Has anyone been burned by renting points?

[NYsHiddenMickey]

Hi:

I have rented before, and I actually just rented points today. Today's renter was a pleasure to deal with and I am certain that the transaction will be finalized with no problems. I was curious if anyone had any renting "horror" stories....In addition, since I first started thinking about renting, I have always worried about the room being damaged or something like that and being held responsible even though I had nothing to do with it.. Has anyone experienced anything like that?

Thanks
Matt

 

[Deb & Bill]

There was one member who never got paid by the non-member. Another member got stuck with BIL's bill from the DVC resort since the credit card the BIL left with the front desk wouldn't accept the charges he ran up.

 

[manning]

There was one member who never got paid by the non-member. Another member got stuck with BIL's bill from the DVC resort since the credit card the BIL left with the front desk wouldn't accept the charges he ran up.

Sometime you gotta love family

 

[tjkraz]

I few years ago there was a report of a handful of people getting apparently cheated by a renter. If I recall correctly, it ended up being a case where the contract owner rented as many points as he could and then sold his contract on the resale market. What he didn't realize was that when a contract changes ownership, all pending reservations are cancelled. Several people who had rented found they had no room upon arrival.

I don't recall how that one was resolved but it wasn't a case where fraud was the intent.

Recently there was a report from someone who was genuinely defrauded. She was asked to use Western Union to wire payment and then the "owner" stopped communicating. There was quite a lengthy thread here about it. Maybe someone has a link...

 

[3DisneyKids]

I few years ago there was a report of a handful of people getting apparently cheated by a renter. If I recall correctly, it ended up being a case where the contract owner rented as many points as he could and then sold his contract on the resale market. What he didn't realize was that when a contract changes ownership, all pending reservations are cancelled. Several people who had rented found they had no room upon arrival.

I don't recall how that one was resolved but it wasn't a case where fraud was the intent.

Recently there was a report from someone who was genuinely defrauded. She was asked to use Western Union to wire payment and then the "owner" stopped communicating. There was quite a lengthy thread here about it. Maybe someone has a link...

If I am reading correctly, the OP here is the DVC member, not someone who wants to rent points. So, the question is, has an owner ever been burned when renting out his/her points.

Not that I am aware of, though Deb & Bill pointed out an interesting case.

Looking at it from the other end...has a renter ever been burned by an owner...those are the cases that tjkraz is talkng about. The more recent thread is titled "Sad Stroy from One who Trusted Too Much."

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Sometime you gotta love family

And sometimes you gotta let go....

 

[tjkraz]

If I am reading correctly, the OP here is the DVC member, not someone who wants to rent points. So, the question is, has an owner ever been burned when renting out his/her points.

Gotcha!

IMO, if the member structures the deal properly, he/she has the most potential to make out like a bandit if the non-member bails. Insist on at least 50% up front and the other 50% no later than 60 days before check-in. If the second half doesn't arrive, re-rent the points. (I would give the person a few days to complete his/her obligation, but you gotta draw the line somewhere!)

 

[NYsHiddenMickey]

Wow. I guess that during the reservation/rental process, the member does have the "upper hand", but once the reservation is made, and the vacation arrives, the renter (non-member) can really stick it to the owner.

Example: what if the renter checks out, and uppn inspection, DIsney finds damage to the room. The owner is ultimately responsible. Just figured I would see if anyone out there was ever in that type of situation..

Keep the stories coming though. They are great!!

 

[Cruiser1969]

Gotcha!

IMO, if the member structures the deal properly, he/she has the most potential to make out like a bandit if the non-member bails. Insist on at least 50% up front and the other 50% no later than 60 days before check-in. If the second half doesn't arrive, re-rent the points. (I would give the person a few days to complete his/her obligation, but you gotta draw the line somewhere!)

This is very interesting . . . what method of payment is most secure for the DVC member? Paypal? How does one go about getting the money from Paypal once it's deposited?

 

[crisi]

Sometime you gotta love family

This seems to have been Disney's error, not the BIL scamming on the bill. As I remember, the BIL did pay up.

However, the point remains that even if DISNEY screws up by not having a good credit card number for your renter, they will try and stick YOU with the bill.

There have been several cases of people getting conned into renting cheaper from hard luck stories.

 

[salmoneous]

This is very interesting . . . what method of payment is most secure for the DVC member? Paypal?

Most secure for the DVC member is cash/check. But that is not so secure for the renter. Most secure for the renter is going to be a credit card payment via Paypal. But Paypal is the least secure for the DVC member.

If a renter pays via Paypal, they can go to their credit card company, or to Paypal, file a complaint, and take their money back. It's then up to the DVC member to fight and retake the money back. And the DVC member is probably not going to be successful.

Somebody has to take a risk. I (obviously biased) think it needs to be the renter. The DVC member is the more stable to the two - they can be found specifically because they have a DVC ownership. In case of fraud, you have someone to go after. That's not the case with the member.

I know there are DVC owners who rent via Paypal. But if I ever rented, there's no way I would take it.

 

[JimMIA]

This seems to have been Disney's error, not the BIL scamming on the bill. As I remember, the BIL did pay up.

However, the point remains that even if DISNEY screws up by not having a good credit card number for your renter, they will try and stick YOU with the bill.

That's correct. In that case, it was actually a whole comedy of errors by the front desk/accounting CMs which caused the owner grief -- not the BIL. They not only made a big mistake, they didn't correct the mistake.

The BIL left his credit card, and thought it was taken care of. DVC never notified the owner of any problem until he tried to make a reservation some time later. Then, they told him his account was suspended because of the unpaid bill, about which of course he had no knowledge. To make matters worse, they wouldn't let the BIL just pay the bill; they insisted on the owner paying the bill. Fortunately, it was between family, but if the scenario had been slightly different it could have been a real mess.

 

[Cruiser1969]

Most secure for the DVC member is cash/check. But that is not so secure for the renter. Most secure for the renter is going to be a credit card payment via Paypal. But Paypal is the least secure for the DVC member.

If a renter pays via Paypal, they can go to their credit card company, or to Paypal, file a complaint, and take their money back. It's then up to the DVC member to fight and retake the money back. And the DVC member is probably not going to be successful.

Somebody has to take a risk. I (obviously biased) think it needs to be the renter. The DVC member is the more stable to the two - they can be found specifically because they have a DVC ownership. In case of fraud, you have someone to go after. That's not the case with the member.

I know there are DVC owners who rent via Paypal. But if I ever rented, there's no way I would take it.

Thank you for your response. The thought of renting, should I ever have to, has crossed my mind several times, and I often wondered what the safest route would be for a DVC member to do this. I had no idea about the Paypal scenario.

How does one go about "withdrawing" money from a Paypal account (let's say, to get the deposit money before any irreversible renting steps are taken). Does that make sense? TIA

 

[3DisneyKids]

Most secure for the DVC member is cash/check. But that is not so secure for the renter. Most secure for the renter is going to be a credit card payment via Paypal. But Paypal is the least secure for the DVC member.

If a renter pays via Paypal, they can go to their credit card company, or to Paypal, file a complaint, and take their money back. It's then up to the DVC member to fight and retake the money back. And the DVC member is probably not going to be successful.

Somebody has to take a risk. I (obviously biased) think it needs to be the renter. The DVC member is the more stable to the two - they can be found specifically because they have a DVC ownership. In case of fraud, you have someone to go after. That's not the case with the member.

I know there are DVC owners who rent via Paypal. But if I ever rented, there's no way I would take it.

This is a bit over-simplified.

As someone who has been through this process (totally different transaction...nothing to do with DVC rental), while the purchaser (or in this case, the non-owner) can certainly file a complaint...he/she will not just automatically get his/her money back. It is a very lengthy process in which lots of evidence must be shown. PayPal has a huge reputation and an enormous client-base...they don't invalidate transactions just because someone complains.

 

[mcorbo]

When you create a paypal account, you link it to your existing bank account, then money can be transferred between the 2. You can also link it to a credit card for making payments to others (ebay etc). Paypal also offers a debit card for access to the money in your account.

Thank you for your response. The thought of renting, should I ever have to, has crossed my mind several times, and I often wondered what the safest route would be for a DVC member to do this. I had no idea about the Paypal scenario.

How does one go about "withdrawing" money from a Paypal account (let's say, to get the deposit money before any irreversible renting steps are taken). Does that make sense? TIA

 

[crisi]

This is a bit over-simplified.

As someone who has been through this process (totally different transaction...nothing to do with DVC rental), while the purchaser (or in this case, the non-owner) can certainly file a complaint...he/she will not just automatically get his/her money back. It is a very lengthy process in which lots of evidence must be shown. PayPal has a huge reputation and an enormous client-base...they don't invalidate transactions just because someone complains.

Apparently, with "intanglibles" like DVC rentals its much harder for the seller to "win" the argument.

Don't know, haven't tried, but there was someone posting here a while back that did get burned by the Paypal rent scenario and found Paypal not at all helpful. It was a nearly automatic thing and she(he) was told it was the nature of the transaction.

 

[diesel]

I’m the DVC member whose BIL’s hotel bill ended up on my account. I think this was definitely a very unusual situation. Basically we rented points (well not rented but got him a reservation) to BIL. When he checked in he left a CC on the room so he could use his keycard to charge while at Disney. He charged about $1500 to the room. When he was leaving he checked with the front desk and they said they had no charges against his room. He knew this was incorrect and had them check again but they saw nothing. He was in a hurry so he figured the hotel would figure it out eventually and put in on his CC. A few weeks later the CC still was not charged and he contacted BWV again but they stated again there were no charges. So he gives up and figures there’s nothing he can do on his end. He did mention this to us. About 4 or 5 months later I go to make a reservation and am told that DVC accounting has put a hold on my account for an unpaid hotel bill. I tried to explain to them that this charge was not mine and they stated that since they were my points used that I was responsible. I don’t think legally I would have been responsible since it was the hotel that entered into the agreement with my BIL to charge to his room but it was quite a frustrating issue to clear up. It took about 2 months to get it straightened out because my BIL wanted a detailed bill of what was charged to the room and that was sent out to the wrong address twice by DVC. Then he finally gets the bill and sends a check FedEx and they receive the package but the check is never cashed and the account is not cleared up. Then another check was sent again it was received but never cashed. I finally had to step in and just pay the bill by CC so that I could make some reservations and my BIL just paid me directly. Very frustrating.

But the point of my story is that I think this was a very unique and unusual situation and don’t really think it would happen again. I would say 99.9% of people who rent points do not have any issues so don’t be swayed by my story.

 

[CarolMN]

I think the most likely problem an owner will have with renting is finding a renter who will stick to the terms agreed to prior to any money changing hands.

There have been many reports of people using DVC members to check availability multiple times (for different dates, room types, resorts, etc.) and then "playing" one owner against another to get a rock bottom rate. That's not "illegal", but an inexperienced owner can spend a lot of time dealing with people like that for no return.

 

[Boston5602]

This isn't about point rental but to the BIL who had billing problems with BWV

I had charged up about $300.00 worth of stuff one trip and had placed everything on my room charge , which I left a credit card for with the front desk. They never charged me . I called several times to no avail. They kept telling me they charged my credit card. They didn't !

I keep a close eye on my room bills now knowing they could mess up and do!

 

[riatees]

I've been searching and can't find an answer to this question, so I apologize in advance if this has been answered before. As an owner, how long to you give your renter to respond when you inform them that you were able to confirm their reservation for them, before you give up on them and cancel the reservation. For example, you communicate back and forth with potential renter, they give you all of their info and ask you to make a reservation for them and you do. You inform the renter that the reservation was made and send them a copy of the confirmation along with your rental agreement stating payment terms. If serveral days go by with no communication back from the renter, how long do you give them the benefit of the doubt before you cancel the reservation and try to re-rent the points? Thanks for your input.