** RESOLVED** Here Now….horrible experience at Sanaa and cannot get resolution

[DLgal]

Exactly!! This is what really stuck in my craw at first…the manager was almost accusatory in her demeanor, like I had done something shady. I simply pointed out that our card had been debited twice and clearly it was nothing on our end. She initially made no effort or admission that it was something that was amiss…like it was a perfectly normal occurrence. Once she figured out the immense inconvenience I would need to deal with, like finding a PHONE NUMBER for Disney Gift card customer service, she ended up going the extra mile and intervening on my behalf. She ended up making multiple phone calls herself and talking to the gift card folks for me to get it straightened out, all while we were out enjoying our vacation. So in the end, it all worked out and she came through. I just wish she had not been so dismissive of me in the first place. Just because you have never seen it before does not mean it is not true, especially when it is right there in front of you.

Perhaps this is the first time she encountered this and you have now helped out countless people to come after you that it also will happen to. Someone is always the first victim. Glad it was straightened out in the end!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Glad to hear ur issue Caused by Disney was resolved Op.

Personally, they should have not only Corrected their mistake and refunded the duplicate charge… they should have COMPED the entire meal for the debacle.
that’s what Good Customer Service would have done. Disney is not the Same Anymore. I’m pretty confident that would have been handled differently under the old management.

you were Inconvenienced, felt “ accused” Incorrectly and had their Error/debacle dampen ur experience, taking up your energy and time. Poor handling on their part imho.

 

[HopperFan]

We had a restaurant run our card twice, but they were quick to admit their mistake. I really like the restaurants that bring the ipad to your table and run the card right in front of you. That way the card never leaves your hand.

And Disney has no excuse because the system already exists for them. They bring the scanner to you to scan your MagicBand, they have operated with hand held devices everywhere for years. No reason at all they can't bring you a handheld scanner to slide/tap your card.

 

[DLgal]

Glad to hear ur issue Caused by Disney was resolved Op.

Personally, they should have not only Corrected their mistake and refunded the duplicate charge… they should have COMPED the entire meal for the debacle.
that’s what Good Customer Service would have done. Disney is not the Same Anymore. I’m pretty confident that would have been handled differently under the old management.

you were Inconvenienced, felt “ accused” Incorrectly and had their Error/debacle dampen ur experience, taking up your energy and time. Poor handling on their part imho.

Perhaps the hotel manager will reach out and put a credit on their room account. I agree that the stress and worry about this situation as well as the less than helpful initial response by the restaurant manager deserves a comp to the meal.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I've had the CC compromise too.
I like using the Disney GC's as my cash while in WDW especially for meals.

To the OP: I am so relieved that your problem was resolved. Although it was a shame it happened to begin with.
It's a reminder to all guests to check your receipts and double check your CC and GC balances frequently to catch errors immediately.

 

[Disturbia]

We ate our lunch today at Sanaa and it was delicious. The service was ok, not exceptional, but they were busy and shorthanded so we cut them some slack. Our server brought us our bill and I showed him my DVC card so he could apply the discount. He TOOK the card (which I thought was odd) and came back with our updated bill. We gave him a Disney Gift Card which had a remaining balance of just over $220 on it for our $76.xx tab. When our server returned, he said our gift card now has a remaining balance of $67.xx!! Um….WHAT??! I Immediately logged in to the Disney gift card site, loaded the card and looked at the transaction history and saw that there were 2 charges for our total amount at Sanaa! I brought it to the manager’s attention and said that I believe our card had accidentally been run twice and SHOWED her the duplicate transaction. She said, “That’s not possible. Your correct gift card balance is on your receipt.” I pointed out that it is right there on the screen in front of me…it is a duplicate transaction. She then said, “Oh, it’s just the hold that we put on card transactions. It will reverse when the ticket closes.” I told her that it is a GIFT CARD, not a CREDIT CARD and there is no need for a hold to be placed on the funds, let alone a 100% hold. She kept saying, “I understand your frustration” but never offered a solution. I asked her what the hold amount would have been if I would have paid with a $100 gift card and she said, “ well, it would have been a different amount.” I told her that we now have now LOST $75+ of OUR money that we PAID for to put on that gift card until who knows when and we need it for our food. She offered no solution. I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t know if contacting Disney Gift Card will do any good since this is more of a merchant issue.
I have dined at so many Disney restaurants and have paid with gift cards every time and I have NEVER had a “hold” put on a GIFT card.

I paid at Be our Guest with a credit card and gift card and I never saw a hold on either

 

[Disturbia]

The only negative payment experience I had was actually at Sanaa as well. They took a meal credit off for our infant. Fortunately I had gone to the front desk at AKL for something and they pointed out how many TS credits I had left and I was shocked. They did reverse it right then and there.

We used to love Sanna when they had a dessert trio with chai cream and they had really delicious Bison Masala. Now the coconut curry tastes canned and unappetizing and the rice is hard. The food quality is just not worth it anymore and we skipped it even while staying at Kidani. Bread service is excellent though.

 

[DISNEY1975]

Years ago I was charged 3x for 3 people at Mickeys BBQ. It was dining credits and luckily on the 2nd night of our 10 night vacation. Took a full day to resolve..huge inconvenience going to desk services 2x and having to make a phone call to resolve, but the credits were back in our account well before we needed them. From then on, I stop at the front desk in the am, every couple of days, to get a copy of our charges to review. Ive never had an issue since.

 

[elmwyn]

And Disney has no excuse because the system already exists for them. They bring the scanner to you to scan your MagicBand, they have operated with hand held devices everywhere for years. No reason at all they can't bring you a handheld scanner to slide/tap your card.

American businesses in general are SO SLOW at adapting to new banking technology, I do wonder if the issue is the banks themselves. It is rather irksome when travelling.

 

[gharter]

Glad it worked out, but sounds like it wasn't handled well.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

…did you go tip your server again like you said you were? I understand you were frustrated but he did nothing wrong it’s crazy that while waiting for your issue to get resolved you removed the tip from the server.

 

[HopperFan]

…did you go tip your server again like you said you were? I understand you were frustrated but he did nothing wrong it’s crazy that while waiting for your issue to get resolved you removed the tip from the server.

They said the manager said the restaurant already covered that so they were paid. Honestly it is the least they can do ... and that is even bare minimum. His whole meal should have been comped since likely the double hit originated in the restaurant's system.

 

[kristenrice]

…did you go tip your server again like you said you were? I understand you were frustrated but he did nothing wrong it’s crazy that while waiting for your issue to get resolved you removed the tip from the server.

Heading there tonight for bread service to-go (my daughter is a waitress and I would never stiff a server for something that is out of their control)

 

[Tigger's ally]

That is exactly why I only use my magicband while I am there. I take all my giftcards to front desk and apply them to my account. Thus I have a credit until the magicband charges cancel out my credit. It is so easy to get printout of bill each day to doublecheck everything.

 

[B-Ride]

These things usually get resolved but it doesn't excuse the original issue. When the situation is obvious, good customer service dictates resolving the issue immediately. The downside for a big corporation is negligible. Taking the customer's side always works out.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Taking the customer's side always works out.

In this case, yes, but in these days and ages there are a lot of people trying to take advantage of nice honest people. I would NEVER use the word "always" in customer service.

 

[kristenrice]

I am back home now...

On our last day, we ate at Boma for breakfast. We paid separately since I have DVC and my friend does not, but our waiter was nice enough to apply the discount to both of our checks. We never asked him to do that, and even told him that we had to split the check because we were paying separately and paying with gift cards and only one of us could use the discount. There was no "hold" placed on either gift card (shocker, right?) and only the amount of the bill plus the gratuity that we added (which was quite substantial) was deducted from our cards.

I'm convinced that the issue at Sanaa was a "one-off" situation and probably will never happen again, but it was a definite eye-opener for me and I will certainly be aware of all of my gift card purchases. I normally do not use my gift card directly, but rather charge everything to the room and then pay down the balance nightly. We did not do it that time because we were "between" rooms...we left the Riviera that morning, but had not yet received our room at AKV yet so we did not know which room it would be charged to. If it ended up getting charged to our Riviera room, it would have ended up on my credit card which I did not want to have happen since I had all of our dining money loaded on to the gift cards. I know that the manager learned something new that day too so hopefully, I have saved future guests from this experience. It all worked out in the end.

 

[Lilsia]

I am back home now...

On our last day, we ate at Boma for breakfast. We paid separately since I have DVC and my friend does not, but our waiter was nice enough to apply the discount to both of our checks. We never asked him to do that, and even told him that we had to split the check because we were paying separately and paying with gift cards and only one of us could use the discount. There was no "hold" placed on either gift card (shocker, right?) and only the amount of the bill plus the gratuity that we added (which was quite substantial) was deducted from our cards.

I'm convinced that the issue at Sanaa was a "one-off" situation and probably will never happen again, but it was a definite eye-opener for me and I will certainly be aware of all of my gift card purchases. I normally do not use my gift card directly, but rather charge everything to the room and then pay down the balance nightly. We did not do it that time because we were "between" rooms...we left the Riviera that morning, but had not yet received our room at AKV yet so we did not know which room it would be charged to. If it ended up getting charged to our Riviera room, it would have ended up on my credit card which I did not want to have happen since I had all of our dining money loaded on to the gift cards. I know that the manager learned something new that day too so hopefully, I have saved future guests from this experience. It all worked out in the end.

I am glad that they eventually got it worked out. I would be equally as annoyed at the situation, not because of the double charge, but by how they dismissed it and acted like you were the one who had the issue. I don't understand the reason for lying if a mistake has happened. On our most recent trip last month, I had front desk lie to me and it ticked me off. I did online check in and when I got to the room, my magic band did not work to open the door, neither did the app. They obviously forgot the link the room to my account. So I walked back to front desk and told them the issue. She looked it up and said that my magic band was not activated, which was the lie. I know that it was activated, because not only did I use it 2 months prior at WDW, but I had just used it to check into magical express. How can it be activated at ME but not at WDW? I told her that and like all people caught in a lie, she started getting defensive and rude. Dang, just say that it was a mistake and I would have been fine with it. Don't put the blame on me saying that I deactivated my magic band. Sheesh.

 

[cbentley]

I can tell you exactly what happened. Your card was run the first time, cancelled for some reason, then run through again. This would show as a single purchase on a receipt but the funds would essentially be on hold from the previous cancelled transaction as well. The same thing happens on cancelled credit/debit card transactions too. The manager simply lacked the knowledge on how it works to figure it out why and offer a proper resolution or explanation. At the end of the day when the batch of credit/debit/gift cards was settled, there would only be a claim on a single charge and not the cancelled duplicate. Usually with a credit/debit card, it takes a few days before the hold on a cancelled charge drops off. Owned a restaurant for 20+ years and have dealt with similar situations.

 

[kristenrice]

I can tell you exactly what happened. Your card was run the first time, cancelled for some reason, then run through again. This would show as a single purchase on a receipt but the funds would essentially be on hold from the previous cancelled transaction as well. The same thing happens on cancelled credit/debit card transactions too. The manager simply lacked the knowledge on how it works to figure it out why and offer a proper resolution or explanation. At the end of the day when the batch of credit/debit/gift cards was settled, there would only be a claim on a single charge and not the cancelled duplicate. Usually with a credit/debit card, it takes a few days before the hold on a cancelled charge drops off. Owned a restaurant for 20+ years and have dealt with similar situations.

So, in the case of a gift card, it is not a "hold" that is put on the funds that can simply "drop off" and make the balance whole again, right? The transaction on our end shows as a "redemption" and the funds are gone. The manager was trying to explain to me that there was simply no way that our card was run through twice and I showed her the screen that displayed the duplicate redemptions. She continued to say that it wasn't possible. Since it only shows "WDW Food & Beverage" as the vendor, she actually had the audacity to say, "You must have used it earlier today"....for the EXACT same amount?? That is what made me so angry...my friend actually had to walk away at that point because she was about to lose her composure. I somehow managed to keep it together and make the manager see the nonsense she had just spewed out at me and I maintained MY professionalism. At that point, she finally offered to look into it a little more and took my name and number and, well, you all know the story from there. It's just ridiculous that it had to come to all of that. It just left a big stain on our day.