Billed before $1000 at POR and other weird billing issues

[Violet Parr]

Curious to know if this has happened to anyone else. We were billed for our full room cost after a few days at the resort. (A hold was placed and then the charges went through a few days later.) Not a problem, but we've never had this happened before.

We also were billed for charges to our room before we hit $1000. A few days into our stay, I sent my husband to the lobby to apply $400 in gift cards to our room. While he was on his way, I noticed a hold on our bank account for just under $500. I thought that was weird. That hold stayed until this morning, when I noticed the charge went through, but there was *also* a refund for the exact same amount.

None of these are really problems at all, just very, very unusual in my experience. Not sure why they'd do the refund or the hold at all.

Is there a change in the billing procedures? When we checked in, I saw in my documents that we had a $1000 charging limit. Of course, they did do a refund (not sure if that was because the charge was a mistake in the first place or if putting the gift cards towards our account changed things.)

Just curious!

VP

 

[Violet Parr]

Oh, and to clarify, we are still here and as of right now there are no charges or holds on our card. Perhaps that $480-something was a mistake (hence the refund?) I will certainly ask at the lobby later but just wondered if anyone else has had similar issues.

VP

 

[dgagnon519]

I was wondering the same thing as far as how it works.

 

[dansdad]

I have seen about a dozen or so reports lately of people at Moderates and Deluxes having their credit cards charged well before reaching the previously posted credit limits, and days before checking out. Everyone that has asked their resort what the deal was, they have all been told that they were running into too many people not having enough room on their credit cards and then the resorts having to deal with that. So they have started running them early. Nobody I saw post was able to get a number/limit to when the resort will run their card.

 

[buzznina]

We were there in March for 8 days and on the 4th day I went down to use our GCs(great minds think alike) to pay whatever balance we had accumulated. Well the CM said that they had charged our CC earlier that day my immediate response was "we already got to $1000?" The CM said no, that there is a new policy that they started doing, if a customer gets around 50% somewhat early during their stay that they will charge their CC on file. I had them reverse the earlier charge to my CC and paid with our GCs, I then told them that they really need to notify the customers that they are planning to do this.

 

[AngiTN]

We were there in March for 8 days and on the 4th day I went down to use our GCs(great minds think alike) to pay whatever balance we had accumulated. Well the CM said that they had charged our CC earlier that day my immediate response was "we already got to $1000?" The CM said no, that there is a new policy that they started doing, if a customer gets around 50% somewhat early during their stay that they will charge their CC on file. I had them reverse the earlier charge to my CC and paid with our GCs, I then told them that they really need to notify the customers that they are planning to do this.

That does sound like a fairly wise policy. I can only imagine how many issues they have with folks passing their credit card limits by not tracking spending since it's so easy to just scan the band.

But yes, they do need to make it clear what they are doing so people can pay via alternate methods. Sometimes the charges can take a while to reverse.

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I thought deluxes were $1000 and moderates were $500???

Tom

 

[dansdad]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I thought deluxes were $1000 and moderates were $500???

Tom

As of last year

Value - $500
Moderate - $1000
Deluxe - $1500

 

[floridagirl61]

I can easily reach $600 in one day due to the size of the group I travel with and our TS meal costs. I guess I had better go down every day to apply GC's to avoid the charge going to my CC. In the past, I have just gone down every few days and paid down our balance. I hope they will start notifying us at check-in of this new policy.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I just wonder if they ever have guest that don't have a credit card? How do they handle that? Some people may only have a debit card, and I imagine that could just be a nightmare!

 

[dansdad]

I can easily reach $600 in one day due to the size of the group I travel with and our TS meal costs. I guess I had better go down every day to apply GC's to avoid the charge going to my CC. In the past, I have just gone down every few days and paid down our balance. I hope they will start notifying us at check-in of this new policy.

Every post here on the DIS that I have seen about this, people were NOT notified of this beforehand.

 

[AngiTN]

I just wonder if they ever have guest that don't have a credit card? How do they handle that? Some people may only have a debit card, and I imagine that could just be a nightmare!

You don't have to put charging privileges on the MB. Folks without a credit card, or those that don't want to put it on there, just don't enter a card. You'll have to bring a form of payment with you instead of using your band. I'm sure it does help you track charges better.

 

[AngiTN]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I thought deluxes were $1000 and moderates were $500???

Tom

Right. And if they are going on the new guideline of 50% if you are there 8 days in a Mod and hit $300 on day 3 they'll go on and run the charges.

 

[nkereina]

They should make it clear to guests that they will apply charges when they deem necessary. We reached the $1000 limit before this change was in effect, and it happened automatically. I didn't expect them to notify me of it, but it would be good to notify guests of the policy change.

I just wonder if they ever have guest that don't have a credit card? How do they handle that? Some people may only have a debit card, and I imagine that could just be a nightmare!

Guests can link a debit card or cash to their Magic Band for charging. I do wonder if they do some kind of authorization or hold on debit cards to confirm the funds are available? And I also wonder how they handle cash. If a guest puts down $100, how do they limit the Magic Band so they don't exceed $100 in charges?

 

[KonaKaiTom]

As of last year

Value - $500
Moderate - $1000
Deluxe - $1500

Thanks Dansdad!! I bounce between the two levels so much I never know! I've done split stays between moderate and deluxe and that really gets confusing!

Tom

 

[dansdad]

Thanks Dansdad!! I bounce between the two levels so much I never know! I've done split stays between moderate and deluxe and that really gets confusing!

Tom

 

[POOHsie]

Curious to know if this has happened to anyone else. We were billed for our full room cost after a few days at the resort. (A hold was placed and then the charges went through a few days later.) Not a problem, but we've never had this happened before.

We also were billed for charges to our room before we hit $1000. A few days into our stay, I sent my husband to the lobby to apply $400 in gift cards to our room. While he was on his way, I noticed a hold on our bank account for just under $500. I thought that was weird. That hold stayed until this morning, when I noticed the charge went through, but there was *also* a refund for the exact same amount.

None of these are really problems at all, just very, very unusual in my experience. Not sure why they'd do the refund or the hold at all.

Is there a change in the billing procedures? When we checked in, I saw in my documents that we had a $1000 charging limit. Of course, they did do a refund (not sure if that was because the charge was a mistake in the first place or if putting the gift cards towards our account changed things.)

Just curious!

VP

Charging your CC in advance of reaching your charging limit needs to be stipulated to guests, IMO. But I'm puzzled by OP's first comment that her total room cost was billed early in her resort stay. That's how it always works over our many years of booking WDW resorts (room-only). Disney guidelines state that resort packages are expected to be fully paid 45 before one's trip, and room-only reservations are paid-in-full on arrival for one's stay. What is the confusion?

WDW package rules: http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-dis...-reservations-vs-vacation-packages/#wdtcrules
WDW room-only rules: http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-dis...-only-reservations-vs-vacation-packages/#wdtc

 

[AngiTN]

Charging your CC in advance of reaching your charging limit needs to be stipulated to guests, IMO. But I'm puzzled by OP's first comment that her total room cost was billed early in her resort stay. That's how it always works over our many years of booking WDW resorts (room-only). Disney guidelines state that resort packages are expected to be fully paid 45 before one's trip, and room-only reservations are paid-in-full on arrival for one's stay. What is the confusion?

WDW package rules: http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-dis...-reservations-vs-vacation-packages/#wdtcrules
WDW room-only rules: http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-dis...-only-reservations-vs-vacation-packages/#wdtc

I'm sure OP will clarify but I took "room costs" to mean charges they put on the room via their magic band. Not the initial room costs.

 

[Violet Parr]

OP here. Regarding the room-only charge: in the past, the hold for my room only charge happened upon check-in but the charge did not go through until after checkout. (Frankly, that drove me nuts.). We use debit cards and cash only, so I come with all of the money needed for my vacation.

But it may be that my bank was just slow in the past. Like I said, it's not a problem, just different from my previous experiences.

VP

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

This happened to us when we were there last weekend and went to apply our GCs to pay down our MB charges the first night we were there. Even the CM was puzzled why our CC was charged before we reached the limit.