One time use points, why doesn't DVC allow you to purchase and use them online?

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SL6827

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With my June reservation I bought some extra one time use points to go towards my reservation this June. I am finally set on the exact resorts in which we will stay and the exact dates.:rolleyes: But the one thing that annoyed me with DVC was I had to call in to re-arrange my plans that were booked with the one time use points. I wonder why those points don't show up on your account after you purchase them and/or why couldn't you purchase one time use points online? Seems like it would save time/money with Member Services with them not having to answer the calls for such request.

I know I was on the phone a good amount of time while doing this. Connection was a little rough with me being in the Grand Cayman at the time, but I think it was more than that, not sure. Anyway, to me, IMHO, I would just find it way more efficient to be able to purchase and use one time use points online.
 
OTU points came about after DVCMC raised the point requirement for the THV. To keep the herd happy they came up with the idea of letting us buy points from them. We have only had improved website access for a couple of years, prior to that we called for everything. Maybe someday the website will be improved but in reality, they will probably spend most of their time improving the marketing website.

:earsboy: Bill

 
I thought it was something about BLT changing the pts chart the year after it opened for purchase... but that was probably around the same time.
 
I thought it was something about BLT changing the pts chart the year after it opened for purchase... but that was probably around the same time.

It may have been, getting older erases some of the detail. I thought it was because the guides were telling buyers that they could stay in a THV for the same points as a two bedroom at SSR. After they sold out of the THV points, they increased the point requirement at THV and came up with the OTU points to shut us up.

:earsboy: Bill

 

With my June reservation I bought some extra one time use points to go towards my reservation this June. I am finally set on the exact resorts in which we will stay and the exact dates.:rolleyes: But the one thing that annoyed me with DVC was I had to call in to re-arrange my plans that were booked with the one time use points. I wonder why those points don't show up on your account after you purchase them and/or why couldn't you purchase one time use points online? Seems like it would save time/money with Member Services with them not having to answer the calls for such request.

I know I was on the phone a good amount of time while doing this. Connection was a little rough with me being in the Grand Cayman at the time, but I think it was more than that, not sure. Anyway, to me, IMHO, I would just find it way more efficient to be able to purchase and use one time use points online.
It's probably for the same reason transferred points don't show in your account unless they match an account you already have (same use year and resort. DVCMC won't be updating the system to fix this unless & until it saves them more than it costs to handle it as they do now.
 
It would also be nice if a member could combine reservations from different contracts without having to call and have a CM do it. Apparently this can be very tricky for some CM’s.........
 
The website has improved greatly but it still has a way to go. Those extra points come in handy, I’ve bought them several times this year and it would have been less stressful to be able to do it online. You find the reservation and can’t book it till you get MS on the phone to complete the transaction, all the while hoping someone else doesn’t grab your find!
 
please don't confuse the IT people

So true. I'm willing to bet that the only reason you can't do this online is that it hasn't been programmed. "You can do anything with programming." Do I remember correctly that Disney moved a lot of their programming off shore to India? That might also be the problem.
 
It hasn't been programmed because it doesn't make Disney money and it will cost to create the program plus not many will benefit from it.

:earsboy: Bill

 
Do I remember correctly that Disney moved a lot of their programming off shore to India? That might also be the problem.

No.

And even if they did it would make it better. Programmers from India are highly educated and just getting into college is India is beyond competitive. There might be communication issues and cultural differences in the workplace (my husband leads a very diverse team and has noted this many times), but the education and skill level for programmers there is very good.


But still, no. There was some utter nonsense a few years ago about Orlando-based employees whose jobs were described as “monitoring the website” being replaced by h1b visa holders. That meant that those jobs required a skill set such that the US employees weren’t cut out for it, and that Disney wanted to pay quite a bit of money to get those employees over here. That generally involves moving them here. And their families are allowed to come, too. Come on. Does that sound logical?

Combined with the fact that the bulk of Disney IT is up in Seattle not Orlando, and they use young and underpaid interns for a lot of it, the Orlando story was one of those “this doesn’t make sense, this doesn’t have any good citations or explanations, and who put this story out and WHY” moments in modern journalism. It created a stir about those visas, without any comprehension of those visas and that they are in NO way about hiring unskilled unqualified “cheap” labor.
 
Disney has a very strong incentive to keep the costs of the reservation computer system as low as possible and thus an incentive to make only absolutely necessary improvements. That is because Disney has no way of actually raising the members' dues to pay for improvements for the reservation computer system. We pay a $1 per member annual charge called the Disney Reservation Component, which cannot be raised. All other costs of the computer systems either come out of the management fee that is in the dues, which equals 12.5% (a percentage that cannot change) of the annual budget excluding certain items such as the management fee and taxes, and the breakage income for the renting of rooms not reserved by DVC members by 60 days out. Because of that arrangement, the amount of your dues never change if the computer system costs almost nothing or costs millions. What does change is the amount of the 12.5% management fee and breakage income Disney gets to keep as profit and the lower the dollars spent on the reservation computer systems, the more Disney gets to keep.
 
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Disney has a very strong incentive to keep the costs of the reservation computer system as low as possible and thus an incentive to make only absolutely necessary improvements. That is because Disney has no way of actually raising the members' dues to pay for improvements for the reservation computer system. We pay a $1 per member annual charge called the Disney Reservation Component, which cannot be raised. All other costs of the computer systems either come out of the management fee that is in the dues, which equals 12.5% (a percentage that cannot change) of the annual budget excluding certain items such as the management fee and taxes, and the breakage income for the renting of rooms not reserved by DVC members by 60 days out. Because of that arrangement, the amount of your dues never change if the computer system costs almost nothing or costs millions. What does change is the amount of the 12.5% management fee and breakage income Disney gets to keep as profit and the lower the dollars spent on the reservation computer seems, the more Disney gets to keep.
Which IMO, is why serious updates don't/won't get done until the cost of the upgrades is less than the cost of increasing the staff to handle things manually.
 
No.

And even if they did it would make it better. Programmers from India are highly educated and just getting into college is India is beyond competitive. There might be communication issues and cultural differences in the workplace (my husband leads a very diverse team and has noted this many times), but the education and skill level for programmers there is very good.


But still, no. There was some utter nonsense a few years ago about Orlando-based employees whose jobs were described as “monitoring the website” being replaced by h1b visa holders. That meant that those jobs required a skill set such that the US employees weren’t cut out for it, and that Disney wanted to pay quite a bit of money to get those employees over here. That generally involves moving them here. And their families are allowed to come, too. Come on. Does that sound logical?

Combined with the fact that the bulk of Disney IT is up in Seattle not Orlando, and they use young and underpaid interns for a lot of it, the Orlando story was one of those “this doesn’t make sense, this doesn’t have any good citations or explanations, and who put this story out and WHY” moments in modern journalism. It created a stir about those visas, without any comprehension of those visas and that they are in NO way about hiring unskilled unqualified “cheap” labor.

Not sure I have seen anything in print that I disagree with more with than this. Programming as a whole has gone downhill - rapidly in the last decade - since it was offshored. Biggest farce perpetrated on the American people - that programmers/tech folks from India are somehow smarter. Apparently, not smart enough to convert their mostly third world society but somehow - superior in technology. I have seen teams of 'tech' folks from India make mistakes a 5th grader wouldn't make. Try 'seacrh' in almost any application. Search functions worked since the 60s - now it's a massive headache full of bugs.

Struggling with the latest Outlook for IOS update - we can't see telephone numbers for our 10K employees - If we have 3 or more emails to/from/ccd with the person. Just another bug. Who needs telephone numbers or location or job titles?

Critical data - ID data, infrastructure data - all overseas despite prohibitions- lawsuits - NIGHTMARE!

The labor is cheaper until you are explaining DST or leap year or the difference between AM/PM or TELEPHONE numbers for the 7th time - and when American version of Company A finally convinces India version of Company A that it is indeed a bug - not a feature, not working as designed, not something a 15 step workaround can fix - and it is finally patched (with a $$ change order), it won't be tested and 6 other things will be broken. Spaghetti programming. Stuff that should be in tables is hard coded. I can't - I really can't - Basic coding, programming, logic - gone. Years of horror stories - some of the biggest names in the industry.

And, yet, a whole bunch of people are willing to believe India produces more tech savvy people compared to the entire rest of the world. Perhaps, they should take a break from APPs and work on running water or proper sanitation for their country? SMH

Dear Mods, I promise not to respond to any other replies to this for my own sanity - it's off topic anyway.
 
Not sure I have seen anything in print that I disagree with more with than this. Programming as a whole has gone downhill - rapidly in the last decade - since it was offshored. Biggest farce perpetrated on the American people - that programmers/tech folks from India are somehow smarter. Apparently, not smart enough to convert their mostly third world society but somehow - superior in technology. I have seen teams of 'tech' folks from India make mistakes a 5th grader wouldn't make. Try 'seacrh' in almost any application. Search functions worked since the 60s - now it's a massive headache full of bugs.

Struggling with the latest Outlook for IOS update - we can't see telephone numbers for our 10K employees - If we have 3 or more emails to/from/ccd with the person. Just another bug. Who needs telephone numbers or location or job titles?

Critical data - ID data, infrastructure data - all overseas despite prohibitions- lawsuits - NIGHTMARE!

The labor is cheaper until you are explaining DST or leap year or the difference between AM/PM or TELEPHONE numbers for the 7th time - and when American version of Company A finally convinces India version of Company A that it is indeed a bug - not a feature, not working as designed, not something a 15 step workaround can fix - and it is finally patched (with a $$ change order), it won't be tested and 6 other things will be broken. Spaghetti programming. Stuff that should be in tables is hard coded. I can't - I really can't - Basic coding, programming, logic - gone. Years of horror stories - some of the biggest names in the industry.

And, yet, a whole bunch of people are willing to believe India produces more tech savvy people compared to the entire rest of the world. Perhaps, they should take a break from APPs and work on running water or proper sanitation for their country? SMH

Dear Mods, I promise not to respond to any other replies to this for my own sanity - it's off topic anyway.

I find it strange that you are holding the top 5% of workers in a country responsible for taking care of centuries old infrastructure problems. The fact of the matter is there is over a billion people in India, and if you took just the top performing 30% of them, you would outnumber the whole population of the US. There are many, many capable people that come from there, and to pin the whole country's problems on a few people is very lazy.

You cherry picked a couple of specific examples and applied it to the whole country. If other people did that with the US, with Enron as their example, they would say all US workers are corrupt. True of some, but not of most.
 
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We seem to be straying off topic and moving towards a debate. Those who want to discuss H1B visas / outsourcing should take the discussion to the Community Board.
 
No.

And even if they did it would make it better. Programmers from India are highly educated and just getting into college is India is beyond competitive. There might be communication issues and cultural differences in the workplace (my husband leads a very diverse team and has noted this many times), but the education and skill level for programmers there is very good.

B.S. Most Indian IT "graduates" come through a 2 year intensive "university" that prepares them to work with the latest, most fashionable programming languages and technologies. They don't spend a lot of time on basic computer science fundamentals. "Electives" include things like project management, not Art, History, Language, or Philosophy. In my experience, having had groups of hundreds of Indian consultants work for me, I find their ability to develop code to exact specs provided to be impressive. However, I have yet to find one who could design a "system", understand the performance hit on using certain technologies, or write even basic documentation. Comments as to what the code sections do are virtually non-existent, making the code difficult to maintain in the future. The cost is decidedly cheaper than using US computer science graduates, which is why companies use Indian IT consultants.

But still, no. There was some utter nonsense a few years ago about Orlando-based employees whose jobs were described as “monitoring the website” being replaced by h1b visa holders. That meant that those jobs required a skill set such that the US employees weren’t cut out for it, and that Disney wanted to pay quite a bit of money to get those employees over here. That generally involves moving them here. And their families are allowed to come, too. Come on. Does that sound logical?

The jobs were turned over to an Indian consulting company, who paid their employees to come to the US as part of their contract. The H1b employees themselves are paid less than those whose jobs were taken, which allowed the consulting company to pay for them to come to the US. Whether those original US employees were qualified or not is a separate issue that is pure conjecture on your part.
 
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