Looking for advice

[BELLA1]

I learned from this board about renting points being the best way to go $$ wise for Disney.

I have a reservation set up with a Dvc owner for Oct. They want full payment within 2 weeks.

what to do...i am a little bit leary of paying all that $$ upfront. with little options. Even if i pay with my credit card..Oct is still 6 months away.


Those of you who have done this before...please tell me how you did it??

Thanks
Lori

 

[Desnik]

I have not done this but plan to in the near future. If I were you I would offer a deposit and not give full payment until you have a copy of the reservation confirmation. Or, if the ressie is already made in your name you could call the hotel yourself to verify that a ressie has been made in your name. I too would be alittle leary about forking over the full amount so soon with nothing proving they made a ressie for you. There is an on-line service, not sure of the name right now but what it does is you pay them and they hold the money until you receive your purchase and then they pay the person when the agreement is fufilled. If not then you get your money back. Maybe someone here can explain that better or even give the name. I would try a search on the renters board on proceedures for renting. Good Luck and I think you are very smart to question this!!

 

[BELLA1]

Thanks for your input.
I do have a copy of the Ressie on Disney letter head. But, it can be changed by dvc owner without my knowledge. I just have to trust. It is sad that this world has become a place that causes you to have doubts about everything.
I guess i have to believe that there are alot of good people in the world and trust that everything will go the way it is supposed to.
Right??

Thanks again

 

[robinb]

Has this DVC person rented points before? Can they provide a reference. What happens if you can't make it in October? Can they provide you with a refund? Will you be able to rebook within the booking window of the DVC points?

You can really get a great deal by renting points, but it does require a bit of flexibility and trust.


-- Robin

 

[katefromny]

from two different individuals, for two different resorts (we are splitting our stay between BWV and VWL)
We have put deposits down (10%) for both places, with the remainder ( half just before reservation is made) and half to follow after we receive confirmation on Disney Letterhead.
I imagine because your trip is so soon, that is why they want the money all up front. If you were to cancel or simply not pay for the trip, if they don't cancel the ressie atleast 30 days prior, they COULD lose their points for that reservation.
There is some RISK by the renter and by the rentee, and definitely if you are leary, you should have some sort of written contract and/or get some references from others they have rented to.
If you rented from someone on the DIS rent/trade site, I've not seen any negatives about any of those individuals yet...I suppose there is always a first time.
Keep every bit of correspondence between the both of you (I always print out all emails and such).
If you are interested in sending them a credit card payment, you could do that through PayPal (go to www.paypal.com) and you MIGHT be protected somewhat in case they turn out to be a fraud.

Trusting in the general goodness of human nature, I refuse to believe after someone gets my money they would simply cancel the reservation. I hope I am never proved wrong.
Good luck!

 

[TrudyZ]

We too have rented for October 2001 and may also rent for another trip this year. Once the reservations were made with MS a few days ago (via a conference call), I put a check in the mail for the full amount.

I have friends who make frequent trips to Disney who would never rent because of the uncertainties. To them, the risks and restrictions with renting are just not worth the savings.

I believe I read in another thread that Paypal does not protect you on a transaction like this. Also, our Owners did not want to use Paypal because of the fee involved on their end.

Yes, there is a big risk for the renter; you have to trust the Owner and realize that if something happens, unfortunately, you will probably have little or no recourse. Yes, with one quick phone call they can remove your name from the reservation. It is a huge leap of faith. It took me several months to decide to rent--mostly to come to terms with the risk involved. If I would have rented the first time I read about the savings, I probably would have been sick to my stomach the entire time before the trip!

My humble opinion is that you need to really feel comfortable with it. If you are going to worry and be stressed over renting for the next 6 months perhaps it is not worth it? Although it is a decent amount of money saved; your health and peace of mind might be worth more?

 

[TrudyZ]

I forgot to add that I believe that most of the Owners make these non-refundable (that is what I have read on the boards and got from the two I have talked to). So if you have to cancel, you may be out of luck. You need to check with your individual Owner you are renting from.

I think about the best you would be able to do is to try and reschedule it. And, depending on when their points expire and when you give them notice you want to reschedule, there may or may not be enough time for the Owner to help you. For example, if you are going in August and the points expire at the end of that month, you don't have much room to move. And, of course, it would be subject to availability (much more of a problem at BWVs than OKW). There is also a DVC 30 day cancellation policy that the Owner is subject to. Did you ask the Owner if you have to reschedule what would happen?

You may be able to get the Owner to agree if you cancel soon enough (for example in March for an October reservation) and they can re-rent the points that you would get some sort of refund. That again is up to the individual Owner.

Sorry to sound so gloomy, but these are all the same hard facts with renting I struggled with. It is very important to ask the questions up front (before you rent), so that you and the Owner are both on the same page. I think that is why the points cost what they do--all the restrictions and risks. If the cost of the points were closer to 'retail'; I wonder if most people would think it was worth it!

 

[BELLA1]

I am just going to have to have faith...and believe that everything will work out just fine....i understand...no refund...no cancelling.
I am willing to take that risk as long as i have a pillow to lay my head on.

thanks

Lori

 

[TrudyZ]

Bella1:

I am sure that everything will work out, and you will have a wonderful time. We will be at the OKW October 10-20th. See you there?

Trudy