I had to cancel a room only reservation the day of arrival for my husband. It was because of work issues due to the virus that he had to cancel his entire trip 30 minutes before leaving for the airport but it was before everything started shutting down. Under the terms I should have lost the deposit on the room because in order to get that back, you have to cancel five days in advance. We clearly did not. I called, canceled the reservation, was told what the refund would be which they said would be what I had paid less the deposit. I asked if there was anything they could do under the circumstances to get the deposit back too. She spoke to a manager and quickly came back saying they would refund everything and also noted that she knew they would but had to ask. This was a room and not tickets but still, if I were you, I’d call, explain your situation and ask nicely to make an exception if they say no at first. I don’t think they will say no but I do think you’ll have to ask. Best wishes to you with this and everything else you are dealing with right now.
Don’t mean to pile on unnecessarily, but I"m in the “call them” camp too. Last year when we purchased tickets to MVMCP I asked the CM I was on the phone with when purchasing the tickets about a refund on these “nonrefundable” tickets and was told in a pleasant voice to call if something came up … “we’ll work with you” was his parting comment. You have nothing to lose by calling
That last sentence protects them. It’s part of the contract. And you purchased the tickets subject to it.
Just call. You may get a better concession from them. And you can call them now. Standing isn’t an issue.
Two things, I see why this would be upsetting and I hope you can get a refund. I booked a package so was able to get 100% refunded. If I didn’t I would be upset too. Who knows when this ends or comes back. Rescheduled for Fall but that has a big ? By it. Also agree calling will yield best results. Explain the situation. I hope they refund.
I agree, call and be kind. You may get resolution, but don’t be upset if you don’t.
Please let us know the outcome!
This - I know my example is in park, but I have on multiple occasions seen people go rent in guest services and get little more than an apology. Others go in and simply kindly explain what happened to them and Disney rewards them with all things.
Disney is a major company and they need a lot of money to run, pay staff, still turn a profit (which is obviously important to them). I think it is understandable that they are not promoting refunds on typically non-refundable items - particularly when they aren’t sure when they will be able reopen the parks as a revenue stream.
I think they will absolutely accommodate once you call.
As a side not for anyone just checking this thread as research. Third party sellers seem to offer more flexible refund policies.
I had no problem refunding 3 different sets of tickets. Just call now and I’m sure they will do
It. You don’t need to wait until the time lapses.
Answering your question, I also find Disney’s stated refund policy anger-inducing.
I am completely not affected by it (no trip planned) and I understand that calling will probably get you a refund.
But given everything about current circumstances, there will definitely be people who will end up eating the loss and being (rightfully) angry with Disney, since everything they state is about re-schedulling and not everyone will be able to do so and a lot of people won’t realize calling enough times might be a solution.
Disney really wants people to rebook instead of cancelling. They could have automatically converted tickets to non-date based and have a blanket statement about contacting them if that doesn’t work out, but they decided to use this route instead. It is a little anger inducing for me.
There is no breach of contract because they did not guarantee they will be open on the day you bought your ticket for, nor does the contract say you get your money back if they are not open. Take it to a smaller level - what if a ride is down the day you are there? You might not have booked if you had known you wouldn’t be able to ride that ride, and WDW didn’t provide what they offered/advertised. But unless it’s covered in the contract, its not a breach of contract.
That being said, I would be surprised if they didn’t actually refund you. I had a split WDW/UOR trip planned with “nonrefundable” tickets to a UOR character breakfast that I am being told all be cancelled and refunded in full.
Even is there is a provable breach of contract, what would be your true recourse? Sure, you can sue Disney, but they have 12 million lawyers they would throw at it to bury you (probably cost of litigation wise). Maybe they would just refund to make your small thing just go away, but maybe not.
I can definitely see why you are angry and hope that you get your refund after calling! I’m fairly certain that you will, as Disney has been very accommodating every time I have called to ask for anything, even if their written policy does not allow for it.
As someone who is in business (accounting specifically) and who is trying to manage our cash flow right now, I want to share Disney’s side of the story, which I can sympathize with. The company I work for is large and very successful. But we are going to have to make some sacrifices, not just to eke out a profit for our owners, but also to meet payroll and basic operating expenses.
Disney has billions of dollars but they are bleeding right now along with the rest of the travel industry and have very few reliable income streams right now. I can guarantee you that Disney’s first priority, despite being a profit-focused corporation, is surviving so that they can pay their employees and eventually reopen to continue to entertain crowds and fans. To do that, they have to make significant sacrifices in the short run.
No one wants to have layoffs or salary reductions (which they’ve already started at the VP level and above), but they will do that if necessary. Every dollar they refund to a guest is a dollar they can’t use to pay their employees. Every dollar guests put down on a future vacation is one more dollar Disney can use to meet current payroll.
So yes, they will refund when they are obligated to do so. But when they are not obligated to do so, they still will, but only when asked. Waiting one day to refund can make a big difference when multiplied by thousands of guests. This is exactly what accountants like me across the country are doing right now - desperately finding ways to squeeze one more day out of our working capital.
All of @Jeff_AZ post is well-stayed. I just wanted to point out that Disney is suffering from multiple angles. We are very focused on the parks here but, their theater release schedule is blown as well. I mean Onward comes to Disney+ tomorrow (good for us bad for them) Those are two major revenue streams that currently aren’t flowing.
That is the part that gets me. Seems that they should be changed to no expiration tickets if they aren’t going to do refunds.
In my list of Naughty/Nice companies, Disney is alone in the Meh category. They didn’t tell people to lump it, like David’s. But, that deadline keeps them off the Nice list.
Again, if that deadline is a problem for you - just call and nicely explain this.
I’m on Disney’s side - at the very least, if you don’t use the ticket, you don’t lose the money - it can go towards a future ticket. If you aren’t going to use it; as in never go to disney again, you can transfer to someone else who can use it.
Just like with the airlines giving a future travel credit; I’m ok with this. I want them to still be in business when this is all over.
They don’t sell the no-expiring tickets anymore, so they can’t replace existing ones with a non-existent type of ticket.
The wording is to get as many people as possible to rebook in the next year, so as to get the bookings flowing again.
But they will refund if you ask them (politely).
I appreciate those of you who had some empathy for my situation and suggested that I call Disney. Honestly, it didn’t occur to me that calling them would do anything to change the policy they have already publicized. But after the dates pass for which my tickets were good, and if the parks have remained closed, I will call and see what they say. Again, thanks for the suggestion.
I kind of chuckle when people advise me to “be nice” when I call. I’ve been involved in 1000’s of meetings and negotiations in my lifetime. I understand what diplomacy is and I understand what etiquette is. I will use them both. I would never insult or berate the employee of any business. But I draw the line at trying to win over an employee’s good will by manipulating them with false kindness. We’ll see how it goes.
I also find it astonishing that people have “affection” for companies. Disney has one goal - to separate as much money from its customers as they can. They have figured out how to do this by providing an exceptional product and they deserve the profits that they make when consumers willingly part with their money to enjoy a Disney product. But if anyone thinks that that Disney “feels” anything for the consumers it collects revenue from, they are being foolish. And to suggest that consumers should simply eat the financial loss of their ticket purchases so that the Disney corporation can continue to exist is just about the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. To heck with the Disney corporation. People come first.
For my part, I never suggested you should eat your loss. I just said it is understandable that Disney isn’t rushing to reimburse you. It’s completely understandable that they are waiting for you to call because they have no legal obligation to reimburse you at all.
Related, the furloughs have arrived:
I understand that corporations are easy to stigmatize, but even CEOs and executives are human beings and most of them don’t like laying people off.
I’m thinking they would at least allow people to move to a specific date in the future without paying the difference. Perhaps they won’t just leave them undated for a year, but if you could commit to a trip spring break next year, I bet they would go for that
I bet there are many solutions that would be acceptable to both parties, if only there is a conversation.