Bad experience with Disney Vacation Account

[linzjane88]

Well, almost five months on the nose since the errors happened and I FINALLY am getting my $100 refunded. Here is the email back I just received. Not a lot of aknowlegement that I was COMPLETELY disregarded repeatedly for months. :

Hi ,
We have researched this issue further and can see that the two Disney Gift Cards listed below were redeemed on May 28th but the value for each was not entered into your Disney Vacation Account. Therefore, we have voided the redemptions on each and returned the value to your Disney Gift Cards.

6109XXXX now has a total of $1050 (due to the refund of your account already processed)
6109XXXX now has a total of $50 on it
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Disney Vacation Account Refund Team

dva.refunds@disneyvacationaccount.com
Original Message Follows: ------------------------

Good Afternoon,
I was just on the phone with Lisa with guest services who was extremely helpful and recommended I email this address with my issue.
On May 28th, 2015 I entered fourteen $50 gift cards into my Disney Vacation Account. The next day I entered one more $50 gift card. I realized my balance was not reflecting the addition of the gift cards properly. I also realized I only got email confirmation for twelve of the fifteen gift cards.My starting balance before any of these additions was $360. Fifteen $50 gift cards total $750 so my new balance should have been $1110. Instead, my new balance was $960. Three gift cards did not update the balance in my DVA or send an email confirmation but all three show a zero balance on the Disney Gift Card site. As the attached snapshots of my account show there are twelve documented $50 additions made on 5/28. Nothing shows from 5/29 either but that card has since been fixed so I am not concerned with it at this point.
On June 13th, 2015 Connie from Guest Card Services left me a message stating that only one card had an error and thus I would only be receiving $50 returned to my account. I did receive the credit but felt this was in error and attempted to call back. I have since called numerous times hoping to discuss this matter and have not been contacted again.
The three gift cards that never generated a confirmation email were:
$50 gift card entered 5/28 6109XXXX
$50 gift card entered 5/28 6109XXXX
$50 gift card entered 5/29 6109XXXX***This was fixed. It was returned from my account on 6/11/15.
I would not be pursuing this if I didn't truly feel that I am due $100 still. After my phone call today my phone records show I have spent over 231 minutes and at least 9 phone calls trying to resolve this situation, not including the time spent gathering this information.
Thank You,

 

[Marionnette]

@linzjane88

Please edit your post to remove your phone number and private email address. Too many creeps on the internet. You don't want that information out there.

 

[linzjane88]

@linzjane88

Please edit your post to remove your phone number and private email address. Too many creeps on the internet. You don't want that information out there.

Ooh good catch! Edited. I was just so excited to get this fixed I lost all common sense.

 

[Marionnette]

Ooh good catch! Edited. I was just so excited to get this fixed I lost all common sense.

I'm glad that you finally got your money back. No one should have to work as hard as you did in order to get such a glaring error corrected.

 

[PopGirl26]

I'm so sorry this happened to you! Makes me think twice (thrice?) about DVA.

 

[disfanforlife]

Glad it finally worked out for you. I opened a DVA in April, but have only funded it by credit card. I don't think I will try adding any gift cards!

 

[hsmamato2]

ugh.... that sounds awful..... I have some advice...social media. It seems to catch the attention of businesses that otherwise ignore you.... I have had to resort to it a couple of times (and air my dirty laundry in public) to get some attention when I had a few problems with a business transaction- I literally got a phone call within minutes of posting a problem,after weeks of no help on the phone,etc. (this wasn't Disney,it was another company that ended up resolving the issue after that,one was for over 800.00 that the store made a mistake on...I wasn't letting that one go) I've only done it as a last resort....

 

[linzjane88]

You will not flippin' believe it. So as I am getting packed for our trip (leaving tomorrow!) I checked the balance on my gift cards to make sure everything was OK and guess what? They refunded me FIFTY dollars If you haven't been keeping up, my refund should have been $100. I HATE THEM. I seriously think they are doing this on purpose. There is no way they could make me dislike them more. Yet another email sent.

 

[crazymomof4]

to make the Dis peeps a lil' more aware.

I was part of the unfortunate group of people back in May who were adding gift cards to the account during a glitch and it essentially ate the gift card balance. It happened to a total of 3 gift cards for me before I caught it.

I am about 1 mo into being a DVA holder and appreciate your bringing this to our attention. So that I can better keep watch for something like this happening to me, can you elaborate on how the site "ate" the gift card? Was it not added to your balance at all after you entered the numbers yet the card balance was stripped? Or did it appear in the DVA balance initially and then the entire transaction later disappeared from your DVA, leaving your card at a balance of 0? Or something different?

 

[linzjane88]

I am about 1 mo into being a DVA holder and appreciate your bringing this to our attention. So that I can better keep watch for something like this happening to me, can you elaborate on how the site "ate" the gift card? Was it not added to your balance at all after you entered the numbers yet the card balance was stripped? Or did it appear in the DVA balance initially and then the entire transaction later disappeared from your DVA, leaving your card at a balance of 0? Or something different?

The site 'ate the card' like this: you enter in your numbers and hit enter and you simply go back to the main screen--nothing happens. You don't get any confirmation email and your balance doesn't update. Then when you check your balance on the card itself it will show as redeemed with a $0 balance. I don't know of this happening outside of the glitch back when many of us ran into the same issue (May 2015). That being said I would be very diligent about notes when adding cards. Start out with how many card you have, what you expect your total balance to be after your loading frenzy, and additionally write the date the card was loaded into your account with a permanent marker. I also recommend writing what your balance was after loading each card. That way you know what it should be as you are entering the next one. It sounds excessive but *not even close* to the time you will spend trying to recover funds with missing information. The only reason I was able to get this refunded was that I had meticulous notes and was able to present the glaringly obvious facts to them---repeatedly---.

On another note, I have truly (finally!) received all refunds. I emailed them regarding the cards yesterday and the fact that I still didn't have all my funds returned to me. Turns out they refunded $50 to a different card than the rest of my DVA refund went to. And I am going to Disneyworld tonight Technically Saturday is the first park day. But I am hopping on the plane tonight and checking in to CBR this time tomorrow with my favorite Hubs!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm so sorry this happened to you! Makes me think twice (thrice?) about DVA.

Me too. I have a coworker who keeps trying to convince me how great it is, and all I can think is no way.

 

[tasha99]

Wow. I will never use that service! How awful.