Point balance discrepancy

[sssteele]

Has any one of you not agreed at some point about your point balance, meaning what you think it is, and what MS has on their record? We just bought 200 points at VWL, and made a 177 point reseravtion at BCV (our original reosrt). Last conversation of day-by-day reservation with MS had a "balance remaining" total that didn't come close to what I thought I should have. If you ever had this situation, what did you do to resolve it? I'm sure that DVC is correct, but it is very disconcerting to just assume that they are.

 

[DebbieB]

They can send you a printout. If you have 2 contracts, is it possible they only gave you the balance of one?

 

[Chuck S]

Well, since you just bought the contract, were there any points banked/borrowed before you bought it? It could also depend on when your use year hits...did the rssie overlap the end/start of use year?

I would call MS and ask them to go over the ressie with you. If that doesn't balance your points, then ask for a printout.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Has any one of you not agreed at some point about your point balance, meaning what you think it is, and what MS has on their record?

Never happened to me (knock on wood.) But do a search on Richyams. Something similar happened to him. A substantial amount of points went "missing" from his account and mysteriously re-appeared sometime later. So double check those point balances with MS regularly.

I think that this is the link to the post:


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=448821

 

[Granny]

Just as a point of practice, every time I do any transaction with MS (reservation, cancellation, bank, borrow) I confirm the point totals on my contracts. It is definitely not something you want to have to resolve somewhere down the road. Much easier to get it handled when you're still on the phone with them.

You can request a printout of the transactions on a contract, but my understanding is that it is extremely detailed and difficult to read.

I'd start with a call to MS and explain what you think your balance is and why. They should be able to answer to your satisfaction where the points went, or correct their records.

 

[BuzzandWoody]

Also confirm status of points, i.e. holding etc

I just recently changed plans and had some points left over. I knew that they had to be used becaused they were borrowed.

I wasn't sure if I could transfer so I called. Are they points in holding? I asked, reply no

Called to reserve studio, "can't do" he tells me points are in holding have to wait for less than 60 days.

Okay I will admit I made ALOT of changes in reservations but would swear points were just borrowed, NOT in holding.

Called again and after about over 30 minutes off and on hold it was straightened out and ressie made.

Could not transfer points but could make ressie.

 

[Caskbill]

Since your original resort is BCV and you just bought VWL, I'm thinking the VWL purchase was resale perhaps?

Do they both have the same Use Year month? If not then they are definitely totally separate contracts and you will have two balances, not one combined balance.

Even if you purchased the VWL through Disney, if it's a different Use Year month, it's a different contract and membership number.

If they're the same Use Year month, but you bought resale, they may still be two separate contracts and again you will have two separate balances, not one.

If you purchased resale, then there are also a lot of other questions: What Use Year month, did the previous owner bank/borrow any points, are any points in Reservation or Holding status.

 

[sssteele]

We bought same use year (Feb), and same as our two contracts at BCV. Through Disney, by the way, using our regular guide. Two separate figures were given to us - one for BCV, and one for VWL. I agreed with VWL figure, but BCV seems to be exactly 124 points off.

 

[Caskbill]

We bought same use year (Feb), and same as our two contracts at BCV. Through Disney, by the way, using our regular guide. Two separate figures were given to us - one for BCV, and one for VWL. I agreed with VWL figure, but BCV seems to be exactly 124 points off.

Interesting. Are the two BCV contracts under the same membership number? Were they both purchased from Disney or by chance was one of them resale.

Can you remember if you made any reservations that required 124 points? Maybe it got entered twice.

You'll probably need to get the DVC point usage printout that they can send you. It'll have every point allocation made, every bank/borrow transaction, every reservation, etc.

You'll have to take care in how you read it as it can be a little tough to follow, but you should have a full accounting of all point transactions on the printout and hopefully you can find the 124 point difference.

 

[lisareniff]

Actually, this just happened to me this week. It ended being a simple mis-communication mistake. On the second day of my day-by-day ressie I got the points remaining number and wrote it down. It sounded very low, but the call ended. I thought perhaps I didn't hear her correctly; house was noisey and she was not speaking clearly. The next day I recofirmed the amount with MS, which was indeed low. We started to try to figure it out. First he went way back, then life got easier when I let him know that I agree with everything up until the last day. I was booking mutiple rooms and apprently the CM missunderstood that I wanted the third room ressie to start on a different day and she started it on the same day as the other two, therefore the 60 point difference. ....an easy answer and fix. So, yes I learned it is important to go over the point balance before and after all transactions.

 

[sssteele]

Thanks for the replies. My wife and I went over all the numbers day-by-day from last balance through add-ons and reservation. We came up with the same 124 point discrepancy. Caskbill - both contacts are on the same DVC account number, and both were Disney resales done at the same time. Had an existing reservation at VWL for over Xmas, and asked that 100 of my new VWL points replace BCV points that were originally used to make the reservation. I'm wondering if the 100 points might have not been credited back to our BCV contracts. We also had a day cancelled at the end of that reservation (12 points). I also thought that perhaps somehow 12 more points were deducted from our balance rather than credited back on. I know that both of these are a stretch, but I'm "grasping at straws." We requested an activity statement from MS yesterday, but I have little hope of being able to deciphering it judging by the comments responding to this post.

 

[Caskbill]

We requested an activity statement from MS yesterday, but I have little hope of being able to deciphering it judging by the comments responding to this post.

We're probably overstating the interpretation of the printout. It does make sense if you look at it. I pulled an old one out. We have one main contract with two add-on's. Each is printed out separately. All data is grouped by Use Year. Our Use Year month is June, so here's a sample of the data listed from 06/1998 - 05/1999.

Column 1 is the transaction date, or date we spoke with MS.
Column 2 is the number of points for the specific transaction
Column 3 is the description
Column 4 is a running total.

Columns 1, 2, 4 are self-explanatory.
Column 3 is in code. Here's what a few of them read. Text in Bold is what is printed in column 3. Text in italics are my comments. I am leaving out the columns 1, 2, and 4, and also all confirmation numbers that are shown in column 3, for obvious reasons.

Typical Column 3 Descriptive Codes

Annual Allocation
Bank from prior use year Banking # .....
Arrive @ BWALK on 06/04/98 Reservation # ..... BWALK is the BWV
Arrive @ CLUB on 12/20/98 Reservation #..... CLUB is code for the OKW resort. When originally built, OKW was named The Disney Vacation Club
Arrive @ CLUB on 03/07/99 Reservation #.....
Bank to next use year Banking # BK....... An obvious banking transaction
Cnl res #..... same ressie number as in the 12/20/98 reservation
Chg @ CLUB 12/20/98 #.... same ressie number again. These two lines I interpret as being a waitlist that came through. My personal records show that on 12/20/98 we stayed at BWV. I originally made a reservation at OKW (CLUB) and then later the BWV waitlist came through. The Disney printout however doesn't show anywhere that we stayed at BWV.

That's basically how the printout looks. As I go through the several pages, here are a few others that are pretty self-explanatory:

Borrow from next use year
Bank to next use year
Annual Allocation
Arrive @ HILTN on (date) Reservation #.....
Arrive @ VERO on (date here) Reservation # .....

And finally one that is kind of neat:

WDW-Arrive @ EDLSL on 11/28/94 This was a trip to Disneyland Paris, which at the time was named Euro Disneyland. We stayed at Sequoia Lodge, thus EDLSL.

Bottom line, if you have your own records (such as we have in a spreadsheet), it's easy to compare dates and verify all transactions.

Good Luck. Hope you let us know how it turns out.

 

[disneyberry]

[SIZE=+0]That's a great writeup, Caskbill!

To add to it, what I've noticed is that whenever you modify a reservation (adding a day, dropping a day, or "reallocating points" like you did w/ the VWL and BCV points), it will show up as a pair of transactions: first Cancelled, and then Changed.
i.e.
Cnl res # 38XXXXXXXXXX
Chg@CLUB 01/01/05 (or whatever the arrival date is) # 38XXXXXXXXX

But whenever you just plain cancel a reservation, it will only be one line:
Cnl res # 38XXXXXXXXXX Cancellation # CN38XXXXXXXXXX

Also, if points are reallocated from one contract to another (for example from your BCV to your VWL, the "pair" of cancel/change will the split.

Some other lines you might see:
Manual adj points banked out
Manual adj points banked
Borrow to previous use year
Manual adj points xfer out
Manual adj points xfer in
Xfer from XXXX(some contract#).XXX exp 01/06 Transfer # TR38XXXXXXXXXX

I personally have an Excel spreadsheet that I use to keep track of all the transactions, especially because the thing about interpreting the Points Activity Statement is that it's hard to tell which reservations use banked points or borrowed points, or holding points, etc. I think even MS has trouble telling that... so that's always info outside of the PAS I have to get from MS with each phone call and then jot down in my own records.

sssteele, I hope you're able to sort everything out![/size]

 

[sssteele]

Your posts should be very helpful when my activity statement arrives. I also made my guide aware of the situation when he called to confirm receipt of resale documents. He told me to give him a call if I can't get a satisfactory explanation from MS (or find my mistake if that's what it is). Thanks again. It's great to have knowledgeable folks like you available on the DIS.