Purchase Etiquette

[MickeyT]

Hello DVC Veterans. Have got a few questions about buying etiquette. We will probably be buying DVC in the next few months. We have not decided on home resort, amount of points or UY yet. UY may not matter much to us because we travel very different times of the year so the points would have to be manipulated around each visit anyway.

I have been communicating with a DVC agent for about a month. He sent packages and e-mails with the information and perks. I have spoke with him on the phone. He rattled off a bunch of incentives to buy direct from DVC. I am still about 50/50 on whether to buy direct or resale. I think it is going to boil down to whether we want to finance or go ahead and pay out of pocket and which resort we would like as home.

Ok my questions. Is it proper to use the agent for information and then turn to resale? How do you tell the agent you have decided to go with resale if we decide to go that route? Is it OK to take the tour when we go down in July if we know we are going to go resale? The agent was telling us how we could just pay for this trip with our points and not cost us any more but we are staying club level at the Beach Club and got a 40% discount so the DW says she would like to do CL one more time.

Anyway I hope this makes sense. We will in all probability be DVC owners by the end of the year. I just want to do the ‘right’ thing with the agent and Disney. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[sweetdana]

Just like any sales person, if they worked a bunch it is the right thing to use them. Also consider IE if it is BLT, going direct it isn't much difference. SSR.. resale is more like 69$- 71$ a point, so it is a toughy. If you called and didn't spend much of their time, I wouldn't worry, but if you have spoke with then 8 or 10 times asked a bunch of questions, they are people with families too.

I would go direct.. except maybe SSR. Then I would probably go resale. It is toooooo much different. Even the guides know they are outta wack on the prices of SSR.

 

[Judique]

Hello DVC Veterans. Have got a few questions about buying etiquette. We will probably be buying DVC in the next few months. We have not decided on home resort, amount of points or UY yet. UY may not matter much to us because we travel very different times of the year so the points would have to be manipulated around each visit anyway.

I have been communicating with a DVC agent for about a month. He sent packages and e-mails with the information and perks. I have spoke with him on the phone. He rattled off a bunch of incentives to buy direct from DVC. I am still about 50/50 on whether to buy direct or resale. I think it is going to boil down to whether we want to finance or go ahead and pay out of pocket and which resort we would like as home.

Ok my questions. Is it proper to use the agent for information and then turn to resale? How do you tell the agent you have decided to go with resale if we decide to go that route? Is it OK to take the tour when we go down in July if we know we are going to go resale? The agent was telling us how we could just pay for this trip with our points and not cost us any more but we are staying club level at the Beach Club and got a 40% discount so the DW says she would like to do CL one more time.

Anyway I hope this makes sense. We will in all probability be DVC owners by the end of the year. I just want to do the ‘right’ thing with the agent and Disney. Thanks in advance for any help!

Buy what is the best deal for you. Sometimes with incentives and convenience, buying direct works for some people.

For resale it might depend on the contract structure such as available points, use year, price per point and other details.

So - you have to look at an available to buy resale and weigh it against buying direct and the incentives. if it were just a couple hundred off the mark, direct would be my way to go, but if I were saving a grand or so and getting the resale contract closed in time to use for my next vacation, I'd probably go resale.

Financing - whether paying cash or financing, I'd look for the cheapest terms and Disney is quite high - most can find cheaper terms elsewhere. I've got credit cards cheaper then Disney.

As for the guide - this is Disney's product and that's what guides are for = to get information from. Sure they are salespeople and want to make a commission, but if you were buying a car, you wouldn't necessarily stay with the guy who gave you the most info if the price was 3 grand higher.

 

[RobDoc]

There is no etiquette in this situation. Whether you will be financing or paying cash, I'd look for the best deal at the time you are ready to buy.

If your resort choice is BLT or VGC you may find the best deal thru Disney directly. If you decide to purchase OKW, VB, HH, BWV, VWL, BCV, SSR or AKV you will likely find much better pricing via resale. Be sure to know what a direct purchase thru Disney would cost and then use that information when reviewing the resale listings. Also, be sure to note that you will always get all points from the current Use Year and then next with direct purchase, but resale may be different (current points could be all used and next year's points could have already been borrowed .... OR .... the contract could come with points banked from the last Use Year, all current points and all points from following Use Year).

Take the tour on your next trip and give the DVC Guide an opportunity to offer his best pricing for the resort you want and then decide whether that is a better price than what you could find via resale. Once you've made the decision to purchase via resale, I'd use the resale broker as the resource for further purchase questions.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[stefanospops]

I agree with some previous posters that the best deal is what it ultimately in your interest. Really, I can only see buying direct as a benefit if looking at BLT since there is little difference between resale at Disney prices. As for going to Disney only if you choose to finance it, do you have the ability to get a line of credit or loan elsewhere?

 

[es45]

OP, I have the same dilemma. I was informed that the DVC guide you have been working with will become your guide with a resale too. He will have the benefit of any commission when you do an add-on. Hope that makes you feel a bit better about getting the information from him even if you don't buy from him.

 

[MickeyT]

do you have the ability to get a line of credit or loan elsewhere?

Yes. Could probably pay OOP if we wanted. Was gonna talk to tax consultant after that little April 15 deadline thing they deal with every year!

 

[Jason@dvcstore]

In my opinion you have to get all the information you can. In my opinion you shouldn't concern yourself with how much time you take from the associate at Disney or maybe from an associate at The Timeshare Store, Inc.®

In my opinion as salespeople we have to understand that we may talk to someone on the phone 8 different times for 45 minutes each time but they may choose not to buy from The Timeshare Store, Inc.® or they may simply choose not to buy DVC at all.

I hope everything works out well for you and your decision.

Jason

 

[oct2014]

OP, I have the same dilemma. I was informed that the DVC guide you have been working with will become your guide with a resale too. He will have the benefit of any commission when you do an add-on. Hope that makes you feel a bit better about getting the information from him even if you don't buy from him.

The add-on commission assumes that you don't go resale again. It seems to me that once someone has bought resale they are only buying direct if they need the points fast and/or want the perfect contract (number of points, use year, resort), so the chances are slim that you will make it worth their while later when you didn't go direct initially.

As for the guide - this is Disney's product and that's what guides are for = to get information from. Sure they are salespeople and want to make a commission, but if you were buying a car, you wouldn't necessarily stay with the guy who gave you the most info if the price was 3 grand higher.

I agree that you certainly should not feel not obligated to buy from the Guide. Someone on an old thread also made a great point about the car sales analogy, that you shouldn't expect the person to continue to answer your questions if you have decided to buy it somewhere else (including resale).

I would just say that once you actually have decided to go resale, I don't think you should continue to use the Guide at least until you are a member (and many will say you don't need a Guide anymore at that point).

Caroline

 

[peezee]

The add-on commission assumes that you don't go resale again. It seems to me that once someone has bought resale they are only buying direct if they need the points fast and/or want the perfect contract (number of points, use year, resort), so the chances are slim that you will make it worth their while later when you didn't go direct initially.

Not entirely true, I bought re-sale for the specific reason of then being able to buy smaller than the "start-up" number of points directly from Disney. So virtually immediately after closing on our re-sale I did contact DVC for more points.

I suspect I may do it again in the near future.

 

[dbs1228]

Research, research and more reseach. As everyone is saying go with the best deal for you and be informed. We saved over 4100.00 on a resale SSR contract that we almost bought direct thru dvc because we did not know any better. We did buy BLT through dvc. I am not too excited about out guide anyway the only time I heard back from him quickly was when I called about adding on to BLT. Most of my questions are answered with "you can call MS and have them do that" or they can answer that for you.

When I told him we bought SSR resale and were waiting to close and I wanted his help to book a ressie for my daughter he said "oh resale you better be careful they may have said there are 2009 points banked but we have had such horror stories in those type of situations" I later found out that once a resale contract goes for ROFR the sellers account is frozen they cannot use any points until the contract is sold. Anyway I am not so big on the "guide", ours anyway, and I have found out way more information on this forum.

 

[Dean]

Hello DVC Veterans. Have got a few questions about buying etiquette. We will probably be buying DVC in the next few months. We have not decided on home resort, amount of points or UY yet. UY may not matter much to us because we travel very different times of the year so the points would have to be manipulated around each visit anyway.

I have been communicating with a DVC agent for about a month. He sent packages and e-mails with the information and perks. I have spoke with him on the phone. He rattled off a bunch of incentives to buy direct from DVC. I am still about 50/50 on whether to buy direct or resale. I think it is going to boil down to whether we want to finance or go ahead and pay out of pocket and which resort we would like as home.

Ok my questions. Is it proper to use the agent for information and then turn to resale? How do you tell the agent you have decided to go with resale if we decide to go that route? Is it OK to take the tour when we go down in July if we know we are going to go resale? The agent was telling us how we could just pay for this trip with our points and not cost us any more but we are staying club level at the Beach Club and got a 40% discount so the DW says she would like to do CL one more time.

Anyway I hope this makes sense. We will in all probability be DVC owners by the end of the year. I just want to do the ‘right’ thing with the agent and Disney. Thanks in advance for any help!

This is the delimma with timeshares when discussing with retail staff. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer and fortunately DVC tends to give honest answers and real information, unlike some timeshare sales systems. Still, they are trying to make a sale and one should not expect them to give you all the downsides but only the good items that apply to one's situaiton. I think it really depends on the underlying intent. Once a person has made the decision to buy resale, I think it is inappropriate to continue to use the guide for issues related to that purchase unless it's about issues that might change your mind back to retail. The guides know there is a % of potential buyers that will end up with resale and most are OK with it to a point as long as one isn't too blatant with further impositions. The reality with DVC is that they may still be able to sell to you in the future for add ons and future resorts as well as the fact that there is a DVC forced connection between a guide and a buyer even if they bought resale.

 

[Dean]

When I told him we bought SSR resale and were waiting to close and I wanted his help to book a ressie for my daughter he said "oh resale you better be careful they may have said there are 2009 points banked but we have had such horror stories in those type of situations" I later found out that once a resale contract goes for ROFR the sellers account is frozen they cannot use any points until the contract is sold. Anyway I am not so big on the "guide", ours anyway, and I have found out way more information on this forum.

The account isn't frozen until it actually is sent in for transfer to the new owner so it is certainly possible for such issues to happen. My guess in your situation is that the guide was accurate and honest in that a few horror stories go a long way. I do know of a few issues along the lines of what you were being warned about both with DVC and other systems. I do think the risk is pretty minor overall and does related to a degree, as to why I think paying for title insurance with DVC is not necessary.

 

[dbs1228]

I was told as soon as dvc has the contract ROFR the contract is frozen since they are considering buying it back themselves it has to stay in tact until they waive that right. I guess after they waive it and the final closing something could happen but we were lucky enough to close in under a weeks time and I had TSS pull a points activity on the contract the day before closing just to make sure. (title company suggested that I do that if I am the least bit unsure)

Personally for me I have gotten more info through this site and TSS then I have through my guide. I have a very hard time getting a hold of him and when I do I feel like he is rushing me along, except the 1 time I asked about adding on. I have bought 320 points thru dvc since Feb and another 125 add on which I have deposited on but not feeling the customer service, so I am getting cold feet.

I have spoken with Quality Assurance and accounting to arrange payments and dues, spoken with MS for ressie and general questions and ALL were great and informative.

 

[joandegennaro]

You could be honest with the DVC rep. This is what I did. I called the DVC rep and quite clearly said that we are now ready to make the purchase..had been in contact with her on and off for over 2 1/2 years. I said that we were interested in OKW but wasn't sure what would be the best finacial decission for us direct or resale. Once we considered all the factors...end dates, cost per points and length of closing we decided that for us Direct was more in line with us than resale. Money over time and potentially getting ROFRed and having to start all over again wasn't our thing.

 

[Dean]

I was told as soon as dvc has the contract ROFR the contract is frozen since they are considering buying it back themselves it has to stay in tact until they waive that right. I guess after they waive it and the final closing something could happen but we were lucky enough to close in under a weeks time and I had TSS pull a points activity on the contract the day before closing just to make sure. (title company suggested that I do that if I am the least bit unsure)

Personally for me I have gotten more info through this site and TSS then I have through my guide. I have a very hard time getting a hold of him and when I do I feel like he is rushing me along, except the 1 time I asked about adding on. I have bought 320 points thru dvc since Feb and another 125 add on which I have deposited on but not feeling the customer service, so I am getting cold feet.

I have spoken with Quality Assurance and accounting to arrange payments and dues, spoken with MS for ressie and general questions and ALL were great and informative.

Given that many contracts make right of first refusal and never close, I don't think they'll lock the account at that point and know they don't cancel pending reservations until the get the actual transfer documentation.

 

[nolanboys]

The contract that we bought through resale - we have passed ROFR, have sent in our closing documents and are waiting for it to be finalized, states specifically that we have 2 2008 pts, 182 2009 pts and all, 200, 2010 pts. I don't know how they could take the points if the contract that Disney approved specifically states what is being sold/purchased.

 

[dbs1228]

The contract that we bought through resale - we have passed ROFR, have sent in our closing documents and are waiting for it to be finalized, states specifically that we have 2 2008 pts, 182 2009 pts and all, 200, 2010 pts. I don't know how they could take the points if the contract that Disney approved specifically states what is being sold/purchased.

That is exactly what I was told by the title company, Disney looks at the specifics UY, points etc... and if everything is not what the actual contract states Disney will kick back the contract to the title company. So until Disney either exercise ROFR or they waive it the contract has got to be correct. The title company also did say that Disney does put a freeze on the account while this process is being reviewed not sure if that is true or not but it does make sense to me. All is good everything went smoother and faster then expected for us.

 

[CMOORE185]

I bought resale about a year ago and remember that there is a point in the process when the owners can no longer use their points. It only makes sense that somewhere in the process the buyer has to be protected. Maybe someone from TTS can jump in and verify this.

 

[Dean]

I bought resale about a year ago and remember that there is a point in the process when the owners can no longer use their points. It only makes sense that somewhere in the process the buyer has to be protected. Maybe someone from TTS can jump in and verify this.

There is a point, the question is when do they freeze the account. I know they don't cancel existing reservations until they get the final transfer info. It's hard to think they could freeze the account until them since not all sales go through. Plus not all ROFR are actually a change of true ownership but rather additions/subtractions to the names.