Disney Vacation Account Nightmare

[verleniahall]

glad that it has been taken care of

 

[NovemberPapa3]

We both are and if there is one thing I can offer for advice no matter how trivial it is, it would be to just avoid doing the DVA. Avoid it until they at least get a more streamlined process in place to address this issue because it's not an uncommon one. I've been contacted by a few more people telling me of even worse situations with their accounts up to and including a completely wiped out account with no trace of where the balance disappeared to.

 

[nhgirl]

Reading this made me nervous so I just called DCL and made a payment with the balance of my DVA. I do swagbucks to get Target GC's and use them to buy Disney GC's. I thought I read on these boards that I can add the Disney GC's into one reloadable Disney GC. Is this true? I don't think I'll be using the DVA anymore but I'd rather make additional payment to DCL with one card not many.

 

[Marionnette]

Reading this made me nervous so I just called DCL and made a payment with the balance of my DVA. I do swagbucks to get Target GC's and use them to buy Disney GC's. I thought I read on these boards that I can add the Disney GC's into one reloadable Disney GC. Is this true? I don't think I'll be using the DVA anymore but I'd rather make additional payment to DCL with one card not many.

disneygiftcard .com

You can combine for a maximum total of $1,000 onto a single GC.

 

[NovemberPapa3]

There is just no coherent process should something hit the fan. A normal conversation during our issue went like this:

Us: "We're trying to get a resolution on an account issue. Our Disney Vacation Account has somehow been disconnected from the email that was used to register it. We have no way to see any account information but we do have emails and bank statements which show that we have an account and that it was being funded until late January."

DVA CS: "I can help you, do you know the last four digits of your account?"

Us: "We have the first 12 but not the last four, how do we find the last four digits?

DVA CS: "That's easy! Just go ahead and log on to your account and click on account information and you should see your account number!"

Us: "........."

DVA CS: "Hello? Are you still there?"

Us: "Unfortunately."

 

[gatormom2tots]

I have heard nothing but nightmares about DVA...last summer I believe they had a 2 week period where NOBODY could even get into the system. yet there were those who defended it to the end and continued to keep their money there.

We looked into it initially but too many stories like this! Our DVA account was stored in our desk drawer where we could make any deposits and withdrawals we needed to. No "incentives" but no headaches either.

 

[havaneselover]

I agree it's a disaster. But I still use it. I've made enough using it to pay for my cruise to pay for a night at Pop Century pre-cruise. I've had some issues with it myself but nothing like this. If I had, I'm sure I too would be done with it.

Whenever someone on the Disney Cruise Facebook group I belong to asks about it, everyone raves about how great it is. At least I know what I'm getting into.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

I agree with @havaneselover that it is a complete disaster. And the only defense that I have is that anything that ever goes wrong always gets resolved. I've never heard of anyone say they didn't get their money back or found. So like @havaneselover I continue to use it despite a couple hiccups along the way.

In fact, a couple things about my account personally, the last 3 times I was due for a bonus (I've lost track TBH) they were sent (with an email) without a request. Totally fine with that! I've been getting reports every couple weeks and everything has been going smooth (knock on wood). Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come.

 

[daisy_77]

OP, I know your issue was finally resolved. I am going through the same thing right now. I have had this same account going for over a year and this morning I went to log in, and the prompt comes up that there is no DVA account with that email. Sigh. I am currently on hold with them right now and I am expecting ridiculous amounts of nonsense.

 

[fitnessmouse]

OP, I know your issue was finally resolved. I am going through the same thing right now. I have had this same account going for over a year and this morning I went to log in, and the prompt comes up that there is no DVA account with that email. Sigh. I am currently on hold with them right now and I am expecting ridiculous amounts of nonsense.

Do you happen to have another email that you are using for another Disney account? Like DCL, MDE, or Movie rewards or any other site in the Disney family if websites? That happened to me and they fixed it so I use the same info on all Disney sites. Appearantly the site got confused

 

[daisy_77]

Yeah, it was an email from long ago. The CM said it will take tech up to 2 weeks to update it with the proper email address. It's a good thing I don't need access to my money right away. I don't get why it should take up to 2 weeks. Is it that hard?

 

[minorthr]

Finally used up all the funds in our account and requested the bonus now to see if we actually get it.

 

[nhgirl]

I'm glad I cashed mine out. I have several different emails i use for different Disney web sites. I had enough to get a $20 GC at least.

 

[gottalovepluto]

That's ridiculous and scary OP! Glad you found your money. Maybe someday Disney will do this disappearing DVA nonsense to a vengeful lawyer...

 

[Brandonbsw]

All,

I have had the same issue as the original post for this thread. My issue has been on going since May 8. Tried to log into the account, and the error came up as "You have a Disney experience account, but not a Disney vacation account" After calling the generic number for "I forgot my password" trained personnel, my claim was finally addressed on day 3 of calling by their 2nd tier "IT Help". They did an update over that weekend, which caused my email address to be merged on all accounts. I was assured that my money was safe. At that point, I made the statement to close the account and give a full refund of my DVA. This was May 10, we were enrolled in automatic draft for the account(Drafted each Friday). Needless to say, the account drafted even after I was assured it had been closed. Their resolution was, you will get a refund, and in the meantime, set up a NEW account to start funding again. My question at this point was, "What about the 120 day period", oh, you will have to start over. (Tone escalated) "No, that will not work, as THIS is DISNEY'S mistake, and as such, DISNEY will need to make this as it was prior to DISNEY'S mistake". DVA Response: Sir, I will get with my "Leadership" and work on determining if we can give you the account time for 120 days". To that, I say, the incentive was 120 days active = ($1000 redeemed = $20 Disney gift card), we had already spent $3K through the account, and had 1k pending. Yet we seem not to be of any concern to the ever so large DVA staff. We are still awaiting response, and have not received any redemption for the gift cards. At one point, 1 (out of 4 we spoke to) of the level 1 DVA help desk says: "It is pointless for you to call us, as we cannot do anything for your account other than resetting your password. I will send this ticket to the "NEXT Level", and you can expect 3-5 days for response." I asked for a name and email address, and the response was; "We don't have a name or personal email, we only have a generic address that we use". We are very frustrated at this point. All of the "IT Help" comes from Disneyland in California, which hours of operation are only M-F 8am-5pm.

At this point I am still in que waiting for any further resolution.

 

[docsoliday1]

If you were getting monthly updates to your wife's email address, what about using that for having them track it down? Also, the other suggestion about checking your bank statements. I'm not sure the bank will be motivated in any way to help you, but it's worth a shot.

 

[AlohaNow]

For those folks asking, “Where else can we go, who else can we call, when DVA goes awry?” The answer: Chase Bank. Your money is being held in Chase Bank as DVA is a Chase product. Go in through a Chase customer service phone number, send an e-mail to Chase complaining about the crappy service and disappearing funds, just try to get Chase involved. If Chase hears about it directly from all us irate (former) DVA customers, perhaps something might change?

 

[NovemberPapa3]

Just a final update on this and this adventure will be concluded. The refund didn't actually credit our account until the second to the last day of the trip and on top of that the refund DID NOT occur in one lump sum. No my friends, they refunded us $920 in $25 increments ( you all can do that math on that and imagine what our account activity page looked like...) which set off a red flag for our bank who called us. Overall, I would advise anyone considering doing a DVA to look elsewhere until they either work out their logistical issues or hand it off to a company that can process issues more efficiently and transparently (highly unlikely).

 

[NovemberPapa3]

For those folks asking, “Where else can we go, who else can we call, when DVA goes awry?” The answer: Chase Bank. Your money is being held in Chase Bank as DVA is a Chase product. Go in through a Chase customer service phone number, send an e-mail to Chase complaining about the crappy service and disappearing funds, just try to get Chase involved. If Chase hears about it directly from all us irate (former) DVA customers, perhaps something might change?

This is not entirely accurate as calling the "retail level" Chase Bank directly will net you a gain of utter confusion. The Chase end of DVA is handled by a "business to business level" arm of Chase.

 

[Ava]

I've read so many DVA horror stories on this board that I will never open one. I considered it for a while, but not any more. A 2% return in the form of a Disney GC is not worth all the potential hassle. I'd rather leave the money in my own savings account; it earns less interest but at least I don't have to worry about it being lost.