UPDATE: This complaint has been resolved. Reader Terry is annoyed because the Disney Store refused to sell his family $8.50 worth of stuff unless he went out and got his wife’s ID from the car.

I had received an email from Disney about a “Story Time with Mickey” event at 1pm & 4pm in the Disney stores. After church we headed across town and went to the Disney store in the [redacted] mall.

We have Boy/Girl twins that will be 4 in March. We will be at Disneyland for their Birthday. (As usual) We were in the store for around 45 minutes, and during this time had to explain to the kids that we weren’t buying them everything in the place. We did decide they could each get a plush though.

Story time with Mickey was actually just a regular employee who sat with a co-worked at the stuff animal section and read a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Valentines book. No Mickey, but the kids had fun.

After story time they made up little certificates for the kids and we headed to the register to pay for the 2 toys. We talked to the girl at the register about the Princess and the Frog Bluray pre-order and were all in a good mood.

My wife was having back pain yesterday and thinks it is a kidney stone, so she did not bring her purse into the store. She handed the cashier her Visa card which she removed from a paper sleeve. Total = $8.50

The cashier asked my wife for her ID. and my wife said she wasn’t carrying any. She looked at me so I reached for my wallet but recalled that in the rush to leave the house this morning, I had left it at home. (Why MY ID. would be proof of my wife’s identity is not clear)

I stated that I did not have my ID either and the employee said she can’t make the sale without ID. My wife decided she would go to the car and get her purse at which point I told the cashier that she can not ask to see our ID and that were were not required to show ID to complete our purchase. She says our policy is that you have to show ID.

I said the merchant agreement Disney signed with Visa says you can’t ask and I don’t have to show it. Cashier says “You do at our store, It’s our policy”, Me “But your store policy does not trump the AGREEMENT you signed with VISA” “You can not just decided which parts you are not going to follow.” Cashier “Well it is our policy to see your ID and you have to show it!”

At this point I was ready to just leave without the purchase just to vote with my dollar, but the kids wanted their toys and I was NOT about to disappoint them because of the stupid cashier. So I head out of the store to the car. About 15 minutes round trip, and it was pouring rain outside. ARGH

When I got back in the store both kids were saying the had to go potty really bad. I said “We can go in just a minute, we would have been done sooner if Disney knew how to read their agreements” Cashier “We read our agreements sir” Me “Ok, If Disney knew how to FOLLOW their agreements.”

At this point my wife asked for her district managers name and she said “I’m not allowed to give that out” She then gave the generic Customer Service number. (I googled a bit and found the DM is [redacted])

Now We would have showed them our ID if we had it, but as things happened we didn’t. Visa has their member agreements for a reason. I’m sure that if I was a thief and had stole this card, Disney would have still received their $8.50 from Visa. It is just an acceptable level of Risk to Visa. I am going to call Visa and Disney about this issue, but I don’t believe anything will happen, Is Visa really going to revoke the Disney Stores contract? I wont hold my breath.

After leaving the Disney Store, we went to McDonalds and spent $10.50 without being asked for I.D. or Signature. Jack in the Box for $4.20, without being asked for I.D. or Signature. Then to Eegees and spent $13 without being asked for I.D. or Signature.

We LOVE Disney and spend quite a lot of money between Blurays, DVDs, DVD Double Dips, Clothes, Bedding sets, and usually at least 3 trips to Disney Land a year, including staying on property. But now when I see my kids holding those new stuffed animals, All I can think of is the 20 minutes of crap I had to deal with to buy them.

Learn to READ and UNDERSTAND your agreements Disney.

You are correct. It is a violation of their agreement to refuse a sale because you didn’t have ID.

VISA asks that you call the bank that issued your card and report the incident. We’ve never heard of anything actually being done about it, however.

You’re probably going to get the most response from Disney itself, particularly if you are the sort who goes to Disneyland a lot.

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