After the drama of last week and my frustration over poor customer service normal random Disney ramblings are back (and for those of you who were wondering the problems I was having sorted themselves out – but a strongly worded letter is going to be written 😡)

Anyway, on to more important things – the bloke and I finally have a new countdown; and will be off to see the mouse in October (seriously someone needs to create Disney emoticons so I could put in some Mickey Mouse heads 😀)

To say I am excited is an understatement; I’ve already linked the booking to my Disney experience account, printed off the park hours and set up a countdown app on my phone and made sure my esta is still valid………..And after a conversation about her holiday with Emmie Lou, who said she had pre booked her seats for her flight I remembered that last November Virgin Atlantic changed their seat booking process

In previous years the seat map opened up to everyone 60 days before their flight and booking seats was free but this meant it could be a bit of a bun fight to get the seats you wanted – there was always the chance that someone else could select the same seats and if they pressed submit a nano second before you; you kissed them goodbye and had to make a different selection (as happened to us last year but still managed to get the bubble there and back)

But now the seat map opens 336 days before your filght, and everyone who wants to book a seat can – but at the cost of £25 per seat per journey 😳 (call me a cynic but I just see it as another way for airlines to make money; after all airlines have been known to charge for:

• Seat selection
• Extra leg room
• Bulk head seats
• The seat next you to remain empty
• Extra baggage
• Food
• Drink
• And not forgetting upgrades – which by the way (for one way would have been an extra £1,000 on top of the cost of our holiday; now that was an easy decision would I like extra dollars for shopping or a slightly bigger seat for 9 hours?!?!?!?)

Thankfully, a few years ago we joined the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and have been quietly earning miles (did you know being a Flying Club member entitles you to 7% off Virgin Holidays) anyway I found our membership log ins and  we both have enough miles to give us a total of £200 credit so basically Virgin have paid for our seat bookings themselves – bonus!!!

So, where are we sitting; we had 2 options; we could either go for a 2 at the back of the lower deck (which means no one else to annoy or be annoyed by but you are last off) or in the bubble again. Strangely I think we could get a 2 on the way out but not on the way back but we could get upstairs on both journeys – so it would have been rude not to; I have picked the window seat for both journeys and now the bloke is considering Seat Plus (which you purchase the seat next to you) so that we have a little extra room

On a separate note, did anyone hear about the lady who received an anonymous letter from a friend stating she was oversharing her baby updates on Facebook – wow there are some harsh people out there; what surprises me more is that I haven’t received one for my obsessive Disney sharing……yet. Until next week I’m off to finish editing my holiday photo montage (might create a mini one for a blog one of these days) xxxx

So, for this week my love of all things Disney has had to take a back seat while I try and sort something out. I’m not one for complaining about customer service but this weekend I have been totally shocked by the attitude of a company I have been a customer of for many years. When has it ever been acceptable to be told that something is not possible and I must have made a mistake when there is clear evidence that the mistake lies with them?

I am in no means saying that the customer is always right; because after all having worked in the retail industry myself I know that it is not always the case, but when there is clear evidence of a mistake someone needs to take responsibility – put things right and apologise instead of causing more damage.

What didn’t help was that after telling me that it wasn’t possible they went on to ask me if I was sure I hadn’t done it myself – what are these people on and who on earth did their customer service training? (I know some great trainers who would completely kick them into shape but maybe I don’t offer their services until everything is resolved as that might not go down too well)

I have already wasted a whole morning trying to sort out this complete mess and I get the feeling that it might not be simple to resolve; would it be acceptable to ask to be compensated for not only all of the phonecalls I have had to make but also my time because after all they would charge me for theirs?

On the complete other end of the spectrum I had some great customer service at Radley; I didn’t buy the most amazing pink bag I have ever seen but the colleague did their utmost to try and persuade me and what was great was that they weren’t pushy in anyway they just seemed to know what my motivation was (I would like the bag though and did contemplate buying it so they haven’t completely failed yet! And before you say it James a girl can never have too many bags!!!!)

But the highlight of the week has to go to the cast member in the Disney store who you could tell loved her job and made it her priority to ensure everyone she served got great service – and that is one thing that I love Disney for; they do put the customer at the heart of their business. I’m not saying that its going to be perfect because after all we are only human so there maybe times when its not all sunshine and pixie dust but to date (and considering how many times we have been) I haven’t yet felt the need to complain about service  at WDW; maybe other companies could learn a few tricks from them……

Fingers crossed that this will all be sorted by next week and normal random Disney talk will return – until then I’m off to watch the 2015 Disney planning video to make me smile (or maybe I might look to see if the pretty bag can be brought online whilst the bloke is at work!) xxx