Bad experience with AAA!

[RaRaRoundTheWorld]

I just canceled the trip I had tried to book with AAA. I've dealt with 3 different people over the same reservation, spent literally hours on hold over and had my requests mixed up as they passed from person to person.

I had initially booked the trip through let's call her "V". After sending her an e-mail reply to charge my credit card, I didn't hear back from her for 5 days. In that 5 days - I spoke to 2 other people who, at first, couldn't find her in their system, then refused to help me because "V" was the one who initially booked my trip. The other two people couldn't provide me with a reservation # or receipt for my charges, but kept insisting that everything was fine with my reservation (after being placed on hold many times). I finally got someone to locate and change my reservation (after being placed on hold many times). Then, after 5 days, "V" contacts me asking why I had left a voicemail asking for a new reservation. E-mails and voicemails flew back and forth. Finally, tonight, I left another e-mail and voicemail to cancel my reservation.

I've never had such terrible customer service with AAA! I'm wondering if my husband should call back and start a new reservation, or if we should just book directly through Disney. We would have saved hundreds of dollars with AAA. But, at this point, I feel like I've already wasted enough time!

Sorry for the rant! I know there are better things to complain about in life. I just thought that if anyone would understand, it's the Intercotees!

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

See what Magical Journeys can do for you!!!!

[RaRaRoundTheWorld]

OK! I wrote too soon - apparently AAA doesn't want to accept my cancellation unless I pay a $200 fee. I can't believe that I have to pay a fee over their terrible customer service! There goes my lunch break tomorrow so I can waste my cell phone minutes on AAA. Again!

I am going to send a request in to Magical Journeys in the meantime - thanks for the reminder!

[brivers222]

the talking about AAA room only discounts got me questioning whether i could get a better price for the non-free dinning portion of out trip.... Magical Journeys could not get the discount that AAA could... but after spending 30mins on hold with a person she quoted me a price that was $100 more than MJ had without a discount... um okay. So I groveled back to debbie and apologized for being led astray. Then a week later BAM! Debbie hooked us up with the 30% off rate at the Poly and BWI.. saving us just under $1000!

So moral of the story..... Magical Journeys is the place you should use

[BigFatDaddy]

Man! We have booked two trips to Disney through AAA and have had great service. Sorry to hear about all your trouble.

[Polynesian Dweller]

OK! I wrote too soon - apparently AAA doesn't want to accept my cancellation unless I pay a $200 fee. I can't believe that I have to pay a fee over their terrible customer service! There goes my lunch break tomorrow so I can waste my cell phone minutes on AAA. Again!

I am going to send a request in to Magical Journeys in the meantime - thanks for the reminder!

The $200 sounds like the amount of the deposit Disney requires, it's the amount required on the Disney web site. If AAA had to pay that up front they may be requesting money they paid on your behalf. The $200 isn't always refunded by Disney on cancellation and it would be $200 you in essence spent when the reservation was made. Just something to keep in mind when talking to them and AAA may be in the right asking for it.

[gerald72]

Why wouldn't Disney refund the $200?

I don't see anything positive with booking through AAA. Some people prefer MJ- I prefer going straight through Disney.

A friend of mine booked through AAA and his going next month. At his 180 day mark, he wasn't able to make dining resv through Disney because the trip was booked through AAA. And AAA wasnt open at 7am. Had anyone else had that problem?

[gardenia]

Just wanted to mention, you don't have to book through AAA to get an AAA discount at Disney. You can call CRO and ask for the AAA discount. I did this one year when no AP rates were available. I never book through a travel agent - it's more trouble than it's worth.

[Strmchsr]

Just wanted to mention, you don't have to book through AAA to get an AAA discount at Disney. You can call CRO and ask for the AAA discount. I did this one year when no AP rates were available. I never book through a travel agent - it's more trouble than it's worth.

You can get the AAA room-only discount without booking through AAA but you can only get the AAA package discount through AAA. However, I always book through Magical Journeys and the discounts I get from AP, room-only, regular package discounts, etc are always better than the AAA package. Most TA's are a lot of trouble, but MJ makes the booking experience so nice and easy.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

Why wouldn't Disney refund the $200?

Disney is under no obligation to refund the $200 deposit once you are within 45 days of your trip. Otherwise the $200 would be refunded.

I suspect Disney rarely actually refuses to refund the $200 deposit even inside the 45 day mark, but their standard agreement allows them to do so.

[ChipDale2708]

A friend of mine booked through AAA and his going next month. At his 180 day mark, he wasn't able to make dining resv through Disney because the trip was booked through AAA. And AAA wasnt open at 7am. Had anyone else had that problem?

I have almost always booked through AAA and have never had a problem scheduling my ADR's at the 180 mark. Seems like one time though I had to ask my agent what the Disney confirmation number was so I could access my reservations directly on their site. The number wasn't on the paperwork, only the AAA confirmation one. Once I had the correct number, no problems.

[Dave H]

A friend of mine booked through AAA and his going next month. At his 180 day mark, he wasn't able to make dining resv through Disney because the trip was booked through AAA. And AAA wasnt open at 7am. Had anyone else had that problem?

No issues here either. My AAA agent (I book all my Disney vacations through AAA, never had a problem) had told me I wouldn't be able to plug my ADR's into disneyworld.com, but they did work. I even called Disney Dining yesterday to adjust a few times, and the CSR I spoke to on the phone had no issues whatsoever retrieving my existing reservations or making modifications.

[mydisneygirls]

I always go directly through Disney.

[darthmacho]

I used AAA for my first three trips because I was convinced there would be big discounts. It wasn't true. The first trip was fairly smooth as far as planning goes, but the next two were rife with planning issues, most stemming from indifferent miscommunication on their part. Magical Journeys was a huge improvement.

[Pirate Granny]

MJ can book a AAA room discount.