This is a long post and I apologize.
I have been a touring plans subscriber for over a year now for and back in February we used the ticket locator here on the site to help us decide what site to purchase tickets through. The officialticketcenter.com was the place we chose to purchase our tickets from.We purchased two 9 day park hoppers on one credit card for myself and my husband and two 10 day park hoppers on another card for my daughter and her boyfriend. Both cards were charged on February on the 12th. We received our confirmation numbers and I put the confirmations in the DME and our tickets we assigned and all was well.
On April 9, 2017 when I went to access my DME (I am the one who is planning for everyone in our group) and the two 10 day park hoppers were no longer seen. I called Disney DME help line and they said they could see the tickets and that they would create an IT ticket and once they retrieved the tickets they would email me and they would be back in the system. By April 11 still nothing was in so I called again and they said they were working on it. So a week later today…April 18 I called again and stayed on hold for an hour till the help line with DME basically said this was a ticketing issue as the ticket had been refunded to the seller. I was given the number to Disney’s ticketing line and I called that. After another hour on phone I was told on March 8th the third party ticket agency (officalticketcenter) requested a refund on the tickets and they were removed.
So we have paid $926 for two 10 day park hoppers. The card has been charged and there has been no refund of any money. We have paid officialticketcenter almost $1000 and we have no tickets.
We live on the west coast and I just called when I was off work and of course their office is closed.
To say I am upset is putting it mildly. I trusted this particular ticketing agency because of tourningplans and the fact that I have a paid membership here. I have no tickets and I am out nearly a $1000.
I am basically posting in hopes that someone has some advice as to how I should proceed. I don’t know who to file a complaint with (other the the Better Business Bureau) and Disney itself, and here on touringplans.
I will try and speak to the officialticketcenter but what is to stop them from doing this to my other tickets?
I literally have no idea what to do and I wish I had just bought everything through Disney. I am so disappointed and upset.
First, call your credit card provider and report what happened! This isn’t just a fraud case on the part of the company. You have to do a chargeback, probably for services paid for but not delivered. Explain what happened and they will help you through it. Do it today, because some chargebacks have time limits.
Second (okay, maybe it could be first, but I’d do this second) have you called your ticket provider to see what happened? Is it possible there was an error and they refunded your tickets instead of someone else? You said only one set of tickets were missing, right? If it was an error, they should be able to rectify it (and no chargeback would be needed, but I’d hate for you to miss a time limit for the chargeback if they’re dragging things out for you).
Since Disney is saying that they refunded the cost of those tickets (that does not sound right) I would first talk to Official Ticket Center. I would give that until tomorrow. You have checked the credit card and the charge was processed? Have you flagged the charge with your credit card company ?
Hi Ariadne… I have tried to call. They are closed and I will try again. It has been over two months since the card was charged and paid. I don’t even know how long the limit might be.
I would like to think it is an innocent mistake but its a doozy if it is.
I have not flagged the charge. That was my next step.
The card was charged in Feb. and it was paid right away. The charge is on our March statement and there are no refunds on March or April (we have both statements).
I will call official ticket center again in the morning but I can’t imagine the reasoning for doing this?
Just checked and they are rated “A+” by the BBB. You should be able to get it all worked out tomorrow by calling them so try not to worry about what you can’t control right now.
I bought tickets through the Orlando convention center for a trip last February (think it ended up being through Visit Orlando). Bought them in early December, put them on MDE mid December and all seemed good. I was looking ahead a FPP availability for a week or two (practicing) and noticed I could not see past the middle of January even though I was well within the 30 day mark. I went through the same frustration calling from the West Coast. Had to wait a day so I could call 6am PST and still waited forever on hold. Disney told me that they “saw” the tickets but was not sure what was wrong. Got transferred to Disney Conventions but was told no help since they were through the Orlando Convention…advised to call IT for MDE. After long wait they look it up and tell me they expire in mid January 2017! (I had bought and received them 45 days earlier). Needless to say I was freaking out and a little pissed off. So I call the seller, Visit Orlando, and the man who answered the phone was a nice as can be. Waited on hold for a manager type, explained my story and was told this was not possible and was made to feel like I was trying to rip them off. Battled with this woman for a while until I made it to another higher up and this woman looked into it sincerely. Had to call Disney and in fact they were set to expire two weeks before our trip was to begin. Have no idea how this happened but they sent out new tickets next day air so I would not miss a day of the 30 day window. This higher up saved the day as the first line manager was trying to stone wall me and make me eat tickets that I could not possibly use.
So, hold tight, be prepared to kindly tell everyone you talk to at “official ticket center” that there must be a mistake and don’t take no for an answer. People make mistakes and somehow we were sent old tickets… As @Ariadne surmised, they probably refunded the wrong tickets. Good luck and have a great Trip!
Thank you for the response mikeashworth1!! I am sorry you went through all of that…but it actually makes me feel better that I am not alone! I hope it will all be worked out. It has to be! Before we purchased the tickets I checked on the company and they have a lovely website and it was a totally easy process so I am hoping something just went haywire.
Update: We called the official ticket center this morning and they were very responsive and nice. They have no idea what has occurred. They never asked for a cancellation or refund and my original confirmation number shows as active with them. They said they will contact Disney but that it may take some time. Which I am totally fine with.
Thank you again to everyone who offered advice. I am hoping nothing like this ever happens to anyone else and we can find out a reason behind it as it is very strange.
I had to be at work all day today and unable to do anything online but the official ticket center did contact my daughter and they were more than helpful. They apparently also spent over an hour on the phone with Disney trying to discover what occurred with these tickets.
It appears a set of “ghost tickets” were created by Disney and then cancelled at some point only those tickets were our real tickets. I have no idea where the other set of tickets went? Into the ether apparently. They reissued a confirmation number and we uploaded the tickets again into the MDE.
The only thing I can think of is this was an IT issue from the very beginning. When I called Disney on 4/9 the tickets were missing but not until that point. The help center with MDE said they could see the tickets and they would fix it. Then yesterday when it became “A ticketing issue” I was told the tickets were cancelled way back on 3/9/17… but they were still showing in my MDE till 4/9/17. I really feel like something somewhere messed up with the linking or something in my disney experience and when I called on 4/9 to create an IT ticket it only got more messed up.
After all of this I must say my faith in touring plans and those they sponsor was obviously well placed. Thank you for all the advice.
A take home message from this could be…no matter where you buy your tickets, it is probably a good idea to immediately register on MDE and monitor them as you get closer to your 30 or 60 day window. If @glasselkj and I were not planning ahead we might have both been within the FPP window trying to get the tickets straightened out. As you all know missing a day or two of your FPP initial availability window can have a major effect on creating the Touring Plan that suites you and your family the best.
