Disney's decline of Customer Service and taking guests for granted.

[DisneylandTraveler]

The answer to rising prices while customer service and guest appreciation deteriorate is, of course, to vote with your wallet and not go. Anyone willing to go that route? It seems we have a conundrum. Mr. Iger believes in "price elasticity" with his Southern California parks. How far can he extend the profits before it snaps back and bites him? Clearly he doesn't believe he is there yet.

[Global]

What's really insulting is how much lower Disneyland's combined package of starting pay, potential for advancement, shift flexibility, management respect for employees and morale-building perks are than those at In-And-Out Burger. At a time when Disneyland's prices have never been higher and its profits are humongous, the real insult is how little Disney invests, financially and otherwise, in the most important part of its operation -- the employees.

Let's see them compared side by side.

Global

[Mr Wiggins]

Let's see them compared side by side.

Good idea. Let's start by reading this thread from 2007.

Once you've finished, ask how many of your fellow Disneyland CMs who posted in it five years ago are still employed there.

[MrsMonroe]

What's really insulting is how much lower Disneyland's combined package of starting pay, potential for advancement, shift flexibility, management respect for employees and morale-building perks are than those at In-And-Out Burger. At a time when Disneyland's prices have never been higher and its profits are humongous, the real insult is how little Disney invests, financially and otherwise, in the most important part of its operation -- the employees.

Im paid $15 an hour so im pretty sure thats better than in and out. if Disneyland is lower than a burger joint i would have quit. im not saying theyre at their best but quit listening to complaints by former cast members who probably got fired

[Malina]

Wages at Trader Joe's and Costco are some of the highest in the industry. Disneyland wages don't even come close. There is no comparing.
A lot of you would be amazed at how much these two great companies pay there employees. I know...I've worked for both.

Topped out cart pushers at Costco with bonuses make upwards to 60,000. Maybe that's why Costco has the lowest shrink and turn over out there?
Costco Warehouse (store) Managers make over a million with bonuses. I have two family members, both started out as cart pushers (assistants) thatnow have their own warehouses.
Both companies are non-union by the way.

Employees ain't going to stick around if the can't make a living no matter how big the employee discount is.

Ah. I wasn't aware the wages were that high, but I have definitely heard that they're voted as very positive places to work and have a low turnover.

All the more reason for Disney to lose good employees...if you have a choice between making subsistence wages at Disney, having few benefits and being treated as disposable, versus working somewhere like Costco, it's a no brainer.

[PecosBill]

Disney was once the standard bearer of world class customer service. Not any more.

I blame current management, I blame the unions, I blame outsourcing, I blame the current generation of young employees.

Outsourcing is going to continue to be a growing problem. If current Disney management doesn't care about total quality customer service, do you really think the management of the companies they out source to are? We first witnessed it with Valets and Bell staff.

Outsourcing some back of house activities like lawn care, and 3rd shift maintenance are not necessary a bad thing, but they should strive to keep all front line employees in house and make sure they are a well trained as possible.

[MrsMonroe]

Not anymore? why dont you visit knotts then tell me how bad Disneyland is, knotts has crappy service, not Disneyland. we have our bad apples but its still better than many other places

[stevek]

Honestly I cannot say that I have ever experienced bad customer service from a CM. Every time a mistake happens a CM has gone above and beyond my expectation to solve the issue! The CMs I have encountered really care about the guests experience and so when one goes above and beyond we always leave a good comment at Guest Relations

Same with us though we don't leave comments at Guest relations though I've rarely had anyone go above and beyond...sometimes that's hard to quantify. For example, we were in the park last week and I say one of the long sleeved green Disneyland Christmas shirts but could not find my size anywhere in the park. Last hope was in Frontierland and the CM took the time to go back to the storeroom to see if they had anymore. Is that above and beyond? Not in my book, just good customer service that you'd hope to get at Wal-Mart, Target or any other retail shop. In any case, I haven't seen any of the issues that others have seen from CM's.

[stevek]

The answer to rising prices while customer service and guest appreciation deteriorate is, of course, to vote with your wallet and not go. Anyone willing to go that route? It seems we have a conundrum. Mr. Iger believes in "price elasticity" with his Southern California parks. How far can he extend the profits before it snaps back and bites him? Clearly he doesn't believe he is there yet.

Yes, that's us. After 12 years with AP's, we're done but only because of the price increases. That being said, nobody will notice unless there are masses of AP's not renewing. Not going to happen for awhile.

[explodingboy]

The "candlelight thing" is not stupid.

Like, calsig31 said, it's a matter of opinion. I happen to not like the Candlelight deal personally.

In fact, I was in the park on Saturday for the first time in a long time (on a weekend at least). The Candlelight Processional was going on and it was one of the biggest clustermucks I have ever seen at the park. There was one sliver of walkway from the entrance around to Main Street and through to the hub. It was similar to when an accident happens on the freeway and it's in the shoulder lane and everyone stops and rubbernecks. It reminded me why I avoid the Resort like the plague during the holidays.

The bottomline though is it's a matter of opinion. Coming from someone with no faith I am personally not a fan, and even some of the people in my group that night that were religious agreed.

[doppio]

And these companies are really big on promoting from within.

[sediment]

Not anymore? why dont you visit knotts then tell me how bad Disneyland is, knotts has crappy service, not Disneyland. we have our bad apples but its still better than many other places

Most folks here are not satisfied with a bar set that low.
That's, "If it's good enough for Six Flags...," talk.

[sediment]

I recommend (again) "Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy" by its Canadian founder, Isadore Sharp.

Here are some sentences from it:
...
"I wasn't hooked on momentum or quarterly results." (p. 130)

"[Quoting UC business prof. Bill Ouchi with approval] '...among the fastest-growing, most profitable major American firms...profits are not regarded as an end in itself...but a reward for providing true value to its customers, helping employees grow, and behaving ethically as a corporate citizen.'" (p. 263)

These two in particular need to be reintroduced to Disney. The whole company.

[DisneyIPresume]

Not anymore? why dont you visit knotts then tell me how bad Disneyland is, knotts has crappy service, not Disneyland. we have our bad apples but its still better than many other places

I went to Knotts on Saturday and the customer service there was not any better or worse than the customer service I experienced at Disneyland. In fact I had a very nice conversation with one of the employees at Supreme Scream. She was so friendly - just as for as anything I've experienced at Disneyland.

[explodingboy]

Not anymore? why dont you visit knotts then tell me how bad Disneyland is, knotts has crappy service, not Disneyland. we have our bad apples but its still better than many other places

I don't think it's fair to say Knott's has below par customer service. Just like anywhere, they have their few that may not be great, but they also have employees that go above and beyond the "call of customer service duty".

About 4-5 years ago I frequented Knott's a lot, and there was an employee (one of two I think) that operated the Sad Eye Joe gag over in Ghost Town. A friend and I would visit him every time we went. He was an older man who loved to tell funny stories - it was great. To say that Knott's as a whole has bad customer service is wrong, in my opinion.