$100.00 Disney credit for attending presentation

[PMC]

I am not sure if anyone else has reported this yet. When we checked into VWL yesterday there was an invitation to attend a DVC presentation and recieve $100.00 Disney gift certificate ( 2 - $50.00). This was just for attending the presentation. This was the first I had heard of Disney paying anyone for attending their 1 hour sales pitch. I don't know if existing members can get this or not but my daughter signed up to take the tour and gete the gift tomorrow morning. She plans on using the gift to go out for dinner. When we were in BCV on last Wed. they didn't have this offer. Wish I had more time to check this offer out but I had to catch a plane.

 

[FriendsOfEeyore]

When we took the tour over Memorial Day Weekend, they offered us 3 $10 vouchers for the ounter restaurants in the parks and resorts. They gave us one for each of us (DW, me and our son (14mo, we used his for him)).

 

[Tinkrbell]

I wonder if DVC is not getting enough people to tour while on-site? This would certainly make it very tempting for people to tour and join.

Unprecidented behavior for DVC, even from the beginning the most anyone received from DVC was token, trivial gifts at best.

I'll bet the stats on people joining while there is a lot higher than any other methods of marketing.

 

[slc224]

In September of '93 we took the tour at OKW and received a $50 dinner voucher. They also had a wonderful ice cream shop set up but we were unable to get our ice cream due to an uncooperative 2 yo.

 

[ryoung]

When we were there 2 weeks ago we go two $20 vouchers for dinner a one of a number of resturants around DWD. If there had been more in our party I'm sure we would have gotten more vouchers.

Randy

 

[baileybrad]

Our next door neighbors just returned from a stay at WL and took a DVC tour, receiving $100 cash. It was promised as a 1 hour presentation but ran about 15 minutes over.

 

[sparkspeak]

Wait a minute . . . I bought (twice) sight-unseen-over-the-phone and didn't even get a pin!

 

[Bella2000]

We were at BCV over the weekend and the same offer was made to my sister. I was told that it is the first time they are doing something like this offer. The guy I spoke to was really pushing an appt at the time - it turned me off. He said how you see this at other places and they are trying it here - he didn't say it was a Disney credit until I asked for clarification (well duh of course I would guess it was a Disney credit but he kept saying "she'll get 100 dollars...100 Dollars!" so I felt compelled to clarify.)My sister wanted to see the models without the heavy pitch (I did everything over the phone so I wanted to see the models also), My guide wasn't working that day anyway and we were leaving the next day so bypassed it for the parks. It's great for DVC to try new things but what I like is that they are not like other places and the pushiness and how the money pitch was delivered bothered me. I felt like I couldn't get away from the guy fast enough.

 

[Richyams]

I wonder if they will let you walk away as easily now.

If they can do it and still keep the temper of the pitch the same, I guess it is ok. By 'temper of the pitch', most of you know that I am talking about absolutely no pressure at all, zero, my first and second guides, in '92 and '93, really gave me the impression that they couldn't care less wether I bought or not, they were there to inform people about the program, be as helpful as possible, but have ABSOLUTELY NO interest in your decision.

I am not certain they will be able to keep that attitude.

I would love to hear any recent, first time tourers relate their impression of the level of pressure to buy put on by the salesman.

If we do start hearing of pressure, can we all agree to call them 'salesman' and drop that silly 'guide' thing?

 

[disneyfreak2127]

My DH and I joined on May 17 while at WDW for a long anniversary getaway. All we were offered were 2 immediate fast passes to use at any park for any ride when ever we wanted. That is a far cry from $100! I didn't even remember that they had offered them when we were closing the deal and our guide asked if we were promised a "gift" to attend the presentation. So, we didn't even get to use them. We were so excited about our new DVC ownership that 2 fast passes didn't even register in my head.

As was stated before, the reason we really liked the DVC presentation was that there was no "hype" or "hook" to get us in. The real kick was the MB being offered eventhough we decided not to use MB. We decided that the points were too valuable to give back. We won't be back until next year and with a December use year at BCV we will have one heck of a vacation with 360 points to use.

 

[kgforce]

When we took our tour last October, we went specifically because the DVC offered us a discounted room (we chose WL) for three nights, and got the 4th night free. So we figure we got at least $200 from the DVC.

FWIW: We didn't buy then. We came home and found an OKW resale.

 

[WolfpackFan]

I wonder if the $100 is for first time presentations or for anyone. I have an appointment next Tuesday morning with the guide who gave us the presentation last June. I have all intentions of signing on the dotted line next Tuesday. But if I could walk out with a $100 Disney credit sure would be nice.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Originally posted by Richyams
If they can do it and still keep the temper of the pitch the same, I guess it is ok. By 'temper of the pitch', most of you know that I am talking about absolutely no pressure at all, zero, my first and second guides, in '92 and '93, really gave me the impression that they couldn't care less wether I bought or not, they were there to inform people about the program, be as helpful as possible, but have ABSOLUTELY NO interest in your decision.

Well I have to say, that is not the experience we had last June. The guide put alot of pressure on us at the time. Told us we were making a big mistake if we did not sign right then. Even told us that if we didn't sign then, we could not take care of MB (later on he called us at home and said MB was still available). I mentioned looking at resales, he said they were more expensive than buying from DVC. Get this - he admitted he was putting pressure on us, but was doing it because he said previous customers had told him that they had wished he had put more pressure on them to buy rather than wait.

 

[colleen costello]

We got vouchers for Beaches and Cream and as there were 6 of us, the bill was about $130. They sent us over there while they prepared paperwork since we were an "easy sell." I felt NO pressure. I have always recommended DVC tours to friends goign to WDW for this very reason.

 

[baileybrad]

Our neighbors received $100 in Mickey Dollars....I misspoke when I said a $100 cash. They did say that it was not very high pressure at all. My neighbor likes to deal on everything and said that the guide took offense when he wanted to negotiate on the amount of "maintenance fee" that he would have to pay. Sadly enough, she (the guide) tried the old buy Vero, taking advantage of the discount offer, and book at WDW. That is way too weak a racket for a Disney employee to still be using....maybe she did this to him because he was trying to dicker on stuff. I told him the obvious that most members believe....only buy where you intend to vacation the most often even that means a resale.

 

[Tinkrbell]

I wonder if it has to do with ALL of the other "timeshares" in the industry doing the same point system as Disney.

Hilton, Marriot, we just attended one called Bluegreen, and they all offer the same point type structure, with no lock in dates/week, travel when you want, to any of their resorts system. Most of which have MUCH LOWER annual dues than Disney, longer time frame of use, and some with low pressure sales tactics.

Competition?

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by Richyams
I If we do start hearing of pressure, can we all agree to call them 'salesman' and drop that silly 'guide' thing?

AMEN!

A sale is a sale is a sale! Regardless of who is selling to whom and what is being sold!

Rae

 

[TedL]

We were there several weeks ago. We were offered a fastpass for each member of our party to attend the presentation. I'm sorry, but if you want to give me an incentive, a promise of a fastpass wouldn't make me miss an hour at the parks or an hour at the pool for that matter.

 

[dlr25]

Sparkspeak, I am laughing out loud. I also bought sight unseen over the phone. Like you, I got nothing but I've been a member for a few years and had some sweet vacations!

 

[MiaSRN62]

In August 2000, we had gotten a discount postcard rate for the Inn rooms at Vero Beach. I'm trying to recall, but I think it was around $120-$130/night ? In exchange, we had to attend a DVC presentation on site. We had no intentions of buying at that time. It was very low-pressure.
We left Vero as Members......anyway, I'd say we saved at least $300 on the room, so that was a nice perk.