by Laura
Many of us have fond memories of skipping through Magical Kingdom as a youngster. Riding Dumbo, meeting Mickey Mouse and singing ‘ Its a Small World’. Back in January, I was lucky enough to share the experience with my son for the first time. Unfortunately just before we were about to leave the theme park he lost his beloved new Mickey Mouse car. We fought through the crowd to get to one of the stores on Main St.. At the last moment I decided to buy a lovely pewter Mickey Mouse key chain. It was very unique in that the head swivelled around and the legs and arms moved too. Sadly, a couple months later I looked at my key chain and noticed that the head had separated from the body. Lucky me, I now had Mickey Mouse’s pewter head hanging from my keys like a deranged cartoon bounty hunter. A few weeks later the pewter coating started coming off revealing a copper metal underneath.
Disheartened, I spent hours on Disney’s website trying to find an email to contact customer service. I found one for Disney Store and thought they could maybe help. I explained the situation and was told ‘DisneyStore.com only accepts returns of merchandise purchased through DisneyStore.com. Should you wish to return an item that was not purchased at DisneyStore.com, please contact the Disney store where the item was purchased for further assistance.’. I was frustrated as Walt Disney World is not only a two hour plane ride but also $75 American to get into the theme park. So I persisted and reexplained the situation and was given a long distance number to call. My husband called and was flatly told ‘we have a 90 day return policy’.
The lesson I’ve learned: If you are set on going to Disney, don’t buy their souvenirs. If you forget and buy one of their souvenirs, make sure the item goes through a rigorous test before or shortly after being purchased. Don’t bother trying to email them, call them at 1-407-363-6200, option 4, for returns and be prepared for a snotty costumer service agent. Do this all before 90 days or else you are SOL.
