Advice needed! Room canceled accidentally

[bumbershoot]

don't think that you can expect DVC to make this right for a renter since technically, DVC owners are not supposed to "rent" out reservations.

That's not even true.

Members are only restricted from accepting compensation for transferred points.

Yes.

 

[disBOBney]

The only one at fault here is the contract owner. They have a responsibility to make sure their dues are paid and credited in a timely manner. Unfortunately, for the renting party and for David's neither have standing to plead with Disney. While David's meets their legal requirement by refunding the payment to the renting party, it is hardly satisfactory to them. Personally I think David's should see if a cash room could be acquired at the BW or at min the swan or dolphin. David's does have recourse against the member for expenses that their actions caused.

 

[sasmmb]

Heard back from my Aunt who talked to David's. They said there were no rooms available and they were not willing to pay the extra to make up the difference. BOO! Shame on David's. I'm extremely disappointed and will not recommend them again.

 

[LisaS]

While David's meets their legal requirement by refunding the payment to the renting party, it is hardly satisfactory to them. Personally I think David's should see if a cash room could be acquired at the BW or at min the swan or dolphin. David's does have recourse against the member for expenses that their actions caused.

What recourse does David's have against the member? Unless the owner is required to supply a credit card number and agree to possible penalties if they do not uphold their end of the agreement, what can David's do here? I don't know the contract details but I suspect all David's can do in this situation is avoid doing business with this particular DVC owner in the future.

Heard back from my Aunt who talked to David's. They said there were no rooms available and they were not willing to pay the extra to make up the difference. BOO! Shame on David's. I'm extremely disappointed and will not recommend them again.

Based on the contract your aunt agreed to with David's, they are making good on what they promised, namely a full refund. As crisi pointed out, this is the protection that David offers -- if the DVC owner turns out to be a scammer and there is no reservation, the guest gets a refund. In this case I don't think the owner is a scammer, but it sounds like the owner may be in financial trouble and anyone who rented from this person directly would probably be out both the reservation and the money. David's will provide a full refund to your aunt even though they already paid the owner half the cost of the reservation and may have trouble getting that money back.

 

[gonzalj1]

Hi, I recommended David's Vacation Club rental to a family member for our upcoming F&W trip. She was able to book a Studio thru them at the Boardwalk. We used our own points for a separate room for the Boardwalk for our immediate family and we are staying longer. Today she gets an email that the reservation was "accidentally" canceled since the member who secured the reservation has multiple accounts and that Disney accidentally posted their dues to the wrong account which left this account in arrears so Disney canceled the ressie. According to my aunt thru David's the member spent all day on the phone with member services to no avail. And of course there are no studios to be had at the Boardwalk at this point.

I checked and there aren't any studios available on property for our dates, even SSR and OKW are showing no availability. The best I can see is a 1 bedroom at SSR. My aunt did do a ressie at CBR now. But as we all know, it's not the same.

Overall, I've been happy with Davids as both a renter and rentee. I get that this isn't really their fault, but on the other hand I feel if you are going to profit as a middleman, you should compensate when the rare thing doesn't go well. Any other help, ideas, suggestions? Dates are 10/16-10/20.

Thanks!

Wow - In my opinion this is on David's to rectify. You booked your room through David's. You paid David's. They are responsible. Simple as that.

If they don't make it right by finding you equal or better accommodations they really lose a ton of good will in my opinion. I certainly will think twice about using them if they can't guarantee the reservation you booked and paid for.

 

[gonzalj1]

What recourse does David's have against the member? Unless the owner is required to supply a credit card number and agree to possible penalties if they do not uphold their end of the agreement, what can David's do here? I don't know the contract details but I suspect all David's can do in this situation is avoid doing business with this particular DVC owner in the future.

Based on the contract your aunt agreed to with David's, they are making good on what they promised, namely a full refund. As crisi pointed out, this is the protection that David offers -- if the DVC owner turns out to be a scammer and there is no reservation, the guest gets a refund. In this case I don't think the owner is a scammer, but it sounds like the owner may be in financial trouble and anyone who rented from this person directly would probably be out both the reservation and the money. David's will provide a full refund to your aunt even though they already paid the owner half the cost of the reservation and may have trouble getting that money back.

Yeah that may be their legal obligation based on the contract but it doesn't win a lot of marketing awards now does it?

The fact that David's paid the owner already is of no concern to the OP. That's between David's and the Owner.

 

[DebbieB]

Wow - In my opinion this is on David's to rectify. You booked your room through David's. You paid David's. They are responsible. Simple as that.

If they don't make it right by finding you equal or better accommodations they really lose a ton of good will in my opinion. I certainly will think twice about using them if they can't guarantee the reservation you booked and paid for.

They have the conditions in the contract signed. They may lose the money they already paid the owner, I don't think they owe paying for a room on top of it. I don't understand why people don't think a contract they signed isn't valid when things go wrong.

 

[LisaS]

Yeah that may be their legal obligation based on the contract but it doesn't win a lot of marketing awards now does it?

The fact that David's paid the owner already is of no concern to the OP. That's between David's and the Owner.

People were stating that they think David's needs to make good here as if the refund costs David's nothing. I'm just pointing out that it's likely that half of that refund will be coming out of David's own pocket so he is giving the OP's aunt something, in fact he is providing exactly what the contract states is owed to the guest.

Those who book with David's agree to accept some risk in exchange for a cheap room. Based on reports here, this sort of thing is extremely rare but unfortunately it can happen so David's contract spells out exactly what happens in the event something goes terribly wrong. I'm sorry for the OP's aunt but David is providing what was agreed to in the contract. I guess I'm big on personal responsibility. Read the contract you're signing so that you understand the terms and don't be surprised if you get no more than what is stated in the contract if something goes wrong.

 

[crisi]

Those who book with David's agree to accept some risk in exchange for a cheap room.

Repeating.

Renters should be aware that if they want the sort of assurances a reservation through Disney gives, they need to pay more money and book through Disney. Disney can offer those assurances because they build them into the price. And frankly, a few people have discovered that Disney has overbooked them through CRO and their "make good" isn't ideal.

It is said pretty constantly around here that renting carries some risk, and while David mitigates some of that risk, this is exactly the sort of thing where all he can do is refund your money and apologize.

 

[Dean]

I kinda agree with you. I can't imagine Disney would not try to fix a mistake like that. This is what they said-and NO compensation!:Through an error by the Disney Vacation Club, they have accidently cancelled your reservation. This occurred when the funds sent by the Member to pay for his annual dues were allocated to the wrong account, (he owns several memberships and the payment was attached to the incorrect account). When the Disney Vacation Club cancelled your reservation your room went back into inventory and was booked by another member. Your Member was on the phone all day with Member Services and had the call escalated up to the head of the accounting and services department. Despite the Member’s best efforts the Disney Vacation Club is not able to retrieve your reservation and are unwilling to compensate for the loss.

But then again that seems like a lot of effort to make something up. Aunt will be talking with Kelly at David's tomorrow. And thanks to Marionette for the suggestion about Boardwalk cash as an option for David's to compensate for the difference. I'll have my aunt propose that as an option.

Most timeshares like most other businesses in general, look at a customer globally. For example, if you have a car loan and a checking account, the bank can unilaterally take money from your checking to cover the loan payment when behind. They generally have this in the paperwork one signs for accounts, loans, etc. Best case scenario is the member was trying to pick and chose which contract to pay and which to be behind on and it backfired on them. Disney would not have taken this action for multiple master contracts of a single owner with a deficit on one account and corresponding credit on another. And they would not have done so without a significant amount of time passing and multiple warnings.

A lot flows through my head as I read this.

1. DVC should be at fault to a point if they allowed a reservation to be made on a membership that had dues in arrears. so my question is when was the reservation made?

2. If the reservation was made when the membership was not in arrears and the member just simply did not pay his dues then DVC is not at fault here and David's needs to assist in making in right.

3. there is no way for Davids to fully vet each contract that gets rented out as far as dues being paid.

4. I really would question if the member was on the phone "all day" with MS.

5. renting a 1BR for the same amount probably wont work unless Davids is willing to pay the difference in because the amount of points needed will not be reduced and you cant expect the owner looking to rent the points to take the loss so it would have to be David's but I will bet that they are unwilling to do that.


Good Luck

DVC does not require members to pay to use the points, they assume they will pay by the time one gets there or soon thereafter. Many systems do require one to pay to use any points or to borrow them, maybe DVC should as well. The fact they allow dues to be paid in arrears at all, as they do for the monthly, is quite naive IMO. 1. NO 2. This is not a risk a small business like David's can control, they've covered themselves legally, this is all they are required to do and IMO, all they really should do. 3. Agreed. 4. They likely were but I suspect they created the issue, not DVC. 5. Agreed though they might be able to fascinate something on short notice at SSR possibly.

Here's the limitation of liability on David's website:

So, if the member can't fix the problem, the renter gets a full refund.

That's really about all they can do. It's the price and risk of getting the savings of a "private" rental. BTW, this type of wording is included in the RCI exchange documentation as well and it's a risk when one exchanges.

 

[cydswipe]

I just got word of this thread from my husband. We learned 24 hours ago that our reservation was also "accidently" cancelled by the owner. After 3 conversations and getting NO WHERE with David's vacation rental...we got our refund as stated in the rental agreement. However, there is no way in hell we will get a preferred room around the lagoon the week of Columbus Day and Food and Wine festival for $1482. After reading your situation, I am even more pissed about our situation

 

[cydswipe]

BTW.... our dates October 9th thru 15th

Here's a copy of our email... bet it's oddly the same.

 

[robinb]

It wouldn't surprise me if the same owner sold her points to more than one buyer.

 

[cydswipe]

This is very fishy.

 

[Deb & Bill]

It wouldn't surprise me if the same owner sold her points to more than one buyer.

And I bet David is checking into that right now. As well as the other brokers.

 

[cydswipe]

BTW.... our dates October 9th thru 15th

’m contacting you today in reference to your reservation.


Through an error by the Disney Vacation Club, they have accidently cancelled your reservation. This occurred when the funds sent by the Member to pay for his annual dues were allocated to the wrong account, (he owns several memberships and the payment was attached to the incorrect account). When the Disney Vacation Club cancelled your reservation your room went back into inventory and was booked by another member. Your Member was on the phone all day with Member Services and had the call escalated up to the head of the accounting and services department. Despite the Member’s best efforts the Disney Vacation Club is not able to retrieve your reservation and are unwilling to compensate for the loss.



I have checked alternate availability at all of the DVC Resorts and the only remaining option is at Saratoga Springs in a 1 bedroom villa from Oct. 11-15th (missing your first 2 nights) which is 112 vacation points. If you wanted to proceed with this option (provided that availability remains) we can apply your previous payment of $1472 towards the new reservation but it would be an additional cost of $96. If this alternative does not work for your family we can refund your original payment back to you immediately as stated in the Rental Agreement.



I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart that this has happened. I am in the office until 5:00pm EST today and in again tomorrow at 9:00am please feel free to call me or email me.

 

[suebeelin]

It wouldn't surprise me if the same owner sold her points to more than one buyer.

It's hard for me to believe someone would be so mean and vicious as to ruin a vacation that's been planned 10+ months in advance.

I hope it's truly a mistake on the owners part. I had mentioned in another post... I'm constantly scared I might make that mistake of canceling a rental ressie when mucking around my dvc site. I can't imagine someone being so evil as to consciously ruin ppls vacations....

 

[Deb & Bill]

This is very fishy.

Not fishy at all. A member with dues in arrears (or financing in arrears) and they didn't pay. All reservations get cancelled.

 

[cydswipe]

Not fishy at all. A member with dues in arrears (or financing in arrears) and they didn't pay. All reservations get cancelled.

I get what you're saying.

We are just jolted this happened to us.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I get what you're saying.

We are just jolted this happened to us.

And that is truly unfortunate. It's awful that it happened to you.