Halfway through trip and SO disappointed...UPDATE: Post #60

[Dean]

Dean--I know that you are much more experience and the "dean" of timeshare knowledge, but I have to disagree with part of the above statement.

Whether someone gets a HC room rather than a non-HC is luck of the draw (unless you have, in fact, booked the HC room in which case it should be agiven). You should still be getting the dedicated versus lock-off that you were guaranteed--but it might be a handicapped unit.

However, if I book a "category" room like lock-off vs. dedicated, short of disaster (fire, flood) there is no way I should not get what I booked. Certainly the resort knows how many of each they have--if someone makes the error of giving my dedicated room to someone else and leaving me with a lock-off or vice-versa that is the resort's ERROR--not a decision. And they should (and did) appropriately compensate the OP for that. (Although personally, the hassle they had to go through would actually have been worth more to me than $200 and one night's points back. Two moves. Shudder.)

If DVC wants the latitude to not "guarantee" a category then they shouldn't have set up the categories to begin with. If that's the case--what's to say that if I book a two-bedroom they couldn't stick me with a one-bedroom (or studio!) that they couldn't just say (like they did to the OP) "sorry--that's all we have available presently."

In my mind having a studio-one bedroom-two bedroom "category" is no different from the "lock-off versus dedicated" category. DVC should be able to manage each category appropriately and it is clear that that does not always happen.

Finally--I hope your wife is feeling ok!

She's pretty miserable right now after her sugery yesterday but I'm sure I'll be miserable over the next 10 weeks of her being non weight bearing. She'll already getting a little stir crazy.

We'll simply have to agree to disagree on whether a unit type, even a unit view, is an absolute guarantee or a relative one. I feel the latter but can understand the other side. Many timeshares with view differences sell those as guaranteed, DVC does not. There have even been a few reports of people showing up and there not being a room at their reserved resort. I guess to me it's more of an issue of looking at the big picture and not worrying if small issues don't work out on a given trip and I see the areas in question as small issues. I own 3 Marriott weeks where I've paid significant extra dollars for an ocean front view and even then I realize there's a chance I'll arrive and something would have happened, more likely is that I might get a room that's technically OF but doesn't have a good view as with timeshares view type is more location than actual view as you can't control vegetation and none resort items.

 

[famsen]

I am glad you asked them to consider returning your points and I am happy they did. I agree, ALWAYS ask for a specific remedy to the problem you are addressing in a complaint letter.
Glad it all worked out for you!

 

[Tara]

DVC stepped up and went above and beyond on this one and I am one satisfied customer.

I'm glad to hear they did this - I think it was the right thing to do. And frankly, as a member with a smaller contract, they can't do anything but win by having you feel like buying more points down the road is a GOOD thing to do!

 

[SamSam]

Great ending, I'm glad Disney came through.

 

[DeeCee735]

We go straight to the manager everywhere (not just DVC) if there is a problem that we feel is their mistake and not ours.

Having said that, we have always been pleasantly surprised with DVC accommodations and CM service. Only once did I have to address an "unclean" issue and it was taken care of immediately.

On one trip a few years back, my DD and her BFF got sick on the first day, stomach viruses, fever, vomitting, the gross works. We lost an entire day. We were calling housekeeping for lysol and extra trash bags, clean towels, etc. They sent everything and more (at 2 a.m.).
The next morning the manager knocked on the door to see how the girls were. We asked if we could extend our stay one night, of course we were expecting to pay for it (in points) which we did, but he comped us 5 one day park tickets!!! So we'd be covered!! Didn't even ask if we needed them (which we did), just did it for us. It was a wonderful compensation for something that had nothing to do with him or the resort, and was completely out of our control and we felt, yet again, it was WAY the right decision to buy DVC!!!

 

[ddonshik]

We had some serious issues in Feb. at Bay Lake Tower. Smoky room, uninterested, incompetent staff. They threw us money, but it was hardly worth the effort.

 

[ajjollie23]

Thank you for all the comments. I was hesitant to ask for the points back, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to ask. I was not trying to demand them back, nor did I feel entitled to them, but I knew that Disney probably would not freely give them back to me. That is why I asked them to "consider" it. I was not anticipating that they would return them to me, but I thought I'd ask anyways.

I am really glad I did! Travis, from Member Satisfaction, called me yesterday. He said that he read my e-mail and noted my request to have the 46 points returned to me. He told me that after researching all that happened, they would ABSOLUTELY return the points to my account!

I was floored!! I really did not expect that at all. We only own 100 points so getting 46 of them back is a HUGE deal for us. I really was not trying to be demanding or "entitled". If they'd told me that the $200 was enough, then I would have been completely OK with it.

DVC stepped up and went above and beyond on this one and I am one satisfied customer.

That is awesome, I am really glad to see that DVC does stand behind everything and that they will go out of their way to help out when something like this goes wrong. It makes me extra happy that I am a DVC member Congrats !

 

[lilpooh108]

I read through the whole thread OP and thought that you handled it really well. I also started traveling w/my parents since I've had a baby and can totally sympathize w/your situation. It's hard trying to keep the entire family happy esp when the situation is bad, and trying to make sure that everything is alright since you planned the trip. I'm glad you got your well deserved $200 credit and a bonus of getting your points back!