Reneging Renters - How to deal with them?

[gblast123]

Recently, I had a number of renters who, after I made the reservations, with them on the phone with Disney, jerked me around for 1-2 weeks, and then reneged.

In all of these cases, several emails were traded, promising me payment.

Half of these people continued to bargain hunt after holding a confirmed reservation!!!

How do you deal with them? How do you prevent them from jerking you around?

Any input, esp. from people who regularly rent points out would be helpful!!

David

 

[chris1gill]

Unfortunately this is the way it goes often times.... Typically, I make a reservation for someone & I require payment within 3 days of giving them their reservation number... If I don't get the payment, I just cancel the reservation... I don't wait around for a week or two waiting for payment that will inevitably never show up... If you have someone that is serious about renting, they will get the payment to you promptly....

This has just been our experience for the last couple of years...

 

[gblast123]

How come there is no feedback/rating system like on Ebay?


I would seem to help everyone get more organized and get rid of persistent deadbeats!!

 

[wink13]

I have rented 3 times. Each time I have given the seller a deposit or the full amount within 3 or 4 days. The full amount payment was for a short notice reservation and the others were 1/3 down at time of agreement with the balance to follow after confirmed ressie. As a serious renter I never had an issue with giving a deposit in a timely manner.

Hopefully I will not need to rent in the future as I am in the process of purchasing a small contract through the TSS.

 

[sajetto]

It seems like this is always happening and then you see frequent posts from renters who want to know how they can cancel. The response is always that it is between them and the seller. I don't really have any brilliant ideas about how to stop this from happening, but I'm sorry that it does.

 

[CarolA]

How come there is no feedback/rating system like on Ebay?


I would seem to help everyone get more organized and get rid of persistent deadbeats!!

If you want a feedback/rating then you can list on ebay.

The DIS boards are not making any money off of this deal and I can see why they don't want to get pulled into disputes between renters/rentees.

This whole mess is the reason I have chosen not even to consider renting...

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

The DIS boards are not making any money off of this deal and I can see why they don't want to get pulled into disputes between renters/rentees.

I can definitely see why you feel that way, but I would think that DisBoards does make some money indirectly from each rent/trade transaction based on the willingness of TSS to sponsor the DVC Forums.

The Rent/Trade board is a higher traffic board and is a great source of leads for TSS. Without being able to generate those leads, I doubt TSS would be willing to pay as much for their sponsorship of the DVC Forums.

 

[Doctor P]

How do you deal with them? How do you prevent them from jerking you around?

Don't rent. Then it will be impossible to get jerked around by prospective renters.

 

[mikesmom]

I feel your pain. Been there, done that. There is no real way to stop it. The only thing I can suggest is that before you make them a ressie, you look at their other posts. Sometimes you can see that they have been told on another Board that they should be able to get $6/point. Or you can see that they have a reservation at Holiday Inn and are trying to get cheaper. Or they are bragging that they go every 60 days and "always" can find somebody with cheap points on the rent/trade board. Or they can get a Florida resident or AP discount but refuse to pay that kind of money and "know" they can do better. In retrospect the couple of times I was jerked around, checking would have shown me one of these patterns.

I'm not talking about the folks that just have mistaken expectations - they will not make the commitment once they know the price. There are people that apparently feel they are smart consumers by playing games.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

If DVCers renting their points would ask 12-13/pt, it may help eliminate much of the bottom-feeding that goes on. Some renters are simply looking for a deluxe resort at an All-Star price and too many members give it to them. It's our own fault. A consistently higher average rental rate would force some seekers to stick with their value resort booking!

 

[Hogzilla]

I require 50% at the time the ressie is made, through Paypal only. Then the other 50% as soon as the renter receives the confirmation letter from me. If either condition is not met, I cancel it. Then, if they cancel at any time, they receive a full refund minus any costs I incur to re-rent the points.

 

[gblast123]

Is there a way that all people who regularly rent out point to other people (like me) can set up our own network/notification system to let others know about these "shopaholics"

Technically, there is no reason why we can't set up a network of owners/sellers who just let others know who these people are.

Having been burned several times this week alone, I would be happy to work with others.

There is a way to do this on Yahoo, called a listserve.

 

[cseca]

Just to be devil's advocate here... how would you know that either party is telling the truth?
I'm all for a list for problem renter and rentee, but I don't want some names to be put on the list because of a personal grudge or something. Maybe I'm being too sensitive.

 

[Daddio]

gblast123, if there is a way to do it, let me know and I will help. My biggest concern would be breaking any privacy laws. How would one determine whether a complaint is valid or not. I have just started to rent points through a site I set up. You can critique it here as any advice would be appreciated.

The idea behind this is to capture payment at time of reservation. I clearly state there will be NO REFUNDS.

 

[childsplay]

It certainly can be frustrating to work with the types of people described by the OP, but I'm not sure there is much that can be done, to some extent it is the "nature of the beast" so to speak...you are dealing with people who are looking for the best value at the lowest price, so it really comes as no suprise that they continue to shop around. About the only solution is to require a deposit within several days...which I'm sure they will ignore, try to extend, or provide excuses for their tardiness while they contine to search for a better deal.
As others have suggested, set a short dealine and stick to it.

These types of situations are why I couldn't handle renting (that and the risk of damage to the property, however slight). I have transfered points to another owner and it was positively pleasant experience and quite frankly is the only way I would ever to it again.

 

[Sammie]

Part of the problem is with the advent of the Dining Plan, and the low cost of renting compared to paying Disney for the same accommidations there is a large influx of new renters who know nothing about DVC. At one time most renters were probably perspective owners and wanted an easy and inexpensive way to try out the product.

I don't think that is the case as much anymore. Some are just bargain hunters and do not understand the process.

Add to the situation that on the Resorts, Families, and Budget forums you have people asking questions about renting and many times not getting correct information which just makes the situation worse. I am sure there are many of the DVC regulars here who don't even read or post on the other forums, so the Renters are not always getting the best info on DVC and renting.

I try to answer a few on the Resorts forums, but I don't even rent and some got heated so I have given up on the situation. I am sure Deb and Bill can tell you what it's like over there sometimes.

I have no solution for you, but completely understand why it's happening.

 

[dianeschlicht]

You know, it occurs to me that we always have renters coming here to express worry over getting "stiffed" by an owner, but in all my years on the DIS, I only remember one time hearing about a renter getting stiffed by an owner. On the other hand, we have heard NUMEROUS cases of the owner being stiffed by the renter!

I have never rented points out and have no immediate intention to ever do so unless I would have points that would expire without use. I am begining to agree with the idea of charging more for rental points. I see no real reason for folks to devalue their membership by charging less than a value resort room for a DVC studio. I'm begining to agree with Johnny!

 

[browniemtb]

Oh boy.....I got slammed for a thread like this. I agree that more owners get burned than do renters. I was held up for 4 weeks......I asked the same questions....and my deduction was that there are no definitive answers. But I do like the one....don't rent. I figure the next time I rent, I'm going high on the point price and it will be a take it a leave it deal.
Brownie

 

[dianeschlicht]

I remember your experience. I agree that asking a higher price and sticking to your guns is the way to keep from attracting those who want to low ball everything, but if points are distressed, you might not have time to wait that long.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Maybe we should make this thread required reading for all prospective renters who want to know why they are asked to pay at the time the reservation is made. It helps to point out how owners have risks too.