Ever have problems with a DVC Rental (from trusted site)

[Gothemi]

Looking to visit WDW later this year by "renting" via a DVC rental site. I see they have many built in rules and contracts to help protect renters and owners, but has anybody had any issues with the transaction not going through?

My main concern is what happens if the DVC owner decides to use their points or fails to keep up on annual fees and their points are, otherwise, not available when I plan to visit later this year.

Thanks,

 

[georgina]

Looking to visit WDW later this year by "renting" via a DVC rental site. I see they have many built in rules and contracts to help protect renters and owners, but has anybody had any issues with the transaction not going through?

My main concern is what happens if the DVC owner decides to use their points or fails to keep up on annual fees and their points are, otherwise, not available when I plan to visit later this year.

Thanks,

I did not have any problems with my rental, but I am sure it can happen occasionally. I have not seen many reports of rentals gone bad on here, I am sure someone would post if it happened to them. I did use a credit card with travel insurance to book my rental.

 

[sndral]

DVC can cancel a reservation if the owner fails to pay their dues, fails to pay their loan on the contract (many finance their DVC purchases,) or if the owner sells the contract.
Not sure what you mean by a ‘rental site’ but if you are dealing with the owner directly you’ll have to seek restitution from that person - it’s very much a caveat emptor situation. If you buy insurance then it depends on the terms of the policy you buy whether they’ll reimburse you. There is risk, but many are ok with that for the savings.
If you are renting through a broker I believe most reimburse your money, your contract w/ the broker will set forth the details. A couple of years ago there were posts about an owner who failed to pay their dues and had rented using 2 different brokers and renters’ reservations were canceled. My recollection is that one broker reimbursed the renters and the other helped find them accommodation at a different resort.

 

[Gothemi]

DVC can cancel a reservation if the owner fails to pay their dues, fails to pay their loan on the contract (many finance their DVC purchases,) or if the owner sells the contract.
Not sure what you mean by a ‘rental site’ but if you are dealing with the owner directly you’ll have to seek restitution from that person - it’s very much a caveat emptor situation. If you buy insurance then it depends on the terms of the policy you buy whether they’ll reimburse you. There is risk, but many are ok with that for the savings.
If you are renting through a broker I believe most reimburse your money, your contract w/ the broker will set forth the details. A couple of years ago there were posts about an owner who failed to pay their dues and had rented using 2 different brokers and renters’ reservations were canceled. My recollection is that one broker reimbursed the renters and the other helped find them accommodation at a different resort.

Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for. I was planning to use one of the rental websites (Either the one who sponsors Disboards or the other one that has an insurance package). Just concerned about the situation you mention. Having the DVC owner default or somehow change things. Having a contract with a reputable 3rd party company should help mitigate this hopefully.

 

[Micca]

I think you're in pretty good shape dealing with a broker. Those businesses rely heavily on a good reputation and positive word-of-mouth. I believe most individuals would also be reliable but there's the occasional bad apple.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Finding you a replacement reservation should the reservation you booked through a broker go south can be hard to accomplish at many times during the year. If you book a studio for October and the reservation disappears in Sept, you probably are not going to get a studio anywhere. If you book a one bedroom for early Dec and the reservation disappears in October, you are also probably out of luck in getting a replacement. The one that disappeared because the member defaulted on dues and other fees was for October at an Epcot resort. By the time the reservation disappeared, the broker was only able to piece together a few nights in a larger villa at Saratoga Springs. The person purchasing the reservation through the broker was offered full reimbursement of their money or the partial reservation.

And because the member defaulted and the broker wasn't able to provide the same reservation doesn't mean that the broker was trying to cheat the renter or that they didn't live up to their reputation. They did the best they could. You could show up and there is no reservation and you have to find another on your own.

 

[TheRoyalPaynes]

We had an "issue" with a known DVC broker. We'd booked AKL Kidani and I was having the worst time getting a confirmation of our reservation (IIRC, it was nearly 7 years ago and I was trying to add dining and didn't have a confirmation number). I called and asked why I wasn't receiving any type of information/confirmation from them and found out that the DVC owner had filed bankruptcy. We were probably <1 month out from our trip (we were going in June) and they told us they would try to secure us a replacement reservation and if they couldn't, they would refund our money (which isn't really what I wanted to hear). They ended up booking us at OKW instead for the same amount of points/money. It was okay, we'd wanted Kidani for the space (I'm pretty sure what we'd booked had 2 bathrooms--we had a pre-teen and a teenage son and they can be...gross) and our room at OKW only had one bathroom. It was a 1BR with a foldout sofa and chair, no second bedroom. So, somewhat disappointing (though I really did end up enjoying OKW, just not having to share my bathroom).

Mind you, I wasn't contacted with ANY of this information until I'd reached out to them to find out why.

I wasn't left feeling too warm & fuzzy (they acted like "Oh well, at least you get your money back") and have been reluctant to use them again. I would absolutely rent points again, but would be much more proactive, sooner, if there appeared to be an issue.