So I saw that my booked room had a 10% discount. Given the errors online, I called. I'm at work, so I kept it on hold in the background checking every so often. Was on hold for just over an hour. The cast member I spoke with seemed to have no idea that there was such a wait.
She struggled tremendously with the website on her end. Kept apologizing. Ten minutes later, apologized for no availability. I was expecting that TBH, but it was worth a shot.
The inconsistency and poor quality experience of the website and online information/systems is really an issue.
It might be worth keeping an eye on this for the next few months to see if spots open, for everyone who failed to get one. I imagine an even more limited Annual Passholder discount will show up in a month or so.
I've been weighing a membership, and the poor customer service experiences are definitely making me hesitate. I'm not upset with any of the cast-members, or the lack of a discount- more the seemingly inability to provide consistent information across the board, the outsourcing of their services to people who are not informed enough, and the blatant lack of investment in their website. The app is great, but they can't rely on that to carry them.
Every time I have called that line I have waited a minimum of 40 minutes, and a maximum of an hour and a half. That's pretty bad when most places at least have a call back system now to prevent customers from sitting on the phone, or a reliable website to use instead. Disney has neither. I'm new to all of this, and I got my head chewed off when I asked how their customer service was before visiting in a thread last year- but honestly, I am not impressed. They are letting their consumers AND their employees down by not keeping up.
To be clear, I'm not upset about the extremely limited discount-the castmember said it was- and I agree that is disappointing to many people, but I understand it. Discounts are created to fill empty rooms, not necessarily to keep existing customers happy or to be applied to previously booked rooms. When that happens, it's a bonus. I think Disney is elevating prices and restricting discounts intentionally- they wouldn't do it if they couldn't get the customers.
What I'm upset about is the poor management, poor training, lack of consistency, poor follow-through, and poor to limited application of modern technology. Beyond that, the company does not seem to hold itself accountable for any of it, because there's always the next guy with a fistful of dollars. It is disappointing. I know the company did not start off like that- I think it has been a gradual decline over time. If they want to be equipped to handle the audience that their new Star Wars parks will draw, they need to step up their game.
