just back,vwl&bcv

[chicago641]

This was our first trip home(we bought at vwl sight unseen),and here are my impressions: 1.house keeping at these properties sucks!We paid the $40 for full house keeping put seldom recieved it.(amounted was credited back at the end of trip)The rooms in both resorts were dirty at check in including dirty drawers with last guests clothing,dirty pots and silverware,dirty refrigeraters,broken lamps, ripped carpeting and bumped and scatch furniture and walls.2.none of the bcv have been outfitted with the new beds.The beds in the 2nd room are not(!) queen size,more like a full size mattress.The hotel gave us a bed roll to use as we could not sleep 8 people in the 2 bed room(4 of which were kids).3. my overall impression of these two dvc properties is that it is like you are staying in the basement of a great hotel.2nd class treatment and 2nd class rooms.After this stay we have decided to sell our points. *****some additional thoughts:we were charged $40 for net grocery deilvery by bcv.This charge was called shipping fee.the fax order we placed with dvc for food from the hotel was delivered with less than half the items we ordered.Both hotels have very low water pressure in the showers!

 

[nuthut]

but what are you asking for your points?

 

[PKS44]

Wow- that is awful...and I am sure you are taking a financial hit in selling your points so soon...maybe you should check out OKW where you can almost always get a room even with short notice becore you dump it all together...I do hope you let Disney know the problems so they have a chance to remedy them (if they care to)

I have never seen such a bad experience posted on these boards before???

Paul

 

[DisneyKidds]

Everyone has a different experience I guess...................

We just returned from our post Turkey Day trip. 5 nights at VWL and 3 nights at BCV. We had a great time. Both rooms were clean. We were able to get into our rooms early (11:00 at VWL and 12:00 at BCV).

We had satyed in the VWL before and this stay was similar and did not disappoint. The bed and pull out were fine.

This was our first stay at BCV. The resort is beautiful. DW loves the solarium and breezeway, and the tv room off the villas lobby is great. Having just come from the VWL we were a little disappointed with the room - but it was still great. The studio seemed just slightly smaller than the VWL studio. The bathroom (shower/toilet) was larger than the VWL studio, but the tub was smaller and the space was wasted. The vanity area was smaller than the VWL and with the bathroom door open it was really tight. The closet was a little smaller as well. There weren't as many drawers to put cloths in. The biggest disappointment was the pull out. It was smaller than the one in the VWL and the mattress wasn't as comfortable. Also, the laundry is not as convenient at the BCV. Despite these BCV "disappointments" we had a great time. So much so that we just changed our BWV standard view reservation for next May to a BCV reservation - and we might consider a 50 point BCV add-on.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but we are happier than ever after this last trip that we own DVC at VWL and BWV - and who knows, maybe soon at BCV.

 

[patsal]

I'm so sorry that your DVC experience was so disappointing. Before you do something drastic and lose too much money contact DVC and let them know your experiences. They may want to make things right before losing you altogether.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by chicago641
3. my overall impression of these two dvc properties is that it is like you are staying in the basement of a great hotel.2nd class treatment and 2nd class rooms.

Wow....quite a statement!

This certainly does not jibe with the VAST majority of those who post on these boards. In general, I think most feel that from an accommodation standpoint, they are getting the very best that Disney has to offer!

And my guess is that if DVD actually conducted proper surveys, they would find that members, in general, are pretty happy with their purchases.

I hope that you will give your investment another chance...it seems like you hit nothing but bad luck on this trip!

 

[Dean]

I'm sorry for your unhappy trip but have a few thoughts and questions. I'm surprised they charged you for a Net Grocer Deliver. We've seen this fee discussed several times on this board and I don't recall anyone that's ever actually been charged. You may want to contact the manager for the resort and see about getting that credited if you didn't already. The beds will be changed out at BCV but I don't think any of them have yet. They messed up in building and furnishing and will be changing about 1/3 of the dedicated 2 BR units to 2 Queen beds and the rest will be getting Queen sleepers. The lockoff's will have the full size (love seat) pull outs.

I can see the problem with getting the maid service done as most members don't do it and I would think it would be easy for them to overlook that issue. I'd recommend you give it another try before you take such a hit by selling. I can tell you that we had such a problem early on that DVC offered to buy back our first contract even though we'd bought resale. We talked about it and decided not to accept their offer, boy are we glad we gave DVC a chance.

 

[Patpat15]

We were also charged the net grocer fee, but when we brought it up at the front desk they immediately removed the fee of about $40, and apologized profusely.

We have had points for 4 years and 12 trips and were never ever dissappointed with the quality of the room, the service, or anything.

In fact, we got married last year and stayed at the Grand Floridian, and realized that the DVC properties blow away that as well in terms of service, quality and the overall treatment of the guests.

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by chicago641
This was our first trip home(we bought at vwl sight unseen),and here are my impressions: 1.house keeping at these properties sucks!We paid the $40 for full house keeping put seldom recieved it.(amounted was credited back at the end of trip)

For a 2 bedroom, it's $40 per cleaning (per day), not total for everyday of your stay. I wasn't sure what you meant by "seldom received it", did you request it for everyday?

 

[chicago641]

yes,we requested maid service for every day.Each day we were skipped and then would have to call house keeping and ask for service.What most upset me was the condition of the room at check in.The pots and pans wre dirty,the drawers in the kitchen and the bedrooms were dirty and the refrigerater was a mess.

 

[clpski]

We stayed in a one bedroom @ BVC Oct. 27 for five nights.
The refrigerator was dirty. The bathtub was dirty.
The bathroom floor had hair & mud? all around.
The walls were dirty.
I have stayed @ DVC properties 6 times (OKW & BWV) and have never encountered such filth.
Also, the check-in people (valet & main desk) were not friendly.
On the positive, the view of Spaceship Earth from our balcony was very nice. The overall decor was appealing. The location was quieter than BWV and a short walk to Epcot. Room service was very good.
The budget cuts have obviously work down to housekeeping.

 

[dkellumw]

I sorry to here about your first trip home. We went home (VWL) for the first time about three weeks ago and the room was clean and everything looked great. As Granny said, "it seems like you hit nothing but bad luck on this trip!" If you do decided to give it one more try I hope you experience the wonderful time we and other DVCers have.

 

[PamOKW]

Hmmm...I wonder whether DVC has entered that parallel universe I hear about with some folks CBR trips. I have had nothing but great trips at CBR as have all my friends and relatives yet sometimes you hear some real horror stories. You can't believe you are talking about the same place. These problems sound like the same thing. Is there a "Bermuda Triangle" type phenom at WDW that sends people into a parallel universe?

I'm very sorry to hear about these poor experiences. My experience is usually the opposite. Maintenance or housekeeping knocking to come in and fix some minor thing that I hadn't even noticed yet.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by PamOKW
You can't believe you are talking about the same place. These problems sound like the same thing. Is there a "Bermuda Triangle" type phenom at WDW that sends people into a parallel universe?

Pam...this has always struck me as well when reading trip reports here on this board. How can two families visit the same place at the same time and come away with such varying opinions??

I guess we have been really lucky with our two DVC trips so far. We found the accommodations to be great, clean and well kept. We found the staff to be at a minimum, courteous. Other CM's were downright wonderful.

If our next trip runs into some problems, we'll just report them to the folks right then and see if they get fixed. Our philosophy is that we have a lot of trips left, and we're bound to get some clunkers in the next 39 years.



and Chicago641...sorry again to hear of your problems. I can't believe they failed to show up day after day after day!! I'd be pretty upset too!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I can not speak specifically about either VWL or BCV since we always stay at OKW, but I have never been THAT dissapointed in our units cleanliness or the service of the housekeeping staff. We never ask for daily maid service, since I prefer not to have them traipsing around our room every day. The last trip, we had a delay getting into our room because the previous occupants had trashed it. They had cleaned carpets etc, before they allowed us in. The carpets were even still a little damp when we did get in. From some reports we have here, I am questioning what kind of housekeeping staff is at BCV!

 

[Shontell_Crawford]

Very sorry to hear about your experience! All of your issues are valid and should be addressed. As a former CM, Disney should bend over backwards to "make you happy". Decide what would make you happy before you contact them...that way you know what that is and just maybe they will exceed your expectations.

Best of luck,
Shontell

 

[JudithM]

Originally posted by chicago641
What most upset me was the condition of the room at check in.The pots and pans wre dirty,the drawers in the kitchen and the bedrooms were dirty and the refrigerater was a mess.

My first thought is did you call housekeeping or the front desk immediately? I would have made a phone call before I brought my stuff into the room. Or if my stuff was there, I would hesitate to unpack until the issue was taken care of. You might want to contact Jackie Lueders, the DVC Member Satisfaction Manager.

 

[joepoe]

People who leave hotel rooms or DVC homes trached should be fined heavily, and the policy should be given to them in writing. That's disgusting.

 

[dvcChrisVWL]

Originally posted by joepoe
People who leave hotel rooms or DVC homes trached should be fined heavily, and the policy should be given to them in writing. That's disgusting.

Yes, but it is not always members. When we stayed about a year ago, the folks in the room next to us were not members - they were paying $350 a night for either the 1br or studio (VWL). Of course, it does not matter who stayed in the room (member or not), the room should always be thoroughly cleaned before the next occupant arrives.

 

[dvcChrisVWL]

Originally posted by chicago641
my overall impression of these two dvc properties is that it is like you are staying in the basement of a great hotel.2nd class treatment and 2nd class rooms.After this stay we have decided to sell our points.

That is odd. We just got back from VWL as well (12/01/2002 - 12/06/2002). We had a family vacation - where we invited lots of family. We had 2 2BR units (lock-offs) and they were both clean as can be. Water pressure was terrific as well.

Maybe your room was mistakenly marked as cleaned before you got in. I know with folks arriving early, and other things happening, they sometimes switch rooms arround for folks. Maybe that room was supposed to be cleaned, but was not, I don't know. As members, we stayed at VWL twice now and OKW once. Never had a dirty room. Did you call to alert the front desk/housekeeping as soon as you realized the uncleanliness of the room?

Oh, we did have trouble with the fold-out couch in one of the 2BR rooms. It was tough pulling out and putting away. When I saw one of our family trying to close it the second morning and it would not close, we called maintenance. They were up to the room within a few minutes. Once the guy looked at it and played with it a little, he got it closed and said that they needed to fix it. Before dinner, they replaced the entire couch (we were out, so I don't know exactly when).

Someone also stopped up one of the toilets and maint was up right away to plunge it. They seemed quite responsive at 10 pm.

Oh, and we asked for a dozen extra hangers from housekeeping when we first got in and they came within a few minutes.

I remember something I called maintenance about at OKW, but I don't remember exactly what it was - maybe something with the TV in the livingroom. Whatever it was, they were up right away and had it fixed/replaced within a short amount of time.

We never did the daily maid thing, so I can't say if that is normally good, but everything else has always been fine for us. I especially liked using the gym at VWL.

Sorry you had a bad experience. All I can really say is that it is not a typical experience and if you call to have issues addressed, they tend to fix things right away. Maybe give it another shot? If not, I am sorry I don't have some extra money sitting around to add on to my home property!