Was charged full price for this ($4.99+tax)

[JIMINYCR]

Yikes... My first thought was... Maybe his DW couldnt wait and she drank it down before bringing it to you... like eating the french fries from McD's on the car ride home. Of course they should have just handed you the cup and not charged you. I'm sure 99% of the CM's would have done just that without checking with a manager. Its pretty sad but in the scheme of things youve probably paid $5 for other Dis things that were that small and thought nothing about it.

 

[jloucks]

The CM should have just given it to her.

And risk getting fired? Maybe giving stuff away for free is not dangerous for your job, but common sense would state that you need to be very careful.

 

[John park hopper]

And risk getting fired? Maybe giving stuff away for free is not dangerous for your job, but common sense would state that you need to be very careful.

I was at WDW waiting in line to buy a coke and there was a family that could not decide what to get holding everything up. The CM saw I was getting PO and when I got to order she handed me a coke no charge, don't think she got fired she was there the next day.

 

[Figgy1]

Agreed! Should have been free. Like it never happened!

In Hollywood Studios one night, the wife and I having a few beers, I began to crave a pretzel-
Walked over to a cart and I could see they were closing up - I asked for a pretzel, they handed me one and said they were closing so, “no charge”. I repeated it back to make sure what I heard…

A free Disney pretzel. Yours should have been free

^^^This
Ds got the last of the falafel and I got the last glass of wine from that bottle. The nice CM said no charge

 

[jloucks]

I was at WDW waiting in line to buy a coke and there was a family that could not decide what to get holding everything up. The CM saw I was getting PO and when I got to order she handed me a coke no charge, don't think she got fired she was there the next day.

Well, there is the getting caught part of the equation. ...but yea, maybe they are allowed to exercise some judgement with free stuff.

 

[WorldExplorer]

I can't say for Disney, but I've definitely worked in places where there is no discount option on the register. It just isn't something that can be done.

The free thing should have happened, it barely qualifies as a drink and I've definitely seen "Hey, I just gave x away, could you mark it down for me?" exchanges between Cast Members before, they absolutely give away things and are allowed to.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

View attachment 628420
Last day of our 15 day stay and we were heading straight to the airport from the Studios. We had 20 mins left and so asked my wife if she'd get me my favourite blue ice drink as a final treat and gave her $10 (I'm not sexist, I have dystonia and my hand was cramping so couldn't hold it myself). Watched from a nearby bench as my wife queued for over 10 minutes before returning with the above drink. She looked disappointed as she handed it me and explained what had happened. Apparently the machine was having difficulties and that was all the CM could get from it. My wife had politely said "That's not full price is it?" and the CM had replied she was ringing her manager to approve a discounted price on the $4.99 + tax for the above. After a quick call she returned to my wife and apologetically said "I'm so sorry but I can't discount it so it's full price or I can get you something else".

As there was a long line and I was too far for my wife to shout me without delaying the already impatient queue of customers, my wife made the decision that I'd prefer that than nothing and handed over the money for it. As she handed it me she could see I wasn't happy but I barely had time to consume it yet alone rejoin the queue to ask for a refund. I get it's kind of my wife's fault for agreeing to pay the $4.99 (plus tax) but understand why she did and I know that many will rightly say "That's on us". Had I been close enough for her to ask she would have etc, however events were different and we were where we were.

What I fail to understand is why anyone would think it the right thing to do to charge full price (plus tax) for this barely third full icee that had hardly any taste to it to a customer who had paid at the very least one days entry into the park? I don't know the policy for the CM there and perhaps previous ones had been disciplined for giving discounts without permission or such, so I don't necessarily blame them for not making the decision themselves (unless they could have but decided not to). Had I not only had 10 minutes left before leaving for the airport then I'd definitely had returned and politely asked for a refund and I understand why my wife did what she did under the circumstances. I'll be contacting Disney over the principle of this just to see what they say but I'm astonished how anyone would consider this good customer service. I appreciate we had the choice of not paying for it and the circumstances that led to my wife's decision were not Disney's fault, but am I wrong for thinking that there was a better way for this situation to be handled?

Maybe this is the smaller sized portion price I have heard so much about from the adults that want to order form the kids menu?

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

Laughing - not AT the OP... just the idea that one could buy ANYTHING at WDW for $4.99

 

[BornOnTheMatterhorn]

Agreed, but since they already poured it, it should have just been given to you at no charge. I don't think that was very good customer service, definitely not Disney customer service. I know it was only $4.99, but it's the principle.

That is Disney guest service today.

 

[Imhere]

I tend to abide by the adage, "Never attribute maliciousness or ill intent, what can be explained by stupidity."

I agree.

I was at Arby's once and ordered a large curly fry. She put it on my tray and I said "Isn't that a medium fry container?" She turned around, grabbed one of the large fry containers, dumped my medium order of fries in it and put it on my tray.

All I could do was laugh. I didn't say a word.

 

[RollerCoaster]

I used to be a food & beverage director for a high-volume entertainment business.

From my perspective and experience, the cast member on the front line is the least guilty party in this exchange. The manager AND customer however both errored in this case. From a loss prevention standpoint, you can't allow your employees to offer discounts or give away items. If you do so, then you will have to deal with the theft of goods.

In a situation like this, the employee should simply apologize and inform the customer that the item is unfortunately not available at this time.

The customer errored since they should reject a serving like this and never pay for it. If the item that is being served does not meet your expectation or what is advertised then walk away or escalate to a manager.

Now if managers are authorized to give something away then the manager in this situation could've said we're unfortunately out of this product, but in this instance, I'll allow you to have this serving for free. However, where I worked it was our policy that we were never to serve anything that did not meet our standards, so in this case, we would apologize and suggest something else. If you pushed the issue my managers had the discretion to fix the situation which may have included offering something for free. We never discounted, because it even encourages abuse and theft amongst management when given this power.

We also never gave away our errors. I know many food establishments will just let you have it when they make something you didn't order, but that again sets up a situation where an employee may purposely do that so they can give it away, often to someone they know.

It's always a disappointment when something you want isn't available, but it is a recurring thing in life.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

I had to pay 3.99 for hot water for my infant daughter’s baby bottle. CM said she couldn’t give me hot water for free, so she needed to charge me for a hot tea. I knew this was BS but with a screaming hungry baby, I paid the money, as I didn’t have time for her to call for a manager.

We weren’t anywhere near the Baby Station in MK so that wasn’t an option. And of course, the line for Guest Services was out the door when we were leaving so Disney got me on that one. And I have to say the the other dozen times I needed hot water for her bottle, CMs were more than happy to provide me with it.

 

[RollerCoaster]

I had to pay 3.99 for hot water for my infant daughter’s baby bottle. CM said she couldn’t give me hot water for free, so she needed to charge me for a hot tea. I knew this was BS but with a screaming hungry baby, I paid the money, as I didn’t have time for her to call for a manager.

We weren’t anywhere near the Baby Station in MK so that wasn’t an option. And of course, the line for Guest Services was out the door when we were leaving so Disney got me on that one. And I have to say the the other dozen times I needed hot water for her bottle, CMs were more than happy to provide me with it.

Your story is outrageous. I hope you wrote a letter after you got home.

 

[mergatroid]

I used to be a food & beverage director for a high-volume entertainment business.

From my perspective and experience, the cast member on the front line is the least guilty party in this exchange. The manager AND customer however both errored in this case. From a loss prevention standpoint, you can't allow your employees to offer discounts or give away items. If you do so, then you will have to deal with the theft of goods.

In a situation like this, the employee should simply apologize and inform the customer that the item is unfortunately not available at this time.

The customer errored since they should reject a serving like this and never pay for it. If the item that is being served does not meet your expectation or what is advertised then walk away or escalate to a manager.

Now if managers are authorized to give something away then the manager in this situation could've said we're unfortunately out of this product, but in this instance, I'll allow you to have this serving for free. However, where I worked it was our policy that we were never to serve anything that did not meet our standards, so in this case, we would apologize and suggest something else. If you pushed the issue my managers had the discretion to fix the situation which may have included offering something for free. We never discounted, because it even encourages abuse and theft amongst management when given this power.

We also never gave away our errors. I know many food establishments will just let you have it when they make something you didn't order, but that again sets up a situation where an employee may purposely do that so they can give it away, often to someone they know.

It's always a disappointment when something you want isn't available, but it is a recurring thing in life.

There's logic in what you say and perhaps the best solution from a financial perspective would have to been not to have offered the product at cost at all and said it was unavailable to sell as not complete. The ice once extracted from the machine was placed on the counter in front of my wife as though it was normal and the CM said something like "I'm sorry we're having difficulties with the machine and that's all I could get". At that point my wife then asked them "That's not full price is it"? as no other comment had been made. At this point the CM said "I'm going to ring my manager to see about a discount".

I've no idea whether my wife's question about a discount prompted to CM to ring the manager, or whether they were going to do that anyway? The drink however was presented on the counter to her as you would a normal full cup of blue ice. Perhaps the shock of having a 1/3 full cup placed in front of my wife surprised her into missing an attempt at humour by the CM in a way to bring levity to the situation? Being so far away from the situation developing meant I couldn't hear what was happening or see the facial expressions etc to read it, but my wife's pretty on the ball about stuff like that usually.

To protect Disney financially I agree that the option to buy shouldn't have been given, it put my wife in a dilemma and also Disney themselves as it's not good taking money for a sub standard offering. I think it was handled badly and I'm waiting for a response from Disney over this and another incident which is private. We'll see what they say about it anyway.

 

[mergatroid]

I had to pay 3.99 for hot water for my infant daughter’s baby bottle. CM said she couldn’t give me hot water for free, so she needed to charge me for a hot tea. I knew this was BS but with a screaming hungry baby, I paid the money, as I didn’t have time for her to call for a manager.

We weren’t anywhere near the Baby Station in MK so that wasn’t an option. And of course, the line for Guest Services was out the door when we were leaving so Disney got me on that one. And I have to say the the other dozen times I needed hot water for her bottle, CMs were more than happy to provide me with it.

That's terrible.

 

[RollerCoaster]

To protect Disney financially I agree that the option to buy shouldn't have been given, it put my wife in a dilemma and also Disney themselves as it's not good taking money for a sub standard offering. I think it was handled badly and I'm waiting for a response from Disney over this and another incident which is private. We'll see what they say about it anyway.

It’s to protect the consumer as well and Disney’s image. Look at you you’re still upset about the situation. That’s not good. You shouldn’t be given the chance to pay for something like that. I agree this was handled poorly and there are so many opportunities here for additional training, so this doesn’t happen in the future.

 

[Tom P.]

So can someone who is actually familiar with Disney policy help me here? Many moons ago, when I worked as a cashier at Target, the cashier had the discretion to alter the price of an item to please a customer (e.g., "well, the sign said this was supposed to be 10% off") as long as it was under a certain threshold. No manager required. Target just didn't think it worth the hassle to argue over a couple bucks or to have to waste a manager's time and hold up the customer.

Does WDW actually expect a frontline cast member to consult a manager over a $4.99 drink? Are they not empowered to make the call that the machine is malfunctioning and so they need to either discount it, give it away for free, or not serve it? Or was that particular cast member just badly trained and/or being overly cautious?

 

[DfromATX]

The ice once extracted from the machine was placed on the counter in front of my wife as though it was normal and the CM said something like "I'm sorry we're having difficulties with the machine and that's all I could get".

And right there, the CM should have said, "No charge, just take it." I think I'm getting mad with you! LOL

@World_Showcase_Lover007, now I'm mad about your story too! That was appalling. Shame on them!

I guess I should be happy I've never had these kinds of experiences. I'd probably be a lot more sour than I already am. I've always had great interactions with the cast members. The only exception, which really wasn't *that* bad, was the grouchy cashier at the Coronado Pepper Market. She was barking at everybody.

 

[jpchambana]

I've only ever had good experiences in moments like these. At Christmas, a CM's magicband reader in the hotel food court wasn't working and we had no cash or cards on us so she comped us the two cupcakes we were purchasing (before moving to another register). Years ago, I also remember being comped some drinks at an outdoor kiosk in MK because the CM's register had lost internet connection (he said management had told him to comp all purchases until they fixed it - those were the days before Bobbie C!). This is very unusual and definitely not the norm.

 

[Diamond Dot]

Why did you pay for it? Pardon me for being harsh, but, your wife was perfectly within her rights to say 'No thanks', but, she went ahead, paid for it and then you come on here expecting sympathy. Last week I bought the Genie+, decided it was a rip off because I would have got two LL for the near $16 I paid for it the entire day, despite it being stated as 'non refundable' I got a refund from the lovely CM I spoke to about it. A few years ago I asked for a Frappucchino and wanted what was basically a 'skinny' version of it, it was disgusting and my own fault as it was my decision to have it like that, I went back in to the Starbucks at DHS and asked for the proper job frappucchino as I told them the skinny version was disgusting, I expected to pay for it, but, they exchanged it for free.
As for contacting Disney, if you had paid for a service ahead of time, like I did for a dessert show and the CM allowed someone in claiming to be me without checking ID simply because it was a woman on her own and when I turned up and proved who I was, instead of turfing the interloper out who was sitting in a great seat and thinking giving me, after ten minutes of faffing around, a rubbish table and no time to have a decent buffet, then yes, complain afterwards, but, your wife could have refused the drink, so I think it would be a cheek to contact Disney. Citing time constraints is no excuse.