Is this legal for DVC to do?

[diesel]

Sorry this is kind of a long story. In May we went to Disney with my Brother in Law. We got him a one bedroom at BWV on our points. When I booked the reservation they asked for all of BIL info like name, adress, phone number and he was also booked for the Magical Express. When BIL checked in he left his credit card imprint so that he could charge things to his room key. He charged approx. $1500 while there. When he checked out his bill balance said zero. BIL knew this was incorrect so he went to the front desk and they said nope nothing on his account. So my BIL figured the bill would catch up with him eventually. He left for a business trip after Disney and when he got back noticed that still nothing had been charged to his credit card so he called the BWV. They again told him everything was all set. BIL called BWV one last time in late June but was still told there was nothing on his bill. So fine BIL figures he's done all he could to pay this bill.

Then I call this week to book a reservation and am told that I can't book a reservation because DVC accounting has our account on hold do to an active bill on our account. So sure enought they claim I can't book any reservations until I pay for my BIL room charge. Now I am not trying to get out of paying for this bill but I don't believe this bill has anything to do with me. Disney is the one we allowed BIL to charge these items to room not me but DVC says because he was staying on my points that I am responsible for the amount. Does this seem right? I asked why I was not called about this problem accounting claimed they sent out a letter but when they looked at the file they said a letter had not been sent out. I asked why the hotel would not have just contacted my BIL they claimed they had no info on him which is incorrect since I gave DVC all the info when I booked his room. Accounting agreed to contact my BIL about the bill but I still have a note on my account.

The thing I am frustrated about is why nobody picked up the phone to call us about this problem I mean every time you call DVC they are always verifying your address and phone number. Second is I can't figure out why the bill is my responsibility since I'm not the one who allowed him to charge things it was Disney. I assume when you put down a credit card at check in they scan it to verify that the credit card is valid. I think this is a heads up to any one who rents points because if the room bill gets screwed up you're liable for the renters unpaid bill.

Does any one know if this info is in our hand book that we are liable for peoples unpaid bills even though we didn't authorize the charges.

The more I think about this the more angry I get. I need to call again on Monday and speak to a Supervisor to get our account off hold. Again I think this whole issue is between my BIL and the hotel and should not have anything to do with me. Again my BIL is going to pay the bill we are not trying to get away with out paying I'm just frustrated that this is affecting my ability to make reservations.

Sorry so long. Any one have comments or a similar issue.

 

[BillPA]

WOW!!
That can make renting points to a stranger a very bad deal for the owner. So, you folks that rent out your points, good luck!!!

 

[bicker]

A few notes: While the BoardWalk may have your BIL's credit information, DVC probably does not. That kind of information shouldn't be transfered around the company like that, (and in this case, it would actually be transfered between companies).

I believe there is a passage in the bylaws we all agreed to comply with that DVC can put a hold on any account where there is an outstanding balance, and I wouldn't be surprised that unpaid incidentals can be included in that. I'd read through the bylaws completely before I'd get upset about them doing this.

I think you'll have no problem getting this worked out early next week. Good luck.

That can make renting points to a stranger a very bad deal for the owner.

Without a doubt. If this is confirmed as proper procedure, I'll probably never rent to a stranger again.

 

[lulu71]

Sorry to hear about all the trouble this is causing you. I'll be thinking twice about renting in the future if this is a new policy, not just some glitch.

 

[PamOKW]

You made arrangements with DVC to use the accomodations based on your ownership in DVC. They make that perfectly clear by sending all confirmations, etc. to you. If we choose to let someone else use the accomodations as our guests or as renters we are still responsible to cover any damage or unpaid bills they leave at Disney. This is why people should cover this in their rental agreements -- but it will be difficult for renters to actually pursue the renter to collect the damages. Disney/DVC will still hold the owner responsible.

The problem is that your brother did not pursue this with his credit card company. If he knew he made charges of roughly $1,500 they should be appearing somewhere. I'm actually not sure why they are outstanding to Disney? Shouldn't the credit card company have automatically paid the bills to Disney? Or did he use a debit card?

This is a good reminder and lesson to all of us to be cautious when sharing our membership. Good luck getting this unraveled. I think you will need your brother, maybe on a conference call with you, since they may not be able to share the information about his credit card with you. The credit card companies are usually open 24/7. I'd have your brother contact them (or go on-line if possible) and look at what charges are outstanding from his Disney trip. The DVC front desks may not get charges from the parks, restaurants, etc. the same day and that could be why they said they weren't showing any balance due when he asked.

 

[LakeAriel]

Yes I believe we are 100% culpable for our guests for any rooms we book under DVC. This is one drawback of renting. In this case it's your relative so I'm sure as soon as the bill is paid your acct will be cleared! Good Luck!

 

[diesel]

My BIL told the BWV front desk that his bill should not be zero but they insisted that there was nothing on his room account. The problem is that the hotel screwed up with his credit card number or something like that. My BIL checked his CC bill on line for weeks and nothing from Disney showed up so he contacted the BWV two other times about the bill but they said there was no amount due on his room account. Eventually the hotel must have found the issue but gave the problem to DVC to handle. Which is fine but how come nobody contacted us by phone or mail to clear this issue up. I think that is one of my main concerns is why we weren't not told of the issue before we were put on hold by accounting. Again this may be perfectly legal for DVC to do I was just asking if anyone had a similar situation.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

I understand that this it their policy. Maybe they should change it to running the CC at $500 if the ressie isn't in the DVC owner's name to limit the liability a little. If they charge at $500 it won't affect the quality of anyone's stay. They'll possibly have more charges on their bill. I want anyone who stays on my points to enjoy themselves, but I don't even want my family members to leave me holding a $1500 bag.

 

[Lasrnw]

Just send them a check for what your BIL owes and be done with it. Personally I would not have left the hotel with the bill in question- I would have insisted that they correct it now and take my money for what I owed.

 

[Laurajean1014]

Yuck

 

[Doctor P]

You are the owner. You are responsible. Period, end of story. There may be some intermediate things that can be done that will take you off the hook eventually, but the bill must be paid and you are ultimately responsible.

 

[JohnNJ]

This doesn't sound right. If your BIL was using his room key card to charge everything back to the hotel bill he would have seen the actual individual charges on the printed invoice at the end of his stay. The individual charges would match the receipts he had from the shops or restaurants. To say that he saw nothing on his bill is very strange. Did he show the desk clerk his receipts?

Maybe you should ask your BIL if you could see his actual printed hotel invoice.

There could have been a glitch in the system which they straightened out later, like charging the wrong room, but that doesn't explain why they wouldn't have put the charges through on you BIL's credit card on file.

It just doesn't add up.

 

[bicker]

Given there being a delay in charges processing through the system, I can think of a few reasons the charges may not have been directly applied to the BIL's credit card, including expiration of the credit card, and most importantly, routine purging of credit card information to address privacy concerns. I don't WANT hotels keeping my credit card number on file for more than a limited amount of time.

 

[BEACHCLUBVILLAS]

That's very scary for any of us who like to share our membership with relatives and friends. And, as someone mentioned, should be of particular concern for those who rent points to strangers. I'd be as frustrated as you are because I think you and your BIL have been very responsible in letting BWV know there was a problem on numerous occasions. I would have done all the same things you both did.

Legally, they probably can do it or else they wouldn't. But, it's not the right thing to do. They should have contacted you as soon as they determined there was a problem and you and your BIL could have put two and two together and resolved it right away. I'd definitely contact a Supervisor and ask for a 4 way conversation between the two of you plus your BIL plus the Manager at the BWV. The BWV should have done research beyond looking up your BIL stay on the computer and saying everythings fine. Obviously, someone is not going to say I've underpaid unless they underpaid. That should have triggered communication between DVC member services and BWV.

Good luck and keep us posted. You did everything right.

 

[MStepelton]

My BIL told the BWV front desk that his bill should not be zero but they insisted that there was nothing on his room account. The problem is that the hotel screwed up with his credit card number or something like that. My BIL checked his CC bill on line for weeks and nothing from Disney showed up so he contacted the BWV two other times about the bill but they said there was no amount due on his room account. Eventually the hotel must have found the issue but gave the problem to DVC to handle. Which is fine but how come nobody contacted us by phone or mail to clear this issue up. I think that is one of my main concerns is why we weren't not told of the issue before we were put on hold by accounting. Again this may be perfectly legal for DVC to do I was just asking if anyone had a similar situation.

You need to have your Bil look at one of the register receipts and check the last 4 digits of the card charged. BW may have had your card on file and used it by mistake. This would leave BoardWalk ( Disney ) holding the "bag".
You didn't sign for any purchases. Disney can't bill the CC company for charges you didn't autherize. So Disney is stuck right now.

The right thing to do would be for your Bil to contact Disney and claim responsibility for the debit and give them the right CC number to bill.
I'm quite sure they will be more than happy to do so.

 

[vascubaguy]

I'm just wondering, can you not indicate on the reservation that there can be no charges to the room?

I know we could do that at the other Disney resorts. They scanned our card too allow for quick check-out, but I told them that I didn't want any room charging to be allowed.

 

[JimMIA]

As crazy as this situation sounds, I don't think it is all that uncommon. A colleague of mine had a very similar problem with one of the deluxe resorts last year. He only stayed one night and the bill was only a few hundred bucks, but it never got billed to his credit card. He's an accountant, so it was driving him nuts. He called and called for months, but never did get charged a penny for his stay. Their records showed the bill paid.

They must have a very poor room revenue accounting system -- or a fox in the henhouse! As someone else mentioned, they should have had a $1,500 out-of-balance situation they would have to resolve.

The problem is not with the credit card company, it's with BWV. The credit card company can't resolve charges they have never seen.

[EDIT: On further reflection, I deleted this part. I do not think OP is responsible for paying this.] It's a shame we get hung out to dry because of Disney's system problems or human errors or fraud, but that's the way it is.

I'll tell you one thing I would do if this were my situation. I'd collect the money from your BIL and pay the bill, but I would also correspond with DVC's owner relations person (someone can give you her contact info) and ask for an investigation and written explanation of your obligation in that situation.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Our story happened in 1999, and had nothing to do with DVC. DM and DSis stayed at BWI and we were at ASMu and they wanted to treat us to dinner at Cape May for our anniversary, but asked that we make the PS. DSis paid dinner with CC and we thought all was set, but when we were checking out of our room, we had the charge for dinner on our room!!! I never knew exactly what the problem was, but DSis's CC wasn't charged, but our room was, and we had to sign to pay before we could check out. We figured it would be straightened out with family, and it was.

Disney goes after the person they "know."

Bobbi

 

[PamOKW]

On the question of responsibility -- the offering statement includes:

"All renters and exchangers must comply with the rules and regulations affecting occupancy of Vacation Homes, and the renting Owners will be responsible for the acts or omissions of their renters or any other person or persons permitted by the Owners to use a reserved Vacation Home."

 

[Dean]

It is proper procedure and it is not new. And I've discussed it on the BBS previously. This is one of the reasons I cringe when someone try to say there is no risk to the renter. Obviously this situation exhibits more problems than just the owner being responsible as they should have gotten the charge right initially.