Very Un-Disney Restaurant Policies

RustySpork

RustySpork

Oscar Mayer Memer
Chi84 said:
I would agree, except the #1 selling point of the dining plan is convenience. That’s what Disney is marketing and if you read through all the threads on the plan, that’s what people believe they are buying. Most realize it’s not designed to save them money, but they’re willing to pay a premium for ease of use. It’s Disney’s job to figure out a better plan for its restaurants than asking the customer for another form of payment when things go wrong.
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Some people don't even take an alternative form of payment with them into the parks because it's all tied to MDE, and why should they when Disney markets the technology in a way that makes them believe they don't need it?
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
larryz said:
While I am very much on the side of those who believe people with the DDP should be able to breeze thru the billing process, from a very practical perspective, this situation is much like paying a bill where you know your credit card is good, and the restaurant normally accepts it, but for some reason your card is declined. You pony up another form of payment and take it up with your credit card company.

Yes, the OP paid for the Disney dining plan, but the dining plan is a system of CREDITS, not MEALS. You exchange a credit for a meal, much like you pay for a meal with a credit card. If for some reason your MDE account doesn't show a meal credit, they can't do that exchange. And that's purely on Disney, but in the meantime, you've got a third-party restaurant that expects immediate payment for the meal they just provided.

Every WDW meal I've had, I always get asked if I'm using DDP credits, and they ALWAYs verify those credits at the beginning of the meal. I don't know why that didn't happen in this case.
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That’s a lousy analogy because Disney holds your prepaid credits, not you.

The credits were visible and verified. The problem was between Disney and the restaurant. Disney’s system failed so they should carry the burden of making the restaurant whole, not the customer.
 
daisyduckie

daisyduckie

Well-Known Member
RustySpork said:
Some people don't even take an alternative form of payment with them into the parks because it's all tied to MDE, and why should they when Disney markets the technology in a way that makes them believe they don't need it?
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Because technology glitches all of the time in the real world, and Disney World is no different. Registers crash, web sites go down, airports have shut downs. As an adult one should always plan for a bit of What If.

I've been on more than one trip where a store has had register issues, and was taking cash only. If you din't have cash, you were out of luck.
 
daisyduckie

daisyduckie

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
That’s a lousy analogy because Disney holds your prepaid credits, not you.

The credits were visible and verified. The problem was between Disney and the restaurant. Disney’s system failed so they should carry the burden of making the restaurant whole, not the customer.
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I don't agree. It is up to the guest to turn in those credits as a substitute payment. Even if they are electronic, if the system can't grab the credits, then the guest needs to pay another way.
 
King Panda 77

King Panda 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
daisyduckie said:
I don't agree. It is up to the guest to turn in those credits as a substitute payment. Even if they are electronic, if the system can't grab the credits, then the guest needs to pay another way.
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So it is the guests fault 😳
Bad customer service right there. The fault is not of the customers making. But sure we wull make them fix it 🙄
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
daisyduckie said:
I don't agree. It is up to the guest to turn in those credits as a substitute payment. Even if they are electronic, if the system can't grab the credits, then the guest needs to pay another way.
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How did the guest fail to do their part? They provided everything to have the credits processed. The guest is not the one who does the processing. The guest is not the one in charge of the system.
 
Chi84

Chi84

Premium Member
Thank goodness Disney doesn't have the same attitude toward its guests as some of the people here. It's "up to" the guest to be able to turn in the credits and if the guest is unable to do that because the restaurant system glitches, the guest "needs to" pay another way? How about it's up to Disney to see that restaurants are able to process the credits, and if they can't, then Disney needs to handle the matter directly with the restaurant instead of inconveniencing the guest? Disney wants things to work well, but it doesn't do the best job in some areas, and OP encountered one of them. I believe it's better to hold Disney accountable in those areas and expect them to do a better job. And what's more, I believe Disney would agree. I've experienced a few (very few) customer service fails at Disney, and their guest recovery has always been great. The front line CMs are not always the best, but the guest services people who contacted me went over and above to apologize and make things right. That's why we keep going back.
 
RustySpork

RustySpork

Oscar Mayer Memer
daisyduckie said:
Because technology glitches all of the time in the real world, and Disney World is no different. Registers crash, web sites go down, airports have shut downs. As an adult one should always plan for a bit of What If.

I've been on more than one trip where a store has had register issues, and was taking cash only. If you din't have cash, you were out of luck.
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All of these problems are self inflicted wounds, usually due to cost savings efforts or lack of interest in budgeting for redundancy or customer experience.
 
Chi84

Chi84

Premium Member
Well I see just about everything's been said on the subject! 🤣
For me, the one thing that makes this less excusable than other customer service fails is the fact that it involves the dining plan. Disney's primary marketing point is the dining plans' convenience, so asking a customer to be okay with having to deal with hassles is especially annoying. Guests are paying not just for meals, but for a system that allows them to scan the MagicBand and go. I'm sure most guests (at least the ones who research the plans) realize that they are not designed to save you money. Heck, there's a thread asking whether people are paying too much for "free" dining. When you are selling convenience, you have to work extra hard to actually provide it. I don't understand the tendency to always excuse Disney and put the blame on the guests instead. Does it stem from loving Disney or just disliking other people?
 
RobWDW1971

RobWDW1971

Well-Known Member
Club Cooloholic said:
When the problem occurs enough times and you still ignore it, you wonder if its intentional. Either fix it, or get rid of the program.
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Or....as a consumer, stop buying a program you know in advance is flawed. Disney must read these boards and just laugh at everyone complaining so passionately while still continuing to buy it.

I can assure you if this program saw declining sales of 20%+ year after year, they’d have fixed it already.
 
RustySpork

RustySpork

Oscar Mayer Memer
RobWDW1971 said:
Or....as a consumer, stop buying a program you know in advance is flawed. Disney must read these boards and just laugh at everyone complaining so passionately while still continuing to buy it.

I can assure you if this program saw declining sales of 20%+ year after year, they’d have fixed it already.
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Unfortunately the guests reading this board probably don't even amount to a fraction of 1% of their annual guests.
 
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RobWDW1971

RobWDW1971

Well-Known Member
RustySpork said:
Unfortunately the guest reading this board probably don't even amount to a fraction of 1% of their annual guests.
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But if these experiences are indicative of the system overall and its reputation then you have countless people buying into a system they know is flawed. This board is just a representative sample.
 
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RustySpork

RustySpork

Oscar Mayer Memer
RobWDW1971 said:
.

But if these experiences are indicative of the system overall and its reputation then you have countless people buying into a system they know is flawed. This board is just a representative sample.
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I don't disagree, I actually think they just don't care. For every angry guest they'll have 20 that don't mind it breaking.
 

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