Freaking out at Disney's Photopass...

[NewfieFan]

Freaking out at Disney's Photopass... *update*

I preorded the Disney's Photopass CD for my vacation in Sept. (yes, Sept.)! When I came home and I put in my cards (I had two) all my pictures were there. I edited them as usual and ordered the CD, I also ordered their stock picture CD as there was a special on at the time. I got the stock picture CD but no Photopass CD... anyways, I started to get worried as time passed (a lot of time passed) so I sent off an email to them and this was their response...

"Thank you for your visit to the Disney Photopass website.

I am sorry you did not receive your PhotoPass CD. Our records show your CD was missing images and could not be processed. The only recourse this offers us is to issue you a refund.

A credit in the amount of $22.90 has been issued to your credit card. Please allow up to 2 billing cycles for the credit to appear on your credit card statement. Please let us know if we can help in any other way.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
John"

Are they freakin' serious!?! I had over 200 pictures on that... it was a 12 day vacation at WDW! It was our first MNSSHP! I am almost in tears here! Is there anything they can do to track down my pictures... how did they lose all of them?

And what is up with the $22.90 refund!?! Um, excuse me Disney but I paid $100 US PLUS the $22.90. :fork:

I have been a customer of Disney's Photopass since our first trip in 2007 and I've always been happy with my pictures/product... and now this.

Are my vacation pictures really gone...?

*update* further down in thread...

 

[JWG]

I would call and it also looks like they refunded the price of the stock CD versus the photopass CD?

 

[NewfieFan]

I would call and it also looks like they refunded the price of the stock CD versus the photopass CD?

No, the Stock CD was free... the $22.90 was just for the shipping of the two CDs (I live in Canada ~ had to pay international shipping).

I called but the office closes at 1pm... great office hours... and I couldn't even leave a message! :fork:

 

[britlightyear]

I thought they could only keep your photos for 30 days. Maybe you waited too long?

 

[NewfieFan]

I thought they could only keep your photos for 30 days. Maybe you waited too long?

No, no, you misread my post! All my pictures were there on the Photopass website, I ordered my PhotoCD before they expired!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

OMG!

I would have someone's hide on that one, girl. I don't know for sure how the Photopass files are stored or for how long. I know Disney's professional photography services store the digital files forever. I was told when we did the family portrait sitting in December '07 that we could call back to order additional prints anytime from now until forever. Not that I would at their insane prices. My hope would be that Photopass at least saves up to a year in back-ups before purging or overwriting. I can understand their standard policy of not being able to see your photos online after 30 days unless you pay the extra fee just for bandwidth and stuff like that. They should still have that stuff in a back-up somewhere. The trick is finding someone who knows the archive system, what the possibilities are, and is willing to actually do a little extra digging for you.

At the very least I'd demand a full refund. The little token $22 wouldn't cut it at all. They're the ones who failed to send out the CD.

Golly, I sure hope this works out somehow. Keep me posted with all the details. BTW, I totally need to get an email out to you with all the latest-n-greatest. I thought of y'all so much when we were at WDW in November! :wave:

Crossing my fingers and sending all the good vibes I can....

 

[NewfieFan]

Thanks sweet! :kiss:

I'm just soooo upset... there were actually a lot of good photos on that CD! And we practically spent the whole night at MNSSHP lining up for character pics, which I don't have on my own camera. I usually always use my own camera but with it being dark and I only have a P&S camera I left it in the hands of Photopass. We waited forever to see the 7 dwarfs... and now no picture. I'm seriously near tears here. I feel like telling Disney they need to refund my tickets to MNSSHP! That whole night revolved around pictures and now nothing!

 

[britlightyear]

No, no, you misread my post! All my pictures were there on the Photopass website, I ordered my PhotoCD before they expired!

No, what I meant was, maybe they expired in the time after you ordered the CD to the time that you contacted them. I realize that they hadn't passed the 30 days when you ordered and should have received the CD but perhaps while you were waiting for the second CD to arrive they expired and now they can't retrieve your photos.
I only say this because after our last trip I received our photopass CD and it somehow got scratched pretty badly before I could take the CD to the store to make prints (the scratch was my fault, it didn't come like that). I called Photopass to ask if I could get a new CD made and they said that my photos had already expired and basically there was nothing they could do about it.

 

[NewfieFan]

No, what I meant was, maybe they expired in the time after you ordered the CD to the time that you contacted them. I realize that they hadn't passed the 30 days when you ordered and should have received the CD but perhaps while you were waiting for the second CD to arrive they expired and now they can't retrieve your photos.
I only say this because after our last trip I received our photopass CD and it somehow got scratched pretty badly before I could take the CD to the store to make prints (the scratch was my fault, it didn't come like that). I called Photopass to ask if I could get a new CD made and they said that my photos had already expired and basically there was nothing they could do about it.

Sorry, I guess I misread your post!

I find that hard to believe! There's got to be a way to track down the photos... the question is, do they want to make the effort to track down your photos!?! You would think there is some sort of back up... anything could happen to a CD and they don't have the "technology" to track down your pictures! C'mon Disney, this is the year 2011!!!

 

[britlightyear]

Sorry, I guess I misread your post!

I find that hard to believe! There's got to be a way to track down the photos... the question is, do they want to make the effort to track down your photos!?! You would think there is some sort of back up... anything could happen to a CD and they don't have the "technology" to track down your pictures! C'mon Disney, this is the year 2011!!!

I think you have the problem right there! The lady I talked to just really seemed like she could have cared less about my CD. I have no doubt that they can probably look up photos after 30 days but I just don't think she wanted to put the effort in. :brick:
I'm sorry it happened to you, have you tried asking for a supervisor?

 

[DisneyParksFan]

Sorry, I guess I misread your post!

I find that hard to believe! There's got to be a way to track down the photos... the question is, do they want to make the effort to track down your photos!?! You would think there is some sort of back up... anything could happen to a CD and they don't have the "technology" to track down your pictures! C'mon Disney, this is the year 2011!!!

They do have the capacity of tracking down photos within those 30 days.
But, I think after the 30 days, they are deleted from the system. Soooo many photos are taken in just one day. Imagine how many there would be if they kept all photos forever.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

All I can say is, they're lucky this didn't happen to me, because I'd have someone's head on a platter.

I'd keep calling them and ask to speak to a supervisor. At the VERY least, you ought to be entitled to a FULL refund, not just the shipping.

 

[flavious27]

And this is why they need to upgrade and get rfid into the parks. I have heard that photopass photographers know how to and do screw up pictures by having them not show up with your card number because they had a bad day or just to mess with people.

Disney should be partnered with picasa so that you can just buy the files, transfer them to picasa and choose how you want to use them. This would mediate issues with their 30 day window and their production facility, jostens or ezprint screwing up.

 

[NewfieFan]

Update

So, I called the customer service line for Walt Disney World and the lady I spoke with was very nice and told me this needed to be addressed. She said she was going to put me through to the photo imaging dept. and I should speak with a supervisor. I'm pretty sure it's the same number I called for Photopass customer support but this time I was given the option to leave a message. I left quite a long message and asked for someone to call me back. I waited until 1pm today and I still hadn't heard anything so I called back again. This time I was put on hold and got to speak to someone.

She said the pre-arrival CD discount I used wasn't valid for my vacation pictures b/c I bought the CD after my vacation. Which is true, I didn't know they had the pre-arrival discount until I got to WDW and one of the Photopass photographers told me they were offering it again. He told me to go ahead and purchase it before I enter my pictures in on the website. So, I told the lady this and told her it was one of her employees that told me to do it. But I didn't care if the discount wasn't applicable to me ~ I wanted my vacation pictures and would have paid regular price for them! I was told in the email that my images were missing and my CD couldn't be processed... which was the furthest thing from the truth! I told her if someone had just told me the discount wasn't valid I would have purchased the CD anyway. She said, I'm sorry but your pictures have expired now. I said (in a very firm voice), "no, my pictures are not missing and I still want the CD that I ordered and I'm willing to pay for it!" I heard her type in the background for literally a couple of seconds and then she said ok your pictures are all back on the website, you can just log in again and order your CD! Dead freakin' serious!?! Then she said, she would refund my account the $99 minus the $22.90. No, I said, I paid $99 plus $22.90 for shipping. Yes, she said but you got a CD. But I only got one CD (the stock photo CD). So, you can refund me the $99 plus the shipping for one CD, I responded. She said, well, I'll just refund you the whole amount b/c I can't figure that out! :lol: And she gave me $15 off the CD for my trouble.

Moral of the story... your pictures are not lost... they just won't take the 5 seconds to type something in on the computer to recover your pictures!

Anyway, I'm very happy my pictures are all there. I will be ordering the CD at regular price as there is 279 pictures and it's worth for me.

 

[Fashionista007]

I am so happy to hear that this was resolved and you got your pictures back. Sigh, sometimes it is apparent that you are working with someone who doesn't know their a** from a hole in the ground. I think that is what happened the first time you called. I'm glad you spoke to a supervisor and it sounds like they handled the problem very well. I figured your pictures weren't actually deleted yet. Disney always has a contingency plan with technology.

I just wanted to say I was very disappointed with my PhotoPass pictures from my engagement trip. Some of the pics were cute but most of them were horrible. The worst one was the picture of DF and I kissing in front of the castle right after the proposal:

What is up with that lady in the orange shirt?? Can't the photographers see the image after they take it? I was heartbroken over this. Luckily, I always give the PhotoPass photographers my camera too so I have a backup just in case. I hope you do the same after your horrible experience.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Oh yay for you! I was sure they'd have still have 'em somehow. It's not like it was even 6 months ago. Ya know? You're so right, when it comes to some things the key is getting someone on the phone willing to make the effort to help you. And, obviously, not accepting "too bad".

Aside from the topic here, I'm glad you got some good shots on your Photopass. Ours from November were pretty lack-luster. I'm not so sure I'll buy the CD anymore. It looks like you can buy individual files now so I'll just pick the 1 or 2 that are worthwhile and buy them individually. I wish we still got the super-good shots like we used to!

Hooray for a positive outcome! :sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

 

[flavious27]

Update

So, I called the customer service line for Walt Disney World and the lady I spoke with was very nice and told me this needed to be addressed. She said she was going to put me through to the photo imaging dept. and I should speak with a supervisor. I'm pretty sure it's the same number I called for Photopass customer support but this time I was given the option to leave a message. I left quite a long message and asked for someone to call me back. I waited until 1pm today and I still hadn't heard anything so I called back again. This time I was put on hold and got to speak to someone.

She said the pre-arrival CD discount I used wasn't valid for my vacation pictures b/c I bought the CD after my vacation. Which is true, I didn't know they had the pre-arrival discount until I got to WDW and one of the Photopass photographers told me they were offering it again. He told me to go ahead and purchase it before I enter my pictures in on the website. So, I told the lady this and told her it was one of her employees that told me to do it. But I didn't care if the discount wasn't applicable to me ~ I wanted my vacation pictures and would have paid regular price for them! I was told in the email that my images were missing and my CD couldn't be processed... which was the furthest thing from the truth! I told her if someone had just told me the discount wasn't valid I would have purchased the CD anyway. She said, I'm sorry but your pictures have expired now. I said (in a very firm voice), "no, my pictures are not missing and I still want the CD that I ordered and I'm willing to pay for it!" I heard her type in the background for literally a couple of seconds and then she said ok your pictures are all back on the website, you can just log in again and order your CD! Dead freakin' serious!?! Then she said, she would refund my account the $99 minus the $22.90. No, I said, I paid $99 plus $22.90 for shipping. Yes, she said but you got a CD. But I only got one CD (the stock photo CD). So, you can refund me the $99 plus the shipping for one CD, I responded. She said, well, I'll just refund you the whole amount b/c I can't figure that out! :lol: And she gave me $15 off the CD for my trouble.

Moral of the story... your pictures are not lost... they just won't take the 5 seconds to type something in on the computer to recover your pictures!

Anyway, I'm very happy my pictures are all there. I will be ordering the CD at regular price as there is 279 pictures and it's worth for me.

I would call or contact customer service to complain about the person that helped you on the phone. From your story, it sounds like they didn't want to help you and only did after you kept pushing them. I wonder if the person you were talking to was even a disney employee, or the company in Georgia they use.

 

[flavious27]

I am so happy to hear that this was resolved and you got your pictures back. Sigh, sometimes it is apparent that you are working with someone who doesn't know their a** from a hole in the ground. I think that is what happened the first time you called. I'm glad you spoke to a supervisor and it sounds like they handled the problem very well. I figured your pictures weren't actually deleted yet. Disney always has a contingency plan with technology.

I just wanted to say I was very disappointed with my PhotoPass pictures from my engagement trip. Some of the pics were cute but most of them were horrible. The worst one was the picture of DF and I kissing in front of the castle right after the proposal:

What is up with that lady in the orange shirt?? Can't the photographers see the image after they take it? I was heartbroken over this. Luckily, I always give the PhotoPass photographers my camera too so I have a backup just in case. I hope you do the same after your horrible experience.

The photographer can preview the pictures, when we were down before.

 

[Kobe!!]

I <3 taking my OWN photos...

 

[flavious27]

I <3 taking my OWN photos...

I do too, but I can't afford the professional cameras that disney bought. During the day your own camera can handle it, night is when the specs, price and your skills matter.