This bugs me for some reason...

[dianeschlicht]

So, in other words, he is only transferring into his account and making the ressies for the points he rents out.

 

[Jimbo]

Originally posted by lenshanem
Wonder what ahppens when he can't rent it out again or soemone cancels on him? Does he then cancel on the actual member last sec? That isn't too cool.

Technically, you either transfer points to someone else's account, or you rent a reservation (not points) to someone else, either a member or non-member.

If the OP rented a reservation to this guy, the points are still in her account. She controls the reservation, not him, so he can't cancel it. He's taking some risk.

If the OP transferred points, which is what I'm assuming happened, she's out of the loop. As soon as the transfer takes place, the points belong to member #2 and the OP got her money. So if the guy wants to rent them, it really has nothing to do with the OP any more.

Again, he's the one taking the risk, this time that he can dispose of them at a price that makes this worth all of the trouble. That's why I said that renting as a business isn't as easy as it sounds. And that's also why you see posts (from this guy, I assume) that say something like "let's all start charging $13 per point!"

The rotten thing, as I read it, is that the OP asked for some of these points back. The guy said sure, for $3 more then you charged me, which is a jerky thing to do.

 

[HeatherPage]

Actually, I never ended up transferring anything to him (something just felt off...oh I know what it was, he wanted me to transfer them to his account first and pay me a week and a half later - this was for 30 some points we're talking). But I was trying to get a reservation later on in the week and posted on the board would anyone be willing to rent me a couple of points (I'm thinking $10 or so a point) and he emailed saying sure, you can have them for $11/point. Yeah right. Also, this person called up Member Services (when he was trying to get me to transfer the points) and was asking questions about my account. They have him the information that my points were holding points to him. I didn't really care for that either. 1) I'm not going to call up MS asking for info on someone else's account and 2)MS actually gave him that information. I'm sure it was mundane details that couldn't hurt anything, but no one asked me if it was okay first to do that.

 

[tjkraz]

IMO, the only part of this that really feels "sleazy" is the money transfer issue. It gives the appearance that the person wishing to purchase at $8 PP intended on immediately reselling for a higher value and only transferring the $8 PP once he/she had an even larger sum in his/her pocket.

As a concept, people renting points really doesn't bother me. My own personal bias is the fact that I DID rent points twice before buying into DVC. Realistically I wouldn't be an owner now if not for the quality of those two stays. But that issue aside, a DVC owner should be able to do as he wishes with his points, whether they are given/rented to a relative or a perfect stranger.

I can also vouch for the fact that selling points can be a real hassle. The two times I rented points I was nervous about the outcome right up until I had a room key in my hands. There were a lot of phone calls an emails going back and forth to confirm room availablity, verify reservations, transfer funds, etc.

The idea of trying to turn a profit on someone else's points may be marginally distasteful. But is it really any different than playing the stock market? Is it any different than buying a nick-nack at an estate sale and selling it for twice as much on eBay?

People make their living buying a commodity at one price and re-selling it at a higher price. Should DVC points somehow be exempt from that? I likely will never sell a point to a non-relative, but if someone is willing to go through the time and trouble to do it themselves, go for it...as long as they are the ones taking the risk by paying for the points in advance.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by HeatherPage
...(snip).... Also, this person called up Member Services (when he was trying to get me to transfer the points) and was asking questions about my account. They have him the information that my points were holding points to him. I didn't really care for that either. 1) I'm not going to call up MS asking for info on someone else's account and 2)MS actually gave him that information. I'm sure it was mundane details that couldn't hurt anything, but no one asked me if it was okay first to do that.

WOW! I'd be absolutely livid if MS gave anyone but me (or my spouse who is also named on the contract) any information about me or my account.

You didn't give him your member number or Social Security Number, did you? If not, how in the world would he be able to get any info out of MS? If all he had was your name or TN, I think MS needs to establish or enforce a privacy policy pretty darn quick.

IMHO, you should call Jackie Leuders and file a complaint! I think somebody at MS needs some retraining!

 

[HeatherPage]

No, all he had was my name. It was funny though, I happened to call member services to ask a question afterwards and the girl I got was the person that talked to him. I said I was looking into transferring points, blah, blah, blah and mentioned that this information was given and she started kind of stammering saying oh well I only told him such and such. I kind of shrugged it off. I'm sure they wouldn't give out any pertinent info. (I hope).

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by HeatherPage
No, all he had was my name. It was funny though, I happened to call member services to ask a question afterwards and the girl I got was the person that talked to him. I said I was looking into transferring points, blah, blah, blah and mentioned that this information was given and she started kind of stammering saying oh well I only told him such and such. I kind of shrugged it off. I'm sure they wouldn't give out any pertinent info. (I hope).

I'm not so sure, HeatherPage -

Based on your report of the CM's reaction, it does sound as though she knows she was wrong. I hope she appreciates that you let her off the hook this time and has learned a lesson!

 

[Cruelladeville]

Renting out points sure is a lot of work, and this guy is doing a lot of extra work for a few extra bucks, which isn't even minimum wage, for goodness sakes. It's a bit sleazy, but so is a lot of stuff on the web, did you think that anything associated with Disney is immune to that? Hey, if he can get people to rent their pts for $8, and then rerent for $11, I don't care, as long as everyone gets their money. The next thing we are going to have to worry about is exactly WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING IN THOSE ROOMS RENTED ON PTS, and I have too many problems of my own to get into that.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by HeatherPage
Once again, this guy doesn't own these points he's just renting them from someone else as well. This point keeps getting missed (or ignored). Anyways, I've had my say on the subject, I'll move on to something else now.

Heather,
I do completely understand what you are saying and it would bug me too. You were trying to be fair and someone was taking advantage of your fairness to turn a profit (albeit small), I don't consider that fair to others.

 

[Montana Minnies]

Hi HeatherPage,
I think you have good reason for your concerns. Although I am not a DVC member and have never rented points( to confusing for me) I would not be to happy either if I had found out the person I had rented to was turning around and renting it out to someone else for a higher price. You would have no idea as to who was actually getting your points! That is how I understand it anyway. I have read where there needs to be trust between the renter and the buyer of points. Now I can understand why that would be important.
Thanks for the posting and for the headsup on the subject!
"Montana Minnies"

 

[HeatherPage]

Thanks to everyone who saw my viewpoint and sorry if I sounded snippy with the above quote (about the point being missed). Don't get me wrong, I love money as much as the next person, and wish I had tons extra, but I also think it's okay to try to be a nice guy (girl) every now and then and do something nice just for the sake of doing it. Heck, I even gave a homeless man $5 bucks the other day just to try and help out in a small way (I hope he spent it on food but you never know). So to me this guy (the re-renter) is either very hard up or just a scavenger in my eyes.