Breakage Pullback No Longer A Thing?

[Novatrix]

Historically, it used to be if DVC had unsold breakage rooms they could pull them back to the points side.

I was looking to see if there was any last minute inventory available for this week, I was told by a general person from member services as well as a supervisor that has never been a thing, which is patently incorrect as I've used that inventory twice in the past.

Does anyone know when that ability went away?

 

[sndral]

I’ve read of CMs pulling back cash inventory through the years & I’ve read of them saying they could not, see this post circa 2017, for example:

I've had mixed luck with them pulling inventory back. Last September I booked a studio at SS for 4 nights over Labor Day weekend. The morning of my check in, I saw that there were cash reservations available for Polynesian Villas. I called member services and got a great CM. I asked him if there was anyway to pull that cash inventory back & use points. He said to hold and he would call the resort. His tone and demeanor made it sound like he'd done this before and understood exactly what I was asking. 5 minutes later my SS points room was changed to the Polynesian Villas for a few extra points.

Fast forward to last week and I had a points ressie at BLT and saw that BWV had cash availability for the days I was going. I called the day before my check in and the CM sounded like I was asking to book the Castle Suite on points. She said that they NEVER do that. She then transferred me to a supervisor and she also said it NEVER happens. I told that it does happen, as I had it happened to me 4 months ago. She then looked at my reservation from September and was baffled by what she saw. She kept giving me different theories like I paid cash (ah, no) or that there must have been points availability (again, No). She was extremely nice and I never even remotely got angry or tried to seem like I was entitled to anything, I was just trying to understand the policy.....which she reiterated is it NEVER happens.

It's something in the future if there was a more desirable resort available for cash on my check-in date I would probably call in again and see if they could work some magic, but my expectations of it being successful would be pretty low.

One theory I have is that through the years CMs make exceptions for people, word gets out & everyone wants an exception to be made in their case, so management clamps down. A second theory I have is that as DVC updates their operating/software/tech systems CMs no longer have the ability to do some of the things they used to be able to do & this would be particularly relevant to pulling back cash inventory since the cash booking side has undergone inventory management upgrades as well. .

 

[Sandisw]

It was never an official thing that this was something they would do. The thing is that when you see cash inventory on the Disney side, there is no way to know if what you are seeing is breakage, or if it is there because it was booked with DVC's own points or from owners who traded out.

So, while some have had luck in the past, I know I personally never had and have always been told they can't get anything back....obviously, your experience has been different.

 

[Novatrix]

Last time I did it was 2015, so it's definitely been a while, but it didn't used to be an issue to ask and I don't recall it needing to be above the front line call staff.

 

[Brian Noble]

Does anyone know when that ability went away?

I suspect it didn't go away. Rather the CMs you were talking to either (a) didn't know that they could do it, (b) did not know how to do it, or (c) could not do it for one reason or another. "It's never been a thing" could be any of those three, just to get you off the phone/chat.

It's also true that cash rooms are not necessarily breakage. They might be backed by Disney-owned points, or backed by points that were used to exchange into DCL, ABD, or a Disney Collection stay.

 

[Novatrix]

I suspect it didn't go away. Rather the CMs you were talking to either (a) didn't know that they could do it, (b) did not know how to do it, or (c) could not do it for one reason or another. "It's never been a thing" could be any of those three, just to get you off the phone/chat.

Frankly, that was my suspicion, but after being elevated to a supervisor and her saying the same thing I decided to not waste any more time on it. Especially since it has been almost a decade since the last time and I wasn't sure whether things have changed.

Honestly, both their attitudes were just irritating. If either had said, "I don't know how to do it", or "the policy changed xyz", it would've been acceptable, but both were insisting that their knowledge was absolute despite having less than 5 years experience.

 

[Leight19]

So I’ve had success two times in past getting them to pull a dvc room back from cash inventory. I don’t recall exact timing for first time but 2nd was within last year during a hurricane so may have been extenuating circumstances. To me, the heart of it is if the room looks like it will go unrented for cash Disney likely would prefer to pull it back and have me use my points for it rather then sitting empty.