- Joined
- Oct 22, 2008
- Messages
- 4,651
- Reaction score
- 3,750
- Points
- 598
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Resorts Owned
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Hyatt High Sierra and Highland Inn
Disney’s Grand Californian and Hilton Head Island
Marriott Barony Beach and Mountainside
MVC Points
Sheraton Broadway Plantation
I rarely need to call Marriott customer service, and I don’t keep up with all the Marriott threads, so maybe my customer service experience is old hat on TUG. But does it feel to anyone else like Marriott has stopped trying?
First, I had a crazy time of if trying to pay my MF this year. I waited until about a week before they were due (as I did with my Hyatt and Disney MFs, no problemo getting those paid), went online to pay them and then got an error message that they couldn’t take payment from an Apple product. What? I found the time to call them the following day and wait times were over an hour. I was calling from a cell phone in a semi-public place (at work) and was reluctant to use the automated payment system. I selected the phone menu option to have Marriott call me, but it was two hours later when they called, and I was seeing an appointment and missed the call. Eventually after multiple attempts, I was able to log in and pay my MF but wow I had to work pretty hard to give them money. All of that was stupid and a waste of time, but whatever. Next year I’ll just mail my MF payment.
Then I decided to list my Barony week for rent on Redweek, and it rented super quickly. We are on a cross country road trip and I got notification by Redweek that the week had rented and now I needed to put the rental into my renter’s name. Not something MVCI website allows you to do (although I have since learned that I can go onto the Bonvoy site and change the name? Is this correct?). I called Marriott to make the change, wait times were over an hour and the call got dropped before Marriott even answered, as we lost cell reception in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.
No worries, I sent Marriott a request for the name change via chat 4 days ago. When I did so, I got a message that it would take up to six days. Really? Redweek gives me 5 days to get the name change done. I decide to wait and see. Maybe Marriott will exceed expectations.
No dice, so this morning I called Marriott at exactly 9am on the dot. After a 10 minute hold (yay!), I get a rep. Tell him I need the reservation name change and he takes all the information and then at the conclusion of the call, tells me it will be another 2-3 days for Marriott to make the change. I tell him I really need this today, and why. That I’ve called, and chatted, and already jumped through several Marriott hoops.
He just keeps giving me grief. My expectations are unrealistic, this is not how it works with Marriott. He can’t see my chat request (implying I guess that I never actually made one). No concern about excessive wait times- they have “500 calls” what did I expect? (Maybe make it easier to not have to call? But not really my problem to solve.) The need for multiple contact attempts to get a trivial matter taken care of (paying MF, changing a name on a reservation)- completely of zero concern to this rep. He really gave me the vibe that customers are the biggest annoyance in his life.
I wasn’t even particularly angry, just pretty firm that I needed a little more customer service than I was getting. Finally he relented and put me on hold to see if he could get the name change accomplished today. While I was on hold, I got an email confirmation of the reservation name change and when the rep came back on, I thanked him for getting this done and thought we might have a happy ending. Nope, he scolded me further and told me he wanted me to know that he was making a note in my record that I have been warned not to ask for such a thing in the future. Oh noes, now I have this blight on my permanent record! So close, Marriott. It was “almost good” customer service.
Jeez. I totally got the impression that they are not even trying anymore. I would love nothing more than take care of my own needs online- booking, cancelling, changing names on reservations, and paying my MF. Seems like four pretty straightforward functions that if flawlessly available via website would reduce Marriott’s “500 calls” by a good margin.
I have my issues with Hyatt and Disney, but I will say that they actually are always pleasant and helpful on the phone. Marriott- ugh.
First, I had a crazy time of if trying to pay my MF this year. I waited until about a week before they were due (as I did with my Hyatt and Disney MFs, no problemo getting those paid), went online to pay them and then got an error message that they couldn’t take payment from an Apple product. What? I found the time to call them the following day and wait times were over an hour. I was calling from a cell phone in a semi-public place (at work) and was reluctant to use the automated payment system. I selected the phone menu option to have Marriott call me, but it was two hours later when they called, and I was seeing an appointment and missed the call. Eventually after multiple attempts, I was able to log in and pay my MF but wow I had to work pretty hard to give them money. All of that was stupid and a waste of time, but whatever. Next year I’ll just mail my MF payment.
Then I decided to list my Barony week for rent on Redweek, and it rented super quickly. We are on a cross country road trip and I got notification by Redweek that the week had rented and now I needed to put the rental into my renter’s name. Not something MVCI website allows you to do (although I have since learned that I can go onto the Bonvoy site and change the name? Is this correct?). I called Marriott to make the change, wait times were over an hour and the call got dropped before Marriott even answered, as we lost cell reception in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.
No worries, I sent Marriott a request for the name change via chat 4 days ago. When I did so, I got a message that it would take up to six days. Really? Redweek gives me 5 days to get the name change done. I decide to wait and see. Maybe Marriott will exceed expectations.
No dice, so this morning I called Marriott at exactly 9am on the dot. After a 10 minute hold (yay!), I get a rep. Tell him I need the reservation name change and he takes all the information and then at the conclusion of the call, tells me it will be another 2-3 days for Marriott to make the change. I tell him I really need this today, and why. That I’ve called, and chatted, and already jumped through several Marriott hoops.
He just keeps giving me grief. My expectations are unrealistic, this is not how it works with Marriott. He can’t see my chat request (implying I guess that I never actually made one). No concern about excessive wait times- they have “500 calls” what did I expect? (Maybe make it easier to not have to call? But not really my problem to solve.) The need for multiple contact attempts to get a trivial matter taken care of (paying MF, changing a name on a reservation)- completely of zero concern to this rep. He really gave me the vibe that customers are the biggest annoyance in his life.
I wasn’t even particularly angry, just pretty firm that I needed a little more customer service than I was getting. Finally he relented and put me on hold to see if he could get the name change accomplished today. While I was on hold, I got an email confirmation of the reservation name change and when the rep came back on, I thanked him for getting this done and thought we might have a happy ending. Nope, he scolded me further and told me he wanted me to know that he was making a note in my record that I have been warned not to ask for such a thing in the future. Oh noes, now I have this blight on my permanent record! So close, Marriott. It was “almost good” customer service.
Jeez. I totally got the impression that they are not even trying anymore. I would love nothing more than take care of my own needs online- booking, cancelling, changing names on reservations, and paying my MF. Seems like four pretty straightforward functions that if flawlessly available via website would reduce Marriott’s “500 calls” by a good margin.
I have my issues with Hyatt and Disney, but I will say that they actually are always pleasant and helpful on the phone. Marriott- ugh.