Does Disney really listen to customer complaints about a Cast Member?

[Emberlene]

Or would I be wasting my time sending an email?

I had such a bad experience with a CM today at EPCOT that, for the first time ever, I went to Guest Relations with a complaint and thought to follow up with an email to Guest Communications. This CM was extremely rude and their actions is just not what I expect from anywhere that deals with the public, let alone Disney who I've always held above the rest in the customer service department.

Guest Relations at EPCOT really handled the whole thing well and when I mentioned following up with an email, they gave me the email address.

However, if they truly don't pay attention to emails with such complaints and it is just going to be ignored, then I'm not going to bother with it. As I said, I've never had this happen at Disney before and am just not sure if I should further pursue it with an email or just let it go.

I am not looking to gain anything from this. I just truly think this CM needs some sort of customer service training and should not get away with treating guests the way my family and I were treated today.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Their manager and/or coordinator will take care of it. He or She will be talked to.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

Disney doesn't ignore any complaints. I think that your e-mail would just go back to guest relations though so you would only be wasting your breath (or fingers I guess for an e-mail) to send a 2nd complaint for the same issue since it would probably just go to the same person.

I know some people on here have e-mail addresses and phone numbers for certain departments, though. So if you don't get a response or you can follow up with someone else.

Perhaps if you explained where the event occured (or explain what happened if you wish to) someone could help put you in the right direction.

Though I suspect Guest Relations will be the best source for handling the issue

 

[CaptainMichael]

Once a guest complained to my coordinator that I drove the boat too slow Certainly a much different scenario, but I was made aware of the complaint.

 

[unkadug]

Once a guest complained to my coordinator that I drove the boat too slow Certainly a much different scenario, but I was made aware of the complaint.

Ha...was the coordinator laughing when he told you?

 

[CaptainMichael]

Ha...was the coordinator laughing when he told you?

Yeah, but I was too distracted by the fact that a guest complained about me. Eventually, I realized that I wasn't in trouble, and I was able to laugh also. It was really funny because I had the reputation of being one of the faster drivers. I always got the cycles back on track.

 

[meekoman]

Once, I was on the train and we were stopped at the Main St. Station and a lady was walking alongside a castmember and she kept on yelling at him that she was going to file a complaint against him. He, on the other hand, kept yelling back at her to "Just go ahead and do it lady!!!". Very odd indeed.

 

[CaptJacksFamily]

We've been to WDW 8 times, and always stayed at the Beach Club as part of our Platinum Plan package. On our visit in 2008, we had a horrible experience at the Beach Club with a CM on check-in. I even tried to get somebody else to help us, but this person was apparently the "ranking" CM.

When we got home, I e-mailed the GM of the Beach Club about it. I did not receive any follow-up, which really surprised me. I only hope that the GM did read the e-mail and addressed it with the CM.

 

[Emberlene]

Thanks for your replies.

This happened at the ticket stiles at the front entrance going in the park. We are annual passholders so having "problems" now and then with tickets not scanning, etc. happen and it's no big deal. The CM usually sends us to Guest Relations to get a new pass or whatever.

The CM at the ticket stile seemed new. My son's pass came up as an unauthorized ticket. He asked if my son had lost his pass and gotten a new one. We answered no. CM goes to his supervisor - a lady over at a little desk there at the entrance. I assume he explained the problem to her. She spends about 10 minutes on the computer then comes rushing over with my son's pass in her hand. She starts drilling us with questions - "Were you here on April 4th?" - no we haven't been to the parks since Feb. "You weren't here in May at all until today?" - No "Are you sure you weren't here in April?", etc. This goes on for about 5 mins. At this point we can only assume that there is some question about whether this pass belongs to us so my husband takes out his drivers license, shows it to her and asks for my son's pass back so we can go to Guest Relations to straighten this out. She refuses to give it to us. This is when I get mad.

I tell her that we are obviously annual passholders, have had problems with passes in the past and that we don't need an interrigation at the gate. Just give us the pass so we can go fix it. She says "No, you will stand here until I have finished everything I have to say to you and then I will escort you to Guest Relations to make sure this ticket belongs to you." Now please remember this is at the front gate. We are surrounded by other CM's and guests trying to get into the park. There is a line of about 10 people behind us trying to get in. I have had enough.

I tell her to give me the ticket and we were leaving. She refuses to give it to me and tells me again that I will have to "stand there and listen to her until she is done." I ask her if this is an example of Disney customer service. She informs me that "there is such a thing as guest service as well in case you don't know."

At this point I turn around and start marching to Guest Relations. My husband and son are behind me. She runs, catches up to my 14 year old son and asks him 3 times for his birthdate. Each time she asked, he gave it to her. When she asked him if he was sure of his birthdate I turned around and told her she was not to speak to my son. If she had questions she could address them to me or my husband. She ignored me and continued badgering my son about when his birthday was, what date our last visit was, etc.

When I reach the window I asked the poor girl behind the counter to deal with her rude coworker. The CM approaches the window and all but says we stole the ticket and was trying to get in on it. She then leaves. I admit at this point I was so angry that I doubt Walt himself could have satisfied me.

The girl behind the counter gets her supervisor, explains what she has seen and even tells him she thought the CM was out of line. I blister his ear for 10 more minutes regarding the situation. He fixes the ticket problem (I was so mad I don't even know what was wrong with it) and has someone escort us to the gate to make sure we have no further problems. He offers us Fastpasses, etc. which we turn down because that really wasn't going to help anything. I ask him for the email address to follow up and he gives it to me. I inform him that we had discussed not renewing our passes once they expired (we've had them for 6 years) and this has pretty much sealed the deal for us not renewing them.

The problem with the ticket is not what upset me. I have dealt with this before and have no problem doing so. But the manner in which she spoke to my family and I is unexcusable as far as I am concerned and when I ask her to stop talking to my child, I expect her to stop talking to my child.

Again, thanks for the advice and for reading all of this. I think I will just sleep on it and maybe send an email tomorrow.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

I think in your case an e-mail to guest relations would be best but be sure you let them know that you have already spoken with them and that you are following up so they know the whole deal.

The question now is what would be an acceptable response for you? Are you just looking to make sure the CM is reprimanded for their behaviour. I doubt they will actually tell you what type of action was taken other than saying they have taken care of the situation. Or are you looking for some type of compensation for the trouble you were put through.

I understand you didn't want to accept Fastpasses at the time because you were fuming mad but do you want Disney to give you anything for your troubles? If you would like or are expecting to get something for the stain the CM put on your day I would have some sort of idea of what would help you feel a bit better, otherwise you might feel as if you have been shafted once again.

Don't expect anything huge like free AP's for the whole family for life but if you felt like it ruined your day, tell them that and if they make an offer of something like a free meal for the family, free passes etc I would take them up on it. It could turn into the best Disney trip yet.

Honestly don't let this one bad apple spoil your impressions of all the Disney CM's. I would reconsider renewing your AP's because there are a lot of good CM's out there and they rarely get recognized.

You may also want to ask exactly what happened...she must have noticed something on your son's AP to make her think it was being misused. You should know what it is so you can make sure it doesn't happen again. that way you can tell them immediately the next time you use the AP that they have not fixed the problem...I wonder if someone tried to forge an AP and ended up using your son's AP number or something, certainly no fault of yours but you should be made aware if this is happening to you.

Be sure in your e-mail you remain calm, don't sound hysterical, use and bad language or go way over the top (ie, don't say it was the absolute most excruciatingly embarrassing day of your entire life) because it's too easy to pass someone off as being over-dramatic and then believe the CM more than you. Just report the facts as you have here in as brief a letter as possible and I'm sure you'll get a decent reponse from Disney.

please let us know how it goes

 

[AEfx]

If you've already been to Guest Relations, an e-mail really isn't neccesary. You've already alerted them in the most direct way possible, and the only purpose it can serve is in letting you vent some more, and hopefully as you've done it here, as well as "blistering their ears for 10 minutes", that's not needed. The offered you restitution, you chose not to take it, your tickets work now, so there really is no need to go through the drama yet again because it's not going to get the employee in any more "trouble", and they aren't going to offer you restitution again.

Disney is amazing at dealing with this kind of stuff. Rest assured if you brought it to Guest Relations that the issue is being addressed. Going home and staying upset and keeping it going isn't going to change your experience, and isn't going to make them deal with it any differently. What happened shouldn't have happened, and you should be confident you did what you could to see that no one else will have this issue again.

Take a deep breath, realize you've done what you can - and try not to let one incident ruin your entire Disney experience. If one bad experience with one bad person keeps you from returning, the "bad" person won.

 

[Ilovewishes]

Not entirely related, but somewhat distantly related to the problem:

When I was younger, my aunt and uncle took me to WDW with a couple of my older cousins. We dropped them off at the gate and left them there for the day, saying we would pick them up again later and when we returned later that evening, we were informed that they had been unable to get into the park as they had stolen tickets. Apparently, the sales guy we had bought them from (and never used again, may I add!) had been selling stolen tickets without realising they were stolen!

But my cousins seem to have had an entirely different experience to the OP. Although they weren't allowed into the park, they were taken "backstage" and allowed to help with small tasks such as inflating the balloons sold throughout the park etc. I was just gutted that I'd missed out on the chance to do that!! (Having spent the day at Cypress Gardens instead and getting heat stroke!)

Hopefully, the OP's experience was a one off and the person involved will be reprimanded accordingly.

 

[Emberlene]

Thanks again for all your replies.

I've decided not to send an email. As I said, I didn't want to gain anything - not after tickets, fast passes, etc. I just wanted to make sure that my complaint was addressed with the CM. And you guys have reassured me that it will be.

As for our AP's - we are going to "take a year off". As I said, we were thinking of doing that to begin with because (and I don't quite know how to put this), for many other reasons, Disney hasn't quite felt the same for us this year. This was just the topping on the cake so to speak.

 

[Jorden]

I know you said you've already decided but really ever complaint/complement gets back to the cast member... I never had a bad one but I did have a good one come down in my time.

Plus your situation doesn't hurt that the Guest Relations CM actually saw the CM being "out of line". This probably would have expedited the process.

 

[Fade_to_Blah]

I can see why you were so mad. Your story angers me and I wasnt even there

 

[hwdelien]

I can see why you were so mad. Your story angers me and I wasnt even there

I agree there is never a situation that a child should be addressed directly. At minimum, the CM should have addressed the entire conversation to the adults.

 

[Bluewaves]

wow, thats all I can say, that is so completely in appropriate I couldn't even put it in to words. I know I had complained about a CM once, a monorail pilot, who had the worst attitude possible in writing and I know a couple days a later someone who identified himself as a monorail supervisor had gotten back to me for more details and said he was going to personally speak to that cm.


So talking to guest relations is a first, I would also write to the higher ups, because thats was so horrid it wasn't even funny, just because you have an ap doesn't mean they can treat you like crap.

 

[clarkstallings]

I wonder if any Cast Members ever feel that there should be an equivalent of Guest Relations where they can go complain about problem guests?

 

[Polyman]

Did this lady from the little desk have on a solid blue shirt? Solid blue shirts are worn by the Coordinators. She should have known better. BTW, did her name begin with the letter "B"?

 

[rock_doctor]

I know how you feel. Almost every time we go we have an issue but since we go over xmas/new years/summer, i always chalk it up to a burned out CM. I suggest you take some time away from Disney. Try a cruise. They are generally cheaper then DW and you can travel a little. Or if you don't want to stray too far from Disney how about a Disney cruise. Sometime going to Disney too often can make the Disney experience mundane.