Universals Customer Service

[MSTINKHERBELL01]

Hi everyone,
I dont want to start a riot in here but I must say (being a fl res) and avid theme park princess, Ive visited Disney and Universal/IOA and the general mood/feel of the parks totally differ. True, I am a huge DISNEY DIVA (visit WDW 2X a month) but even if I wasnt a huge fan of Disney and visited IOA/Universal i'd still feel the same way. The employees if IOA/Universal arent as cheerful as WDW cast members (not to say they are rude or anything) however there's def. a noticeable difference. I recently visited Universal a couple of months ago with my girlfriend..after spending a few hours in the park and riding a few rides we decsided to leave...on the way out a Universal employee asked us if we'd complete a survey...she took us to a room (where others were doing the same thing) and asked alot of questions about how they compare to DISNEY in different areas. I could barely understand her as she zipped through the questions and I repeadily asked her to repeat herself because it was just that diff. to understand her...she seemed very bored with the survey as was everyone else in the room. After the survey she said "okay bye"..no thank you or small token of appreciation like a sticker or anything HOWEVER Universal made it a point to bombard it's guests upon entering the park with the Universal Mastercard application and silly tote bag for applying. At least 10 employees hounding you to apply. I have to say...for me...the c/s is indeed different than that of Disney...to me...it doesnt compare by any means.

 

[Figment1986]

and to think.... universal and disney's card are both owned by chase now... (universal was always chase.. disney bankone.. ank one bought by chase.. hehe ironic..)

Now there are sometimes problems or they run out of things to give to the suvey people... or something.... usually they are nice... or at least good... *(once bad.. but usually never)

 

[Michael72688]

Hey, I work there!! I'm just kiddin. I notice what you are saying about the employees a lot just while I'm working there and it is sad. I do my best make sure I'm smiling and being nice and cheerful with the guests, even when I'm having a terrible day. This is something Universal really needs to look at, also another problem I have, while I'm working outside I see employee's on there break walking around on cell phones, listeing to ipods, or walking around in uniform with friends. If I was in charge at Universal Orlando, that would stop, it is horrible show. And everytime me and my family go to Universal my dad gets so mad at all the people constantly asking about the Universal credit card. I really hope this is something Universal looks at, if the majority of the employees just took it up a notch Universal would the best place ever!!!!

 

[MSTINKHERBELL01]

, if the majority of the employees just took it up a notch Universal would the best place ever!!!!

If they took it up a notch it would be very cool. I actually enjoyed the MUMMY and SPIDERMAN and alot of other rides at both of their parks, I just think that they should concentrate more on customer service. I just dont see myself going there again until they change that aspect of the business. I got hounded for the card before I was even greeted and welcomed into the park. Actually, I didnt even get greeted at all...to be honest. It makes me appreciate the "little things" DISNEY does to make sure it's guests feel special...such as saying "Have A Magical Day" when you call or enter the parks.

 

[Michael72688]

I say that everytime anyone goes to Universal they complain to guest services about the annoying credit card people. Maybe then they will get the picture. I guess while we are at it complain about bad employees, just not me, lol.

 

[MSTINKHERBELL01]

Im sure youre that needle in UNIVERSALS haystack!!!!! Im glad you know what c/s should look like. Good for you...you ROCK DUDE~!:kiss:

 

[BrerBrendan]

Guest service

There's a funny thing about Universal's guest service in general.

Universal is typically seen as Number Two in the Orlando theme park market (obviously, different guests will have different opinions, but overall that's how it is...sorry). And being considered Number Two will have an impact on anybody. Namely, it can put a chip on your shoulder. Imagine being compared nonstop to the bigger guy just down the road (I-4 in this case)--he has more money, more parks, more magic, etcetera. Sooner or later, that'll take its toll on a team member. It's almost a sort of resentment that comes out in the way people act. I wouldn't even say it's intentional.

It's not like you'll hear Universal guys walking through the parking lot muttering "Boy, I sure do hate Disney today", but if you get some in a group and start 'em off, you'll hear it. Mostly war stories about crappy guests/managers and disagreeing with policies (to put it nicely). So what does that do? Well, as much as Universal management wants it's crew to be polite, courteous, and helpful, the attitude that some of 'em will have is "Pfft. Screw that. We're not Disney."

Now obviously, this is a generalization. It's certainly not true for everyone--I wouldn't say it's the majority. Heck, a good chunk of team members love it at Universal, and wouldn't want to leave for any other park. The same can be said for Disney cast members and Sea World...ummm...penguins (okay, so I made that one up. I don't know SW lingo). But it's around. Look at it as Younger Sibling syndrome.

Just my thoughts.

 

[JT3000]

I've never gotten hounded by those credit card people. I just don't acknowledge them, like most people. They aren't supposed to stop you if you don't even look at them. There is definitely a few problems with Universal's guest services, but most of them can be seen anywhere you go.

I personally don't think there's anything wrong with the overall team member attitude. And frankly, I find a supposed team member publicly calling out his fellow employees online rather rediculous. (That's grounds for termination, especially when you go as far as to use the word "majority".) Disney cast members are a little more polite than most others because they're very strictly ordered to be. Many of them hate acting more cheery than they actually are.

 

[Julius & Boobah]

I agree with the above post, some people at Disney seem overly nice it's almost fake... Like the Barbie in Toy Story 2!!! Sometimes you just want to be treated like an adult without a lot of the in your face hapiness. I like the magic and customer service of Disney but some don't but at the same time I don't want it to be fake.

 

[MSTINKHERBELL01]

I work for a major company and when I notice "unprofessional co-workers" I call them out! I refuse to give credit where credit isnt due. The employee that "called out" his fellow co-worker gets my respect and can now be part of the solution. Perhaps he can take the concerns of guests like me to management....who knows??? Maybe he'll be the next CEO and restructure the whole "customer experiance" aspect of the business. The problem I have w/ Universal is the fact that I dont find the customer service great at all...and I am speaking as a person that trains and coaches on providing exceptional customer experiances. I dont expect Universal to be DISNEY or vice-versa...What I do expect is positive customer engagement from the employees and I have yet to recieve that from Universal Studios. Everyones experiance is different...i'm glad that you've had positive ones. I wont address issues on fake acting CM at Disney...I could care less...I love the place and the people. I really dont notice "fakeness" as much as I notice poor customer service.

 

[BrerBrendan]

Okay, let's back up for a second.

It was absolutely not my intention to try to "call out" any other team members. I didn't go into specifics for that very reason. The issues and examples I refered to were not intended to be seen as overall attitude. Which is why I said it only happens with some people. If you read what I wrote, I didn't say it was a majority of team members:

It's certainly not true for everyone--I wouldn't say it's the majority. Heck, a good chunk of team members love it at Universal, and wouldn't want to leave for any other park.

See? I'm not trying give a bad impression of Universal team members--and yeah, I am one. And I'm proud of being one. And because of that, I notice when others have a bad attitude since it can affect the way a guest sees the company as a whole. Mstinkherbell01 put it very well--don't give credit where it isn't due.

On the flip side, there are plenty of good team members at the Studios. People who will go out of their way to make sure that guests have oodles of fun. So I'm sorry if my original post didn't reflect that. But I do stand by my point.

 

[Lynx04]

I have never had a problem with Universal's CS. I think people try their best to pick things out to support their desired opinion. For example, Disney is their favorite park, so they will work backwards from that and start looking for problems with Universal to make the reason for their opinion valid.
Just like this pick here (http://photoalbums.wdwmagic.com/data/500/IMG_2531.JPG) by Dr Teeth in another thread of a garbage can near Soarin that is complete overflowing and spilling on the ground. A Disney lover would never point this out to a Universal fan, but if this happened at Universal, every Disney fan would be saying that Universal is dirtier than Disney. If you look closely at each park you could get real picky and point out faults of each.

The only difference in CS that I have witnessed between the two parks is exactly what was said above by Julius & Booba, Disny can be a little too happy for my liking sometimes. However, I would rather them be overly happy then to be misearable.

 

[MSTINKHERBELL01]

Okay, let's back up for a second.

It was absolutely not my intention to try to "call out" any other team members. I didn't go into specifics for that very reason. The issues and examples I refered to were not intended to be seen as overall attitude. Which is why I said it only happens with some people. If you read what I wrote, I didn't say it was a majority of team members:

It's certainly not true for everyone--I wouldn't say it's the majority. Heck, a good chunk of team members love it at Universal, and wouldn't want to leave for any other park.

See? I'm not trying give a bad impression of Universal team members--and yeah, I am one. And I'm proud of being one. And because of that, I notice when others have a bad attitude since it can affect the way a guest sees the company as a whole. Mstinkherbell01 put it very well--don't give credit where it isn't due.

On the flip side, there are plenty of good team members at the Studios. People who will go out of their way to make sure that guests have oodles of fun. So I'm sorry if my original post didn't reflect that. But I do stand by my point.

Well said sweetheart!!!!!!

 

[MSTINKHERBELL01]

Like I said in the start of this thread....I'm basing my views from my PERSONAL experiance (all of which havent been bad). I know that there are wonderful employees working for the company that exhibit all the positives and you....and employees like you BrerBrendan are appreciated by guests like me. Thank you everyone for your different points of views on this subject. :wave:


Samantha

 

[Ralph Wiggum]

I've had my share of good and bad CM's, TM's, et al at the parks down here. I've actually seen a definate upshift at UO and static at WDW. the momemnt you enter UO's property, you can tell it's going after a different segment of the population. but the same segment expects it's hard-earned money treated to a higher scale of service. the AB parks need a boost in employee morale in my opinion. but I'm on the boat about killing the whole credit card push at center court. the same way I want to kill the photo push when you and your family enter any park. we push past them all, but they're all truly annoying.

 

[JT3000]

It was absolutely not my intention to try to "call out" any other team members. I didn't go into specifics for that very reason. The issues and examples I refered to were not intended to be seen as overall attitude. Which is why I said it only happens with some people. If you read what I wrote, I didn't say it was a majority of team members:

I wasn't talking about you when I said that.

 

[Michael72688]

I wasn't talking about you when I said that.

Where you talking about me?

 

[BrerBrendan]

I wasn't talking about you when I said that.

...Oh...

Heh. Whoopsy. Sorry, didn't mean to get all defensive on you, then.