getting sick on disney food

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Dennis, why would you direct this person to small claims court? Have you ever been in small claims court? It is a ruthless process, in which one MUST show proof. I've been there and it is not easy even if you have an abundance of proof.

What proof does this person have? Did she consult a doctor during the course of the illness (not after her return to home?) Did she consult Disney during the course of the illness?

Just because the four of them ate the same food does not in any way prove it was food poisioning. Why are you so sure that it was not a virus?

A friend of mine just returned from WDW where she, her hubby and two daughters got a terrible stomach virus during their stay at the Contemporary. Disney was wonderful to them when they called for help. My friend had become dehydrated within a matter of hours, and Disney arranged for a doctor to come to their room so they wouldn't all have to take transportation in their condition.

I have always found Disney to be fair and I believe that if they had other food poisioning claims from that night, they'd offer this lady some compensation.

To encourage her to go to Small Claims court is not fair to her. She'll just waste more time and energy (and filing fees) blaming someone and feeling anger. And her anger will be multiplied when she doesn't win the case because she wouldn't. She has no evidence and I'm sure Disney has a lot better of legal advice than she does.

Like I said in my first post, it's time for her to let it go.
 
pentex I didn't give her any legal advice. I simply told her to redress her complaints in Court.

I can also state that I do not practice in Michigan, or New Jersey, and have no desire to do so. I have no idea what the rules are, and, if someone wants to go to small claims court, they should either hire a lawyer, or read up on the procedural rules before doing so.

But, since you have been to small claims court, I guess that makes you more of an expert on the standards of proof than me.

I can honestly state that I have never been a party to a claim in small claims court.

word of the day:

Res Ipsa Loquitur: The thing speaks for itself. Rebuttable presumption that defendant was negligent, which arrises upon proof that instrumentality causing injury was in defendant's exclusive control, and that the accident was one which ordinarily does not happen in absence of negligence.

Blacks, revised fourth edition.
 
Well, this would certainly piss me off if it happened to my family. But, really, what can you do?

Afterall, Disney can't be expected to compensate everyone who gets sick on a vacation that includes a trip to a Disney property. In this particular case, how can the family even prove that ALL they ate was Disney food - let alone that that was what caused their problems?

My husband once got food poisoning from a turkey dinner servered at a cafeteria at work. He called in sick, and was told that half the office was also off sick with the same thing. There was reall y no question about what happened. The health department was contacted by the company, and were onsite that day "investigating" the kitchen.

The point being...restaurant food poisoning can USUALLY be expected to affect a whole whack of people at the same time...and therefore, if people become suspiciously sick at Disney, the problem should be reported immediately so any indication of food poisoning can be highlighted. Maybe its already in these posts somewhere, but if it happens, it should be reported not only to Disney, but if possible, to some regional health authority.

I would be really disappointed in Disney if they ignored a clear outbreak, but in this case, I can see why they aren't compensating. I mean, what kind of precedent would that be setting? Should they be expected to compensate anyone who comes down with something that has some of the same symptoms as food poisoning
 
Dennis, I didn't even know you were an attorney; now I think it's even more unfair that you tried to get this person to go further. You should know better. I don't even know if she lives in FL, but she'd have to travel to a FL small claims court and rehash this whole thing. She has no evidence at all (which no matter what your books say, real life in court is different). She would have to pay more $ for a case she would 99% lose. Plus she would continue to stress herself about the events. Lots of effort and $ and likely no resolution.

You know, lots of times in life, things happen that we don't like. And sometimes we screw up a bit (like she did in not notifying Disney that very day if she believed it was food poisioning). But if we continue to obsess with things, it just hurts ourselves in the long run. It's not only because I do believe this family's illness was viral, but because of reasons for her own peace of mind, she should move on and put this in the past.
 
I agree...telling someone to take this up in small claims court was silly. My BIL is an attorney and he said he wouldn't touch a case like this with a ten foot pole...he would be taking this families money with no chance of getting a compensation.

Moral of the story...if you think you have food poisoning poop in a container and take it to the health department for testing. She needs to get over it. If I tried to get compensation for all the times one of us were sick on vacation I would have alot of free meals and rooms, that is for sure!
 
I too recall seeing some negative remarks from you!!! So she's not the only one. Usually an annoying characteristic that you find in somebody else is often found in oneself. Dwell on that for a while! This entire post you've been complaining about her complaining. I call that irony!!

I think she wants to vent and have a little bit of compassion thrown her way. It's very frustrating to plan a long long time for a trip, spend a ton of money on it and have something like that happen. She has every right to vent. If you don't want to see her threads than STOP READING THEM.

Perhaps if Disney was a little more proactive instead of waiting to always be on the defense than this problem would have been solved a long time ago. But they aren't always proactive. I have found that for myself.

figaro1.jpg

'81 - Cont.
'88 - Disneyland
'89 - Maingate East
'91 - CBR
'94 - CBR
'95 - CBR
'98 - BC
'00 - WL
'01 - OKW

[This message was edited by Figaro30 on 03-21-01 at 03:52 PM.]

[This message was edited by Figaro30 on 03-21-01 at 03:56 PM.]
 


This has turned into a people bashing!!!! HELLO??????

figaro1.jpg

'81 - Cont.
'88 - Disneyland
'89 - Maingate East
'91 - CBR
'94 - CBR
'95 - CBR
'98 - BC
'00 - WL
'01 - OKW
 
I still have not had my question answered by the original poster. Maybe then it will clear things up. What exactly do you want Disney to do? What do you want them to compensate you for??
 
Ok guys.. we aren't here to give legal advice.. it's a friendly Disney Board. I am sure everyone is giving their best advice. We do have rules against personal attacks and we need to stop the bashing.
Thanks

Alex
<url>webmasteralex@wdwinfo.com</url>
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Each experience in life is suppose to teach us a lesson. The lessons here are:

1. DO NOT purchase LOS Passes. You NEVER know what could happen. The one and only time we purchased LOS passes, Orlando set record rainfalls every single day for the entire week. I am talking downpours all day long that really made it impossible to spend any quality time at the park -especially with a baby.

2. Purchase Trip Insurance. There are good companies out there that would have paid on a claim like you are stating. Most people do not want to spend money on trip insurance because they think nothing can happen to them. Things happen and that is the point of the trip insurance.

3. Be mad, be upset, vent, let it all out - but then move on. If you let it get you this ****** offed, you will end up getting sick again. Bad things happen, even on vacations and even at Disney. Learn from it and do some things differently next time around - no matter where you travel to.

Lisa
 
Figaro, how could Disney be proactive about a family getting a stomach virus (which is likely what happened)? Even in the unlikely event it was food poisioning, how could they be proactive about guests who don't complain until well after the fact and produce no evidence? I know Disney is a giant corporation but that doesn't mean they have to compensate for every claim based on face value.

Have you ever stood on the Guest Relations line and listened to the complaints people submit? I have on several occasions and it is unbelievable. One time I heard someone complaining because she was bit by a mosquito and she felt that Disney should control insects better....another time, a family was complaining because they didn't find a good spot at the parade the day before....another time I heard a guy YELLING at the GR cast member that someone told him Splash Mountain was in Epcot and he would have went there instead of MK so he wanted them to give him a pass to get there now.

The amount of complaints they get must be staggering and they must somehow use discretion to sift through ones that have obvious merit. If they compensated all who came to them, it would be absurd.

Again, I feel very badly for this poor family who got sick on their vacation but like Lisa (who summed all up perfectly in prior post), bad things like getting sick happen even on vacation. Arriving at the conclusion that it definitely was food poisioning because they ate the same food, and that in NO way could it possibly have been a virus is just looking for someone to blame for a day lost in a vacation.
 
I am the original poster. I have moved on, ty for the support to those who gave suggestions. My postings have all been replies to suggestions given to me from here; ie....writing Michael Eisener. You know, those bashing didn't get the point at all!!! It was the way the claim was handled....rudely. What did I expect Disney to do? First of all....return my call to my room at Disney when I reported our illness (not even a peep back while we were there). Second, replace the lost days....they seem to do upgrades and everything else for little issues but I didn't even get a meer phone call.

Now......this conversation is done on my part. This is a board to only report happy things. My posting was done as a warning to others and for simple suggestions on how to report the awful rudeness I received. I tried, I failed.....I got no where.

As to legal advice.....no I won't go there. I have no test results nor do I intend to carry it that far.

This board seemed the place to alert others. Alert done........

NOW......stop climbing down my throat. I hope none of you have to encounter this experience as a 1st timer who planned this vacation for a solid year.

Thanks to those who gave me concrete suggestions!!!
 
Hi,
Just a reminder that here at the DIS we believe in ‘playing nice’, just like you would when you’re at the “World”. So please remember that we do not allow personal attacks on the boards. Differences of opinions are just fine and we are all entitled to such, however please keep it polite. If you have any questions about posting please refer to DIS Posting Guidelines at this link: http://wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm . If this thread continues its downhill slide I will be forced to lock it, something that almost never happens here on the Family Board

Thanks for your cooperation

Linda
flowerface.GIF

Family Board Host

Coordinator Dis Convention 2001
 
Sorry you had to be given a bashing on here. I too have experienced that and it's unfortunate that there are so many truly negative and mean people on this board.

When I said before that Disney needed to be more PROACTIVE...what I meant was when first approached with the situation....instead of ignoring it...maybe they should have been more compansionate to you. Like perhaps compensated you with a free Character Breakfast. Something simple...but just a jesture of good faith. Unfortunately when these little things aren't supplied you often feel "abused" and the more you have to fight for what you feel is right, the more you feel you should be compensated.

This happened to me a few years ago when they charged our entire trip to another guests credit card. HEY...SOUNDS GOOD RIGHT???? Did I have to say something??? NO!!!!!!!!! After repeatedly questioning them about why the charge is not appearing on my card...they kept saying that it was paid for. I was puzzled. Looking back I SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT LIKE THAT....but no I'm too honest (and too stupid) to do that. I insisted something was wrong. Finally after weeks of this problem they finally realized it was another guest card (this guest had already had his vacation and checked out). He would have been paying for our whole trip. Apparently the guy had spent so much money that week he probably wouldn't have even noticed the extra 3000.00!!! The bottom line is I wasted a lot of time insisting to them that there was a problem. NOBODY said "can we do something for you - like a character breakfast?" Instead after feeling like I did a really good thing and was barely thanked from disney for a potential HUGE screw up on their part to an innocent bystander I started to feel like I deserved something in return. The more people I talked to about this...the more aggravated I got. The bottom line is I ended up with a 8 day stay at the Yacht Club instead of all star resorts. They could have avoided this whole thing is they would have been willing to just offer me 50.00 Disney Dollars or some token of their appreciation. Instead because they didn't offer anytihng to me and I had to drag it out of them I went from a Character Breakfast...which wasn't good anymore to me...to staying at Dixie Landings...which wasn't good anymore to me...to insisting on staying at the Beach Club. I felt like I was pulling teeth!!

My point again is that is Disney was more proactive I would have been more than happy with the Character Breakfast and even more esctatic with Dixie Landings. But because they were unappreciative from the start I wasn't satisfied until I got Beach Club!!! This is why disney needs to be more proactive instead of waiting to be on the defensive.

Again, I certainly didn't set out to gain from this experience but I certainly felt like I did them a huge favor and they needed to pat me on the back for it in return.

I'm sure I'll have people responding to my post saying that I'm one of those people who is always looking for something....yeah well maybe it was YOUR credit card I saved from being billed $3000.00!!! Next time I wont be so nice and notify disney of the screwup!!! HA !

figaro1.jpg

'81 - Cont.
'88 - Disneyland
'89 - Maingate East
'91 - CBR
'94 - CBR
'95 - CBR
'98 - BC
'00 - WL
'01 - OKW
 
I have rarely felt shocked by things on this Board, but I am shocked after reading Figaro's last post. You honestly think Disney owed you something for being honest? I would never, ever in a million years think I'd get more than a "thank you" for helping them figure out they had mischarged someone. (After all, eventually the mischarged person would have realized the mistake, and Disney would have traced the facts back and charged you anyway).

I think it's situations like this, that cause Disney to be more on guard to complaints and possibly end up passing up someone deserving of compensation.

I am still shaking my head on this one. Now I have heard it all.
 
Yeah a thankyou would have been nice. But I barely got that. That's what pissed me off!

If you would have spent practically every day of 3 1/2 weeks on the phone to Disney more than you have in your entire life to try to find a problem they insisted WASN'T a problem only to find out that weeks later after intense investigation that YOU insisted on, that there was an error that they made, I think you would have been mentally exhausted like I was and extremely annoyed when you weren't thanked after you brought the problem to their attention. If I had to do it all again honestly I'd probably just ignore the problem so I didn't have to deal with the extreme aggravation of calling Disney everyday. I don't know about you but I don't have a lot of spare time in my life to be wasted sitting on hold, calling over and over again to be told there is no problem.

By the way, the manager I spoke so said they NEVER would have caught and traced the problem back to me... that's what took so long for them to find the problem in the first place. Nor did she think he would have even noticed because he had spent 10's of thousands of dollars on his visit) This was the manager, of the manager, of the manager that told me this.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't change a thing I did except maybe ignored the missing charge on my credit card in the first place.

figaro1.jpg

'81 - Cont.
'88 - Disneyland
'89 - Maingate East
'91 - CBR
'94 - CBR
'95 - CBR
'98 - BC
'00 - WL
'01 - OKW
 
All you had to do was inform the manager and that was all you had to do. If you spent 3 1/2 weeks stressing, that was your choice.

And trust me, they would have found the mistake. Once the mischarged guest made the complaint when he or she found the error, they would have linked it up to you.
 
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