Wow - Disney is really cutting back

[captainkidd]

So I called to make a payment on my reservation. I didn't even get a live person. Instead, all I got was an automated operator who took my credit card information.

Disney's reservation system really kind of sucks. They've had an old email address of mine in their system for 5 years, that I must have told them at least a dozen times was incorrect. They always say they'll fix it, but sure enough, whenever I speak to someone, they always read me back the old email address.

I also haven't received any email updates noting the payments I'm making, which they tell me they'll send out. Very annoying.

 

[ABigBrassBand]

With all of the support services moving to automated responses, it only makes things more complicated than they have to be :/

...I prefer M$'s terrible, HUMAN, support over computers.

 

[mickey2008.1]

Ah, the good old days when live people said " have a magical day"

 

[ThatMouse]

Agreed. It takes 10 minutes longer to reach someone now. Are there any tips to skipping the whole question & answer session? Dial 0? Mumble a lot?

 

[Master Yoda]

That system has been in place for a while on the TA side. I do not see it as cutting back so much as allowing tasks that can be automated be automated and freeing up real people for tasks that can't. If you have to make a payment on a day that a new promotion releases going through the automated system is a far better option than staying on hold for half an hour or more. Even on normal days with only a few minutes of the automated pay system is typically quicker.

 

[Master Yoda]

Agreed. It takes 10 minutes longer to reach someone now. Are there any tips to skipping the whole question & answer session? Dial 0? Mumble a lot?

No. The Q&A is to get you to the correct person.

 

[captainkidd]

No. The Q&A is to get you to the correct person.

Yeah - So that person can ask you the exact same questions the automated person asked you and took you 5 minutes to answer.

 

[captainkidd]

And the reservation system is going down AGAIN tomorrow? What are they doing over there, tying into the CIA's secured server?

 

[ddbowdoin]

press 0 over and over again, I got someone in 1:30

 

[JustInTime]

I work for a call center. Disney's automated system is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[unkadug]

press 0 over and over again, I got someone in 1:30

Shhhhh...don't tell everyone then WE won't get through!

 

[trr1]

So I called to make a payment on my reservation. I didn't even get a live person. Instead, all I got was an automated operator who took my credit card information.

Disney's reservation system really kind of sucks. They've had an old email address of mine in their system for 5 years, that I must have told them at least a dozen times was incorrect. They always say they'll fix it, but sure enough, whenever I speak to someone, they always read me back the old email address.

I also haven't received any email updates noting the payments I'm making, which they tell me they'll send out. Very annoying.

Be glad they havn't move customer support to india(yet)

 

[captainkidd]

I joke a lot, but in all seriousness, why does their phone system stink so much? Why do they make it so difficult to get through to someone, and why does the live person ask you the same questions as the automated one? Are they unaware of how ridiculous it is and how irritating it is?

 

[amejr999]

It continues to amaze me that Disney seems intent on making it as hard as possible to give them money.

 

[tiaragirl]

Agreed. It takes 10 minutes longer to reach someone now. Are there any tips to skipping the whole question & answer session? Dial 0? Mumble a lot?

Apparently, if you swear when you're on hold, they reroute you faster :shrug:
Or so I have read.

 

[ZipADeeSarah]

Apparently, if you swear when you're on hold, they reroute you faster :shrug:
Or so I have read.

OR if you talk angrily/loudly while on hold, someone will pick up immediately. (If you're not in a place where you can swear.) I had a nightmare experience while trying to pay off our trip last month. Our last name is spelled in an unconventional way. I'd spell it slowly, crisply, and clearly, and every time the automated system would spell it back incorrectly. And I didn't mumble--trust me, I do voiceover work and I took multiple classes in diction in college! Then, I got disconnected three times which wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't already answered all the questions, (no, this is NOT my first trip, no, that's NOT how you spell my last name.) The fourth time, after being on hold for fifteen minutes, I started yelling to my husband in the other room that I was very angry, that this system gets more ridiculously complicated every year, and then someone miraculously picked up within a couple of seconds. Coincidence? I think not. :drevil:

 

[4everDory]

Book with a good TA, and let them deal with the automated system :wave: Then, you get to speak to a real, live human, too!

 

[cblodg]

No. The Q&A is to get you to the correct person.

That is not always true. I work in Customer Service and we do NOT have a phone tree. If you call the corporate number, you get a live person who knows what each department handles and can quickly get you there without playing 20 questions.

Trust me, I hear daily how much offices enjoy calling us because we answer the phones and have knowledgeable people to answer questions. The idea that phone trees provide efficiency is a fallacy at best.

Let's say you play 20 questions with the computer, it gets you through to a 'specialist' in the field you had a question on. While talking with this person you suddenly have another question that this person can't answer so s/he has to transfer you. I kid you not, this has happened to me many times (not with Disney but I think you get the drift). Phone trees breed specialties and soon people are not cross-trained, which can lead to more inefficiencies than they are worth.

 

[captainkidd]

BTW - It's been over 24 hours, and I still haven't received any email notification about the payments I've made.

That is one thing I'll give Universal. Their phone and email system is a heck of a lot more efficient than Disney's.

 

[4everDory]

Glad you had more luck with them than I did! I called Universal for one of my clients, and was on the phone with them for about 45 minutes, while the phone agent was trying to look stuff up for me. Then, his computer crashed. Then, he didn't know how to do something, so he had to go ask someone else for help. He also couldn't give me the exact information I needed and just had to give me an estimate for my client's cost on her vacation. Needless to say, I was VERY irritated when I hung up.