Connections Horror Story - Update

[goofy!]

 

[jewelldday]

After reading your story I thought I'd check on my credit card. I had ordered some park hopper tickets and some meal vouchers at the beginning of the month. My statement showed the charges just like they were made. I went online to access recent charges and found that I had been charged 952.00 for the hopper tickets and 2-35.00 charges for the breakfast vouchers. I called them to find out what was going on. The gal said she would take down my info and someone would call me back in a few days. She said if no one called, to call them back. What a hassle! I will be cancelling my connections membership!

 

[hulabird]

My debit card was charged the exact amount of my order, and my tickets came in two days..I
guess it must be the person processing the order, I just happened to get a competant person I guess

Hulabird

 

[LisaRex]

goofy, here's what I would do:

1) Call your credit card company to report the problem, fax the computer receipt and let THEM do the fighting. Believe me, V/M/A/D has way more clout than you do. If Connections doesn't want to lose their bread and butter, that is the ability to accept V/M/A/D, they will happily resolve the problem.

Visa will mark the bill as being disputed and your credit will not be affected. Be prepared to be patient, however. Sometimes these things are not resolved for 90 days. It WILL be resolved in your favor, however, because the law is on your side.

2) DO NOT mail any more tickets back. If Connections wants them back, they will have to pay the postage and handling. Also keep a careful tabulation of how many you have and how many you received. You will likely just confuse the matter by sending some back while others are arriving.

3) Relax. V/M/A/D will go to bat for you. You may even get some free tickets out of the matter.

 

[chris1gill]

Personally, I would seriously think about closing your Visa/Mastercard account, otherwise they can continue to bill you & send more tickets.... They can still credit your account even when your account has been closed.

Definitely hold onto whatever tickets you have... they should pay to have them retrieved, it's not your job to do this... If they don't pick them up, you can keep them... You did not authorize the charges made to your account, you've got proof of that already... Usually the credit card companies can't do anything until your billing cycle ends.

I called my credit card company (amex) & my Connections charges were okay, but it was good to double check just in case, so thanks for the info.

Hopefully Connections management is going to take care of this, have you asked to speak to a manager? you might try that... and tell them you aren't paying & you aren't sending them back, they can come get them!!

 

[rugrat]

I have had major problems with connections as well. I ordered 6 $29.50 vouchers which were promptly delivered. The 5 $10.50 vouchers I ordered, however, still have not been delivered. After spending a ridiculous amount of time on hold, I was told a variety of excuses, i.e vouchers were out of stock, my credit card was refused, the ordered hasn't been processed...Fortunately, I haven't been billed, but I'm concerned that we won't recieve them before our August trip. FYI, the breakfast vouchers which were previously out of stock, are now available. I have done a fair amount of research and have figured out which restaurants it makes sense for us to eat in and when. The vouchers can save you a fair amount of money. I am relunctant however, to order anything else from this company. I found their customer service to be extremely lacking.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Thanks for reporting this -- I've been debating with myself on whether or not to use Connections or one of the other discount ticket places listed on the Mousesavers site for our Park Hopper tickets. Connections is slightly cheaper, but I've been worried about whether or not I could actually get the account cancelled after 30 days. I've had some bad experiences with trial offers before.

I think you just made the decision for me - I'll spend a few extra dollars and not risk having to deal with them.

 

[lady400]

I was going through exactly the same debate. Since I don't really want the service, I knew I'd have to cancel in the trial membership period. I've also had trouble getting these things cancelled in the past. I just knew that somehow either I would forget to cancel in time, or some other snafu would occur. I think I'd just rather pay the higher rate.

 

[pooh.kim]

I also checked my credit card account and all was charged correctly. I got everything as ordered and saved money. I also cancelled right at the end of the 30 day period. The call is automated, push certain # for billing, push certain # to cancel, "your membership has now been cancelled". It was very easy and took about a minute - didn't have to talk to anyone.

 

[DG-12]

I agree with the person who told you to cancel your Visa/MC. We had a problem similar to this with At&t last year (the computer kept charging us for recharging our prepaid cards -) After the third dispute the bank refused to dispute anymore charges unless I got a new card- so the old card would no longer be valid and they would not be able to keep charging it. I would also let Visa handle it. It will make your life easier. I hope it works out

Dana

 

[tcarr5]

you may want to double check..mine was right 3 days ago now im doubled!!!

 

[Muushka]

What do people with debit cards do in a situation like this?
What recourse would they have?

 

[LisaRex]

Checked mine. So far, so good.

 

[lvs_eeyore]

Call your bank. I asked this question of my bank awhile back when I thought someone had gotten a hold of my pin number. I was told that the minute you call those charges are put into dispute. The money that is in dispute is credited back to your acct within 72 hours and they fight it from there. It made me feel so much better to know that. I was always afraid to use my debit card for fear my acct would get wiped out or something and I would have to wait forever and a day to get my money back. This is the way it works with my bank. I would call your bank and see what their rules are on disputing charges made to your debit card.

 

[realpatt]

I ordered 2 of the lunch (29.50) and 2 of the counter (10.50) on 7/21/01 and have yet to receive anything. I checked my credit card and only the $1.00 processing fee/order fee was charged. I called and was told it would take 7-10 days not 2-4 days. I told her my order was over $50.00 so it should be 2-4 days and she agreed. She then told me that maybe they had not heard/gotten approval from the bank yet and she would put in a request to check on this. I told her it usually takes less than 30 seconds to get a credit card approved so I didn't think that was it. She apologized and stated she had written up a request to have this checked on. It was a bizarre conversation and the excuses were pretty out there as well. I think I will be cancelling that subscription and unless those passes come before we leave I'll be returning them as well.

 

[Rabbit's Mom]

I work for a credit card company. Closing your account will not stop those charges. You need to write to the billing department and dispute the charges. I would not recommend using your debit card for any kind of internet charges. They don't have the dispute rights of a visa or mastercard and you could be out a lot of money.

 

[sablair]

on your bank whether your debit card has dispute rights. Mine certainly does. I was charged for a hotel room that I had cancelled and had no problem getting the charges taken care of. I had to write a letter explaining what happened, but the bank took it from there and I had credit within 10 business days. I was also double charged for an order with a florist and the bank called and questioned the double debit before I even noticed it. The florist accidently submitted the charges twice without realizing it and would have taken me a month to catch up with it. When I got my statement I called the bank and gave them a big thank you!!!
It is always a good idea to check with your bank and find out what your rights are before having a problem though

Sheila

 

[ehagerty]

I just got off the phone with Connections (your messages were helpful in that they provoked me to get crackin' on making sure I knew where I stood with my backorders - as I am leaving in 2 weeks).

Update:

Lunch-Adult ($29.50@) coupons were out of stock as of 7/24
They are being replenished 7/29 (theoretically, tomorrow)
She is noting that I need them within 9 days and suggests that this shouldn't be a problem.

Same with Lunch/Dinner Counter Coupon ($10.50@)

 

[goofy!]

UPDATE:

To be fair to Connections, I would like to report that everything has been resolved. Credits have been issued, etc. After I got the direct line into customer service and spoke to a "knowledgeable" person, everything was taken care of quickly. I bet they are just experiencing unexpected growing pains, due to the amount of business they are getting from the various websites. So, if you have problems, persist - the good people are there and are very, very willing to help.

 

[tcarr5]

everthing was resolved on my end as well