$500.00 Visa Gift Card

[rjvose17]

We bought back in Febuary and the incentive was a 500.00 visa card. The stipulation is that you have to make 4 payments before recieving it then wait 30 days after. Well it's been 5 payments and 30 days since and still NO card in the mail.

I called member services...they didn't know anything about it, and redirected me to my guide. My guide tried to redirect me to member services until I told him that twice member services told me that I had to deal directly through him. Long story short he looked into it, and told me to wait another 5 days. I did...no card. Now we have a upcoming trip Sept 15th and planned to use that as part of our spending money. I explained this to our guide when I called today. He finally called back and told me that there must be some sort of error in the system to why we haven't recieved our card yet. He also told me that upon our arrival to come straight to the SSR preview center and he will issue us a card right there. Now originally he told me they don't handle it cause Visa takes care of the card. It's supposed to be 500.00 to use on anything, but I have a feeling they are going to try and give us a 500.00 Disney gift card.

I am not sure how I feel about that since this is our first DVC stay, and dining plan and tickets are already paid for, plus we dont plan on spending a ton of time in the parks just mainly relaxing by the pool. We frequent enough so we dont need to many souvienirs so we thought that would help pay for any off site dining and such that we needed to do since all our onsite food is paid for.

I guess my questions are...... has this happened to anyone else? How would you feel if you got JUST a DISNEY gift card instead of one that can be used for other stuff? I am not sure how I should feel about this right now...this is our first DVC stay and we feel like we filled our end of the deal and are a little disapointed that we have to track down the money that is owed to us and then might possibly not be what we were told. However Disney is trying to fill their obligation... so Opinons???

 

[Breyean]

We added on in May and didn't finance. We were told it wouldn't take as long to get the VISA card since we paid cash, but 8 weeks later we still hadn't gotten it.

Like you, I called my guide, but I also called Quality Assurance, with whom I've been impressed. They have people who seem to know their way around the Disney systems.

We finally got the card a week or so later, so it took about 9 weeks, and that was paying cash.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Calling Quality Assurance sounds like a good idea.

I think I have read Disney gift cards don't expire, or are good for 10 years, or something, so you could use it in future trips, not this.
However, I understand you wanting the Visa gift card to pay for offsite dining, gifts, whatever. And since you "filled your side of the bargain" as you say, you should certainly be able to get it.

Call QA, like previous poster suggested. Skip the guide.
They should be able to get it to you before you leave home, FEDEX if necessary, rather than you take time out of your trip to go get it.

 

[rjvose17]

Thanks for the replies friends! I know our guide talked to the quality assurance manager...or so he said he did, but I am thinking that I may take both of your advice and call them myself. I am not really comfortable with risking it by waiting until im actually there to get something.

As far as the disney card not expiring, that's where I am torn. I know it would be used again for other trips and that's just fine but I sort of budgeted that money for this one so ill have to find the extra money some place else or put in a few extra hours at work before we leave . We are also doing for the first time a photo session and that was supposed to be paid for by the card. I dont know...I guess it is what it is and ill just have to do some rearranging if things don't work out with the quality assurance guys.

I am usually really uptight about things like this esp. when it comes to my vacation but I am trying extra hard to stay calm since this is supposed to be our first real relaxing disney vacation, no commando style parks, no rushing around for ADR's just the family by the pool. I like to plan it all out to the last minute so a possible hiccup is a little unsettling.

I know, I know....just breathe... right?

 

[MickeyMagic]

I added on in late-May/early June and just recently received my $500.00 Visa Gift Card via FedEx.

 

[rjvose17]

Ok, so I took your advice and called the quality assurance manager. He told me that according to his info it was sent out by Disney july 17th, and Visa issued the card Aug 26th (today). So I'm hoping by next week I will have it in the mail.

I'll keep you posted to when and if it arrives. Thanks again guys.

 

[cwdefouw]

We also added on in early March and are still waiting for ours as well. Hopefully it will come soon. I have had to deal with QA about other incentives in the past and they have always come through for us. At least there is one department in the home office that seems to function properly. LOL

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

We bought back in Febuary and the incentive was a 500.00 visa card. The stipulation is that you have to make 4 payments before recieving it then wait 30 days after. Well it's been 5 payments and 30 days since and still NO card in the mail.

I called member services...they didn't know anything about it, and redirected me to my guide. My guide tried to redirect me to member services until I told him that twice member services told me that I had to deal directly through him. Long story short he looked into it, and told me to wait another 5 days. I did...no card. Now we have a upcoming trip Sept 15th and planned to use that as part of our spending money. I explained this to our guide when I called today. He finally called back and told me that there must be some sort of error in the system to why we haven't recieved our card yet. He also told me that upon our arrival to come straight to the SSR preview center and he will issue us a card right there. Now originally he told me they don't handle it cause Visa takes care of the card. It's supposed to be 500.00 to use on anything, but I have a feeling they are going to try and give us a 500.00 Disney gift card.

I am not sure how I feel about that since this is our first DVC stay, and dining plan and tickets are already paid for, plus we dont plan on spending a ton of time in the parks just mainly relaxing by the pool. We frequent enough so we dont need to many souvienirs so we thought that would help pay for any off site dining and such that we needed to do since all our onsite food is paid for.

I guess my questions are...... has this happened to anyone else? How would you feel if you got JUST a DISNEY gift card instead of one that can be used for other stuff? I am not sure how I should feel about this right now...this is our first DVC stay and we feel like we filled our end of the deal and are a little disapointed that we have to track down the money that is owed to us and then might possibly not be what we were told. However Disney is trying to fill their obligation... so Opinons???

I am in the exact situation as you as far as not getting the card yet. I was hoping for it for my trip that I just returned from. knowing all this information now, I will wait this upcoming week before calling QA. I also had called memberservices who said to call my guide.My guide did say he would help find out if I needed him to but I told him I was in no hurry as long as it wasn't lost in the system.

 

[Melynny]

We added on in January, MLK week, and received our card mid June. We did not have to call or do anything, so at least SOME of them are working as they should. Sorry for those who had problems.

 

[plasmo]

We added on in January, MLK week, and received our card mid June. We did not have to call or do anything, so at least SOME of them are working as they should. Sorry for those who had problems.

Added in Jan, and got it in mid-June? Waiting 1/2 a year does seem like a LONG TIME though...

 

[rjvose17]

Going on day six since I talked with QA and still NO card in the mail. I've even been checking twice a day to make sure im giving my post master plenty of time to get it in there. LOL. If I don't get it by friday I will be calling back.

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

Going on day six since I talked with QA and still NO card in the mail. I've even been checking twice a day to make sure im giving my post master plenty of time to get it in there. LOL. If I don't get it by friday I will be calling back.

Thanks for the update. Let us know if it get it this week, I was going to wait until Friday after reading your earlier post so I'm keeping an eye on this.

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

Well today is Friday so I called QA this morning.First she told me it's not uncommon for this kind of delay for various reasons with the Marketing department.The current delay right now are Visa cards that had too short of an expiration date in the view of Disney and they requested a batch of cards with longer dates. She asked for me to wait until the end of the month and if I don't have one then she will track it herself. She made sure I had her name and number.

 

[rjvose17]

Im glad you called and posted thank you! Funny that's what you got for a response cause I called today too. I talked to Jose. He quickly didn't want to hear much of what I had to say and said he had to do some digging and got my number to call me back once he found out what was going on. I didn't hear from him for 2 hours so I called back. I talked to him again, and he said "we didn't forget about you we are still trying to find out whats going on." He reassured me he would call back and I made it very clear that we are down to about 13 days until we leave so this is VERY important to us. He said he told his manager that and they would contact me soon....anyways...it's now 10:12 PM eastern time and I NEVER heard back from him. I called the first time at 1:19 this afternoon. I really wish I would've gotten the name of the first guy that I talked to because he was super helpful and seemed to listen and want to help. This guy..not so much. I'm getting really frustrated with this. I hope that you have better luck than I do, and that they don't keep telling me to wait, because I feel like I have waited long enough.

 

[delilah]

I added on in February, and got my card sometime in July. I don't remember exactly when, because our trip was in June, and I had been hoping to get it on time to use it on our trip. It is a Visa Debit card that can be used anywhere. It makes me nervous because it doesn't have my name on it, so can hypothetically be used by anyone who finds it. I tried to exchange it for cash at my bank (Chase), and they told me I couldn't get cash for it. We also got 100 point incentive for the 2010 use year, so, we are making an "extra" trip in October to use those points before they expire (our June trip was already booked before we added on). I intend to use it to pay for the Dining Plan for the October trip (but I am waiting until closer to the trip to pay).

Personally, I would have preferred to have been given a Disney gift card, because these Visa Debit cards are a nightmare to use (I've used them before, but not from Disney). If you try to use them at a store, you have to know the exact balance on the card, or, the card can't be used. If your balance is more than the amount on the card, you can't use a different credit card to pay. I've had trouble with them every time I've tried to use them.
And, yes, the expiration date is short--I think mine expires in January.

 

[ready123go]

How would you feel if you got JUST a DISNEY gift card instead of one that can be used for other stuff? I am not sure how I should feel about this right now...this is our first DVC stay and we feel like we filled our end of the deal and are a little disapointed that we have to track down the money that is owed to us and then might possibly not be what we were told. However Disney is trying to fill their obligation... so Opinons???

I would be annoyed, but not to the point of letting it ruin my day. They are trying to fulfill their end by giving you the $500. In the end, $500 is $500, whether Visa or Disney. As far as taking time to stop by SSR, you are putting in a lot of time calling them, so the time logged seems about equal. Granted, now is 'work time' and later is 'vacation time', but in my view, either way you are expending time and energy.

If it isn't resolved before the vacation, I would just stop by and pick up the card - that way you have the cash in hand. You should be able to use it to pay your MFs.

Hope you get the card soon. Best of luck!

 

[WalterYensid]

I don't believe that the OP should have to go to SSR preview center to pick up their card. DVC should deliver it to their villa. We don't commando the parks anymore but we do believe that our time is valuable. When I'm home at Disney I don't want to be resolving problems and take time out of my vacation to accomodate Disney. They started this gift card thing, let them straighten it out.
As it is we have to call maintenance and housekeeping to get them to do what should have already been done (obvious problems).

 

[rjvose17]

Hi guys! Time for another update.

This morning I recieved a call from Jose thanking me for my patience. Then began to explain to me the problem was that they didnt have our actual physical address to mail it to. ONLY our mailing address. I gladly gave it to them and thanked him for looking and hung up the phone. I then told DH what they said and he instantly said.....wait a minute....they have our home address cause it's all over our contract documents, our magical express packet, etc. So that got us to thinking that they were using that as an excuse because they never actually issued a card and are going to send it out now. I did ask about time frame and he said it should be here within a few days coming fedex or UPS.

I hate to be a skeptic and all but I am just trying to figure out what really happened here, one minute it's a disney issue, the next visa, now disney again, I dont know....I just hope it comes soon!

On a different note, thanks for all who have chimed in on the subject, it's really great to get a outsiders point of view and to see how others would handle the situation. It helps to make me feel not so crazy when I can't get my point acrossed in a situation like this. I will continue to post with new updates when I can. Thanks everyone....or maybe I should say....Have a magical day

 

[ericamcl]

I'm sorry you're having issues with getting your Visa card.
We were lucky - we got a call that we had a Fed Ex package coming and that someone had to be there to sign for it. When I called Fed Ex I was told it was from Disney and we told Fed Ex no one would be home, so we picked it up at Fed Ex the next day.

Whether you get your card in time or not, I hope you have a great first trip "home"

 

[rjvose17]

Ericamcl, thanks for the welcome home! I noticed your ticker and should say the same to you I also noticed that you are staying at BLT and your arriving 2 days before us! We are staying at BLT the first night, BC the next 4 and AKV for 7 after that. So we will be at BLT the same time! Have a great vacation. I am going to be confident and optimistic that Disney will come through.