feel like I was lied to....

[kd5k]

We just joined a few weeks ago, in fact just got our "pins" in the mail a couple of days ago.
It took us a good couple of weeks to make a final decision to buy. We called our poor guide almost daily to ask questions..probably drove her nuts.
Looking back now, there are/were things that just aren't "up to par" with the whole situation.
#1 was we were "already in the system" when I found this board and found our about the referal discounts. After a little prodding and going over her head we were able to get the discount points.
#2 now this is probably my biggest beef....I found my list of notes I took when talking to her over the phone and writing things down and now that we "officially" bought, I have more questions and search the boards for answers. We had asked her about the "banking" points and they were explained as far as time frames and how many you can bank.......BUT....she also told us you can "borrow" them back if you needed them!! Now in reading more I am finding out this is not true at all !!
I am sure as we learn more and get used to how things work it will become easier...but why can't people just be honest in the first place??
just venting a little I guess.....
thanks and hugs, Deb

 

[jimmytammy]

Unfortunately, there are some dishonest salespeople out there, and some may even be employed by DVC. But, they are few and far between at DVC. And they usually dont stay long. DVC pretty much sales itself, so the sales team dont have to be underhanded like other timeshare sales staff may be.

Im sorry that you felt you were lied too but DVC will not leave you dissapointed as for vacations. And in most cases, you will probably be assigned another sales agent in the future. We are on our 3rd one. We must be really rough on em

I feel once you have made that 1st or 2nd trip home, you will put behind your concerns about DVC and be a proud and happy owner.

BTW, Congrats and Welcome Home, neighbor!!

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

You can borrow your next use year points only.

For example --June use year 150 pt contract --- from June 06 to 07 I have 150 points to use for a vacation during that time.

on Nov 30 I bank 50 points and use 100 points towards my Feb 07 vacation. That leaves me with 0 points for my June 06/07 use year. However, on Dec 15 I decide that I want to stay an extra 2 nights. Since I don't have any points left, I can borrow the points needed from my June 07/08 use year. So if I need 60 points, I would then have 140 points left for the 07/08 use year (50 banked from 06 which need to be used by June 08 and 90 points from my 07/08 use year(which I can use for 07/08 use year or bank them to use in my 08/09 use year).

Its complicated, but I hope you understand the way banking and borrowing works. Once you bank you cannot use those points for the current use year and once you borrow you cannot use those points in the future use year and will need to use them within the current use year.

 

[JimMIA]

Hi Deb...and Welcome Home!

Banking and borrowing are fairly confusing, but once you see how it works, I think you'll like it.

First thing you have to understand about banking, borrowing, and transferring is that they are irreversible transactions. You can't un-anything with any of those transactions.

What your guide was probably talking about is banking one year and borrowing from the following year. We do that each year to avoid losing points to expiration, so I'll show you how it works.

Say you are coming up on a banking deadline and you have 100 of the current UY points (2006) which you need to bank. You're not sure whether you are going to take a trip before the expiration of your UY, so you bank the points to 2007.

A month later, you decide you do, in fact, want to take a trip. You can't "un-bank" your banked points, but you can borrow 2007 points and accomplish the same thing.

When your 2007 UY rolls around, any banked points will automatically be used first so you don't lose them -- but that's a detail you should always double-check while you are still on the phone with MS after making your ressie.

One essential tool you should get is Caskbill's DVC Planner. Bill is one of our mods. It's completely free and incredibly useful. Among other things, it gives you all the info about banking deadlines. You get it at www.caskbill.com

I doubt if your guide misled you, but this is one of those powerful features of DVC that is easily misunderstood.

 

[tmt martins]

I never really cared about the banking as I always thought I would be deep into borrowing.

I was explained and read up here on the DIS to really understand it.

And what I'm doing is off-setting the smaller trips with an AP discount so I won't have to borrow.

Do the Caskbill's downloads they are a great tool for all aspects of the DVC points.

And welcome Home .

 

[3DisneyKids]

I agree with Jim here that you may not have understood your guide completely and/or he/she did a poor job of explaining how banking and borrowing work. It IS confusing and I surely do not understand it as well as most others here.

You are here on the DIS now, which is hands down the best source for all DVC information and opinions. Heck, even the GUIDES come to the DIS to find stuff out (no kidding!...just talked to my most awesome guide today and she commented on some of the posts I have made here! I said, "I knew you guys read the threads, but I didn't realize that you decoded the screen names..." and she commented that they may not spend tons of time trying to figure out who is who, but if you have some identifying factors, then they put 2 and 2 together. In the case of my guide, I think she only has a couple of families from way up here in Maine, so she could figure it out pretty easily...)

WELCOME HOME and don't worry...you'll get the hang of it. And if you don't, you've come to the right place...

 

[Sammie]

I agree I don't feel like your guide lied to you. Banking, borrowing, holding accounts, use year can be very confusing when you start out and sometimes it takes doing it, to understand it.

Possibly what happened is that sometimes as members we asked the wrong questions due to our confusion and then when we realize it we think we were mislead, when actually it was just misunderstanding.

It will get easier and now you can deal with Member Services and check all of it online and it will be easier to understand.

 

[Sammie]

"I knew you guys read the threads, but I didn't realize that you decoded the screen names..."

How do you think they come up with the Naughty List and the dumpster view candidates.

 

[Deb & Bill]

How do you think they come up with the Naughty List and the dumpster view candidates.

Bad Sammie.


kd5K - another thing. If you borrow points and then decide you don't really need them, you could bank the current year points and use the borrowed points. So if you got 2007 points borrowed to add to your 2006 points, but now you don't need the extra points, you can still bank the 2006 points (if you are within your banking timeframe) and use the 2007 points.

Half the time, I don't think the Guides are so much lying, but just not as knowledgeable as some of us.

I know that when we viewed the models once, I overheard the guide telling the potential member that the sleeper sofa in the studio was queen sized. I took him aside and told him that he needed to check that because I was sure they were double sized in the studios. A few minutes later he came up to me and told me that, amazingly enough, I was correct and he was wrong.

 

[3DisneyKids]

How do you think they come up with the Naughty List and the dumpster view candidates.

I know...I know...I am SO on the Naughty List! In fact, over on the Community Board, they have me sitting on the Naughty Mat...been there so long I am starting to chafe!

 

[Boston5602]

A few minutes later he came up to me and told me that, amazingly enough, I was correct and he was wrong.

 

[tmt martins]

I'm so changeing my User name when I hit the 5000 post mark.

I also have been giving the DIS to alot of people I really don't want to know of all my trips because they would bug me so much.

I don't have to worry about my Guide I've never heard from him anyhow .

 

[Sammie]

Bad Sammie.

I am on the Nice list.

 

[kd5k]

I really want to thank you for all of your responses!! You have all made me feel “more at home!!”
Guess I shouldn’t be so harsh as to say she “lied” to me, but more to the fact that she was uninformed. I did ask her flat out about banking the 270 points we will get in Dec. of this year and doing something bigger in ’08. I had asked if we decided we wanted to want to do something for a quicker trip in Oct. of ‘07 that we could get the points needed to do that. And she told me...”of course you can, they are your points to use anytime.”(during the UY of course)
I can and do see how things get confusing....heck I am just learning all of the stinking abbreviations!!
I am super happy that I found this board and so many new wonderful friends!
hugs to ya all, Deb
oh and PS....Sammie, I give you permission to get off that uncomfortable mat!!

 

[Doctor P]

This will likely sound harsh, and I don't mean it that way, but hopefully what I am about to say will be helpful to others who are in the purchase process. 1) Read the materials they give you before you sign on the dotted line and/or before you make your final commitment--what is in the documents is the only binding information; 2) When you call quality assurance or they call you, make sure that you ask any questions you have about the documents--they are in the business of answering those types of questions and are not marketing people, per se; 3) read these boards and ask questions as appropriate. Your guide's answers can be helpful, and most guides are extremely knowledgeable, but their oral representations are not binding nor are they official. The purchaser must be proactive in getting full, OFFICIAL information before they commit--it expressly states in the documents (several times as I recall, including the Product Understanding Checklist) that oral representations have no bearing or status.

 

[tjkraz]

Guess I shouldn’t be so harsh as to say she “lied” to me, but more to the fact that she was uninformed. I did ask her flat out about banking the 270 points we will get in Dec. of this year and doing something bigger in ’08. I had asked if we decided we wanted to want to do something for a quicker trip in Oct. of ‘07 that we could get the points needed to do that. And she told me...”of course you can, they are your points to use anytime.”(during the UY of course)

And that answer is factually correct. You could borrow your 2007 points for use in October '07. In your first post you mentioned that the word "borrow" was used in the response, so there must have been more to the discussion than your quote above.

I agree with the others in that it seems like there was something lost in translation here. There would be absolutely no benefit to your Guide by misrepresenting the banking and borrowing rules.

As for the earlier comments about not receiving the friends and family discount, did you have a referral from an existing member? If not, then your Guide simply was not able to offer that price. If DVC had intended on having the $15 discount apply to all purchases, they would have structured the deal that way. But they didn't and it was your Guide's responsibility to abide by the terms her employer laid-out.

 

[Figment2]

Even though I have owned for years, I went on the SSR tour with friends (mainly to see SSR). I sat with them through the whole presentation. Later it was amazing to me that we heard the guide say totally different things. I understood what he said but my friends took some statements to mean something totally different. A lot of the confusion was on banking and borrowing.

This may be a case of what he said and what you heard being two different things.

Cyn

 

[browniemtb]

first and foremost Welcome Home......

Shake it off. I'm sure it was just a mis-understand of some sort. The DVC guides are great and they really don't have to stretch the facts to sell. Some times as consumers we hear or interpret what we want to hear.

Now that you a member you'll learn fast and keep posting on the DIS, especially those tough questions...the veterans here are awesome..

Brownie

 

[Boardwalker]

Sorry Deb. Hope you stll really come to enjoy your vacation investment and Welcome home. The views expressed in this email are mine alone and I have never been employed by the Disney company and can barely work my own email. And I do love my membership and find both borrowing and banking a real benefit as I plan trips with family members and friends. Truth is, three years of points can really be used for one vacation with planning, and that even gives my sister Kathy time to save up for her tickets at 30 cents a day.... (allowing for the usual QVC sales).
Point being, it is cumbersome to get it all down, but it will work out for you. Talk to someone at member services about what you want to do, and they will help you understand it. They really are helpful and will do what they can for you.