a problem right in front of them, and a lot of people go in with high expectations and then have complaints. I hope your next trip is much better!

[DisneyLuver91]

We had a room two years ago at POP and it was moldy. They had cleaned the carpets and didn't put on any sort of air circulation. It made my sister so sick. We lost about two days worth of park-going because we had to take her to a doctor in Celebration. We complained and got four three day park hoppers! :thumbsup: Plus a reimbursement on a few days of our hotel. Definitely made a lousy trip into a few good ones in the future!

[mrmcgiv]

Good! As it should be, they definitely made good on that. Sorry your sister got sick.


We had a room two years ago at POP and it was moldy. They had cleaned the carpets and didn't put on any sort of air circulation. It made my sister so sick. We lost about two days worth of park-going because we had to take her to a doctor in Celebration. We complained and got four three day park hoppers! :thumbsup: Plus a reimbursement on a few days of our hotel. Definitely made a lousy trip into a few good ones in the future!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

We had problems in 2007-bus problems, lousy service @ Kona to name a couple-and my sister wrote a letter. She got a call and was told to call ahead next time we came down. We got upgraded to a river view at POFQ. I think that was it.

[Jillirose]

We have had nine trips as a family and no complaints on lodging or dining. We haven't always enjoyed what we ordered - foodwize- but that can happen anywhere.

On our last trip, they closed the pool at BC, which was the only day we felt warm enough to go in! It had been very cold all week. And, the only reason we paid for BC was the pool and location.

I sent in an email complaint after the fact and received half of the cost credited back to us for the last night of our stay, which I was very happy with.

[TikiLounger]

The only time we had any difficulty was during the planning stages of our trip last fall to The Beach Club. My husband and I were travelling alone to celebrate our anniversary and his B-Day. We decided on Club Level to really make it special. I got a call from the resort just before the time when we could start making dinner reservations and I was told that all I had to do was give them my requests and they'd take care of everything for me. Fast forward to a few weeks before our trip. I called to check on everything and...you guessed it...no one ever booked any dining for us. We were SO excited for O'Hana and no...no O'Hana. The explained that they had no pull with dining and all they could do was search for an opening twice a day, but they never came up with one. Meanwhile, I searched on the internet and, after several days of trying,I magically found a table for 2...on my husband's birthday. To be honest here, I don't think they really tried all that hard...I got the impression they were just trying to placate me. Anyway, when we arrived, we DID find that we had been upgraded from garden room to a water view. I was VERY nice, so we didn't complain about the dining situation.

[mrmcgiv]

Glad they upgraded you at least. I forgot we had a dinging rservation issue that trip too. I called to cancel a reservation at akershus and they had no reservation for me - I had the confirmation number though?? They researched while I waited om the phone and found that somehow my reservation was transferred to another family and held with my Credit Card number, along wth a few other reservations. :mad: Glad i called! The lady on the dining Reservation line said I think I know what happened and when i asked What - she said she could not tell me ???? That made it more annoying b/c ot wasmy CC number - they fixed it though!


The only time we had any difficulty was during the planning stages of our trip last fall to The Beach Club. My husband and I were travelling alone to celebrate our anniversary and his B-Day. We decided on Club Level to really make it special. I got a call from the resort just before the time when we could start making dinner reservations and I was told that all I had to do was give them my requests and they'd take care of everything for me. Fast forward to a few weeks before our trip. I called to check on everything and...you guessed it...no one ever booked any dining for us. We were SO excited for O'Hana and no...no O'Hana. The explained that they had no pull with dining and all they could do was search for an opening twice a day, but they never came up with one. Meanwhile, I searched on the internet and, after several days of trying,I magically found a table for 2...on my husband's birthday. To be honest here, I don't think they really tried all that hard...I got the impression they were just trying to placate me. Anyway, when we arrived, we DID find that we had been upgraded from garden room to a water view. I was VERY nice, so we didn't complain about the dining situation.

[Kenny1113]

In my opinion, Disney probably get flooded with complaints - my experience is that most people are willing to call, write, email to complain over compliment...

I have realized this and now when I have great service I always let the establishment( hotel, restaurant, etc) know. I tell myself: if I would complain about bad service I need to compliment great service.:D


My husband is like yours, though-- he wants to avoid the additional stress or being the one to complain much
My husband is the same as well. What I have found works for us if there is an issue that warrants complaint, DH will stay at table, room etc. I will go to the front and speak with mgmt. This way he doesn't have to be part of the "scene" (which in most circumstances is not a big deal), but still reaps the benefits of Improved service. :thumbsup:

[Goofy4TheWorld]

As yet another husband who would also be embarrassed for me or my wife to have to complain about food or hotels, I can't help but notice in all of these posts that not a single post says something like 'my wife would not want me to complain.....' It seems only the husbands are shy about it.

Just noticing.......:thedolls:

[garymacd]

As yet another husband who would also be embarrassed for me or my wife to have to complain about food or hotels, I can't help but notice in all of these posts that not a single post says something like 'my wife would not want me to complain.....' It seems only the husbands are shy about it.

Just noticing.......:thedolls:

Yeah. We might act tough, but inside, we're all just kitty cats!

[renecat]

In 2008 my sister and I stayed at GF. I put all but one of my credit cards in the safe. When I got home from my trip found out someone had used the three credit cards at a wal mart, gas station and had dinner one night. Now I came home with the cards so they either took the cards and then replaced them before we checked out our copied my numbers. I called disney just to let them know about this so it might not happen to someone else. It was very hard getting to speak with the right people. I finally got in touch with security and they said they would look into this. Never heard a word about it. Last year when we were there we ate al LeCelliers we all ordered the filet my cousin wanted here meduim my sister and I got ours med. rare. When we got the steaks my cousins was rare. We didn't really make an issue about it because she shared mine with me. When the waiter came over to get our dessert order I mentioned it to him. He said he would get her another one but we told him we were full. We had each had a glass of wine with our dinner so they took that off our bill.

[Kenny1113]

Yeah. We might act tough, but inside, we're all just kitty cats!

Too funny:)


I actually thought of a time when DH best me to the punch. At kimonos the waitress took the chopsticks away from in front of my kids. DS (7 at the time) politely (and shy) asked to have chopsticks with his meal. The waitress brought them back as she stated " OK, you're gonna have your food in your lap". Them when DS ordered his sushi/sashimi she implied that he would not eat/like that and insisted he was gonna be hungry. This went on throughout our meal, DH got sooo upset he was almost turning red! He told waitress that DS loves sushi and she was in the wrong for assuming otherwise. We left her 10% tip. A first for us!

[TheVBs]

Sorry to hear you had so many things go wrong on your last trip. I think the gift card is great as an after the fact reimbursement!

I agree that you have to let someone know about a problem in as timely a manner as possible. It never has to be a confrontation, you can be really pleasant and matter-of-fact when letting a CM know that something's gone wrong. That takes a lot of the stress out of the situation, for both you and the CM.

I also agree about giving praise when it's due. Our last trip was so fantastic that I wrote Disney just to let them know what we loved.