When it comes to this weekend’s Travel Troubleshooter column about a Disney vacation that lacked a little magic, there’s no middle ground. Either you side with the unhappy visitor whose monorail broke down and whose room wasn’t up to his standards, or you believe the real victim was the Mickey, who compensated the customer in the end.
Want proof? I have hundreds of e-mails.
But perhaps the most surprising reaction came from within Disney. Cast members (that’s what they call employees at Disney) decided to chime in with their customer experiences. The most memorable e-mail was from a call center worker who, for reasons that will soon become clear, wishes to remain anonymous.
My daily duties include taking calls from our guest at the 23+ resorts on property. As you can imagine we take over 16,000 calls on a daily basis, everything from extra towels to any complaint a guest can come up with.
Most complaints are real. Others are so far out there you shake your head and wonder what kind of upbringing this person had.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my job. But I could write a book about some of the things some people come up with. If it’s OK with you I would like to share a few.
I took a call from a guest a few months back who was staying at one of the resorts, and on this day we were having technical problems with the cable service across property and it was being tended to, this guest calls and I explain what’s going on and give him an ETA for the repair to which he responds — and I quote — “I did not spend $5,000 to come to WDW and not be able to watch cable TV.”
I can’t tell you how badly I bit my tongue, but if I could have I would have told him that he did indeed spend $5,000 to come to WDW and not watch cable TV; he spent it to be in the parks having fun with his family.
I have had a guest demand we credit her room account one full day because she had a light bulb burnt out in her bathroom and it was causing problems for her to put her make-up on.
I want to tell you that for the most part at least 90 percent of these calls have come from American tourist. They are demanding, rude, nasty and foul-mouthed people that think that because it’s Disney we will bend over for them and if we don’t, they want to report us to a manager.
Please people, get a life. Just like you, we are hard working people happy to have a job. And if we say sorry, we can’t accommodate you, that means we can’t. We are not taught to lie to the guest but you will each and every time ask for a manager who tells us what is and what isn’t possible.
The 10 percent that are English or from other countries are so pleasant and funny and don’t care what kind of room they have. I love those calls they make my day go faster and they make me smile.
Anyway, I hope this gives you some insight into the way American tourist are when they come to WDW. It’s never fun dealing with them because all they do is demand, demand, demand.
Have a magical day.
I have no reason to doubt that many of the folks who call the Disney complaint line are difficult. My question is: How did they get that way?
Were they always unmannerly? Or did the gradual degradation of the overall travel experience — for example, being treated like a number by their airline or being socked with surcharges when they rent a car — turn them into boorish ingrates?
People know that Disney cast members are held to a higher standard than many other travel industry employees. Does the knowledge that they’ll “bite their tongues” make them take certain liberties with the tone of their complaints?
Maybe this is as good a time as any to look inward and ask ourselves how we got here. Do American travelers act like spoiled children when they’re on the road?
If so, what do we do about it?
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Living in Central Florida, I’ve seen some of the tourists going to Walt Disney World. I just wanted to share a story of an experience I had while at Guest Relations at Animal Kingdom.
To preface this, there’s an attraction called “Kali River Rapids” or somesuch that basically is a water flume ride. There’s one part that has a forest on fire, to express the deforestation of parts of Asia. OK, preface over.
A woman who was obviously sunburned was in front of us with another female companion, loudly complaining to the cast member that the ride “burned them”. Listening to the story, she stated that she had rode the ride that morning (it was around 3pm when this occurred), and over the course of the day, her “burn” was slowly getting worse and worse, and this ruined her day. She demanded a free pass to another park (the park was scheduled to be open until 5pm), and a free ride back to her hotel on International Drive (meaning, not a Disney Hotel) because she felt she could not deal with bus transportation. The cast member apologized, offered to call paramedics or other staff to provide first aid and ice water to the woman who felt she was injured by the ride (and at this time also claiming heat stroke). Obviously not getting what she wanted, she huffed off proclaiming she would “never come to Disney again.”
It was a lot like the show “Airline”. All these folks declaring their detest for Southwest Airlines – but come on, how many are flying with them next week/month/vacation? In this case, either the woman was ignorant to the causes of sunburn (and this was June on a very sunny day with temps around 95 degrees), or she was a scammer. Sure, vacations can be ruined for a myriad of reasons, but playing the victim is a tired role indeed, especially when the aggrieved person is not taking an active role in obtaining a solution and/or taking responsibility of the problem itself.
It’s one thing to blame others for issues, but when the blame falls on yourself (and you’re still demanding/rude/angry), then that’s a serious personality issue. There are those, unfortunately, that feel that blame should be issued to others, and in some cases that is certainly justified. However, there are cases that there’s no one else to blame, and there’s absolutely no way to placate these people when they act out.
Its funny, but all I said in my first post is ‘appropriate’ compensation for the situation. Making a call at 8am about a bad light bulb that is not fixed by 5pm [and even then - just take a bulb out of a lamp - there is this thing called adaptation] is different than no ac in Florida in July and indifference to the situation, or a situation where there is a significant effect to failing to deliver a service being paid for.
And as for suing – you know, folks have to understand that litigation is the last resort to being ignored – but should be the first resort to unfair trade practices – a single situation of bad service is not met with litigation, but a car rental company that has a policy or practice to rip consumers off with a bogus fuel top charge and never tops the cars – is completely different.
its funny what people fixate on – and – I dare you to go to Disneyworld.com and find me a hotel room at the Polynesian at a time of year that families with school age children can go for $350 a night. October? 1st 2 weeks of December? then last 3 weeks of January – sure you MIGHT be able to find a room for $350 – with taxes its over $400. Add park tickets for 2 and that room is now $525. Go peak season and its now $750 a night. I’ve stayed there – and disney is really pretty good about stuff when something happens.
You go on a cruise to a warm weather destination and there is no AC – thats a major problem. Add getting ignored to the situation, and it pisses you off. Not a cabin available on the entire ship? I find that improbable to say the least.
and in all the hoopla over the lawyers, folks forget the use of the word ‘appropriate’ compensation. ‘appropriate’ in the case of bad AC in Florida is to move you to another room on the property, or upgrade to Concierge or find you a suitable room – not blow you off for hours until its too late and everyone with authority to fix the problem has gone home – as does happen often.
So here’s the age old question……what happens when the unstoppable complaining customer meets with an immovable customer service rep? lol
@ Joe: The same thing that happens when you cross the streams. Don’t cross the streams. LOL. Or you might get a 50-foot Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man walking down the streets of Orlando. Hehe.
I’ve been in customer service for over 20+ years in retail & call centers. I do my best in bending over backwards for people but some times what, in few cases, they demand is unreasonable. I understand their frustration, having been on the other end, but sometimes you really have to take a deep breathe and realize there are some things you can’t control. Maybe those folks should pay a visit with their physician for prozac.
@kat – the problem is that the customer who has an unreasonable demand, probably has an unreasonable demand because they’ve been ignored or walked down for years with every complaint they have. Want a $50 credit? You need to ask for a free vacation. Most folks will be reasonable – but – just because a customer is NOT being reasonable in their demand does not mean they do not have a reasonable complaint that needs to be addressed. . . . so – accomodate the person reasonably even if they are stil being unreasonable in their demands – give them what is reasonably appropriate and thats the end of it. Say no to everything because the person wants the world means when they dispute that charge you are screwed because you did NOTHING. If you gave them something – then the credit card company or judge will NEVER hold in the favor of the customer.
Sadly, we had few cases where that didn’t turn out true. In our experience, it really depends who we deal with.
Mind you, we were (and are, last I checked) NEVER rude or condescending. We probably just happened to tell some people things they didn’t want to hear, even though we tried to compensate for whatever trouble caused that was within our control.
For those that successfully disputed their credit card charges against us inspite of fighting them, we chalked them up as a cost of doing business and “blocked out” whomever we could. While some of them also cost us (possibly, anyway) referral business, we still made up for word-of-mouth from those who did have good experiences with us anyway.
I guess it depends how both parties define words like reasonable and unreasonable, what they dis/agree with, and what both will do if either won’t essentially get their way.
@David Z – its sad that you then, as a result, assume that all persons with a complaint are out to get you and thus, you run a business based on a fear that a very few are out to scam you. While I think I’m ‘hearing’ that you still try to accomodate the reasonable travelers, I still think that the unreasonable traveler with the unreasonable request or the chargeback STILL has a legitimate complaint – even if the resolution is nuclear and the problem that of a firecracker.
When I ran a small mailorder hobby business years ago everything was shipping with delivery confirmation and billing addresses needed to match shipping addresses. There was little fraud. The ONLY problems I EVER had were with teens and kids using mommy or daddy’s charge card. Parents would call up all incensed at me for taking the card. Some would trot out the whole billing rights thing and I’d agree with them 100% – I told that I would be happy to send them a form to send the goods back in as new condition or for a FULL refund. Once I received their written statement that their was used by their son or daughter without permission, I would file a criminal complaint for fraud with their local police department. I explained they had their rights and I had mine. They would get a full refund, and Junior would get arrested in most cases, and they’d have to pay the restitution anyway as part of the court resolution.
At that point, many chose the better solution, which was to discipline junior, instead of getting Mastercard or Visa involved. In 10 years I had ONE chargeback – and it was because the person received the goods and swore on the form they never got them, even though I proved from UPS the item was left at their door and SIGNED for by their wife. I think I know what happened there- but – it was only $25 and I accepted another order from that guy ever again.
Not at all, Joe. One thing I learned is sometimes if you assume, you make an “ass” of “u” and “me”. :)
Rather, we expect both the best and the worst case scenario. Like lawyers and doctors, it’s a “case-to-case” thing depending on the situation.
Oh, and I did say we had few cases. Assuming everyone to be scammers won’t help us solve problems, especially those within our degree of control.
You know, there are some things that break because things break, and other things that are due to people not keeping their eye on the ball.
For things that happen because someone is not keeping their eye on the ball, then I believe some sort of punitive compensation should be given. The facility should lose revenue as a reminder to them that they need to pay more attention.
As to the things that normally happen or are difficult to control, my opinion is that it depends upon how it is dealt with. If the light bulb is fixed within 15 minutes or so, then that should be it. No big deal. If the cable is out and it is fixed within minutes or hours – then again, it should be no big deal. However, if the person has to wait 20 minutes on the phone and then wait an hour to get that light bulb replaced, or if the cable is out all day – guess what, the guest is being inconvenienced and the hotel is not doing what they should to rectify it.
Now, some advice to the hotels – don’t give out the comp room nights so easily. When I call you, I want something fixed, or I want someone’s butt kicked. I want to know that whatever problem it is won’t be repeated. For example, if housekeeping is in such a daze that they don’t notice someone has left a cigarette in the basket of the amenities (coffee, popcorn, sugar, creamer, etc) and we both know the maid is supposed to be checking this every day, then I want to know that housekeeping is going to straighten up. I admit, the free night is a nice gesture, but that’s not what I was looking for.
Especially when I get sent to another room and there is pubic hair in the bathroom.
As for Disney in particular – you charge WAY TOO MUCH money for what you do. you don’t do a bad job in your parks, but it really leaves one to wonder what you do for the money you demand.
Those calls are not outlandish. I used to work in a call center for one of the Major Hotel Chains. I started off as an associate taking all types of calls, moving up to corporate accounts, moving up to support desk and finally into Operations.
There are people that would treat the 800 line as if it was a sex service. I have a guy call in on my line and ask if it would embarass me if he were to whip out his genitals in a NYC restaurant. And hanging up on these type of calls, if not done right, could cost you your job. I am being completely honest here…
We had bomb threats called an a lot. They would either call in over the reservations lines, or even through the Center’s local number.
Don’t get me wrong, I had me share of complaint calls as a Support Desk Agent. More times than not, the customer was asking us to do something we had no access to. All we could do is e-mail the hotel and hope for the best… Seriously. A Call Center agent, more time than not is just there to do basic reservation work and that’s it. They do not have the tools to do anything but e-mail the issue to the hotel or escalate to the Customer (Corporate) services department.
Though I cannot tell you how many times I had to correct someone else’s mistakes. I had one caller looking for rooms in Boston. Because of the line she called in on, I was not allowed to book her at one of the managed properties, but I made a judgement call and did so anyway. Result: A Customer that was more than happy to add a commendation to my file unasked for.
So yeah, I can see the above situations happening. And yeah, I have seen how demanding guests could be.
I heard stories out of the DC luxury properties that would have jaws dropping about how celebrities act. Tabloid don’t make up some of the stuff they print. ;)
Goodness gracious…the spread of emotions on this post are amazing. You have everything from grumpy ol’ Joe Farrell declaring war on any hotel that fails to change a light bulb before he even hangs up the phone, all the way to others who seem to have no concerns at all about their accommodations and service because we should all just love one another regardless of the circumstances.
Having been both customer service and customer, I can tell you that the reason Americans are looked upon as the worst type of traveler is because a small minority gives all of us a bad name…but that minority is so consistently stereotypical and identifiable that the accusation sticks!
The majority of people with whom I dealt as a customer service representative were calm, kind, and courteous. They just wanted an inconvenience corrected, and 99 times out of 100 I could do that easily. But when I did have to deal with an incorrigible customer, 99 times out of 100 they were that stereotypical angry American. Sad, but true.
The few times I had to deal with difficult or unreasonable customers, the main reason they were acting so outrageously usually was because they had already dealt with another customer service person who wasn’t good at his or her job. Some of the most positive comments in my employee file were from irate customers who said I “saved” their vacation (by putting them on an earlier airport transfer bus, or giving them a refund on a $10 service fee – trivial items that I did not consider world-ending, but that the customer DID) when another representative wouldn’t.
BTW, as for generalizing that it’s Americans who complain the most, if someone has a southern, NY, New England, or Minnesota, or Valley (CA) accent, you’re not going to confuse them with a Canadian or European customer…it’s rather obvious. And since most hotel and cruise reservations contain the customer’s billing address, it’s no great mystery where he or she is from.
But Americans DON’T complain the most – French, Germans, and Middle Easterners do in my experience. But when a European or Asian customer approached me at the front desk, I rarely got the urge to take my break before that person arrived at my station! When you see approaching that slightly obese, frazzle-haired, loud, aggressive, sweaty person who wants me to think he’s a CEO when he’s really just a mid-level salesman, you just know what’s coming.
Also, for everyone who’s complaining that Disney overcharges, you need a lesson in capitalism. If Disney was charging too much for their hotels, no one would be staying at them! Last time I checked, even in this horrible economy, Mickey Mouse is still smiling all the way to the bank. My family and I took a vacation there last year and didn’t feel cheated at all, despite the high cost. The customer service is unparalleled, the facilities clean, and almost everything in great condition. We had issues that required some resolution, and I did have to take one of them to the supervisory level, but I did it without Joe Farrell’s entitlement-fueled rage, and with an appropriate, realistic remedy in mind that I suggested since the first customer service person wasn’t on the ball.
Finally, think about this issue from a company’s point of view: would you rather take the chance of having Joe Farrell as one of your customers, knowing he would probably sue you eventually; or would you accept the loss of income by refusing to allow him in your hotel? Some companies choose the former and dole out vouchers, free nights, refunds, and upgrades like they were candy; others choose the latter and draw the line so that the customers who do come don’t have their vacations ruined by standing in line behind boorish, unreasonable patrons – whether they’re from America, Canada, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, or anywhere else.
Joe’s definitely the kind of guy you want on your side when a company truly screws up by doing things that rise to the level of actionable torts, and I don’t mean to calumniate his skills or effectiveness in any way. But the impression I get from his posts, and from others on this board who agree with him, is that $500 entitles him to perfection, and anything less makes him angry. That’ not a healthy way to live, especially since perfection is not possible when people are involved. You gotta let the small things slide or you’re gonna blow a gasket one of these days!
But customer service personnel have to also learn that EVERY customer complaint is the MOST IMPORTANT issue at the moment you receive that call. Don’t take it personally, resolve it in the customer’s favor if it’s within your power, and never belittle a paying customer unless you own the company and are willing to jeopardize your entire business over one customer’s bad day.
Personally, I hate having “Joe” types as customers. I agree, customers are important, they should be treated with respect. However, some – not all – customers do like to take advantage of whatever they can take advantage of. Please note, I said “some – not all” Joe. I’m on that receiving end like alot of us are, and like to be treated fairly as well as respected. If a clerk is rude, I do complain, just as I was rude at one time to a customer & they complained. But I seen as well as waited on SOME customers who made unreasonable demands. Are we supposed to bend way over for them, because they’re special? We handle them as delicately as we can, because like like everyone else, we are all human.
Who knew that you spend $5,000 to go to WDW to watch cable TV? That was so funny. I think people need to get a life. WDW is huge, get outside and get some exercise. Think of it as an adventure!
Personally, I wouldn’t call the operator about the cable TV, I’d get out and enjoy the sunshine and the fun of being at WDW. More importantly, if you can AFFORD to go to WDW, quit complaining!
A relative of mine works in a call centre for one of the world’s largest hotel chain. It so happens that the call centre is in Glasgow, Scotland. For a long period of time all worldwide calls were handled at this centre.
For any of you unfamiliar with a Glasweigian accent, it’s quite… unique. She said that FAR AND AWAY the rudest, least considerate, and most demanding customers are… yes you guess it, the ones with American accents. Their most common demand was to immediately speak with an American. And not because they couldn’t understand her either, but merely because they didn’t want to talk to “a foreigner” – they would frequently give that as the reason.
In many cases they were beligerent to the point of being completely unreasonable, asking for the manager before she could make any offer of assistance, rejecting all attempts to solve the problem, yelling, abusing and threatening to take their (horrid) custom elsewhere. Those that did manage to explain their problem frequently argued over trifling matters that could have been solved with five minutes and a smile.
Believe it or not the problem is not specifically that Americans are rude. It is an issue of culture. American society teaches a “speak up when something’s not right” type of assertiveness. More than anything else, Americans just seem to be completely ignorant of the fact that other countries have different culture. It is not normal or polite in the UK to march in and slam a fist on the desk and loudly proclaim that you aren’t happy, and you deserve better. An exaggeration yes, but you get the idea.
Plenty of people will be annoyed at my post. And probably immediately respond. See above, a “speak up when something’s not right” type of assertiveness. If you don’t like how the world sees you, then remember this when you travel. There are ways and means to get what you need, and there are things you can do to ignore the things that really, truly, don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Getting “the 5% refund you deserve” for a light globe won’t necessarily make you enjoy the trip more, particularly if you have to argue with a staffer to get it.
Having over 8 years in call center experience myself, i can relate to the OP’s issues. Like any issue, the issue is set on a priority. I agree if your paying $500 to stay at Disney a night at the Contemporary, you should expect faster services for the small details such as a simple lightbulb being out. If you at the $63 All Star Resort, customers need to realize it’s $63 for a reason.
Glaring issues with hotel room that demand immediate attention always should come first. I don’t think anyone should make a call during the day for a broken toilet or a dark bathroom and find it not corrected with an hour. Cable? Maybe not at Disney, but a regular hotel in east screwballville where there is nothing to, cable is a main priority.
No offense to the lovely people of East Screwballville.
There’s nothing worse than someone upset and you, the person, can’t assist them with because it’s out of your control. (I.E. Speed Track down).
As someone who has worked in the Travel Industry for over 20 years I just had to post my own comment after reading some or the comments I just read. I don’t know what it is that makes people feel entitled to receive compensation for every complaint. I’ve worked in hotels, airports, as a travel agent and even for a few glorious years at The Walt Disney Travel Company. Yes some complaints are valid but others are clearly someone wanting something for nothing. It seems as though once someone has set out on a trip the mentality level drops. A perfect example, I believe, would be an experience I had with a customer while working at a call center travel company (not Disney by the way), I got a call from a customer demanding we refund his airline ticket and pay for a new one. The reason, he ended up in Rochester, NY and not Rochester MN. This was back in the days before E-tickets. He purchased his ticket 3 months before his trip, receives his paper ticket and itinerary which both clearly stated Rochester NY, did not call to have corrected. He goes to the airport actually gets on the plan going to the wrong city and calls to get it fixed after arriving in the Rochester. Ok I can over look not checking the ticket but to actually get on a plane when the boarding announcement states city and STATE. I was lucky enough that he started getting belligerent which (according to the company I worked for at the time) gave me the right to be blunt as long as I wasn’t offensive to this customer. I was able to clearly state even though yes we booked him to the wrong city, his being stupid enough to actually get on the wrong plane limited our responsibility. Even though I was advised by my superiors that I did not have to I offered him to split the cost to make it correct.
Now I know none of this has anything to do with Disney but it just shows yes there are stupid travelers and if you think about your own field of work I’m sure you feel there are stupid customers if you work in retail, or stupid pupils if you are a teacher. I use this just as an example that if you have a complaint big or small, be realistic about what your compensation should be, if any at all. I don’t care if you paid $1 or $100,000 for your trip, things happen and sometimes compensation shouldn’t always be expected.
@Rick
I agree with much of your point, but your example doesn’t advance it. In that case, much, perhaps all, of the fault law with the traveler in getting on the wrong plane.
And the traveler isn’t necessarily stupid. Yes, he should have checked the tickets when he got them, but not everyone is a seasoned traveler. I can easily imagine him glancing at the ticket, seeing Rochester, and not giving it a further thought.
Perhaps American tourists are particularly rude because American call center employees are particularly unhelpful. The idea that it’s just because untraveled fools are the people who go to Disney is offensive. However, there are people who might save for years to afford a special trip there, staying at an overpriced resort (I say overpriced, because they are priced for the Disney experience, not because they are worth $500 a night), and that expenditure is going to put them on edge over the slightest thing. Now I have endured some bizarre things at places and never complained- like an inn where the toilet would not flush and I went to the desk and requested a plunger and hours later we still didn’t have one- so we drove down the mountain to a store and bought one ourselves! All in all, it just makes a funny story for us to remember the trip by, and we never asked for compensation. That said, I called the Disney call center today to make an inquiry about my reservation, and have never had such rude treatment from a Disney employee ever- this is the third time in a week I have tried to deal with somebody at the call center, and all I can assume is that they must be very underpaid and disgruntled, because they are simply rude. First, I just wanted to find out about rates for their military promotion. No help, no clear answers. So I booked through a travel agent who was wonderful. Today I called simply to get a yes or no answer as to whether they had a reservation booked for me, before proceeding with payment via the travel agent- I consider this due diligence before giving my money to a third party business. The woman was exceedingly rude, and said because I had booked through a travel agent she couldn’t assist me (it was her tone that was very rude, not her words, per se), and I finally raised my voice and said that I was not asking her to amend my reservation in any way, or assist me other than confirming that she has one for me, which I don’t think is too much to expect when the money I am parting with is going straight into the Disney coffers. So she transferred me to a “supervisor”, who was equally rude, but finally conceded that she had my reservation. They sort of used a tone that indicated if I wanted their help I should have booked directly with them, so I told her that if she’d like to know why I didn’t, it was because they had been equally rude and unhelpful when I called for assistance in making a reservation with a military discount. So I’m sure that now some call center employee will post something about how “American military families” are particularly rude and obnoxious, and everyone will believe it.
I have an issue regarding whether or not compensation is due. Here goes. We were staying at the Port Orleans Resort Riverside. Having stayed there twice before and absolutetly no problems what so ever. We rode the bus from Epcot back to the resort after the park closed. It was raining and the windows were completely fogged over. The bus driver never anounced any of the stops at our resort. When he finally did , it was the last stop in the resort , at the extreme opposite end from where we were staying. He was extremely rude and told us we could either walk or go back to Epcot and start all over.We could not believe it! It was pouring very heavy, lightning was hitting all around us. We were completely lost, soaking wet and pretty darn scared to say the least. I am disabled and my wife is right in the middle of major menopause. Our gifts were ruined, not to mention a new camera and our cell phones.Calls to the front desk were in vain. J
Sorry my story was cut off. Anyway, to sum it all up, I flagged down a girl from house keeping. She was kind enough to get us back to our room on her golf cart. After stumbling around for about an hour . Thank GOD ! I had also requested a room on the ground floor four months in advance because of a major disability. We ended up on the second floor and the front desk never returned my calls to change this. I am by no means a complainer or whiner but we spent a ton of money in a first class establishment only to be majorly screwed. Am I wrong in feeling like we deserve some type of restitution regarding this matter?
I understand how customers can be annoying at times. But it is how the agents respond which will measure the morale of the company.
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