Disappointing DVC customer service

[KPeterso]

I get the frustration. I do. I just disagree that Disney/DVC needed to do anything. They didn't need to extend anyone points, they didn't need to change any rules, they do not need to remind people that there are deadlines (banking, RCI, expiring points, etc.), and they certainly do not need to dip into their own pockets to help people with their timeshare. You are entitled to your own opinion. Everyone has lost something in the pandemic. Some have lost more than others. In my opinion, Disney/DVC made a good faith effort to help the membership as a whole as best as possible.

I agree with you completely! I lost a total of 14 points (between 2 memberships - 12 on one and 2 on the other), gifted 24 points to a friend to use, and had 10 VGC points extended due to the extra long VGC closure. I lost some, but definitely not as much as others. But my immediate family (and extended too) stayed healthy with no Covid (or anything the last year) and have been able to work and go to school the whole time. That is much more important to me than losing a few points.

 

[Sandisw]

Unfortunately, i was not aware of this option until after Disney forefeited my points. Disney did not remind guests of this option (I believe this lack of communication was intentional) and it was practically impossible to contact Disney by phone for the longest time to discuss options (again probably intentionally - after all, customer service reps are working from home so they could have brought them all back to work and trained other employees who lost their jobs to support customer service if they wanted, but instead they isolated the executive office and gave the customer service reps standard replies to guests concerns. The strategy apparently was don't remind guests of options so we have more profits for shareholders .

Last year, there was a lot info on the website about all the policies and emails went out.

While there were times they took a long time to update, they did provide policies on the website including what exceptions were being made. It even mentioned RCI as some with June UYs had deposited and DVCMC allowed those owners to bring back.

Again, very sorry you were hit hard but I do not think they tried to intentionally cause owners to lose points. They used their own points to help as well and still are for international owners who are banned.

One thing for sure is I think a lot of owners, including myself, were forced to read our POS and the rules in more detail as things we never realized could happen, did.

 

[The Prophet]

Not to veer too far off topic, but Disney suspended its dividend last year to conserve cash
So, the shareholders are also feeling a bit of pain as well

 

[peabody58]

Sorry for your financial setback, but seriously. You've been a DVC member since 2004, over 20 trips, claim to have spent untold amounts since then, and you never took the time to read and understood what you purchased? RCI is easily accessed from the Member's website. Tons of emails, forums threads and easily found information on the internet. There were many opportunities for you to lessen your financial impact. We also had to cancel a huge trip, but we turned lemons into Dole Whip! Used all our 'use it or lose it points' with 4 great trips during post-Covid reopening. I'll shut up now.

 

[Louis morrell]

You truly do not understand what you purchased. What you are asking them to do is make you whole at the expense of other owners. If I had that much animosity towards DVC I would just sell my contracts and get out. Life is too short to carry that burden.

 

[Sammie]

When Disney opened back up, many did not travel not because they were not open but due to the risk. We gifted ours to others that wanted to go. Best to just cut your losses like so many of us did and either move on to more Disney vacations or sell and try something different. Good luck

 

[Sammie]

i understood about the mess it would cause to extend everyone's points - that is why i requested to use the points on resort (e.g. Yacht club) vs DVC villa reservations. As noted, Disney stock price is at an all time high - seems they should at least split the financial burden with the guests. Instead, loyal guests who have spent a fortune at Disney, are left with the full financial burden, plus reduced perks, plus longer waits, plus significantly reduced services, plus significantly increased difficulty in finding dining reservations, and the list goes on. Seems in this unprecedented time of COVID, they should share the financial loss we experienced because they closed, not just tell us its our loss. Until this year, DVC/Disney was the greatest and i would recommend DVC to everyone, but based upon the disappointment we have experienced with this situation, i do not think i would recommend DVC. I will re-evalulate after my September stay.

Shared the financial loss with whom? The problem with your Yacht Club scenario is DVC does not own the Yacht Club, Disney resorts does.
As to loyal guests that spent a fortune, so have many others. But honestly that fortune spent you said until now you were pleased, so you got your money's worth on that. Every major corporation's focus is stock holders, so that is to be expected.

Many of things you are unhappy about, truly DVC has no control over. I would try to just move on.

 

[New Mouse]

I get the frustration. I do. I just disagree that Disney/DVC needed to do anything. They didn't need to extend anyone points, they didn't need to change any rules, they do not need to remind people that there are deadlines (banking, RCI, expiring points, etc.), and they certainly do not need to dip into their own pockets to help people with their timeshare. You are entitled to your own opinion. Everyone has lost something in the pandemic. Some have lost more than others. In my opinion, Disney/DVC made a good faith effort to help the membership as a whole as best as possible.

I dont know, they chose not to help me but did help others in similar situations. I was told use it or lose, we dont care.

 

[Taraleigsmom]

All the dumping on Disney ! We are all adult owners and we are the ones that should be responsible for our investments. None of us had ever experienced anything like this and no one had a crystal ball to see what was going to happen and when. Disney included.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I have tried to reach the Disney executive office but it appears Disney has blocked any attempt to reach the executive office and the supervisor at DVC is the last stop. Disney's handling of the closure has been very disappointing and i lost $5000 of points that Disney will not consider extending. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to reach the executive office? The DVC supervisor told me that if i did reach them, they would just send the request back to DVC supervisor.

We are lifelong disney fanatics with about 20 visits, including 2 Disney cruises, DVC members since 2004, etc. In March 2020, we had our biggest Disney vacation ever planned and we were taking another family with us so we planned to use banked, current year and borrowed points for a 10 day split vacation at Contemporary and Animal Kingdom Savana (about 465 points). Three days before our arrival in late March 2020, Disney closed due to COVID. Our use year begins in April so that automatically put me at a disadvantage with expiring points. Disney told me that they extended my points for a year and they won't do anything further. I explained that this year extenstion was of no use to me since i could not travel until i was vaccinated due to risk factors. So out of the 465 points, i got back only 116 for use this year. and the rest (roughly 350 points or around $5000) are forefetited. I understand that they just can't add capacity at DVC and requested that they allow me to use the points that i lost because Disney closed, to rent a (non DVC) resort room but they told me they would not do that. I know now that i could have put some of these points into RCI but Disney communications around the covid closing was very poor and they never reminded those of us who had our vacations canceled by Disney that we could do this.

We still love disney, but the reduction in perks like Disney Express along with the way they handled the closing is extermely disappointing. With Disney stock price soaring, it seems that their focus is on the shareholders at the expense of their most loyal guests.

Sounds like they already accommodated you for a year.

 

[yeahdisney]

I get notices when I log in. Banking window is: But I do need to click on it - to read it.

I get notices even when I have no points left- when my banking window is.

 

[RoseGold]

You could have just rented them out. It wasn't that hard. I don't see how that was Disney's problem. If anything, it was better than most timeshares because rentals weren't even that cheap! You could have made money instead of ignoring $5K worth of points. We would have even helped you.

 

[RossK]

There are lots of things that frustrate me about Disney and the way they operate. And there were lots of things they could have done better during the Pandemic, especially around communication. Unfortunately, it seems they still have much to learn on this front (e.g. ticketing and annual passes). But, we also need to accept a certain amount of personal responsibility, especially with something as costly (and sometimes complex) as a real estate interest. Much like home ownership, you need to think about certain things in advance to make sure you are adequately protected when things go wrong.

Disney already did something pretty major, which they did not have to do, in order to try and protect your points. But you too have a certain amount of responsibility to consider the "what ifs" and make your own decisions. For example, I have a DVC points booking this October - but I live in the UK. Already, I know there is a risk I will not be able travel to the United States, and so I have already checked and reviewed the policies, including what the deadlines are to cancel before my points go in to holding. If they go in to holding, its highly unlikely I will be able to use them due to flight bookings, on-going restrictions, and the fact this is a 21-night stay. So at least now I already know what my options - when I would need to cancel, and at what point I'm putting those points at risk. Yes, I might get lucky that Member Services will give me a break - but they might not and I cannot rely on that. So, if they go in to holding, I may need to look at renting, or other options. The alternative is that I could live under the false impression that DVC act as the guardian of my points - and then risk ending up with nothing.

At the end of the day, it is a timeshare and nothing more. I know you gave the preamble that you're lifelong Disney fanatics with 20 visits, cruises, and so on. You wouldn't have mentioned it if you didn't think it was relevant - but you have to remember, it doesn't matter to Disney in the context of a timeshare. That's not say Disney don't care about guest experience - but it will not at all factor in to their thinking for this. e.g. I have less visits than you - so does this mean your request for an exception is more valid than mine? We are all DVC members, and we all purchased the same product, and many members have faced a similar situation. And there are only so many rooms.

It is absolutely gutting to lose such a large number of points, and so I can completely understand your wish to explore every avenue, which you are doing. All you can do at this point is appeal to the highest possible person that will listen, but you also need to understand that they are not responsible for this situation, and anything they choose to do would be an exceptional case of goodwill. This is a long way of saying - choose your words carefully - in that, you are not really complaining about the level of service, but you are simply appealing for an exception because of the unique circumstances, and the fact that you had not fully researched the options available to you.
Unfortunately though, I think in the current circumstances, you chances of overturning this are minimal.

 

[mistysue]

In your shoes, it would help me to recalculate that actual cost - those 350 points do NOT cost you $5,000. Your dues are around $7/point. Then the "cost" of the points per year is your purchase price divided by the number of years. You are talking about points banked from 3 years ago... If you bought Poly direct 3 years ago, that price is around $3/point due to years remaining. If you bought Boardwalk 3 years ago, you're talking about $5/point if you got a crazy high price for the time ($100/point when they were going for around $80 divided by 20 years)

In order to have spent $7.28/point/year (what you are stating) you're actual anger should be on how rediculously high your point purchase cost was.

On the other hand, your are probably talking about somewhere around $9-10/point if your bought in the last 5-10 years. That's under $3,500. It's not nothing, but is much better than what you're telling yourself. That would make me feel a bit better.

 

[ScubaCat]

Sorry this happened to you. It's been a frustrating 18 months in so many ways. Unfortunately these are the perils of buying a real estate interest of any kind in that there are inherent liabilities. Stuff happens. Best to just learn from it and move on IMHO. I don't want to pile onto what others have said since this is already a tough situation, but as a silver lining, the properties are still maintained and Disney is still there. MANY timeshares are complete scams, so in the scheme of things missing a year is far from the worst that could happen.

Not to veer too far off topic, but Disney suspended its dividend last year to conserve cash
So, the shareholders are also feeling a bit of pain as well

I know, right? I save up 2 years worth for a mickey ice cream bar. Now I have to wait until 2022 for my fix.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Let it go. Seriously. You seem to be forgetting that Disney lost billions of dollars last year, so yes, they felt the pain too. Plus hotels and timeshares are 2 different things, and are bound by different laws. All you are going to do by trying to push this issue is get yourself flagged in the Disney system as a complainer and draw to light that you take no account accountability for figuring out options for you points before it was too late. Information on options for DVC owners with expiring points was all over the internet last year and was easily searchable.

 

[DisBuckMan]

In your shoes, it would help me to recalculate that actual cost - those 350 points do NOT cost you $5,000. Your dues are around $7/point. Then the "cost" of the points per year is your purchase price divided by the number of years. You are talking about points banked from 3 years ago... If you bought Poly direct 3 years ago, that price is around $3/point due to years remaining. If you bought Boardwalk 3 years ago, you're talking about $5/point if you got a crazy high price for the time ($100/point when they were going for around $80 divided by 20 years)

In order to have spent $7.28/point/year (what you are stating) you're actual anger should be on how rediculously high your point purchase cost was.

On the other hand, your are probably talking about somewhere around $9-10/point if your bought in the last 5-10 years. That's under $3,500. It's not nothing, but is much better than what you're telling yourself. That would make me feel a bit better.

I wasn't going to get into nearly the math you went into, but I was sitting here wondering how the $5000 figure was arrived at for 350 points.

I thought that how Disney handled DVC was pretty fair. We ended up losing some points as well (even with renting some out), but as an owner, I get it. Fact is that according to our ownership documents, they didn't HAVE to do anything to help us as guests...whoops...OWNERS.

The DVC area of this board is a wealth of information, and probably the best place for getting the unvarnished TRUTH...feelings get set aside. Many other areas of these boards don't tolerate truth very well when feelings are involved (I'm looking at you, Restaurants).

 

[sethschroeder]

So out of the 465 points, i got back only 116 for use this year. and the rest (roughly 350 points or around $5000) are forefetited.

You should have rented out the points.

Not positive but think some people even moved points to RCI but I could be wrong about that for those who had extended points.

Now you can say Disney should have done more on their end but myself and other DVC members should not be punished either by having points from 2019 still in the system in 2022/23/24.

 

[SarahWI]

Not positive but think some people even moved points to RCI but I could be wrong about that for those who had extended points.

We did this with our 2019 points. Member services suggested it to us in late 2020 as our only option. I was grateful how generous they were with our 2020 points and the 2021 points which we had borrowed in for our May and September 2020 trips that we cancelled: they put the 2021 points back into 2021 for us.

We never would use our DVC points for non DVC trips so were unfamiliar with RCI. Uncertain if we will actually use the RCI points or not but we felt better not having lost them entirely.

That said my husband and I are both physicians - losing DVC points would have been the least of our problems or concerns over the last 16 or so months. We have a lot to be grateful for and our DVC points and Disney trips are all luxury items.

 

[Masterbetatesta]

I had 200 points due to expire in Aug of this year when I took over my brother's account last month. I didn't know what to do either since he missed the banking window in March.

Thanks to members of this forum, I called member services and asked for the one time exception for the points to be banked beyond the banking window, which they surprisingly did for me.

My daughter is only 2 right now so I figured I'd just rent the points through 2022, which I ended up doing. It took roughly 3 days to rent out 489 points (borrowed 89 from 2022). I think that paid for roughly 7 years worth of dues.

It took some effort but it was worth it. Perhaps keep that in mind just in case this happens again. You have other options aside from relying on member services.