<<I’m leery about renting off David’s because I have read bad things people have said on the Disboard.
Now I’m not sure if I should book the Poly or just cancel and get my deposit back? Any advice would be appreciated. >>
I do not know what you have read on the DisBoard that you are referring to. I have rented from David's for our next two trips; one in Oct and a split stay in Feb. Although our trips have not been completed yet, I am very happy with all of our communications, transactions, etc. thus far. I always thoroughly research prior to any purchase I make and they appeared to be the best "bet".
It’s a long thread but definitely worth reading if you’re contemplating renting from David’s. The way that they have dealt with both owners and renters in this situation has not been ideal and very inconsistent from one owner or renter to the next. But one thing that has been consistent is that David’s has operated in a manner that puts David’s first and the customer last.
Owners who had booked reservations during the closure were first asked to refund the money they received from David’s even though their points were either gone (expired) or had very little time left to use them. Owners who reached out to ask if their renter wanted to cancel before it was too late to save their points were told to wait for Disney to cancel the reservation. Owners who wished to refund cash to their renters were told NO.
Renters who had reservations during the shutdown were initially told that there was a no cancellations/no refunds policy, even though the renter was not the one cancelling the reservation. It took weeks before David’s settled upon their voucher scheme, whereby the renter was offered an I.O.U. from David’s instead of a refund. Renters on that thread were encouraged by fellow posters to initiate a chargeback on their credit cards instead of accepting a voucher. Many have been successful.
There are also incidents of David’s lying to either owners or renters. Telling renters that the owner refused to re-rent their reservation when the owner offered to do it twice. Telling owners that the renter wanted a voucher (Could you please refund monies received in order to fund the voucher?), when the renter asked repeatedly for a refund instead.
Since the re-opening, David’s appears to be trying to play nice. Owners are being paid even if the renter is a no-show. Renters who still won’t travel, especially those from foreign countries and states with quarantine regulations, are being offered partial cash refunds if their reservation can be re-rented, or vouchers. I think they are in damage control mode now.
On a personal level, I won’t use them to rent out my points.Their new owner’s contract puts all of the risk of a shutdown on the owner. David’s takes none of the risk. I’m not going to accept that. And neither should any other owner. So, no VGF from me. No BWV. No AKV. And soon, no Poly points. David’s burned that bridge with a lot of owners. And without owners agreeing to rent out their points, David’s doesn’t have a solid business model. No owners offering their points for rental means those people with vouchers will have a hard time using them, or they will have to settle for whatever is available at 7 months or less.
