Just had a crazy DVC conversation!

[Dean]

before we gang up on sales. I can tell two different people the same exact thing and they will have differing understanding of what they just heard based on education, perspective, intelligence and a host of other factors.
It is the salespersons job to present the information, not to insure the recipient of that information has complete understanding. As long as there are no misrepresentations, sales has done their job.

They are timeshare sales staff but as such, DVC guides are almost always honest and upfront and most of them make an attempt to educate you on what they think you want/need to know about. And I would agree that DVC info is pretty clear overall. A point I intended to make above, but forgot to, was that DVC normally calls each resale member who doesn't already own and go over the system with them and answer any questions, at least last I heard they were still doing this. Overall I'd say DVC is one of the easiest systems to understand and DVC makes it easier than most in their approach. And they generally don't push people into buying unlike some systems.

 

[Lynne M]

I agree that it's the buyer's responsibility to understand what they're purchasing. If the guide is misrepresenting facts, or flat-out lying, that's another matter entirely. But it's on the buyer to ask the follow-up questions after the sales spiel.

I purchased VWL over the phone. I called, asked for the sales package, read it over and watched the DVD, then did a LOT of googling, read everything I could find on this site and many others, joined the DISboards and asked some questions, and then came up with a list of questions for my guide. She answered every one of them, and my follow-up questions, and I put down a deposit. When the contract arrived, I read all of the documents over the course of a few days, and that was that.

I don't think many people approach their purchase that way. For most, DVC is probably an impulse buy while at WDW or on a cruise. And the power of Disney marketing is VERY strong - how many times have we seen posts from people who don't really know what DVC is, but desperately want to buy it, right away? I think a lot of people barely listen to the guide's spiel, or hear what they want to hear, to justify their purchase.

 

[christa112]

I am not putting all of the blame on the sales person. I am just stating that it seems like guides gloss over some items. This person obviously has no idea what he just purchased and you kinda have to scratch your head and say what the heck happened during the sales presentation. I do believe as a sales person it is their job to make sure their customer knows exactly what they are purchasing.


In regards to our DVC I definately took the bull by the horns and made myself understand what we were pruchasing by researching on the Dis and asking tons and tons of questions. I am definately more informed than my DH. That is one of the major reasons why we did not just purchase while on property. I educated myself for over 6 mos before acutally purchasing. I don't think the DVC is something to just purchase at a whim it is not like you can return it when you get buyer's remorse.

before we gang up on sales. I can tell two different people the same exact thing and they will have differing understanding of what they just heard based on education, perspective, intelligence and a host of other factors.
It is the salespersons job to present the information, not to insure the recipient of that information has complete understanding. As long as there are no misrepresentations, sales has done their job.

 

[christa112]

I just had a conversation with a guy from NJ at the SSR pool a few weeks ago about his vacation and he was in his 3rd year of not banking his extra points he never used that use year. He had no clue you could bank/borrow. He told his wife with my assistance and she didn't believe me at first and then someone in the next chair agreed with me and I swear she was about to start crying.

She said it added up to about 150 points over 3 years!

 

[braudcms]

Waitin' for the day when I can use DVC points to buy tickets to the theme parks!

 

[Cee]

Ditto....and some.........

 

[backyardponder]

Interesting thread.

The less members who know how DVC works = more breakage income = lower dues. (and why do they call it breakage )

The less members who know how DVC works = less people know about VB.

 

[Dean]

Waitin' for the day when I can use DVC points to buy tickets to the theme parks!

Wait to you see the exchange rate somewhere around $5-6 per point.

 

[bwvBound]

Wait to you see the exchange rate somewhere around $5-6 per point.

Might be a bargain for folks who own VB?

 

[Dean]

Might be a bargain for folks who own VB?

I doubt it if they pay more for their dues than the get for their points but I know you're just joshing at this point. The reality is that DVC leaves so much value on the table when it comes to cash equivalent exchange options but that the system they have set up is inherently inefficient and thus limits what they can do for the members.

 

[Greysword]

I'm wodering if this is the sort of gentleman that we find yelling at the cast members, exclaiming loudly that they paid thousands of dollars for the right and are not getting their money's worth.

If the guy wants to be uninformed, then that is his option. My concern is when members have unreasonable expectations based on their lack of knowledge on how things work and the effect it has on my vacation (damage to the rooms, cast member attitude, onerous rules to curtail certain behavior patterns, etc).

- Chris

 

[dcamdad]

Unfortunately a great many people (men, in general, flame away!) don't/won't follow directions/instructions. I wonder in DVC households who really manages the points, the men or woman.

Hey, I strongly resemble that remark, remember many Christmas Eves ago working all night on a Holly Hobby kitchen set to accomplish nothing by Christmas morning. Except when it comes to managing our DVC, my wife just rolls her eyes when she catches me figuring how to stretch out the maximum amount of days we can play.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Hey, I strongly resemble that remark, remember many Christmas Eves ago working all night on a Holly Hobby kitchen set to accomplish nothing by Christmas morning. Except when it comes to managing our DVC, my wife just rolls her eyes when she catches me figuring how to stretch out the maximum amount of days we can play.

I give you a big

My significant other, doesn't assemble well or follow instructions and as far as DVC/vacation ,it's "Just tell me where and when and what I have to pack!"
It's 40 degrees here in WPB Florida, I need the flames to warm me up!

 

[allflgirl]

The saddest part of this is that there are so many people like the one described in the original post that buy without doing any research at all and that is on any purchase they make. This is probably the sort of person that couldn't tell you how much they pay for their car insurance each year, if they pay a fee on their credit cards they hold, the current balance on their mortgage and the list goes on and on.

I'm so glad for this forum and finding it when I was making my decision on buying into DVC, which took me about 3 months. I wouldn't have bought in without the add'l knowledge gleaned from reading post after post and asking questions. Thank you, guys!

 

[Donna M]

My friends owned for years and they are the reason we bought DVC. I didn't know about the Dis back then, and didn't know anything about buying resale. I'm glad I at least had an idea about how everything worked. There have to be tons of people who only know what DVC is telling them.

 

[bumbershoot]

That's the business that they are in. Disney has a "if not asked, don't tell" policy.

Bill

So glad for my guide! He explained it all. I did have some background b/c of the dis, but he really did a good job. The ONLY thing that I came away confused about (and I didn't know I was confused about it at the time) was the issue with owning at Bay Lake but not being able to use the points for any site until after BLT was actually open. And yet, DH totally got that, tells me that Jim said it!

So between the two of us, we understood it all from our guide's in depth discussions (over nearly 2 years, LOL).

Maybe his wife has all the facts & is the planner of the family. My wife prefers to have me handle our DVC planning. We discuss things together, but when it comes to banking/borrowing, etc. I work it all out.

Definite possibility!

Oh to be rich enough to spend 14K and not really care to know the details or use the points I bought!

[dude said] "I'm paying $250 a month for 10 years"

I think that when you finance, as we are doing, it's really easy to fall into the thought that it's just x per month, without thinking of the total. In fact it was that realization, that the payments are that low (not much more, if more at all, from what we were saving for our DLR vacations already!), that helped us decide to finance instead of saving up (b/c that would be double-saving...saving for trips currently being taken plus saving for future DVC purchase). But we are WELL aware of the total cost, and are working hard to get it paid off inside of 3 years, instead of 10.

Anyway, if you're just thinking "250/month", it's easy to NOT think about 16K (or 14K...sounds like the dude was also ignoring his downpayment, LOL).

At least he has quit saying we own points at Coronado Springs.

Wow! I really think that the color brochure with all of the resort pictures/point charts, the simple clear paragraph about banking with the nice little calendar that shows the banking deadlines and the usage deadlines was really pretty clear!!!

I agree!

And when you look at your account online, how it shows you in that box when you need to bank points by, and all that...

 

[dburg30]

Unfortunately a great many people (men, in general, flame away!) don't/won't follow directions/instructions. I wonder in DVC households who really manages the points, the men or woman.

I am the man of the house, at least when my wife isnt home. But I do handle all the DVC scheduling / banking / planning etc etc. Well, actually I am the family WDW travel agent lol..

I think another sad part of that conversation is the Guide should have realized that these people had no idea what he or she was even talking about. Maybe stop the sales pitch and go into much needed details, as obviously your co-worker doesn't have a clue.

It is sad how the Guides just gloss over parts of their pitch and you need to come on a message board to find out the real details of the DVC.

I guess people will do anything to make a buck.

Well, we only know 1/2 of the story. We dont know that the guide didnt explain to them how it worked, and the person said they understood. Could be one of those people that cant accept they dont understand, and just wont admit it. Trust me, they are out there, I have to deal with them. At that point, the guide could have had my reaction... "Well, if the person believes that, wont listen to what I am saying, I will sell them exactly what they ask for, not what they need".

Or you get the person that only believes the first person they talk to.... ie: "My neighbor told me the problem with my equipment was caused by xxxxxx" We tell them there is no way that could be the problem as this two systems arent linked AT ALL. Do they believe someone who does this EVERYDAY, and sees this, is trained on it??? Nope... I bet 90% of the time they go back to.. Well, I'm going to try what my neighbor told me... Fine, see ya...

Our guide was very, very good on making sure we understood things ESPECIALLY how the use year was set up, how to bank points, when to make sure they were banked etc etc. Basically, everything about how it works. The one thing that didnt really "get me" but I just flat out misunderstood, was the points changing. It wasnt the guides fault, I just didnt "get it". I now understand that the total points for the year cant change, but they can be shuffled around from day to day / season to season.. So far I dont think that will be an issue.

 

[tjkraz]

I am not putting all of the blame on the sales person. I am just stating that it seems like guides gloss over some items. This person obviously has no idea what he just purchased and you kinda have to scratch your head and say what the heck happened during the sales presentation. I do believe as a sales person it is their job to make sure their customer knows exactly what they are purchasing.

Guides could read through the entire member handbook word-for-word with buyers and 90% of them wouldn't retain any of it after they walked out the door.

Every DVC member was a newbie at some point. To expect someone to recite DVC regs verbatim a few days after the purchase just isn't realistic.

The saddest part of this is that there are so many people like the one described in the original post that buy without doing any research at all and that is on any purchase they make. This is probably the sort of person that couldn't tell you how much they pay for their car insurance each year, if they pay a fee on their credit cards they hold, the current balance on their mortgage and the list goes on and on.

My wife couldn't tell you how much we owe on our mortgage, how much we pay for car insurance and she probably couldn't tell you much about DVC booking rules or banking deadlines.

Until today I didn't think that made her a bad person...

 

[auntsue]

That really is a shame, but maybe there is hope for him.

I guess you could say that we bought on impulse, we certainly knew nothing about it, that's for sure. We had never even heard of DVC, but had seen some info on it at the YC, so on our last day of a trip in 1999 we went over to the Boardwalk to see the model. We always stayed at deluxe resorts and when we saw the 1BR we were both sold. Having two rooms would be such an upgrade and the location was exactly the same as the YC. No pressure whatsoever from our guide. He did a great job explaining everything. DH had a million questions (I just wanted it) and we were there for hours. DH would not have spent all that money without knowing all about it. We sold back half of our points that day, and banked the rest since we only went every two years back then. We did no research whatsoever but luckily everything worked out great for us. We've since added on three times, and totally enjoy all our trips.

Two years later I found the DIS and every question I have ever had about DVC, since then, has been answered. Maybe you could point him in this direction.

Hey, I passed my 60th birthday, and I read the DIS boards a lot! A whole lot!

 

[Sammy]

Well, I kind of hope it IS a case of his wife knowing all the answers, because I'd really feel bad for them otherwise. He is a very intelligent person, so I guess I was a little shocked that he didn't seem to really know anything at all. I'd love to help him out, but I didn't get the feeling he wanted any.

It's easy to forget that not everyone knows the minute details of DVC like everyone on the DIS boards!! Heck, most of the time we know more than the CMs, never mind the average person!