OMG. I think I have screwed this whole thing up.

[joyjoy]

Purchased DVC April 2019 - 75 pts at CCV. Our sales guy Justin Winn recommended we do it this way. UY December and we got the normal (free, he said) UY pts for 2018. So. At 11 months, I banked the 75 from 2018, used the 75 from 2019, and borrowed 2 from 2020 for studio at CCV for 7 nights in April, 2020. A week or two later, I found I could change the dates to May (16-23) and save 30 points, so I did it. Still at CCV. Still 2020. Here is another bit of info: We have a cash res at POFQ coming up in a week. (8/6-8/15 2019). We have been to WDW in all of the Surface of the Sun Hot months (June, July, Aug, Sept), many years since 1990 and a few lovely stays in the frigid month of October. Or December. (Haha, not frigid) So we think now don't want to use all of our newly acquired DVC points for May, it's going to be Hot AF next month when we go, also HAF in May.... so we're thinking-- lets use DVC for a NOT miserable month heat-wise. But …. now.... I have tried to modify our May 2020 res to February or early March and... no can do. Not enough points. Did I LOSE those "free" 2018 pts when I made the original reservation? I can't modify the res I applied those points to? So now I'm frantically trying to cancel the cash trip we have next week and utilize the "free" 2018 pts so I don't lose them, and, well. You can imagine. That's not happening. I'm about to cry.
Am I just doomed to lose them? The "free" pts were a direct selling point. (At this point I know they are not free.) Please help, if you can.
Thanks in advance.

P.S. I'm not a rich person. I am a giant Disney freak that has worked for YEARS to be able to buy this tiny DVC contract.

 

[Frederic Civish]

By purchasing a December Use Year, you entered into the Use Year that started December 2018. So, you did not get any 'Freebee' points. All you got was your December 2018 Use Year Points, which should be applicable and valid right now, until December 2019, when they would expire, since you are STILL IN the December 2018 Use Year.

Except, you say you banked them? If so, then this moved them into the December 2019 Use Year, which starts December 1st, coming up. This means that the 2018 Use Year Points should now be available for any reservation that you make for the period between December 1st, 2019 and December 1st, 2020. SO, THEY SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR RESERVATION FOR MAY 2020. Or Feb 2020, or March 2020 or July 2020, or whatever. I'm not sure at all why they are not showing up for you to use.

Since they have been banked, the 2018 points will now expire on December 1st, 2020, so, they will not expire NOT THIS YEAR, but NEXT YEAR in December 2020.

As far as I can tell from what you said, If you DID bank them, you should be fine.

My suggestion to you is to call Member Services in the morning and have them look at your account, and tell you exactly how many points you have, and when they expire. My guess is that your 2018 and 2019 points will all expire on December 1st, 2020, ALONG WITH the 2 points you have borrowed from your 2020 Use Year, which moved them 'back' into your 2019 Use Year, so they will now expire at the end of that Use Year, next year.

If you make a Reservation for any time in 2020, for any month, other than December 2020, then you should be able to use any and all of these points. When you make a reservation and it calculates points, the program should automatically take the Banked points first. Then the Borrowed points, and finally, the December 2019 Use Year points. This leaves those points to be available to BANK, if you don't use them.

I'm not sure whey things aren't working for you. Call MS. If somehow you DID make some horrible mistake, plead for a Newbie Exception because of your Newbieness. (There is no such thing as a Newbie Exception, but they often will take pity on you, and straighten things out, ONE TIME.)

 

[mjlash22]

Those points weren't "free" as you are currently in your 2018 UY as mentioned above by Frederic. You are paying pro-rated dues on them and I think they just throw that word around to entice you even more haha

On the other hand, as long as you banked your 2018 UY points by end of July 2019, there should have been no issue with the banking process. Also as mentioned above by Frederic, I would just call member services and have them look into it/correct, since you've made or attempted to make multiple changes, there may be a glitch or something went wrong during one of the attempted changes.

 

[CraigInPA]

Your banked 2018 points are still there, and ready to use between December 1, 2019 and November 30, 2020.

You won't be able to use those 2018 banked points before December 1, 2019, but you could borrow some of your 2019 use year points back into 2018 to cover your POFQ trip in August, assuming there is availability.

 

[Mommb]

I have tried to modify our May 2020 res to February or early March and... no can do. Not enough points.

Is it possible that the room category you booked for May 2020 (studio) is sold out for the February and March dates you checked, and the only rooms available are in a category that costs more points? DVC owners whose home resort is not CCV can now book stays starting in late February, so it is likely that studio rooms for some dates in February-early March are no longer available. I just looked at Copper Creek availability from February 22 through March 5, and I'm not seeing any studios -- only 1-bedroom and above. You might have better luck later in March, since only CCV owners can book more than 7 months out now.

 

[jerseyduke]

Firstly, your DVC contract is good for 50 years. Point breakage is not a good thing, but if you did indeed lose your '75' free points, you lost 2% of all the points you will get over the life of the contract. Take a breath. You will enjoy your DVC membership for years to come.

Secondly, even though your purchase was in April of 2019 it was still in your 2018 Use year. If you banked those points, they are now in your 2019 UY which does not end until November 30th 2020 - that is when those points that you banked will expire if unused.
You have plenty of time to use them.

Also, I can not tell you how to travel, we all have our own personal preferences. I am someone who goes to WDW more than my DVD points will cover, and does cash rooms at other resorts, I would use my DVC points in the HAF months - that is when the deluxe resort is the best to me, as I have the nicer amenities (pool) in the heat. I pay cash when I am doing more of a parks trip and not using the pool.

Can you consider modifying your may 2020 trip to October? It will be a little cooler, and within the same UY so you will not lose any points. (note however, that doing something like this will make your trip occur after your banking deadline, and should you have to cancel it towards the last minute, you may lose your points then)

 

[Sandisw]

From what you stated, if you did bank the 2018 UY points, then for any trip in February or March 2020, you have 150 points to use, plus any points, up to 75 to borrow to cover that trip.

So, there is not anything that should prevent you from changing from May 2020 to February or March 2020 in terms of available points. I agree that a call to MS to check with them to see why you are having a problem.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Call MS. Or call the welcome team (no idea what they're really called, but the people they tell you you can call to make your first reservation) and see if they can help. I never used them, but I've heard they sometimes (not always) have some pixie dust available.

Start by telling them you are a new member and are not sure how it works and are afraid you did it wrong. As others have said, I don't think you are totally messed up here, but even still there is a chance MS will help straighten it out even you are. Maybe not, but my experience was that they were super-helpful for those first few months.

 

[joyjoy]

WWWWHHHHHHHHEEEEEWW. Thanks, y'all. Everything is okay. There WAS some kind of glitch with the website, but MS straightened it all out and while we didn't get CCV, we are happily booked at BLT for Feb 26 - Mar 4. No points lost, using those "free" (I know they aren't free, I was joking about that) from 2018, life is good. Since I had successfully made a res already, my "first time home" pixie dust possibility was used up. The guy I was talking to didn't say that per se, but he mumbled about not being able to do anything, since we had already booked at CCV successfully before I started making changes. It's okay.

Jerseyduke, great rec for using DVC for the HAF months and cash for the others. You're right - once we got BLT today for Feb/Mar we started looking at videos and were excited..... about...… the...… awesome...….pool...……………. until we realized it probably wouldn't be as critical to us as it has past trips. Since we're going to WDW next week for 10 days, October would be too soon to plan another trip. We want to relish and appreciate our points as much as we can. Plus we have a kindergartener (my g-baby) that we'll be taking out of school for the week and I'd rather be outed as a terrible Nae-Nae later in the year, once I've had a few months to suck up to the teacher.

We're excited about BLT! Thank you experts for everything. XOXOX

 

[joyjoy]

Can you consider modifying your may 2020 trip to October? It will be a little cooler, and within the same UY so you will not lose any points. (note however, that doing something like this will make your trip occur after your banking deadline, and should you have to cancel it towards the last minute, you may lose your points then)

Ah, I see now you were suggesting moving our May 2020 to Oct 2020. That's a great idea and I'll talk to my daughter about it. I thought you meant switching to Oct 2019. Sorry. Like that's even possible. Geez, I need to read.

 

[jerseyduke]

Ah, I see now you were suggesting moving our May 2020 to Oct 2020. That's a great idea and I'll talk to my daughter about it. I thought you meant switching to Oct 2019. Sorry. Like that's even possible. Geez, I need to read.

Just realize that moving it to October - if you cancel past July 31st (your banking deadline), you would not be able to bank the 75 current points, so you would have to use all the points by Nov. 30th or lose them all - as the banked and borrowed ones will expire as will the current ones. That is always the downside to travelling later in your Use Year.