DVC Newbie...Please help!!!

[spaceranger1217]

Hi! I really need some help and hoping you guys could help me out!

I just got back from Disney and bought into DVC for 150 points at AKV. I have been considering DVC for years and finally went through with it.

I kid you not, that same night I started to doubts. I have a December use year and was given the points from last year.

Here's my dilemma. The more I read about DVC the more overwhelmed I am getting. Here are my issues:

1. Price...resale is obviously the better option but the guide made it seem that I would be missing out on lots of member "perks"

2. Most of my traveling will be done Feb,July, and/or August. Is Dec a good year?

3. Can I combine direct and resale points?? I am thinking that it may be best to change my point amount and then use the difference to buy resale...or just cancel the whole thing and go resale...

4. I am worried about the cancellation process...I am not really sure how that occurs.

I really want to invest in DVC, I just don't want to regret it later I got really caught up in the "Disney Magic" and now I am just scared & overwhelmed

Please help!

 

[chukdotcom]

I would cancel that ASAP and then start researching what you really want to own. AKV can be purchased resale for much cheaper. The "extra perks" aren't worth anything to many people. You need to figure out if you would ever take advantage of them.

 

[nalajms]

I have a December use year and was given the points from last year.

Does that mean your account will have 300 pts right now? Because Dec is still in the 2013 UY. Did you get what's rightfully yours or did you get 2012 points also?

Make sure you understand all the rules. Find the paper that says you'd like to cancel the sale. Call the guide and tell him to send it to you if you don't have it. You can always go back and buy it later, whether resale or direct.

Good luck!

 

[Syndrome]

You will have to decide if the easy process of buying through Disney is worth it in the end. Yes, you can get a cheaper buy in price via resale but its not without its own frustrations ! Its basically like buying used car as far as haggling goes, and if you get a sweet deal (a little too sweet) , and Disney will just take it anyway. Then the process starts all over again.
I am not sure what you negotiated your Disney PP price at .......currently its at $155. PP , but they have been giving lower prices to encourage sales.
Average prices for AKV resale's look to be in the $70's to $80's range PP.
You will have to decide rather quickly if you want to get out of the Disney deal. Not exactly sure what the cooling off period is, but don't waste too much time deciding !

About the December UY ...........I think that should be fine for your traveling habits. A Feb. trip is fine. July and August is a little trickier. With a Dec. UY you have until July 31 to bank your points to next years points total. If you have a July or August trip planned with Dec UY points ...........its all good unless you have to cancel. Realistically (I would think)you should know by the end of July if your July or August trip needs to be cancelled (unless its a true emergency) .

Anyway, think it over quick ! Good Luck.

 

[chalee94]

1. Price...resale is obviously the better option but the guide made it seem that I would be missing out on lots of member "perks"

of course they made it seem that way. they only get paid if you buy in, so expecting a balanced explanation of DVC and whether it is a good fit for you from a guide/salesperson isn't realistic.

2. Most of my traveling will be done Feb,July, and/or August. Is Dec a good year?

sure.

3. Can I combine direct and resale points?? I am thinking that it may be best to change my point amount and then use the difference to buy resale...or just cancel the whole thing and go resale...

not a bad idea IMO. resale might take longer to get in, but it's much cheaper (which matters to a lot of us).

4. I am worried about the cancellation process...I am not really sure how that occurs.

i believe FL law gives you 10 calendar days to rescind the contract. there should be an explanation in your paperwork of the exact process. don't delay...

 

[spaceranger1217]

Does that mean your account will have 300 pts right now? Because Dec is still in the 2013 UY. Did you get what's rightfully yours or did you get 2012 points also?

Make sure you understand all the rules. Find the paper that says you'd like to cancel the sale. Call the guide and tell him to send it to you if you don't have it. You can always go back and buy it later, whether resale or direct.

Good luck!

I received 150 from dec 2013. HAve to wait until dec 2014 for other 150

and of course there is nothing included for cancelation so I will have to call.

 

[spaceranger1217]

I am not sure what you negotiated your Disney PP price at .......currently its at $155. PP , but they have been giving lower prices to encourage sales.
Average prices for AKV resale's look to be in the $70's to $80's range PP.
You will have to decide rather quickly if you want to get out of the Disney deal. Not exactly sure what the cooling off period is, but don't waste too much time deciding !

About the December UY ...........I think that should be fine for your traveling habits. A Feb. trip is fine. July and August is a little trickier. With a Dec. UY you have until July 31 to bank your points to next years points total. If you have a July or August trip planned with Dec UY points ...........its all good unless you have to cancel. Realistically (I would think)you should know by the end of July if your July or August trip needs to be cancelled (unless its a true emergency) .

Anyway, think it over quick ! Good Luck.

Thanks! I paid 145 per point...they offered a $5. incentive. I have ALOT of thinking to do in a short amount of time

 

[spaceranger1217]

Thanks for the help!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I don't think it's legal for them to not provide the cancellation paperwork. That would be a serious no no. As I recall it's just a single sheet that will be near the top of the copies of paperwork that you signed. Did they at least include the information on contacting Quality assurance?

At this particular moment from the info you provided I'd suggest you cancel the contract. You really have nothing to lose and you would be able to contact them in a month or two and get the identical or virtually identical deal and it would give you time to do more research and determine what the best course of action is for you.

There is no doubt that you can save money buying AKV resale vs direct. And most of the perks they tell you about missing take a lot of points and may not be as easy to book as they suggest. Reality is that the best value of DVC is using it to stay at DVC resorts.

And as you've learned you did not get last years points. With a Dec UY you were given the current 2013 points.

 

[Flyerzsfan]

I'm a little confused. I just returned from Disney Saturday and inquired about Ak during the presentation for the Grand Floridian and was advised that they were sold out. Any light you can shed on this would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm a little confused. I just returned from Disney Saturday and inquired about Ak during the presentation for the Grand Floridian and was advised that they were sold out. Any light you can shed on this would be helpful. Thanks

There are lots of resale contracts available. You don't need to buy direct and spend a lot more.

 

[chalee94]

I'm a little confused. I just returned from Disney Saturday and inquired about Ak during the presentation for the Grand Floridian and was advised that they were sold out. Any light you can shed on this would be helpful. Thanks

"sold out" in DVC-speak mostly means the guides have fewer incentives/bonuses in their compensation package to sell it to you. they most likely get a bigger commission if you buy VGF than if you buy AKV.

DVC is constantly reacquiring contracts at sold-out resorts like AKV by ROFR and foreclosures and will sell that to you (or put you on a waitlist if necessary) if you push and say that is all you are interested in.

but if you don't push, they will steer you toward what they are currently selling, whether it is what you want or not.

but resales are considerably cheaper in most cases for sold-out resorts, so you were lucky. now you can do research and decide without the influence of salespeople whether DVC is worth it for your situation.

 

[BrerNashville]

You will have to decide if the easy process of buying through Disney is worth it in the end. Yes, you can get a cheaper buy in price via resale but its not without its own frustrations ! Its basically like buying used car as far as haggling goes

.......currently its at $155. PP , but they have been giving lower prices to encourage sales.
Average prices for AKV resale's look to be in the $70's to $80's range PP.

Regarding haggling -- it's good to keep this in perspective. If your choice is to pay $150 PP from disney, and $75-$85 resale, you don't have to squeeze every last nickel out of the resale market in order to have saved yourself a nice chunk of change. Look at what recent posted sales have gone for, find a contract in that range that has not been stripped of points, and offer the asking price. Don't worry if you don't get a price as low as what people have posted in these forums -- you will still save a lot of cash.

On the other hand, if you have plenty of time and enjoy the "art of the deal", by all means, haggle away!

 

[Syndrome]

Regarding haggling -- it's good to keep this in perspective. If your choice is to pay $150 PP from disney, and $75-$85 resale, you don't have to squeeze every last nickel out of the resale market in order to have saved yourself a nice chunk of change. Look at what recent posted sales have gone for, find a contract in that range that has not been stripped of points, and offer the asking price. Don't worry if you don't get a price as low as what people have posted in these forums -- you will still save a lot of cash.

On the other hand, if you have plenty of time and enjoy the "art of the deal", by all means, haggle away!

Agreed on keeping it in perspective !
I love a good deal, and will work a bit to get it.
It all comes down to how many points can you buy resale vs going the Disney route (at least for us). We look at it this way ......if we want to spend "X" amount of money .......we can buy 100 points from Disney, or we can buy approx 250-300+ points going the resale route. The only downside to this ,is the extra maintanance fees every year !

 

[crisi]

Here are the perks you are missing out on....

You can't book Disney offerings - that means that you can't book the limited number of Disney hotels that Disney would allow you to book on points (you can't book any hotel with a DVC attached to it anyway), for far more points than you can get a DVC room for. You also can't cruise DCL - for an amount of points that OFTEN if you'd rent your points and pay cash, you'd come out ahead. You can't book ABD trips - which take so many points that you'd need LOTS of them to take your family - you might manage to pay for one person with an average sized contract if you used three years of points. And you'd still need airfare.

You do get (at this time) member perks - like a discount on annual passes or a few dining discounts, the (limited for all dvc members) ability to pool hop - note that perks change all the time and are not contractual - we could ALL lose them.

You do get the (limited for all DVC members) ability to trade through RCI - again, this isn't contractual for anyone, we used to trade through II and there is no guarantee we'd be able to continue to trade at all.

That's it.

For $50 a point or more, they are doing you a favor not letting you book an overpriced (on points) cruise.

 

[LisaS]

I'm a little confused. I just returned from Disney Saturday and inquired about Ak during the presentation for the Grand Floridian and was advised that they were sold out. Any light you can shed on this would be helpful. Thanks

Disney will sell you any DVC resort if you insist that there is only one specific resort you will buy. If they don't have enough points available in the Use Year you want at that moment in time they will put your name on a waiting list and call you when they have points available. Right now they need to sell VGF and Aulani so they will say whatever they need to say to push prospects towards those resorts.

Fortunately for those interested in purchasing AKV, the resale market has lots of contracts available. Yes you will lose some over-priced perks but you will save thousands of dollars on your purchase. Scroll up to the top of this page and click on the "DVC Resale Listings" link to see what is available through The Timeshare Store (a board sponsor). It will give you an idea of what you would save if you purchase on the resale market instead of from Disney.

 

[abner1776]

"sold out" does not exist with DVC the same way it does not exists with car salesman...ever walk into a car dealership and have the salesman say "sorry, we are sold out of cars today."

THe sales consultants at DVC are commissioned sales people who are incentivized to sell the DVC resorts that are currently being offered which now is AKV. That does not mean you can't buy BCV or VWL but AKV is what they are pushing. A few years ago it was SSR but I said NO I want VWL and that is what I got. Remember, that this is a major purchase that you are making and something that you want to be comfortable with for the next 20, 30 or 40 years.

If you are sold on DVC but not necessarily on AKV then it's time to back out of the transaction and start from scratch.

The other thing to keep in mind is the $5 incentive that the sales person is offering is "chump change" compared to what you are going to spend over the life of your contract so don't get overwhelmed with saving $5.

A couple of weeks ago I was staying at the GF and went over to take the tour of the VGF. I was very impressed and the sales person kept pushing me to setup a formal tour the next day but I was not interested. He then said, well, the price is going up $6 tomorrow....I turned and looked at him with that "please, you gotta be kiddin me frown" and walked away. A 150 point contract at VGF could cost $60,000 over the life of the contract...does he really think that a few hundred $$$ is gonna make or break the deal ??

 

[dundey]

There is also a website that consolidates resale listings from the 3 major DVC resellers.

That site is currently showing 94 resale listings for Animal Kingdom. Lots of 100 point listing from low to mid $80's per pt.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

There is also a website that consolidates resale listings from the 3 major DVC resellers. That site is currently showing 94 resale listings for Animal Kingdom. Lots of 100 point listing from low to mid $80's per pt.

What website is this?

 

[AnnaS]

Here are the perks you are missing out on....

You can't book Disney offerings - that means that you can't book the limited number of Disney hotels that Disney would allow you to book on points (you can't book any hotel with a DVC attached to it anyway), for far more points than you can get a DVC room for. You also can't cruise DCL - for an amount of points that OFTEN if you'd rent your points and pay cash, you'd come out ahead. You can't book ABD trips - which take so many points that you'd need LOTS of them to take your family - you might manage to pay for one person with an average sized contract if you used three years of points. And you'd still need airfare.

You do get (at this time) member perks - like a discount on annual passes or a few dining discounts, the (limited for all dvc members) ability to pool hop - note that perks change all the time and are not contractual - we could ALL lose them.

You do get the (limited for all DVC members) ability to trade through RCI - again, this isn't contractual for anyone, we used to trade through II and there is no guarantee we'd be able to continue to trade at all.

That's it.

For $50 a point or more, they are doing you a favor not letting you book an overpriced (on points) cruise.

Hi Charles,

I just read this morning the new change. You can now book a hotel w/DVC attached to it including A of A.

I was surprised not to have seen it here yet.