Not a good start to my Disney vacation.

[Liljo22]

Planning a Disney vacation can be stressful enough without something like that happening... sorry this happened to you OP.

I think that Disney could be a little quicker with a refund of the monies (not saying that they are or are not to blame)... and I also think that the card company should have had some check in place to verify two charges of the same amount, from the same company, placed so quickly in such a short period of time. Some cards are def much better at handling these types of issues than others. While other companies have better checks in place to preventing double billing.

All that said, it appears to be a simple mistake, which hopefully will be resolved shortly. Good luck OP.

Really nothing Disney can do. I deal with credit card processing regularly and when I have to do a refund I always say up to 7 days to the client. I can refund and settle the transaction with the client on the phone and it will not make a difference. It has to run through the merchant services company you use and then settled with the bank. Some times it takes a couple of days and some times it takes over a week. Now Amex is their own merchant services so it usually show up quicker.

 

[monorailrabbit]

OP, sorry to hear this happened. It happened to me a few months ago - I went to make a partial payment on my DL vacation and they ran my card for the entire remainder amount.... Here I am expecting $50 and it's $2550 Now, I have no idea if it was my fault because I wasn't clear, the CM's fault who ran it, or a computer glitch. I called right away, got a super sweet CM who promised to clear it up. I was also given the 7-10 day time frame - was corrected by the next day. I hope you get yours resolved quickly as well.

That being said, it never occurred to me to ask for any kind of compensation. Mistakes happen. People misunderstand, computers go wonky... it's just life. I also work in a call center and take escalations all day long, so perhaps that clouds my judgment a little as far as when it's appropriate to offer/ask for compensation for an error...

Either way, best of luck and I hope you can still have a great trip!

 

[Kimberly9701]

I've never had OP's situation happen, so I wasn't sure how long it would take. Good to know it's pretty quick!

I was actually surprised! I was expecting @ 5 business days even though they said 7-8. I try not to use credit cards often (besides items that I get good points for). Normally if I return an item to a store it can be anywhere from immediate to 5 business days back in my checking account. I got a nice surprise when the Disney charge was in a day and a half

 

[eyehartdisney]

I'm sorry OP. That really stinks.

Best answer of the whole thread. Puts me to shame.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

You know that, do you? Have you examined personally the system logs between Disney's servers and the bank servers?

Where I am coming from: I have certified over a dozen systems for credit card processing with banks (that I wrote). So I have a decent handle on how these systems work. The processing error could have been on the bank's side. it could have been on telco's. it could have been on Disney's. It could have been anywhere in 2 dozen routers between.

It would take a very detailed analysis of dozens of log files to determine which system is at fault. Disney is no more or less at fault that AT&T is. So you could just as easily call them and demand a free month of cell service because it's just as likely (if not MORE) that one of their routers is what dropped the transaction ID. See how far you get with AT&T on that argument.

I work for the Card Services department of a large credit union. Usually when we see issues like this it either the merchant or their processor who is at fault.
If it was the banks error, it would probably result in the duplicate posting of multiple items, not just one. If that were the case, Disney would have nothing to refund.

I think it sounds like a credit card, so unless his monthly budget is only paid for with plastic then I don't see it.
Let's say it was a debit card- then yes, still an accident and I understand very frustrating, but I think he would have specified that in his post.

I had a booked a WDW vacation in March...with a debit card.
3 days later I decided to go thru a TA. She made a new reservation with same debit card.
Then I cancelled my original reservation.

The money was back in my checking account within 48 hours.
And I didn't have to make one single phone call to ensure that.

If the 1600 used all available space of his credit card limit, he can call the credit card company and ask for an extension.

Point is- they aren't holding hostage $1600 in cash.

Since the OP has not returned, we don't know. Many of our customers use the term credit card to refer to their debit card or use these terms interchangeably.

We are talking about a computer error..or user error..we don't know which. Neither of which actually cost the OP money. I don't even know why he would need to call his cc company. If Disney says they immediately credited it then not one more second needs to be spent on it. The only time there would be an exception is if the money was not refunded after the normal time (which we all know is usually received in half the time that is actually stated, the time limits are given to protect companies just in case)
This is not the same as a low level of customer service.

There is no such thing as an immediate refund. At best, the refund and charge will post at the same time, but that could still take 2-3 days. While using hoppers as compensation is unlikely, something like an extra FP really does cost Disney nothing and could go a long way. We waive fees all the time at work, because providing good customer service is important. In the long run, it's worth losing $10 to keep that customer happy.

 

[anneboleyn]

Geez no wonder so many CMs seem to dislike their jobs now. People expecting freebies for something that was a computer error (or maybe even the customer's own fault...the OP may have hit submit multiple times) and sometimes even getting angry when they don't get said freebie.

I really respect those people who work in customer service jobs that deal with people with such entitled attitudes. I definitely could not do it lol

 

[Kimberly9701]

I work for the Card Services department of a large credit union. Usually when we see issues like this it either the merchant or their processor who is at fault.
If it was the banks error, it would probably result in the duplicate posting of multiple items, not just one. If that were the case, Disney would have nothing to refund.



Since the OP has not returned, we don't know. Many of our customers use the term credit card to refer to their debit card or use these terms interchangeably.



There is no such thing as an immediate refund. At best, the refund and charge will post at the same time, but that could still take 2-3 days. While using hoppers as compensation is unlikely, something like an extra FP really does cost Disney nothing and could go a long way. We waive fees all the time at work, because providing good customer service is important. In the long run, it's worth losing $10 to keep that customer happy.

I just purchased 3 pairs of shoes at Shoe Carnival for my son. Returned 2, went to Stride Rite to buy the pair that he requested.
Before I even arrived at that store the money from Shoe Carnival was back in my account.
That's the first time I had ever seen that.

 

[Kimberly9701]

Actually that's not true, it happened 1 other time. Maybe it depends if the charge is still a hold, I did have a Nordstrom return that I used my Nordstrom Debit Card on the original purchase, I returned the item the next day and it was back in my checking account within an hour.

I just went back in that account to check the Disney transactions.. Here are the cropped photos after I cancelled a reservation once the TA made another one for me. 2 days... The one I cancelled had been made a few days prior to the TA one.

 

[bumbershoot]

After submitting the order I got an error message saying the order was not yet complete and I will receive another email when it is resolved. Got an email a couple hours later that was an order confirmation.

This is so obviously a situation where one of those "charges" is just pending and will fall off, it's not even funny. There's like a 1% chance in my mind that it is two full charges, but I really doubt it. I would think that their CC/bank saw the charge, called a halt for a little while, leading WDW to send that odd message. Then it went through.

To me this isn't even worth getting worked up over. Just wait a couple days.

we cancelled a $450 reservation back in March and we are still waiting on the refund to our credit card...its kinda annoying yeah. Sorry this happened to you.

You've called back, yes?

We all would love our money faster for sure but all sorts of businesses have differing refund policies; I absolutely love Costco but if I use my card as Debit (which I use all the time except for the like 3 times last year we used our Amex) I can only get the refund as cash back...which does annoy me cuz I used my card to begin with instead of cash but it is their refund policy

I don't even know what your'e talking about. Until recently Amex was the ONLY way you could use a CC at Costco. It was ALL debits with PIN (or cash or costco giftcard) And while I often CHOOSE cash as a refund option, returning it to my debit card has been totally allowed.

And you may think that's true, but I used to work for a major company who you'd know if I named, employs in the six figures of people, gives millions to charities, and often refers to employees as "the XYZ family." Every year our raises were calculated and told to us in March, but we never received them until May. Sure, we got the back pay, but no interest. They were still drawing interest on that money. So you can say what you think "ethical" companies do, but when it comes to money being moved around in any kind of banking, don't kid yourself that someone's not making money off of it. That's how banking works.

That's how raises often work. And it has nothing to do with a refund.

I wouldn't expect anyone who bumped me to pay for my dinner, because they didn't COST me anything.

It certainly could. You could have been carrying a coffee with cream and sugar in it, and wearing a dry clean only shirt.

I got bumped into a year ago at Disneyland on the way out, by a burly weightlifter-looking fellow, and it nearly knocked me to my knees it hurt my shoulder so much. That night my neck locked up incredibly painfully, and despite extra visits to my chiropractor once I got home (which were under insurance, but I only get 20 visits, so it caused me to have to pay OOP much sooner than intended) I could barely move my head for 2-3 weeks. It was AWFUL. It cost me money, time, and PAIN.

He didn't even say sorry. I wish I could get him to pay for my extra visits to my chiro. He caused it.

It took us forever to get it sorted out and costs us 3-4 hours the week we were getting married. We were not going to be able to pay our other wedding vendors. We were getting married in 5 days by the way, so didn't have 7-10 days for it to clear

I got married in 2003 and even back then there was only ONE vendor who wasn't already paid in full the day of the wedding (the site, b/c of not knowing how much beer/wine we were going to use). It's been a long time since most vendors in most places need full payment 2 weeks prior to the wedding. Your situation seems unusual to me.

But they didn't "take" it. The computer made a mistake.

Exactly.

Maybe. Doubtful.

Amazon has this.

Amazon does not have this.

I still wonder if the 2nd charge was just a pending charge and fell off before ever hitting their account.

Almost certainly. I agree with you Angi.

I also think that the card company should have had some check in place to verify two charges of the same amount, from the same company, placed so quickly in such a short period of time.

And then for all those people who are intending to make two purchases, it'll be a huge pain.

Unfortunately it is not only up to Disney how fast the money goes back, it is up to the credit card company.

YES.

They click "refund" in their system and it's automatic. The refunding company has NO idea how long it will be for the Cc/bank to get that money back into the customer's account, so they give these long timespans. And they generally give longer timespans than anticipated, so the customer doesn't call back worrying, when there's nothing for the refunding company to do.

I remember working at amazon and having the occasional return of my own (which we had to do by calling, on our own time, CS and doing exactly what non-employee customers had to do), and my bank refunded me almost instantly, while other banks/CC companies took a long time, and others were in the middle. And we would say "1-2 statements" because we don't know when that customer's billing cycle ends; what if it ended today? We couldn't say "this cycle" b/c that would mean today. When it was likely going to take a bit longer than that.


But I'm banking on this being a pure pending charge.

Or customer error. But that's just my CS at amazon experience talking.

 

[eyehartdisney]

This is so obviously a situation where one of those "charges" is just pending and will fall off, it's not even funny. There's like a 1% chance in my mind that it is two full charges, but I really doubt it. I would think that their CC/bank saw the charge, called a halt for a little while, leading WDW to send that odd message. Then it went through.

To me this isn't even worth getting worked up over. Just wait a couple days.





You've called back, yes?



I don't even know what your'e talking about. Until recently Amex was the ONLY way you could use a CC at Costco. It was ALL debits with PIN (or cash or costco giftcard) And while I often CHOOSE cash as a refund option, returning it to my debit card has been totally allowed.



That's how raises often work. And it has nothing to do with a refund.




It certainly could. You could have been carrying a coffee with cream and sugar in it, and wearing a dry clean only shirt.

I got bumped into a year ago at Disneyland on the way out, by a burly weightlifter-looking fellow, and it nearly knocked me to my knees it hurt my shoulder so much. That night my neck locked up incredibly painfully, and despite extra visits to my chiropractor once I got home (which were under insurance, but I only get 20 visits, so it caused me to have to pay OOP much sooner than intended) I could barely move my head for 2-3 weeks. It was AWFUL. It cost me money, time, and PAIN.

He didn't even say sorry. I wish I could get him to pay for my extra visits to my chiro. He caused it.



I got married in 2003 and even back then there was only ONE vendor who wasn't already paid in full the day of the wedding (the site, b/c of not knowing how much beer/wine we were going to use). It's been a long time since most vendors in most places need full payment 2 weeks prior to the wedding. Your situation seems unusual to me.



Exactly.

Maybe. Doubtful.



Amazon does not have this.



Almost certainly. I agree with you Angi.



And then for all those people who are intending to make two purchases, it'll be a huge pain.



YES.

They click "refund" in their system and it's automatic. The refunding company has NO idea how long it will be for the Cc/bank to get that money back into the customer's account, so they give these long timespans. And they generally give longer timespans than anticipated, so the customer doesn't call back worrying, when there's nothing for the refunding company to do.

I remember working at amazon and having the occasional return of my own (which we had to do by calling, on our own time, CS and doing exactly what non-employee customers had to do), and my bank refunded me almost instantly, while other banks/CC companies took a long time, and others were in the middle. And we would say "1-2 statements" because we don't know when that customer's billing cycle ends; what if it ended today? We couldn't say "this cycle" b/c that would mean today. When it was likely going to take a bit longer than that.


But I'm banking on this being a pure pending charge.

Or customer error. But that's just my CS at amazon experience talking.

If you try to buy the same thing twice with one click it won't let you

 

[BattyKoda]

And then for all those people who are intending to make two purchases, it'll be a huge pain.

All those people? How many people try to make two purchases, presumably within a second or two (at most), of the same exact amount, at the same company, especially at that price? Heck, my credit card calls me if I try to get gas at the same station twice on the same day, even if it's hours apart. I'm not saying that what you are suggesting isn't possible, but I think (with ABSOLUTELY nothing to back it up) that this type of billing would be more of a mistake than done on purpose.

 

[snowybelle]

So, I bought five days worth of tickets for my family of five. After submitting the order I got an error message saying the order was not yet complete and I will receive another email when it is resolved. Got an email a couple hours later that was an order confirmation. I thought all was good at that point. Surprise! Disney charged me $1600 times two! I did not resubmit the order at all, this was entirely on them. Although the charge was immediately made to my account, a refund takes 7-10 days. Customer service wasn't even apologetic about basically stealing $1600 from me for over a week. Anyone else ever had this happen to them? I figured they would at least give me a park hopper upgrade based on hearing how great their customer service normally is. Not feeling the magic at all so far.

Call me crazy, but it's probably pretty hard to "feel the magic" when you've cast yourself in the role of Entitled Victim.

I'm glad my name isn't Disney. It would be very stressful to go through the day with people scrutinizing my every move, just waiting for me make even the slightest of errors so they could swoop in and shake me down for freebies.

And we wonder why the "pixie dust" policies seem to have changed in recent years...

 

[mshanson3121]

I honestly cannot believe people on this thread think 1,600 dollars is a minor snafu. Can I borrow that money from you? I mean, jeez... I too would like some compensation for taking what would amount to my entire budget for a month for 10 days.

They didn't take anything. There was an extra pending charge to a credit card. Not like it came out of their bank account and they had to go without food. They had to make a phone call, during which the mistake was corrected, and their credit is pending. If the $1600 had actually come out of a bank account, then yes, that'd be a different story, because that would have far more of an impact. However, most people aren't living off their credit cards, and if they are - then they shouldn't be going to Disney.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't even know what your'e talking about. Until recently Amex was the ONLY way you could use a CC at Costco. It was ALL debits with PIN (or cash or costco giftcard) And while I often CHOOSE cash as a refund option, returning it to my debit card has been totally allowed.

I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. At my local stores (there are 2 of them close to me) we are not allowed to put our refunds onto our card if we used debit...which is the only way you can do it unless you have Amex and now the Chase Citi card once that starts as those are credit cards. We can only get cash back (if debit is used) so appearantly your stores are different.

I guess I should elaborate and say we are not using the Costco Amex or the Costco Chase Citi card (I'm not sure if those have been sent out yet as in our local stores we can still use Amex until middle of June) we are using our normal Visa cards from our bank and maybe that's the difference.

We have an Amex but it's a Delta Skymiles one that we've used like 3 times last year at Costco but have never returned anything when we used that card so I have no experience in returning things with an Amex at Costco (it was run through as credit the few times it was used).

 

[Megsmachine]

The OP hasn't been back to answer anything or comment further.....



= accomplished

 

[Kimberly9701]

The OP hasn't been back to answer anything or comment further.....



= accomplished

Probably because the money is already back on his card

 

[anneboleyn]

The OP hasn't been back to answer anything or comment further.....



= accomplished

He did post something yesterday (calling most of the people who replied trolls lol) but he has since deleted his reply.

 

[Nancyg56]

Then again people sue over coffee spilled because there was no warning label that hot coffee would actually, ya know, be hot. All similar mindset. All sad.

I have to say that this is a terrible example of nuisance lawsuits. The woman who sued was severely burned after McDonalds had been warned they needed to lower the temperature of the coffee that they were serving. It was heated to a temperature that would ensure that the coffee was hot after it had been sitting in the cup for at least 20 minutes becuase their research had determined that the customer commute after purchase was 20 minutes. McDonalds ignored that warning each time.

I am not positive that the lid was not secure, but IIRC, the woman who was burned was trying to get the lid on properly. WHen the coffee spilled it was so hot it melted the polyester fabric of he pants which then adhered to the skin on her thighs. She was hurt because a company was sure that they did not need to follow a cease and desist order that might impact their own sales. I think it was the size of the award that had been challenged, not that they lost.

 

[Nancyg56]

well. $1600 is a big snafu IMO. I too would have been a bit miffed myself but usually a CM brings me back to good. Surprised that didn't happen this time.

I guess sometimes there is no getting back to good.

I do not know what the CM could do to bring the OP back to good other than processing a refund. The CM's on the phones are not the boots on the ground folks who can just issue freebies.

You know that, do you? Have you examined personally the system logs between Disney's servers and the bank servers?

Where I am coming from: I have certified over a dozen systems for credit card processing with banks (that I wrote). So I have a decent handle on how these systems work. The processing error could have been on the bank's side. it could have been on telco's. it could have been on Disney's. It could have been anywhere in 2 dozen routers between.

It would take a very detailed analysis of dozens of log files to determine which system is at fault. Disney is no more or less at fault that AT&T is. So you could just as easily call them and demand a free month of cell service because it's just as likely (if not MORE) that one of their routers is what dropped the transaction ID. See how far you get with AT&T on that argument.

I think that when people do not understand how these complex systems work, (I am one of those folks) it is easy to simply place blame on whoever you were doing business with.

Fair enough, it could have been the server, but Disney still picks who they have a contract with for those services.

Oh please. Which CC service would you choose to drop if you were DIsney? Visa? Discover? AMEX? MC?

I have a family member who recently had 2 mortgage payments take out at the same time. So unfortunately computer snafus do happen. And as it was said before, it may have been a snafu on the part of the OP or her computer. So not only looking to get back what is theirs, but to gain from it? Yeah. I can't agree with that.

I won't assume every "snafu" I have made is user error , but I know I have hit that Submit button more than once, and I paid the price.

They didn't take anything. There was an extra pending charge to a credit card. Not like it came out of their bank account and they had to go without food. They had to make a phone call, during which the mistake was corrected, and their credit is pending. If the $1600 had actually come out of a bank account, then yes, that'd be a different story, because that would have far more of an impact. However, most people aren't living off their credit cards, and if they are - then they shouldn't be going to Disney.

As I said upthread, when I had an issue I called my card company and that pending charge never was processed. A 5 minute call was all it took to ensure that pending stayed pending.

 

[DisneyHardin]

The piece I feel missing from the OP in this story is how they were with the CM when they called about the error. If they were really polite and and thanked the CM for taking care of it, then the CM probably thought they had a satisfied customer on the phone and why would you offer a compensation to a perfectly satisfied customer. As far as I can tell from the OP's original story is that they didn't ask for or even hit at any compensation for their trouble, so there is no way the CM would know they were hoping for some free park hoppers.