Strange "upgrade" experience

[cseca]

OK,
We just had a strange "upgrade" experience.
Came to the resort to pick up our keys (we did online check in) really late at night and saw the check in page listed as an upgraded view (not standard).

Went into our room and sure enough it wasn't standard.
I was too tired to check that night, so the next day I went online and it showed the "upgraded" accommodation.

I swore I never booked this view, so I called MS. I asked how many points I was "charged" for this stay. She said it was the total of the upgraded view points.
So I explained that I never booked this view, and that we booked a standard view most of the time to save points.
The nice CM there checked on it and she said it's really strange. She had to call me back with a reasonable explanation.
Well, she called back and said we couldn't figure out what happened. And the extra points taken from your account will be returned. And that we're staying in the same room.
So everything ended well.

I just thought it was so strange. And wondered if anyone else had this glitch happened to them?

I never had this happened before... and couldn't help wondering if anyone had this kind of charged upgrade happened before and didn't even notice it?

 

[Robin"D"]

Nice....enjoy

Robin & Angel "D"

 

[FindingFigment]

Cool! What does your upgraded view allow you to see?

 

[DebbieB]

OK,
We just had a strange "upgrade" experience.
Came to the resort to pick up our keys (we did online check in) really late at night and saw the check in page listed as an upgraded view (not standard).

Went into our room and sure enough it wasn't standard.
I was too tired to check that night, so the next day I went online and it showed the "upgraded" accommodation.

I swore I never booked this view, so I called MS. I asked how many points I was "charged" for this stay. She said it was the total of the upgraded view points.
So I explained that I never booked this view, and that we booked a standard view most of the time to save points.
The nice CM there checked on it and she said it's really strange. She had to call me back with a reasonable explanation.
Well, she called back and said we couldn't figure out what happened. And the extra points taken from your account will be returned. And that we're staying in the same room.
So everything ended well.

I just thought it was so strange. And wondered if anyone else had this glitch happened to them?

I never had this happened before... and couldn't help wondering if anyone had this kind of charged upgrade happened before and didn't even notice it?

Which resort?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

this happened to us at BWV in June of 2008....I had booked a standard view studio for my daughter and her friend as a graduation trip and when they checked in they were given a studio with a village green view which i knew was a preferred view .....when i checked my account online they had charged us the additional points.....it took many phone calls to member services and a few weeks for the points to be returned to our account...

 

[CarolAnnC]

This is what scares me when I think about renting out some of my points. See, if either of these two cases were a renter checking in - instead of the owner - they might think, hey great I got a free upgrade.

Then, the points are gone from the owner's account, maybe they can get them back or maybe not. But either way, it is a headache to deal with. Yikes!

 

[Connears]

I had the opposite experience the one and only time we stayed at BWV. We reserved for waterview (only because that was ll theat was left when we called at 7 months) and when we got to our room, we looked out onto a roof. I went to front desk and they were rude an told me they could do nothing(they also gave us the last villa on the floor the farthest from the elevator when we told them we needed close because of my mother). I found the whole resort to be very unfreindly and have not and will not return there(have been a member since 1994). When I returned home I called MS and they apologized and restored my extra points on that first call.

Connears

 

[cseca]

Hmm... how strange...
Apparently this happens more often than I thought.

I agree about the point rental thing. Although from now on, when I do rent out my points I'll make sure to check it the day of check in to make sure that it didn't get changed around. Then I can call right away and straighten it out.

What a weird thing...

 

[DebbieB]

I had the opposite experience the one and only time we stayed at BWV. We reserved for waterview (only because that was ll theat was left when we called at 7 months) and when we got to our room, we looked out onto a roof. I went to front desk and they were rude an told me they could do nothing(they also gave us the last villa on the floor the farthest from the elevator when we told them we needed close because of my mother). I found the whole resort to be very unfreindly and have not and will not return there(have been a member since 1994). When I returned home I called MS and they apologized and restored my extra points on that first call.

Connears

Sounds like the rooms that were over the old DVC office building. That building has been demolished.

 

[Muushka]

We booked BWV std view and checked the points about a month later and they had reserved next level up (preferred?) and the extra points were also added. I called and they could not figure out what happened. But they got us the std view with the std view points. Had I not noticed before we left, the exact same thing would have happened to us.

 

[HsvTeacher]

We had one night in a savannah-view studio booked at Kidani right after it opened. When we checked in, there were none available. They put us in a 1-bedroom, also savannah view, and charged us the difference in points.

We called MS to explain what happened, and they ended up putting all of our points for that stay, not just the difference, back into our account.

 

[palaemon]

Do you get any kind of confirmation, stating resort, room size and view (if any)?

 

[hakepb]

We have always received confirmation letters, but it looked like they changed the letter format in October.

With all of these reports, I wonder if there's been a lot of problems with the system upgrades...

 

[n2mm]

This is scarey. I do try to check my reservations online regularly to make sure they are correct esp. with the upgrades. I'm here now and earlier in the week the added ddp totally messed up my reservation. To get it corrected the manager had to rebook my reservation. I was not happy that someone could just do this, but I needed my room cards to work. I went back to check and checked my points. My totals were still correct, but now it shows 0 points used. I guess each reservation cancelled out the other. I will certainly remember to check my balances in case I'm ever put in a different level than I booked, but not expecting any "blue moons" though.

 

[Suellen]

Well thanks for the heads up. I'd assume they upgraded us at THEIR choice and we would not be charged... but now I will double check.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Well thanks for the heads up. I'd assume they upgraded us at THEIR choice and we would not be charged... but now I will double check.

definately check your account...since we had booked the standard view....had a confirmation letter stating that and the number of points used....and then i guess due to not having any standard view studios available when my daughter checked in they "upgraded" her at their choice to a preferred view...and charged us the points....if i hadn't checked i never would have caught it until i when to book my next trip

 

[Suellen]

Our account is so messed up right now I have no idea. Was anyone else there when they had one of their "system upgrades"?

We had our points returned to us for part of our trip and now have points in "holding" that we already used according to me. At the same time we had a split stay booked that was merged as far as us not having to move ~ but the dining was still separate for three nights and one night. So over the third night we got ALL meals back for the entire 4 days, snacks and mugs included. SO strange. I tried to find out about it but member services couldn't tell me what happened and neither could front desk. So for the third and fourth day we had 4 meals per day per person and four snacks.

I definitely always check my account after that.... if it can happen as a "bank error in your favor" I'm sure it can happen the other way too.

 

[LauraLea]

Our account is so messed up right now I have no idea. Was anyone else there when they had one of their "system upgrades"?

We had our points returned to us for part of our trip and now have points in "holding" that we already used according to me. At the same time we had a split stay booked that was merged as far as us not having to move ~ but the dining was still separate for three nights and one night. So over the third night we got ALL meals back for the entire 4 days, snacks and mugs included. SO strange. I tried to find out about it but member services couldn't tell me what happened and neither could front desk. So for the third and fourth day we had 4 meals per day per person and four snacks.

I definitely always check my account after that.... if it can happen as a "bank error in your favor" I'm sure it can happen the other way too.

Yes, one of our 3 memberships has been a total mess ever since the upgrades started. We used points in Oct for BWV, then in Nov when I went to reserve for this years F&W, I found out I had all those points we just used in Holding. Under Vaction Details it showed we had used the points, but in the Contract Activity area the reservation was cancelled and points put into Holding. What bugged me was I could not make a last minute Christmas reservation at OKW because the system wanted to use the Holding points first and I had to wait until MS could straighten things out. I wonder if I had not been honest and pointed out that these points were an error, if the system would have let me get away with re-using the points.

Same BWV contract has some VWL pts transferred in. I made a Dec 2011 VWL reservation last month and later checked my points online. Somehow the system allowed BWV points to be used at 11 months for a VWL reservation. I would think there would be a hard stop to prevent this from happening. Again, I called MS back and they were stumped too. I had to wait about a week for them to manually adjust things again.

Laura

 

[Suellen]

I'm pretty sure they can be used because they keep telling me they are ours to use.

It's so messed up now ~ I'm pretty sure they aren't real... but I don't know for sure. I *think* they are the points from our November vacation during the upgrade... but I'm not 100% sure and MS can't figure it out.

 

[phelps]

It pays to check with MS if you think you are getting something you did not request. I would have thought I was just being upgraded. If you stay at hotels, upgrades happen alot for free!!!!