Can someone help me understand this message from MS?

[Tinkerbelljean]

I had a horrible trip to VWL in December. We booked the trip in April and in August we were told of the massive construction project at VWL. We wanted to be moved to a different resort when we learned of the construction. Disney recovery refused. We got no point compensation. Due to foot reconstruction surgery my husband has difficulty with a great deal of walking so we are not interested in parks. We wanted to sit at the quiet pool, reconnect, sit in the sun read and celebrate our anniversary. You get the idea. The main pool at VWL was crowded and noisy, every other place was construction fence, construction noise the former quiet pool is a huge dirt hole surrounded by fence. I contacted MS and was forwarded to MS member satisfaction. I call them I getn voice mail. They call me when I am at work and they get my voice mail. I asked them to contact me by emai. This is the response I get:

Disney Vacation Club Member Satisfaction
1:24 PM (9 hours ago)

to me

Hello XXXXX,



Thank you for contacting DISNEY VACATION CLUB®.



We are considered a financial institution and for the security of your membership it is our policy to correspond over the phone.



Our team is here seven days a week to assist. Typically from 9-5, but if you need to set up an appointment for a specific time to speak we can designate a time between7:30 - 9am or 5 - 7:30pm


Ok, who do I contact???????

I work from 7:30 am to 4 or 5 and then have a commute. These hours do not work for me. I took time off today to call at about 3 pm and got Disney's voicemail. They of course called back later when I could not answer the phone.

I would prefer they email me or put what they have to say in writing. Help.

 

[rlovew]

They won't put anything in writing for you- they may try to work with you but my guess is especially for the trip in August their answer will be that the construction was planned and in notices when you booked the trip and it is your responsibility to rebook your trip at another DVC resort if you want to do that. (I don't believe it is even at the 7 month mark yet). They might possibly work with you a bit on the April trip but my bet is they will tell you that you could have chosen to book a different resort at the 7 month window when construction was announced. Overall it seems to me that you can rebook these trips at other resorts at this time online if you want to do so but they may cost you more points but if you were staying at other resorts they would cost more points anyway.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

They won't put anything in writing for you- they may try to work with you but my guess is especially for the trip in August their answer will be that the construction was planned and in notices when you booked the trip and it is your responsibility to rebook your trip at another DVC resort if you want to do that. (I don't believe it is even at the 7 month mark yet). They might possibly work with you a bit on the April trip but my bet is they will tell you that you could have chosen to book a different resort at the 7 month window when construction was announced. Overall it seems to me that you can rebook these trips at other resorts at this time online if you want to do so but they may cost you more points but if you were staying at other resorts they would cost more points anyway.

When OP booked in April the construction was not announced yet. OP, if they say an apt is necessary then I don't see a way around it. How about a time after work and delay the commute? Or else later at 7:30. Or during your lunch break?

 

[Tinkerbelljean]

When OP booked in April the construction was not announced yet. OP, if they say an apt is necessary then I don't see a way around it. How about a time after work and delay the commute? Or else later at 7:30. Or during your lunch break?

I have training these next couple weeks which makes things very difficult. I asked them to pick a time between 9 pm and 10 pm. Disney sales is open at that time I believe. I don't really have a regular scheduled lunch or break. You take it when you can get it. I work in health care. I can't ask someone to have a heart attack at a scheduled time.

 

[wilkeliza]

If you want to talk to a person then you are going to have to play by their rules. So on an off day you will have to call or you'll have to do it during their hours. They said by appointment up until 7 but you need 9-10. They would be paying someone a lot of over time to sit there until 9pm to call you.

 

[Tinkerbelljean]

If you want to talk to a person then you are going to have to play by their rules. So on an off day you will have to call or you'll have to do it during their hours. They said by appointment up until 7 but you need 9-10. They would be paying someone a lot of over time to sit there until 9pm to call you.

OK, I asked for December 25th at 4 pm. I hopefully am scheduled to be off at that time. At least that is the schedule today.

 

[LisaS]

OK, I asked for December 25th at 4 pm. I hopefully am scheduled to be off at that time. At least that is the schedule today.

I doubt anyone at Member Services or Member Satisfaction will be working that day.

 

[supersnoop]

OK, I asked for December 25th at 4 pm. I hopefully am scheduled to be off at that time. At least that is the schedule today.

I doubt they're open or available on Christmas Day.

 

[sndral]

Unless you are working 7 days a week, why not email and schedule your call back for your day off?
Or, if DH has a better schedule have him call.
Has your schedule changed since last August when you posted that you turned down their offer of Kidani as a replacement and were negotiating w/ them about the construction - was that via phone at your preferred 9 pm time or via email & things have since changed? I ask as I don't really know the hours of the various departments and didn't know there was a Disney recovery or DVC satisfaction department or what their hours are. I usually call for reservations/waitlists/tickets etc. during lunch or early a.m. as I'm on west coast time.

 

[Andyman33]

priorities I suppose.....

 

[Dean]

I had a horrible trip to VWL in December. We booked the trip in April and in August we were told of the massive construction project at VWL. We wanted to be moved to a different resort when we learned of the construction. Disney recovery refused. We got no point compensation. Due to foot reconstruction surgery my husband has difficulty with a great deal of walking so we are not interested in parks. We wanted to sit at the quiet pool, reconnect, sit in the sun read and celebrate our anniversary. You get the idea. The main pool at VWL was crowded and noisy, every other place was construction fence, construction noise the former quiet pool is a huge dirt hole surrounded by fence. I contacted MS and was forwarded to MS member satisfaction. I call them I getn voice mail. They call me when I am at work and they get my voice mail. I asked them to contact me by emai. This is the response I get:

Disney Vacation Club Member Satisfaction
1:24 PM (9 hours ago)

to me

Hello XXXXX,



Thank you for contacting DISNEY VACATION CLUB®.



We are considered a financial institution and for the security of your membership it is our policy to correspond over the phone.



Our team is here seven days a week to assist. Typically from 9-5, but if you need to set up an appointment for a specific time to speak we can designate a time between7:30 - 9am or 5 - 7:30pm


Ok, who do I contact???????

I work from 7:30 am to 4 or 5 and then have a commute. These hours do not work for me. I took time off today to call at about 3 pm and got Disney's voicemail. They of course called back later when I could not answer the phone.

I would prefer they email me or put what they have to say in writing. Help.

You'll have to designate a time that is reasonable for them, they're pretty good about calling but not perfect. I'm curious about your request to move and that it was not handled. I wonder if they offered you options that were unacceptable to you, they didn't have anything (can't generate a room where there isn't one) or they just said no. Of course you still could have canceled at that time and I suspect they would have banked any points that might not have been bankable otherwise.

 

[disneynutz]

IMO Disney uses the security argument in most cases because they don't like things in writing which could cause legal issues later. They are well trained on what to say and not say on the phone, especially those from member satisfaction. They do work weekends and are pretty good at calling back at a requested time but I have played phone tag that has gone back and forth several times.

Bill

 

[DisBuckMan]

No offense, but it really sounds like you're attempting to be as unreasonable as humanly possible. 4pm on Christmas day is when you want to schedule a call with them? You know they're not working that day. You get off between 4 and 5, then have a commute, but setting up a 7:30pm call doesn't work for you? You stated in August that they offered Kidani or 15% off points and you turned them down. You also stated that you were made completely miserable during the Poly construction, but still kept the VWL reservations anyway with the chance of having to suffer through the same thing. I'm not trying to be mean, but what exactly were your expectations? They gave you alternative options (what was available at a very busy time of year for DVC) and you turned them down due to your insistence on being at VWL during Christmas time (which you admitted to in your previous posts), even thought they warned you of the construction.

Yeah, I get that you scheduled your vacation before the construction started, but the construction schedule was announced at least as early as May, and discussed here on the boards in detail that early.

I guess I just don't get that you had "suffered" through construction at Poly before, were offered other options but chose to "suffer" through the construction again, now you demand that something more substantial be done about it for you. That's the part I just don't get.

 

[Dean]

IMO Disney uses the security argument in most cases because they don't like things in writing which could cause legal issues later. They are well trained on what to say and not say on the phone, especially those from member satisfaction. They do work weekends and are pretty good at calling back at a requested time but I have played phone tag that has gone back and forth several times.

Bill

As they should but if you're saying they go overboard in this area at times, I'd agree.

 

[gonzalj1]

OK, I asked for December 25th at 4 pm. I hopefully am scheduled to be off at that time. At least that is the schedule today.

Christmas Day? Do you really believe they'll accept that appointment when they won't even extend their hours during a normal working day.

I agree with some of the other posters here. I get that you did not enjoy your vacation the way you wanted to but there was plenty of notice of the construction. You decided to stay there after being notified and dealt with the consequences. Not sure what you're hoping to achieve with the call in the first place. As you said - You can't schedule when someone has a heart attack - but it seems you want DVC to schedule their refurbishments around your husbands injury.

I'm also very curious about the Poly situation others mention here that you seem to have encountered. Seems you've been down this road before. Curious.

 

[DebbieB]

I emailed them one time about an issue with their D23 membership promo. I already had the worthless free membership, so they would not allow me the special price silver membership offered to members. I got a call back in the evening when I was home. The answer was it was out of their control, D23 set the rules.

They said they are available 7 days a week, you can't make arrangements for an off day? Christmas Day is unreasonable.

 

[Disbroads]

So to recap...
Neither the foot surgery nor the Disney trip could've been rescheduled? That's the root cause of the challenge.

It seems that the only way you were going to enjoy your trip is if a quiet pool was in service, and not completely packed with Northerners wanting to take a tan home with them for the holidays to show off.

So now, after playing phone tag with an organization that is open 7 days a week, the date you chose was Christmas Day?
Don't wait by the phone. Everyone but essential folks like yourself, and some hospitality employees are off that day.

 

[bumbershoot]

Has your schedule changed since last August when you posted that you turned down their offer of Kidani as a replacement and were negotiating w/ them about the construction

You stated in August that they offered Kidani or 15% off points and you turned them down.

You guys are reading the August post in a way that seems Disney was offering those things. I read it that the OP offered it, and was turned down.

First offer was move to Kidani (no) or 15% reduction in points.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

You guys are reading the August post in a way that seems Disney was offering those things. I read it that the OP offered it, and was turned down.

An offer usually comes to you so I also read it as OP turned it down. They also posted they work in the pharmacy which is a bit different than the implications one gets from a "I can't ask someone to have a heart attack at a scheduled time" comment for why they were having difficulty contacting DVC. If they were offered Kidani or point reduction it's almost certain that it is noted in the OP's notes for reference.

Perhaps we are reading the offer statement wrong but after reading the post of being a pharmacist it brought doubt to my mind about the entire situation.

 

[DisBuckMan]

You guys are reading the August post in a way that seems Disney was offering those things. I read it that the OP offered it, and was turned down.

I don't think so, especially if you read a post or two before that. Here's an included post from another, earlier post.....

I need to vent. I have been booking VWL in the beginning of December for several years. I love to sit at the leisure pool and listen to Christmas music and read in the villa's lobby.This year I have been getting letters and calls from Disney about the upcoming renovations a VWL and I am so disappointed. I do not own VWL, I booked on the day the 7 month window opened. The only available resort to move to is Kidani, which is a nice resort, but not for this trip. I had my heart set on being around the VWL and relaxing before Christmas for a week.

That, to me, pretty much states that the OP was offered Kidani by Disney, but the OP turned it down because her heart was set on VWL. I don't really think there's any doubt about it. It also probably confirms that it was probably Disney offering the 15% point reduction, too...an either/or deal, which was turned down by the OP.