Keep your stuff safe!!!

[WDWCPAlumni]

My mom went on one of many trips as DVC members. She went with my brothers family and they stayed at AKV in a 2 bedroom this past January.
Day one, they arrived late, 10 or so at night.
Then next morning she pulled some stuff out of the suitcases and off they went to the MK
Not a very smart move but she left 3 envelopes on the bedside table.
1 was extra old passes she had
2 was an envelope of money about $30
3 was an envelope of $900 she planned to use for the week.
She wanted to use the cash as to not overspend.
She wouldnt normally leave out cash, but knowing this is vacation club and no one will be in the room she didnt see a problem.
They came back late, noticed for some reason the room had been cleaned, and went to bed.
Next morning, got up to go, went to take money out from the envelope.........

$900 GONE

So after fighting with the desk, manager and many people finally she was given charging privlages........ They told her to charge as she went for the week, but stay within reason and not to go overboard.
It went to Disney Claims and they found that Disney was not at fault!!
So she actually owes the money back that she spent that week....even though someone took her money.

The desk told her that week that they could see on the records that a cast member DID go into the room, and should not have.
Now they are saying that it was housekeeping but also maintenance went in to fix a leaky sink????

We have never had any big problems at Disney.......I just want everyone to just be aware!!!

 

[drew64]

Sad, but true, Disney is not repsonsible. The law allows for and all hotels post that they are not repsonsible for any money or valuables left in a room. This is true at any hotel, not just Disney.

It is a shame that this happened, but please everyone needs to remember -
lock up the money and valuables in a safe.

 

[WDWCPAlumni]

This is true at any hotel, not just Disney.

Vacation Club is ownership though.....not just a hotel. The deal is no cleaning everyday

 

[hammie59]

That's really rotten.

 

[maxiesmom]

That is really terrible! But I can't imagine leaving $900 out in the open in any hotel, even if it is a DVC resort. Sorry your mom had to learn that the hard way.

 

[fla4fun]

Vacation Club is ownership though.....not just a hotel. The deal is no cleaning everyday

However, there are other people besides Mousekeeping that have legitimate access to the room, such as maintenance, resort management, etc. Just because you don't have daily housekeeping in any hotel doesn't mean that your room won't be accessed by hotel staff. Also, there is always a chance that the room may be "double assigned", meaning they accidentally give keys to your room to another guest when they check in. I have read many threads about people who opened the door of "their" room only to find someone else was already staying in it. It even happened to me in December at Disney (fortunately, the other party was actually in their room at the time, so it was easy to straighten out).

Bottom line is - never leave anything unsecured in your room that you don't want to lose, because there is a chance it won't be there when you return. If you don't have an in room safe, you should be able to leave valuables at the front desk. And don't take any valuables you don't really NEED for the trip. Vacation is not the time to be dragging the diamonds out of the vault or taking the brand new super deluxe computer. Bring the fake jewels and the old laptop instead.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Sorry, but you leave $900 out for anyone to get, not smart. I don't think Disney is responsible. Use the safe. Hard lesson learned.

 

[marivaid]

Use the safe.

Or at least open the drawer of the nightstand and put the money there.
Leaving a enveloppe full of cash on a table is asking for trouble, JMO.

But I'm sorry it happened to the OP and her mom. Sometimes at Disney we forget we're in the real world.
I never lock up my laptop in WDW, just leave it on the desk.
So far, so good, but if one day it gets stolen I'll only have myself to blame.

 

[jerseygal]

I try to lock everything up including PASSPORTS!!!

Passports can be stolen as well and used inappropriately!!!!

I'm extra careful with cameras as well...Heard those are stolen quite often in hotels.

 

[danielmorgan03]

Sorry, but you leave $900 out for anyone to get, not smart. I don't think Disney is responsible. Use the safe. Hard lesson learned.

Maybe the corporation is not responsible, but the EMPLOYEE of Disney is responsible. This is just like blaming the woman for the rape because she was wearing a short skirt. The person already admitted that it was accidentally left out. Also as a time share owner the op should have filed a ppolice report and claimed it on their home owners. Some policies cover property off of your covered dwelling.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

This is just like blaming the woman for the rape because she was wearing a short skirt.

Did you really go there?

 

[danielmorgan03]

Did you really go there?

Sure. I always like to blame the victim. It makes my job easier.

 

[eliza61]

Maybe the corporation is not responsible, but the EMPLOYEE of Disney is responsible. This is just like blaming the woman for the rape because she was wearing a short skirt. The person already admitted that it was accidentally left out. Also as a time share owner the op should have filed a ppolice report and claimed it on their home owners. Some policies cover property off of your covered dwelling.

And as soon as you are able to find the employee I'm sure you can make them take responsibility, after all they are such fine upstanding citizens to begin with. Come on...
Why do you think hotels notify you that they are not responsible in the first place?

If you are heading to the mouse world in the near future be careful with your laptops also, reportedly there has been an upswing in electronic thefts (laptops and ipods).

 

[danielmorgan03]

And as soon as you are able to find the employee I'm sure you can make them take responsibility, after all they are such fine upstanding citizens to begin with. Come on...
Why do you think hotels notify you that they are not responsible in the first place?QUOTE]


Eliza

My point exactly. The op said that Disney had a log of who entered the room. The person may have been careless, but it is not their fault that the money is stolen. We can then blame 7 11 for the robberies etc if we take that mentality. The issue is the awful employee not the guest. I have read many times on these boards where people have left their electronics etc out and have not had a problem, but you should err on the side of caution. We should not blame the people who have been victimized, afterall I am sure they already feel bad enough.

 

[marivaid]

My point exactly. the person may have been careless, but it is not their fault that the money is stolen. We can then blame 7 11 for the robberies etc if we take that mentality. The issue is the awful employee not the guest.

I think the responsibilty is shared. The money would most likely not have been stolen if the OP's mom had put it away.

As far as robberies go, funny you should mention that. The store I work at was robbed on Sunday morning, and the store owners (and employees, myself included) are partly responsible.
One, cashiers go up to the safe room several times a day, carrying the money boxes. Everyone can see us. Two, the "security code".... is 1 2 3 4 A. Three, we have no security guard on Sunday morning because, according to Big Boss, it's "not worth the money" since the store is only open for 3 hours.
Those things combined made our store the perfect victim for that robbery.

Anyway, I don't think the OP posted this because she wanted us to feel sorry for her or her mom, she readily admitted that leaving the money out was a big mistake. She just wanted to remind us that thieves are everywhere, even in Disney, and so to be careful with our things. WDWCPAlumni, am I wrong ?

 

[danielmorgan03]

Marivaid

How can you be responsible for another's actions? You can say that you created a set of conditions that were favorable to the robber, but you did not force the criminal to commit the act. You are never responsible for the actions of another.

I do agree that the op was not looking for sympathy, but just posting a cautionary tale.

 

[marivaid]

How can you be responsible for another's actions? You can say that you created a set of conditions that were favorable to the robber, but you did not force the criminal to commit the act. You are never responsible for the actions of another.

No, but we are responsible for our own. It's not like we don't know about the existence of robbers. Of course the culprit is the robber, and I truly hope he/she will be caught soon.
BUT we have our share of the responsibility, however small it might be. Do you leave your car unlocked in a parking lot ? Of course not. Because you know that if you did, the car would most likely not be there when you came back. So you take a few minutes to lock your doors, your trunk, and make sure the windows are all the way up.

In the OP's case, she had the option of using the safe - provided free of charge in every WDW resort room - and she chose to leave the enveloppe on a table.
In the store's case, the combination of our actions made it SO favorable to the robbers that we might as well just have handed them the keys.

Speaking of, I'm due there in half an hour.

OP, again truly sorry this happened to your mom and thank you for reminding us to be safe.

 

[WDWCPAlumni]

I really did not want this to be a hot debate.
I am posting it to let everyone know, it doesnt matter where you are......some people are just not honest people.
Sad but true.

Obviously they should not have left the money out. It was in an envelope, and no one should have opened it to see what was in it, it did not belong to them. She was in a rush and figured no one would be in the room anyway.

Disney does have a record of who came in, one house keeper and 3 maintenance workers. While she was there she was told only one house keeper, now they are adding the maintenance story.......true or not who knows. Maybe a way to look better??? I dont know.

She did file a police report while she was there, nothing came of it. All 4 people that entered the room said it was not them, not that we thought they would say they took the money.

She also spoke with them about insurance and was told to file through Disney Loss Insurance. That is who found no fault. She did dispute it, saying vacation club does not have everyday cleaning and they were not scheduled for a cleaning.......they have reopened the investigation, but still no word.

 

[HonnyDipp]

I dont leave $900 laying around at home much less in a hotel. If you have to check into a room chances are other people have keys. That was a good lesson learned. Use the safe!!!!!

 

[disneydreamin247]

Now I'm nervous to bring my laptop since the Pop and WL safes aren't big enough to hold it