Problems, Problems, and More Problems: Someone Please Help Us!!

[Dumbo76]

AAAHHH! I was so excited to join the DVC and this is just dampening the whole process. It seems like the people on these boards care more and know more about this stuff than the people paid to, so I guess I will ask you guys the questions I have. We put our downpayment on Wednesday on our Disney Visa to get the $500 Disney Dollars and we wanted to put on our closing costs on my DH's debit card. As it turns out they put the DP and the CC on my Visa card and put an extra closing cost on my DH's debit. I called them and they assured me they didn't and now Chase's website is down and I can't check to see if the "hold" amount (the exact amount of the DP + CC) went through or not and if so I would be over my credit limit. On top of all that our guide has been gone since Thursday, not back until Monday. So I have pretty much lost faith in the entire thing, but I still want to be a DVC member. I don't know what to do at this point. We were never told that the $8 per point incentive was a literal gift card, we thought it was just automatically applied to our account, which I found out from the accounting department on friday. I never knew about any pin codes, or when our paperwork would arrive. It seemed like our guide just hurried us along when we made our downpayment. The call lasted like 3 minutes. I felt kind of disappointed afterwards, I thought there would be more fanfare or something. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything, but I knew something didn't feel right.

Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to tell someone. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen? How do I log onto the website? When should I get my giftcard, my pin code, and my DVC member card? How do I get my 500 Disney Reward Dollars? Do they automatically go into my account or are they on a gift card also? I am really confused now. Thanks for listening to my stupid troubles.

 

[vicki_c]

Wow - don't let a few minor (to me) things put a damper on your whole DVC membership before you ever get started!

I don't really know about the current incentives with the gift card, so I won't be much help there. We got a dollars off/point incentive off the purchase price, but it wasn't a gift card, so I don't know if that's different now or not.

But how do you know DVC charged closing costs on both cards if you can't check for yourself and they say they didn't? Not that they didn't, but I was just wondering how you could know that based on what's in your post? Maybe you have nothing to worry about.

As for the guide, they take time off too, you can always just call Member Services and ask if you can speak to someone in his/her absence.

We called on a Monday to buy, and we received our paperwork package later that week (maybe by Thursday) and our temporary card and PIN # were in the package. Pretty much from that point on you can access the web site, even before you return the closing paperwork.

I don't think your troubles are "stupid" - it's obviously frustrating for you, but I don't think you should "lose faith" in the whole system over a few minor sounding glitches

Edited to add: Oh, as for fanfare - well, I'll give you some anyway:

Welcome home!

 

[kimberh]

I am so sorry for the confusion. I talked to my guide 2 weeks ago, He told me the $8.00 was taken off the paperwork to make the point price cheaper. The $500.00 Disney visa card.. you have to give the number that is on the first page of your statement. I think it is 8 digits. There is a pin number. It states right on the first page that it is for incentives, such as if you are referring a new person for the Disney visa etc.

I would call on Monday and talk to your guide. If there has been a huge financial mistake that will harm you, then I believe you have a 10 days right to resind. You can cancel, then I would just start over or tell him you want that paperwork tore up and rewrote. He'll figure a way to make it right.

 

[42trvl]

We just went through a new purchase ourselves, and the dollars off/point and gift card incentive was a little confusing. Our guide also didn't tell us about this until I saw the paper work. They are two different incentives. When they told us dollars off/point, we also thought like you. But what they actually did was charge us the full amount and then issue a gift card for that amount (the dollars off) which is applied directly to the purchase - we never actually saw that card, and the bottom line dollars to purchase came out the same.

Then there were separate gift/reward card incentives depending on where you were buying and when using your Disney VS. My understanding is that we will receive one gift card (I think that was for buying at Saratoga Springs) within a few weeks - completely separate from the dollars off or Disney VS incentives.

THEN...at some point we should see a credit in our Disney VS rewards for the $500 incentive for using the Disney VS card.

Our guide also would be off for several days at a time, and this is somewhat frustrating when you are in the middle of a purchase and have questions - we have certainly never bought any other real estate under these circumstances. I was also getting frustrated, since this is really not how we're used to conducting business, but kept our eye on the end result and it seems okay so far.

 

[Tina]

I don't really have any advice other than trying to contact your guide tomorrow morning. I hope that all works out just as you expected and you can soon start enjoying all of the benefits (and excitement) of being a DVC Member.

Welcome Home!

 

[Disney Spaz]

Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to tell someone. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen? How do I log onto the website? When should I get my giftcard, my pin code, and my DVC member card? How do I get my 500 Disney Reward Dollars? Do they automatically go into my account or are they on a gift card also? I am really confused now. Thanks for listening to my stupid troubles.

Take a deep breath. They are not stupid troubles. You are spending a large sum of money so it makes sense you would want to feel comfotable and fully informed.
We just bought on 7/4 and our guide was going on vacation and comes back this Tuesday so I know how you feel. I will say my guide was on the phone with me for ot longer then 3 minutes and called me twice since then to give me follow-up info. To access the website you need your contract number and pin number. I got both of those by calling Member services at 1-800-********. They were able to give them to me over the phone. FYI DH and I have different numbers and different pins so we each have an account.

We bought in on Friday and I had my paperwork by Tuesday. In the paperwork was a temporary DVC member card.

Assuming you bought into AKV the $8 discount on points is given in the form of a gift card that they then dirceltly apply to your deposit. Per my guide they are doing it now this way to get people in who do not have the large 10% deposit needed to join. There will be paperwork including this in the paperwork you recieve. First there is a sheet that says you owe whatever that $8 discount was equal to, then there is a paper to sign saying you are turning over the giftcard equal to that amount as part of your deposit. You never really see the money or the gift card.

As for the $500 Disney Visa Reward our guide says that can take up to two billing cycles to show up on your credit card statement. I assume this is because they do not give the credit until you go through closing and are completly lock in.

On a side note, when you get your paperwork there is a number on the inside of the blue folder of documents you need to sign. It asks that you call it when you are ready to go over your paperwork. When I called I got a wonderful woman who answered all my questions and stayed ont he hone with me for about 45 minutes reviewing everything from the paperwork to the size of rooms I was interested in. I was very impressed.

Hope this helps and remember this is the hard part. After closing you just need to start vacationing.

 

[tecodis]

I joined DVC with these incentives in June. I was advised by my Guide that I could pay the full 10% down and have the $8/point discount applied to my balance due OR get a $1280 gift card. The other option was to pay only $500 down and then DVC would receive the gift card applied to the rest of the down payment. I also paid the deposit with my Disney Visa so I will be getting 500 reward dollars later.

Confusing but I know I didn't want such a large gift card (since I new $500 rewards will also come) so I opted for paying the full deposit and applying the $1280 to the balance due.

When I got the documents to sign, the $8/point incentive indicated it was going to be a Disney gift card for $1280 going to DVC. This left my balance due $1280 larger than it was suppose to be. When I questioned my Guide on this, she stated that they are getting alot of confusion from buyers on this incentive and that their "document prep" team it working on clarifying.

Now I don't know if she had to speak to anyone to modify mine but I received an email from a QAM with the correct lower balance due I was expecting to pay.

I just paid my balance due yesterday so now I'm ready for closing and I will be an official member! Oh, and the 500 reward dollars will pay for my Annual Pass renewal in October.

 

[Tinkerbelljean]

Sorry to hear you are having problems. Try not to get too stressed about it. I bought into SSR before it opened. I have had good experiences and not so good. When it comes to problems and complaints with Disney, the following has been my experience.

1. When it comes to not enough sheets in a room or a light bulb that needs to be replaced, Disney has done a wonderful job. When it comes to luggage they have done OK, however a few pieces have been lost/misdirected and then found, but these issues are straight forward and generally get resolved quickly. I can't say enough about my experiences with Disney's housekeeping staff, they have done some wonderful things for us, but this is certainly not true for everyone.

2. A more global problem that is not easy for a manager to resolve gets lost in Disney Bureaucracy, you may get a letter thanking you for your concern, but do not expect a touchy feely response or someone to "make it right." If it happens wonderful, but it has not been my experience that your issue will get resolved in this manner. You can pretty much expect if you call Disney on the phone, no matter who you talk to it won't be their responsibility. Put your concern politely, clearly and concisely in writing and ask for a specific reasonable response/resolution, in my experience, this is best done by e-mail. Hard to do while on vacation, easier now that there is free internet access. We always bring a lap top and when we need to complain about more global issues we do so by e-mail. We've had several issues resolved by e-mail that we could not get resolved over the phone, while on vacation. I feel better and get on with my vacation when I hit the send button on the e-mail. Also, if I have a bad experience like a loud drunk grandmother at a DVC children's activity, who was served more alcohol at 2 in the afternoon by a CM, I can complain and get on with my vacation. You also have a paper trail.


3. You are doing this to go on vacation and relax so pick your battles accordingly. My husband has to remind me of this one at least once on every vacation and more frequently when I am trying to deal with some vacation planning or points issue.


4. In my experience Disney's marketing far exceeds their ability to follow through on what they promise in their marketing. I could give you a list of examples, but I think you are in the midst of an example so I will refrain. Disney is a company that does some things well and others not so well, it is a company that exists in the real world, unfortunately without Pixie Dust and beholding to shareholders. It does what is best for Disney and has employer/employee problems like most companies. You need to have pluck and be informed about what Disney is doing, to get the most out of your money you need to "work" at staying abreast of what is happening, which is what you are doing here.

4. Be friendly to the Disney staff and try to remember names and faces of people who can help you. I struck up a cordial relationship with a CM working at the Concierge desk and 2 days later she remembered me and really went an extra mile resolve an issue I had with a flower delivery. I remember her now and try to briefly thank her for her help in the past when I see her. She then fills me in on lots of tips on activities I want to book or ones that I am not aware of. This can go a long way to make an enjoyable trip and you really do feel like you are "Home" again. I always try to catch her on a moment when the desk is not busy, so she is free to chat for a minute or two.

5. Snow White had to work with Grumpy, Sneezy, Doc, Dopey, and the Evil Queen ......I bought a Snow White pin, I wear it often at workand when I travel to remind myself that even Snow White had to work with Grumpy, Sneezy, Doc, Dopey and the Evil Queen (I've made up and named a few of my own dwarfs.)

Hoping all your problems get worked out soon.