DisneyStore.com: Definitely Not the Happiest Place on Earth
Written: Nov 06 '02 (Updated Mar 20 '04)
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With all of the changes at our local mall's Disney Store, you'd think I'd be an avid shopper of the Disney Store Online. I'm not.
No longer are there any Disney collectibles, housewares, or much in the way of adult apparel available at the mall. The only place to find these particular Disney-themed merchandise is in the Disney Catalog and at the the Disney Store Online.
The site itself is very beautiful to look at and very well organized. There are bright colors and Disney characters all over the place.
The tabs on the top of the main page denote Toys & Games, Stuffed Toys, Movies, Games & More, Clothes & Accessories, For The Home, Art & Collectibles, and Sale. In addition, the search engine works particularly well for an ecommerce site. This is something sorely lacking at other sites.
There are also places to order a free catalog, find a local Disney Store, sign up for email notifications of sales and specials, visit the Disney Auction website, and apply for a Disney credit card. Disney Store gift cards can also be purchased from the website.
Diney, like many licensed items, runs a bit expensive. Whether you are talking clothing or household items, the prices are higher than a plain sweatshirt or a teapot that doesn't have "Mickey"s all over it. That said, the sale items are particularly notable as they can reflect a big difference over the listed price.
Once I've found an interesting item, I've noticed that all of the pictures are very clear and show everything very well - from collectible snowglobes to adult sweatshirts. Many of the items offered can be personalized as well.
So now I suppose you'd like to hear about my experience shopping online with the Disney Store. I haven't had any.
In the last ten years, I've visited Disney World twelve times. I have Mickey, Pluto, Goofy & Donald cabinet knobs in my kitchen. There's a Mickey teapot on my stove. Most of my clothes have Disney characters on them somewhere. My car has a Minnie Mouse antenna ball on it. But I haven't purchased a single thing from the Disney Store Online.
Why, you might ask? Quite simply because I am in a group of people for whom the site has never worked properly. Oh sure, I can browse around until my heart's content. However, the minute I actually want to make a purchase there's a problem.
To make a purchase, you either have to be a "member" or register. When I try to login using my login for the main Disney site, I get the infamous the page cannot be displayed message. All right, we'll just register as a new user then. Nope, same message. Want to create a wish list?
the page cannot be displayed
The first time this happened, I called the phone number from the catalog and told them my problems. They placed the order over the phone for me. Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of the convenience of shopping over the Internet? I have made countless phone calls to customer service about this problem only to be told I must be doing something wrong or it must be my computer. And for a long time I believed that. I tried different versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape. I tried disabling my firewall. Nothing worked.
For a while, I would pick out everything I wanted and then make the phone call to order. There are occasions when I am not able to sleep and I get on the Internet to do some shopping. I don't want to disturb the rest of the house, so talking on the phone to 24-hour customer service to place an order is not an option. Eventually, I just stopped bothering with the site completely.
I believed I was an isolated case until some people in one of the Disney Yahoo Groups I participate in talked about having the same problems as myself. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why the site doesn't work for us - it just doesn't. I have never heard of this happening at another site. Somewhere in the Disney Store Online's coding, they are excluding a whole bunch of people from using their site.
Then there is the problem of coupons. Now, Amazon.com has learned that any discount codes are almost immediately posted on various bulletin boards on the Internet for all to see. They have learned how to encode coupons so they are not transferrable.
Has the Disney Store Online learned that? Nope. And you'd think with all of the trouble they have with discount codes for their resorts being bandied about on the Internet, they would have adapted the same strategy of encoding the coupons so they can only be used by the specific person.
Recently there was a code out there that gave $15 off an order - no minimum. Many people used the code quite honestly not realizing it was supposed to be a restricted code only for people who had made a previous purchase in September. I put full blame for this problem on the people who gave out the codes when they weren't supposed to, but I also believe Disney should be smart enough at this point in time to realize that these codes are going to be posted and adapt a strategy similar to Amazon.com's. They abruptly canceled the code when they realized what was going on, and now the people who have a legitimate reason to use the code have to jump through all sorts of hoops to get a $15 refund on any online order.
My main Disney purchases now come at the outlet stores and on my trips to Disney World. I just can't be bothered with the hassle and aggravation trying to use the website.
© 2002 Patti Aliventi
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Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 1982
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