More CONNECTIONS Confusion!(kind of long - sorry)

[lmmmdtmlem]

Just wanted to add my personal experience with Connections. I ordered three adult and one child four day park hopper plus passes and five of the $10.50 lunch vouchers on July 23rd. Well, the hoppers came in two days - BUT to the wrong adress!! When I had signed up for Connections, I of course signed up using our home address. Anyway, after I had placed the order, I suddenly found out that we would be out of town when the tickets were to be delivered. So, I called the customer service number and was told that I could not change the delivery address. However, she checked with her supervisor and said that we could change the address for the delivery but should call back and change it back to our home address after the items were received. Anyway, the hoppers came to our home address, NOT the address that I had changed it to. Fortunately, our UPS delivery man knows that our neighbors are our parents and he delivered them to their house and got the required signature. When I called Connections after we received the hoppers they said that the only address they had on file was the "changed" address, not our home address. But, she said that when you join on the internet that address will override any changes they make when you call the customer service number. Whatever!

Okay, before this gets too long. As it stands now, I still have not received my lunch vouchers. Also, our credit card has not yet been charged for ANY of the order - not even the hoppers which I already have in hand. I think they must just be so overwhelmed there since their website was posted on this board. I"m just glad that I have the hoppers! I can do without the lunch vouchers. Plus, to make things more complicated, my 30 days is up in two days and I intend to cancel my membership. So,it's hard to tell what will become of my lunch vouchers. Any more stories from anyone else?

Sorry this got so long!

 

[hulabird]

I also ordered php's and Universal 2 days passes and 6 food vouchers (10.50's)
and received my park tickets super fast (2 days later) but I am still waiting on
food vouchers. Connections did call me a few minutes ago and wanted to know
when I needed the vouchers by, I need to call them and tell them NOW

Hulabird

 

[hulabird]

CONNECTIONS FOOD VOUCHER UPDATE

8/08/01 I had sent an email to connections 2 days ago stating that if I didn't
have my food vouchers by the weekend I would be canceling the order, I just
got a call on my internet answering machine from Rhonda at Connections
and she said I will have my food vouchers by tomorrow. These are the 10.50
ones, I will post again when I receive them. I suggest others do the same and tell
them you need them YESTERDAY!

Hulabird

 

[Gillian]

Do you know if the lunch certs were supposed to be out of stock? I ordered on the 5th & got the breakfast ones right away by UPS, but the lunch ones haven't shipped yet. They didn't say that they weren't availabel, just that they haven't shipped.

They also said that each thing (lunch, breakfast, tix, etc) is handled separatly. So they all may ship in different envelopes. And the $50 per merchant for priority delivery is actually $50 per type of cert, not merchant (like disney). So if you ordered under $50 of 1 type of cert, it might take longer to get to you.

I am going to call back during the day when there is a supervisor there. The people tonight were very nice, but not terribly helpful. So far I haven't been charged for anything, so I'm not going to complain!

 

[Baileymouse]

I think the problem is communication. Someone isn't telling someone what to do. The phone people are in Houston, the main office is in CT, so there's no cohesive communication. They need to hire an Organizational Communication specialist....

Don't blame postings on Mousesavers or DIS for Connections' problems. They have been heavily promoted through Mypoints mailings and I think that got them many more customers. If they weren't ready to grow they shouldn't have aggressively advertised.

 

[msr709]

I ordered a WDW 4-day park hopper plus pass, 2-day Universal Escape, 2 breakfast vouchers and 2 lunch vouchers. I received everything except the lunch vouchers. My credit card was charged for everything except the 2 lunch vouchers, which I can do without. I've already cancelled my membership, don't know whether I should push the lunch vouchers thing since they have not been charged, I'm leaving next week so if they don' t come, I can live with that!!

 

[wdwobsessed]

"Don't blame postings on Mousesavers or DIS for Connections' problems."

I have to disagree in a way ....

But first ...


When I called to CANCEL my membership today. (This was a lengthy...can we make you feel guilty process ... "How did your vouchers work....enjoying that free gas card we sent you ... enjoy those Disney Tickets?" and a look what you are missing out on..."Wow, did you know you can save on movie tickets .. can I offer you $5 vouchers for your cable service....?

He would not shut up!!!

Anyway ... he was saying how poplular the Disney World stuff had become all of a sudden. How they were getting tons of orders for these .... especially the meal vouchers.
Connections does not advertise they offer anything on WDW. They are very vauge even on the website .. they just say "theme parks" and "restuarants". They never mention wdw. You do not find this out until you get your membership materials.

I think that the problems they are having are directly related to the posting on mousesavers and DIS that have caused an increase in sales for the wdw items. I do not in anyway BLAME either of these sights. I just think that so many people signed up in a short period of time for the specific reason of getting WDW stuff.

Connections has also been advertised on My Points for quite sometime.... long before I placed my initial orders and had no problems.

Then a few months ago I had some rather lengthy disscussions with Pixie Dust Gal on the program and people started asking about it and saying they were gonna sign up .... then it popped up on Mousesavers.

I just don't think they had the stock or were ready in anyway for this type of publicity. In other words "they got slammed with orders and were unprepared."

I bet in about a month ..... things will be back to normal.

They will increase their stock ... then we all cancel .. and they wonder what the heck happened!

wdwo

 

[Baileymouse]

In any case I intend to cancel, but I haven't even received my membership information yet! It's been about 3 weeks so I'm going to have to cancel shortly.

After all of this I'd be surprised if anyone remains a member.

 

[hulabird]

I received my 10.50 food coupons today just as connections promised me yesterday!
On the back there is a listing of where they are accepted and they are good til 5/02.
I really think this is a reliable company that got hit with tons of orders at once due to
postings on various Disney message boards...I received all of my order and the
people at Connections proved to be helpful and you can't ask for more than that.
I think if you are leaving quickly and u call them and tell them, they will overnight them
to u as they did me. I think they handpulled the orders and got them right out.


Hulabird

PS only thing I have not received from them now is the membership materials,
I have all my orders, but no member card or anything...I joined 7/21/01.
Oh well main thing is I got what I paid for. Hope everyone else gets theirs quick too
and I would be glad to answer questions for anyone who is confused OR is considering
joining the programinkbounc

 

[hulabird]

These are the 10.50 vouchers, I am looking at one right now, and will use this to
give u guys a description of them. They are printed on a card stock, and have
the Walt Disney Resort Logo on them, one side tells you what you can get with them,
the other has all the participating restaurants listed on them that accept the vouchers.
This is quite convenient. I am now going to list what is exactly written on the FRONT
of the voucher, the side with the WDW resort official logo.

Valid through May 31, 2002

This dining certificate is valid during LUNCH or DINNER during normal operating
hours at a participating restaurant location located within the Walt Disney World Resort and includes your choice of one (1) of the following:

ONE (1) combo meal (entree, side dish and non-alcoholic beverage) AND ONE (1)
dessert
OR
ONE (1) entree, ONE (1) side dish (if not included with entree) ONE (1) dessert
and ONE (1) non-alcoholic beverage.

Applicable tax and gratuities ARE included. Alcoholic beverages, frozen drinks, and souvenir
mugs are NOT included.

BACK OF COUPON:
DISNEY'S ALL STAR RESORT
End Zone Food Court
Intermission Food Court
World Premier Food Court
DISNEY'S BONNET CREEK GOLF CLUB
Sand Trap Bar and Grill
CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT
Old Port Royale Food Court
CONTEMPORARY RESORT
Food and Fun Center
Sand Bar Grill
CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT
The Pepper Market
Siesta's Pool Bar and Grill
DIXIE LANDINGS RESORT
Colonel's Cotton Mill
GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA
Gasparilla Grill and Games
PORT ORLEANS RESORT
Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory
WILDERNESS LODGE
Roaring Forks
YACHT AND BEACH CLUB RESORTS
Beaches and Cream
Hurricane Hanna's Grill
RIVER COUNTRY WATER PARK
Pop's Place (open seasonally)
BLIZZARD BEACH WATER PARK
Lottawatta Lodge
TYPHOON LAGOON
Leaning Palms Burger and Brew
Typhoon Tilly's

In my next post because this one is getting long I will give you the park restaurants)

 

[hulabird]

This is the continued list for the 10.50 food coupons, see my other post in this section
for the restaurants in the resorts. The following are the restaurants participating
that are located in the WDW Parks.

MAGIC KINGDOM PARK EPCOT
The Pinocchio Village Haus Liberty Inn (U.S.)
Pecos Bill Cafe Electric Umbrella Restaurant
The Plaza Pavillion Pasta Piazza Restaurant
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe Pure and Simple
Columbia Harbour House Sunshine Season Food Fair
Casey's Corner Yakitori House (Japan)
Linching Pad Lotus Blossom Cafe (China)
El Pirata y el Perico Cantina de San Angel(Mexico)
DISNEY/MGM STUDIOS Tangerine Cafe (Morocco)
The Backlot Express Kringla Bakeri (Norway)
Rosie's All American Cafe Boulaugerie Pattiserie (France)
ABC Commissary Famous Fish and Chips (U.K.)
Toy Story Pizza Planet Sommerfest (Germany)
Echo Lake Cafe Refreshment Port

ANIMAL KINGDOM PARK
Pizzafari
Restaurantosaurus
Flame Tree BBQ
Tusker House Restaurant


I would suggest that u check the menus out for these restaurants and see what you
would order, to know how many you should buy, so you can get the most value.
I only ordered 6, because I know the eating habits of my DH and myself, and I know
that only a few meals would be big expensive ones as we are mainly snackers.
Hope this helps!

Hulabird

 

[hulabird]

Because I am a dork, I typed Epcot restaurants across from the MK ones and
the list is kinda screwed up, so here is the list of MK and EPCOT (separated)
My apologies.

Hulabird

MK Restaurants for the 10.50 coupons:

The Pinocchio Village Haus
Pecos Bill Cafe
The Plaza Pavilion
Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe
Columbia Harbour House
Casey's Corner
Lunching Pad
El Pirata y el Perico

EPCOT restaurants:
Liberty Inn (U.S.)
Electric Umbrella Restaurant
Pasta Piazza Ristorante
Pure and Simple
Sunshine Season Food Fair
Yakitori House (Japan)
Lotus Blossom Cafe (China)
Cantina de San Angel (Mexico)
Tangerine Cafe (Morocco)
Kringla Bakeri (Norway)
Boulaugerie Pattisserie (France)
Famous Fish and Chips (U.K.)
Sommerfest (Germany)
Refreshment Port

Sorry again and if anyone has questions, just post them..

Hulabird

 

[FoodLover]

My lunch vouchers arrived today by UPS Overnight, as Connections had promised.

Hopefully they've straightened out their system now!

Mary
MouseSavers.com

 

[msr709]

I think you are all right, I haven't been home yet but I checked my credit card this morning and saw a Connections charge that coincides with the price of my missing vouchers, I might be receiving them after all.