Since when does member Services dictate how our points can and can't be allocated?

[WelcomeHome]

OK, I do have the luxury of a single DVC membership which consists of 3 different home resorts: BCV, VWL and BWL, for which I am very grateful.

Last week I called member services to SIMPLY book a 2-bedroom unit at Beach Club from Mar 2-7 (only 5 months away). I SIMPLY directed member services to use 125 of my Boardwalk points and 75 of my Wilderness Lodge points which total the 200 points needed for this trip.

The very nice Cast Member told me that "the System" was taking all 200 points from Boardwalk so she discussed it with a supervisor and said "not to worry" because it would simply have to be done manually and that would take a few days to occur.

I checked on-line a WEEK later and all points were still taken from Boardwalk. So I called member services again and explained to them that I intended to use the extra Boardwalk points "the System automatically decided to take" for a different October 2008 vacation AT BOARDWALK where I intended to use my 11 month home resort advantage (October is the very busy Food and Wine Festival plus I want a Standard View which is next to impossible without the 11 month window).

This 2nd very nice Member Services Cast member completely understood but politely informed me that "the system" automatically takes ALL the points from 1 resort if all the points are available. I persisted by explaining that "the system" cannot be allowed to "automatically" decide which points I have a right to use or save for another vacation in the same use year with the 11 month window advantage.

Being a very nice Cast member, she spoke to the supervisor WHO ACTUALLY RECORDED ON MY RECORDS THAT MY USE OF POINTS FROM 2 RESORTS WAS NOT ALLOWED AND MY REQUEST WAS DENIED, and after being on hold for 10 minutes she told me they would manually make this change THIS ONE TIME ONLY AND NEVER AGAIN.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? Can "the system" automatically dictate which home resort points we can and can't use? Since when does Member Services have the right to change the rules because "the system" does this automatically?

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's against the rules for member Services to restrict our point allocation to accommodate "the system" - who's the customer and who's paying annual maintenance - us or 'the system?"

Any advise, suggestions or correct information would be greatly appreciated!

Best wishes to all,
Dave

 

[LisaS]

I have been running into this same problem lately. Like you, I own at 3 different resorts so that I have the 11-month priority window at more than one resort. Lately it's becoming a problem making reservations inside the 7-month window using points from more than one resort. It looks like they had a systems upgrade that does not support using points from multiple contracts for one reservation.

In my case the problem was that due to cancelling a couple of reservations I had some banked points from one resort and some borrowed points from another resort in my account. When I made a new reservation, I wanted to use up both the banked and borrowed points and was told by MS that the system would not allow that because they were from different resorts. I protested that if I couldn't do it, I would lose either the banked points or the borrowed points. The CM repeatedly tried to find a way around the problem but finally gave up and told me "The system won't let me do it. It will only take points from one resort or the other but not both." She had to ask a supervisor to do it manually.

This is definitely NOT GOOD for people who purchased points at multiple resorts. I can live with having to be on hold while a supervisor is asked to do a manual allocation of the points but it's not acceptable for MS to refuse to do this in the future.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

That is terrible at the 5 month mark you should be able to use whatever points you want. I have 2 resorts HHI and BWV. If I was making a reservation at 5 months and wanted to save my BWV for food and wine, I have every right to do so. I am sorry that is happening.

 

[Donna]

a similar problem that has happened to me and also a friend of mine is that the "system" is taking all the points from one use year even though you have points in a prior use year. I almost lost one point because of this. It was only ONE point this time, but it could have been worse. I had borrowed in to my 2009 use year and noticed they left one point in 2007 (i had had points at both HH and OKW). I promptly notified MS of the error and he said he'd have to manually adjust it, which he did. Then a friend of mine mentioned something about a stray point in a prior use year and it was the same situation.

It used to be the "system" always used up available points in any use year starting with your earliest on down. Also, as long as i've been a member, over 10 years, you could always designate your resort points to be used as you wished. Not sure if this is a case of newly trained CMs at MS or, or course, the "system" making the mistakes.

 

[ppjluvsdvc]

Hi!

I haven't run into this problem yet but probably will as I too have two home resorts. Have you spoken with your DVC guide? What do they say to people who are buying now? I know they didn't tell me this would be the case when we added on points in June. This will be very frustrating.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Ksp]

We also have 3 contracts - taking away our option to say which points come from which contract seriously makes me doubt adding on with further resorts - I like being able to use my BCV points for food & wine festival. . . and our SSR points for Christmas/holiday times. Sometimes we even switch resorts during our visit! Urgh. I hope that they fix whatever is missing from the system upgrade - it sounds like a mj. pain for both DVC owners as well as the poor CMs and supervisors trying to help us out.

 

[CarolMN]

All the more reason to ask for a points status at the end of each call. If your expectations do not match what MS did, it's a lot easier to address the issue then than it will be to wait until the next reservation.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I wasn't as insistent. When I was booking for the Members Cruise, the one in '05, I had asked to take so many from each VB, BWV and VWL, the resorts that we owned at the time. I was told then that it couldn't be done..there was some explanation. So this was in '05. I listened to the explanation, and figured, if that's the way it was, so be it...and dealt with it that way.

So the idea isn't new. I'll follow the thread to see what I can learn for the future, we now own at 5 resorts.

Bobbi

 

[castleri]

it may have to with using points from two contracts to make one reservation. Letting a person use some from each for the same reservation could be construed to be a transfer of points from one to the other without the formal transfer being done if you did not use up all the points in one of the contracts. If you did that there should be no problem inside the 7 month mark. They may also have said you need to use so many for the first X days and so many for the second y days and link the reservations. Don't really know if this is the case but it did seem a possibility to me.

 

[LisaS]

it may have to with using points from two contracts to make one reservation. Letting a person use some from each for the same reservation could be construed to be a transfer of points from one to the other without the formal transfer being done if you did not use up all the points in one of the contracts. If you did that there should be no problem inside the 7 month mark. They may also have said you need to use so many for the first X days and so many for the second y days and link the reservations. Don't really know if this is the case but it did seem a possibility to me.

When you have a master and add-ons, I thought you are supposed to be able to pool the points when making a reservation 7 months out. There is no option to transfer points between related contracts so unlike those who have totally separate contracts, we don't have that option in this situation. It might be possible to make two reservations using points from each resort, but that can leave stray points behind and with no way to transfer between contracts, that could result in losing those points.

 

[WelcomeHome]

it may have to with using points from two contracts to make one reservation. Letting a person use some from each for the same reservation could be construed to be a transfer of points from one to the other without the formal transfer being done if you did not use up all the points in one of the contracts. If you did that there should be no problem inside the 7 month mark. They may also have said you need to use so many for the first X days and so many for the second y days and link the reservations. Don't really know if this is the case but it did seem a possibility to me.

I only have 1 contract containing all 3 resorts with the same use-year (February).

The very dangerous part of "the system" dictating where your points come from is this: "The system" can now decide to take away points you need to make future reservations using your 11 month home advantage!

This actually DELETES your ability to use your 11 month advantage because "the system" already decided to use THE POINTS YOU NEED AND WANT TO USE AT A LATER DATE!

How can Member Services possibly enforce "the computer system" which takes away our right to use the 11 month window with the points WE OWN. WE OWN those points - NOT "the system."

Isn't it our legal right to use the points WE OWN any way we'd like? Don't tell me that's the way "the system" works because Disney programmers are the ones who wrote the system. Instead, tell me that member services will make the manual adjustments necessary for DVC members to have full use of the points we are legally entitled to until the Disney programmers can correct "the system" - I bet that will get "the system" corrected real quick!

Who's the customer and who OWNS the points here - DVC members or "the system."

Best wishes,
Dave

 

[njmeisje]

subscribing to this thread. seems worrisome.

 

[eva]

Hmm, this seems similar to a booking I made yesterday. I called early in the afternoon and asked to book a trip to Italy though ABD. We went through the entire process and then I started explaining how I wanted to pay the points. I had a number of banked points and there was no problem with those. But I also have enough points in 2008 to pay for the entire trip. So the CM kept saying that the system would take all those points right after the banked ones. But I said that I do not want to pay with all my 2008 points. I actually want to bank my OKW and AKV points from 2008 to 2009 and borrow my BCV and Vero points from 2009 to pay for the trip. Yes, the CM did understand what I was doing. But she kept saying that the system may not be able to do it that way. She was very nice about it. I lucked out because when she finally called ABD to book the trip, the early booking discount no longer applied to that trip. So I decided to talk to DH to decide what to do. We decided to try for the following week that ABD said was open for the discount. Low and behold when I called back and got a different CM, she informed me that the computer wouldn't take my points the way I wanted. But that they would have to do it manually on Monday. I am to check back on Tuesday to make sure that they are allotted the way I requested. I will keep calling until I see it correct on line. I am going to be reserving two GV's for a week in 2009 at OKW and AKV and I need every point from those resorts that I can get! Yikes! Did that make sense?

 

[4Pluto]

Wow. I can't think of a bigger disincentive for add ons at the new DVC projects than being told that I can't designate which points go for which reservations. I wonder, though, if you can outsmart the system by designating certain points for banking first or making the 11 month reservation first and then the 7 month reservations. It won't work in all instances (if you can't make the 11 month reservation when you're making the 7 month reservation), but I may be forced to think through these strategies if that's going to be the new policy. I hope someone communicates to their marketing department that this is bad news for add ons!

 

[50 years Too!]

I have 7 contracts in 3 different resorts. All with the same use year.

About a month ago I made reservations for BCV (one of my home resorts), using points from all 3 of my home resorts. Was within the 6 month mark. The cast member I had seemed confused, but when I insisted it could be done he talked to a supervisor and acted like it was no big deal. A few hours later it was correctly showing on DVCmember.com.

I plan to do this again next month. I sure hope it isn't going to be a problem. Maybe we just all need to ask for a supervisor if they refuse.
Per our contracts, it is our right!

 

[CarolAnnC]

Well I have a couple of contracts that share resorts - one has OKW and BWV and the other has VB and BCV. I would be quite upset if they told me I had to use a particular resort's points when I was intentionally saving it for another trip.

Has anyone with this issue spoken to their Guide? Perhaps we need clarification...

 

[jekjones1558]

How can Member Services possibly enforce "the computer system" which takes away our right to use the 11 month window with the points WE OWN. WE OWN those points - NOT "the system."

Isn't it our legal right to use the points WE OWN any way we'd like? Don't tell me that's the way "the system" works because Disney programmers are the ones who wrote the system. Instead, tell me that member services will make the manual adjustments necessary for DVC members to have full use of the points we are legally entitled to until the Disney programmers can correct "the system" - I bet that will get "the system" corrected real quick!

Who's the customer and who OWNS the points here - DVC members or "the system."

I am absolutely with Dave on this one. The changed banking rules are not to my liking, but this is an even more onerous change. Using a computer program as an excuse to change the rules for using points is absolutely bogus. Sure wish I could be at the member meeting to voice my dissatisfaction with this new member-unfriendly policy.

 

[Doctor P]

This has to be really new as I did a reservation for the final night of our upcoming HH trip with a call at the end of May and easily used points from two resorts for the one night that I needed. I have checked several times on line since then and my points show up exactly the way they are supposed to. If this becomes a problem, I agree that this will be very bad. Now what I WAS told was that the system would not allow you to borrow points from a future year if you had remaining points in your current use year from any resort that could be used for the reservation. In that case, they would have had to do a manual override. In my case, I did not have to borrow points for the reservation. Perhaps this is the issue.

 

[bwvBound]

Interesting. Dave, I'm with you entirely.

Seems like every transaction I've made lately has required a manual effort, a supervisor's action ... and 3 to 10 days of nail biting while things were processed.

I suppose my next transaction consuming only banked points from my master and one subcontract and a few left-over incentive points will also have similar difficulties.

Hope things straighten out for each of us.

 

[lisareniff]

All I can say is WOW!