No more referral rewards for members???

[DeeCee735]

I just had a friend join DVC and put me down as the referring member. I contacted my new guide to see if she could find out whether or not this went through, since my former guide, Judy Kaufman has retired.

She looked it up for me and informed me that she:

1) doesn't see them listed (they submitted papers 3 weeks ago, maybe it takes a while??)
and
2) the member referral rewards program has been suspended as of 12/31/13. With reimagining coming in the Summer. What does that mean??? And why didn't the guide inform my friend when he was buying? Instead, the guide gave him the form to fill out to list the referring member (me).

Here's a copy of the email my guide sent to me:

Hi Diane!

Thank you so much for referring friends to Disney Vacation Club!

First, I did not locate those names in our database.

Also, It has come to my attention recently that our Sharing the Magic program has been suspended.

I received an email with the following:

Disney Vacation Club is currently reimagining its referral program. The Sharing the Magic referral program ended Dec. 31, 2013. More information about a new program is expected to be shared with Cast and Members in summer 2014.

I’m sorry for any inconvenience and Hope you are doing well and staying warm up there!

Look forward to welcoming you home soon!

Christina
Vacation Club Guide
Tel 888-473-4191
Direct 407-827-4792
Fax 407-968-4216
© Disney



I emailed her back to ask what happens to those members who have referral's between January 1st, 2014 and the Summer? We just lose it? Nice that they let us know

 

[vicki_c]

Someone else reported that here last week. The post might have slipped off this page.

 

[DeeCee735]

I just had a friend join DVC and put me down as the referring member. I contacted my new guide to see if she could find out whether or not this went through, since my former guide, Judy Kaufman has retired.

She looked it up for me and informed me that she:

1) doesn't see them listed (they submitted papers 3 weeks ago, maybe it takes a while??)
and
2) the member referral rewards program has been suspended as of 12/31/13. With reimagining coming in the Summer. What does that mean??? And why didn't the guide inform my friend when he was buying? Instead, the guide gave him the form to fill out to list the referring member (me).

Here's a copy of the email my guide sent to me:

Hi Diane!

Thank you so much for referring friends to Disney Vacation Club!

First, I did not locate those names in our database.

Also, It has come to my attention recently that our Sharing the Magic program has been suspended.

I received an email with the following:

Disney Vacation Club is currently reimagining its referral program. The Sharing the Magic referral program ended Dec. 31, 2013. More information about a new program is expected to be shared with Cast and Members in summer 2014.

I’m sorry for any inconvenience and Hope you are doing well and staying warm up there!

Look forward to welcoming you home soon!

Christina
Vacation Club Guide
Tel 888-473-4191
Direct 407-827-4792
Fax 407-968-4216
© Disney



I emailed her back to ask what happens to those members who have referral's between January 1st, 2014 and the Summer? We just lose it? Nice that they let us know

Answer: anyone who refers a new member that buys between January 1 and the new program gets nothing. How about the courtesy of notification DVC?

I understand they don't have to give us anything, but they drown us in promotional mailings, how about direct obvious notification when they end something like this?

Member magic? Yeah right.

 

[poohj80]

I just found this out the hard way too and the DVC CM was a bit snotty about it asking me why I thought I was entitled to some kind of referral.

 

[Dean]

I don't prostitute myself for referrals that way I can make every attempt at giving honest advice without the appearance of the referral being the reason for any recommendations. You can disagree with me but no one can honestly say that the reason for the advice is based on a kickback.

 

[DebbieB]

I guess that answers the question that guides can now e-mail.

 

[E-P-C-O-T]

How hard was it to notify all members of this policy change? I was really surprised to see this back in February as we usually had referrals every year.

Well, I just referred our friends to the resale market and they are currently waiting on ROFR of 350 points at BLT.

Love our DVC, but, I have a hard time understanding the decisions that are been made by DVC management lately.

 

[disneynutz]

How hard was it to notify all members of this policy change? I was really surprised to see this back in February as we usually had referrals every year.

Well, I just referred our friends to the resale market and they are currently waiting on ROFR of 350 points at BLT.

Love our DVC, but, I have a hard time understanding the decisions that are been made by DVC management lately.

Disney/DVC is very poor when it comes to notifications especially when the information can be considered as negative.

Bill

 

[Chuck S]

Many members were unable to benefit from the referral anyway because of home state restrictions. So at least for now, all members are equal. Hopefully a redesigned program can be done in such a way that it can be applied to all members, regardless of where they reside.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Hopefully a redesigned program can be done in such a way that it can be applied to all members, regardless of where they reside.

I actually hope that's not the case. Designing the program to the lowest common denominator would entail some pretty meaningless incentives. Many localities are extremely restrictive on what timeshares can offer.

We've only officially referred two buyers over the years. We don't go around "selling" DVC, but we do talk about our trips and friends will occassionally ask about the program. We'll give our honest opinion, and more often than not, that opinion is that DVC isn't right for the person who's asking. I've told that to quite a few folks.

So while the referral program wasn't a big money maker for us, I must say it was nice to get that little deduction off our dues in the years when it worked out.

 

[Missyrose]

I had just had someone use me as a referral (my first!), but my guide just let me know that the program has been suspended and isn't supposed to resume until sometime during the third quarter. Sigh.

 

[HookdonWDW]

Hmmm... time for The Timeshare Store to start a Referral Program????

 

[Snurk71]

Poor business decision to end something without announcing its replacement at the time you're discontinuing the old, assuming you're actually replacing and the old and not just ending the program.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-Note2 using DISBoards

 

[Dean]

How hard was it to notify all members of this policy change? I was really surprised to see this back in February as we usually had referrals every year.

Well, I just referred our friends to the resale market and they are currently waiting on ROFR of 350 points at BLT.

Love our DVC, but, I have a hard time understanding the decisions that are been made by DVC management lately.

As noted, it would be difficult to do a mass notification for a program that many weren't aware of and many didn't qualify for. DVC has never been good at advance notifications, example stopping valet parking in the middle of people's stay where they had to pay unexpectedly.

 

[LisaRN97]

We just referred friends too - I wasn't aware they suspended the referral program either until I reached out today to our guide. He said his supervisor is keeping a list in the event it is retro, that when it does start up again this summer we may get credit

 

[cpc430]

Our very good friend referred us to DVC and it's unfortunate their still isn't a referral program to reward them!

 

[cwdefouw]

I wouldn't be surprised for "Summer 2014" to slide right on by with no new referral incentive plan, and for the whole idea to disappear quietly into the sunset. There is currently no reason for Disney to reward referrals as they seem to have plenty of direct sales at this time. Then, the next time there is a recession and sales decline they will rush a new referral incentive plan in that will be essentially the same as the old plan. If anyone asks about the status of a new plan, they will likely get the "A survey of our members has indicated that they prefer not to have a referral incentive plan, have a nice day" spiel. If nothing else, it is certain that DVC management's attitude toward their members is predictable. Predictably horrible.

 

[disneynutz]

I wouldn't be surprised for "Summer 2014" to slide right on by with no new referral incentive plan, and for the whole idea to disappear quietly into the sunset. There is currently no reason for Disney to reward referrals as they seem to have plenty of direct sales at this time. Then, the next time there is a recession and sales decline they will rush a new referral incentive plan in that will be essentially the same as the old plan. If anyone asks about the status of a new plan, they will likely get the "A survey of our members has indicated that they prefer not to have a referral incentive plan, have a nice day" spiel. If nothing else, it is certain that DVC management's attitude toward their members is predictable. Predictably horrible.

Even when the program was active, DVC didn't run it really well. The Guides didn't seem to always submit the info and the program was slow to issue the awards. Posters here on the DIS reported that sometimes it took multiple calls and months to receive their awards.

Bill

 

[LJD2143]

Just sent an inquiry to DVC Member Services and this was their reply:

Thank you for contacting DISNEY VACATION CLUB®.

We will be happy to answer your questions regarding your DISNEY VACATION
CLUB Membership.

At this time, we have not announced a new DISNEY VACATION CLUB Referral
Program. We expect to announce a new referral program later this year.
No referral rewards are available at this time.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Thank you and have a magical day,

Todd

Member Services | Online Communications
DISNEY VACATION CLUB

 

[poohj80]

Just sent an inquiry to DVC Member Services and this was their reply:

Thank you for contacting DISNEY VACATION CLUB®.

We will be happy to answer your questions regarding your DISNEY VACATION
CLUB Membership.

At this time, we have not announced a new DISNEY VACATION CLUB Referral
Program. We expect to announce a new referral program later this year.
No referral rewards are available at this time.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Thank you and have a magical day,

Todd

Member Services | Online Communications
DISNEY VACATION CLUB

Same e-mail I received back in April. I was hoping something new would have been announced by now since we are later in the year.