Ugh... Question.

[ty_n_cy]

Hi all...

We rented out some of our points to some 'friends' in January. My wife, not knowing how things worked, did online check-in for our friends and, in the process... checked them in with one of our company debit cards on file.

When these people checked in, they did not put a card on file because they were already checked in so they were given their packets and sent on their way.

Well, our 'friends' ran up a $1400 tab. The debit card has a daily withdrawal limit on it of $1000, and anything that is above that is automatically declined. The reason for this is because we give our employees these cards to use out in the field.

Anyway... because it was over $1000, it never even registered on our side. It seems that Disney sent my wife and I a notice to the address on the reservation, which, of course... is that of our 'friends'. They never bothered to clear it up... so, today I received a collection notice from a third party company for $1372.70 for the stay.

I called them up and made the payment, then reached out to our 'friends' for an explanation. I'm still waiting on a reply.

So, my question is this:

Will Disney not extend the offer of room credit to us any longer? Not that it matters because the card we put on file is the rewards debit card we use to pay for our room charges... but, we typically let it go for a few days then request that they run our card. I just want to know what to expect when we check in for our stay in February.

And... what if we hadn't paid this and, instead, chose to have our friends pay us for it first and it had not been reconciled by the time we went in February?

At least it's taken care of. I'm just hoping it was an honest mistake and that they aren't trying to get over on us.



CY

 

[rlovew]

If it had not been cleared up they would have canceled your next reservations and suspended your points until the amount was paid at some point. I don't think it will have any impact on future stays as long as it has been cleared up.

 

[ChanFO]

Yikes, what a mess. I wonder if they even realized that all the things they were doing were getting billed to anyone; maybe they could have thought it was part of the rental.

Hope that it gets cleared up in an honest fashion by them, and if not, that your eventual day in small claims court gets it cleared up for you.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Yikes! I can not imagine that your friend never cleared up the bill. How did they think the $1400 was paid?

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Check your existing reservations online and ensure they're intact. If your account was far enough in arrears to be sent to a collection agency, it's possible DVC may have cancelled reservations and wait list requests. I know this is the case when mortgage payments and dues aren't made. I'm not sure if the resort and DVC accounting systems are linked in such a way that unpaid room charges would impact your DVC reservations in the same way the payments made directly to DVC do.

So long as you leave a valid charge card at your next check-in, I think you'll be fine for future charging.

Bigger picture, did you check your credit report to see if any negative reports were made?

 

[ty_n_cy]

Thanks everybody!

I immediately checked the four upcoming reservations and everything yesterday when I got this letter, and there were no issues. Nothing was cancelled or on hold or anything.

It's just odd that Disney didn't try to contact me at MY address or even with a phone call. They claimed that they sent a letter out, but it went to the address on the reservation, so we never got it... but then the third party collections letter was sent directly here to my name and address.

I paid it immediately because I didn't want any issues... so I'm not expecting anything to come of it.

I wondered what would have happened if I didn't pay it and instead tried to collect the money that's owed to me prior to paying it.

I have checked my credit report and, luckily, it didn't make it to that point.

As for how our 'friends' didn't know about the bill... we're still not sure. When they got there, it was nothing but complaint after complaint. The weather was too cool. Some days it was too wet. Other days, too many people were in the same lines that they were in. It just annoyed me.

They got home... didn't say thank you or anything. When I say we rented these points... it was at $5 per point because they were friends to us. So, they got 5 nights in a 1 Bedroom Theme Park View at Bay Lake Tower for $995.

They DID mention that they didn't even have to put a card on file because of the online check-in... but we just assumed that they didn't charge anything to the room and paid it with their debit or credit cards as they went along.

Instead... they billed all their dining and other purchases directly to their Magic Bands, which billed it to their room... and then they tried to debit it from our account which automatically declined it because of the daily spending limit.



Meanwhile... this family is now at Hershey Park raving about how much better it is there than at Disney World... and we can't get in contact with them to find out what the deal is with the $1400.

Oh well... it'll figure itself out sooner or later!

Thanks for all the replies!

CY

 

[DebbieB]

This is a danger of renting. There have been cases where renters have checked in with their credit card and somewhere along the line it was declined or they cancelled it before checkout. The member found out months later that there was an outstanding bill that they were responsible for.

 

[CarolMN]

If you are still worried about your future reservation(s), call Member Accounting (not Member Services), explain what happened and see what they say. (Same 800 number, but a different menu option).

My GUESS is that since you cleared everything up, it's all OK. That said, I understand why you are worried. I would be, too.

Hope all works out OK with your friends.

 

[DizBub]

Glad to hear that your account/future reservations haven't been compromised.

But I'm a little confused about something. Whenever I do on-line check-in it won't allow it unless I add the credit card. Ok, so I add the card and we're good. Get to the resort to pick up the packet and they want me to put a credit card on the room and create a PIN. I say I already put the credit card on the reservation and they said they don't have that information. This happens every time. At that time I decline having any charging on our cards just as a matter of course.

Last June we hosted our daughter's family at OKW. We went through the exact same procedure but they did put a cc on file and each used their MBs to charge things. Same cc and same PIN. Before they checked out her husband settled what he thought was the bill. Turns out that what he settled was what he had charged. What my daughter had charged was outstanding and WE got the bill 3 weeks after we got home because the reservation was in my name. Just a mix up but very confusing.

Bottom line, I don't know how they got out of the lobby without setting up a PIN code.

Hope you get your $ back soon. No good deed goes unpunished, right?

 

[Lissete]

Double post

 

[ty_n_cy]

Glad to hear that your account/future reservations haven't been compromised.

But I'm a little confused about something. Whenever I do on-line check-in it won't allow it unless I add the credit card. Ok, so I add the card and we're good. Get to the resort to pick up the packet and they want me to put a credit card on the room and create a PIN. I say I already put the credit card on the reservation and they said they don't have that information. This happens every time. At that time I decline having any charging on our cards just as a matter of course.

Last June we hosted our daughter's family at OKW. We went through the exact same procedure but they did put a cc on file and each used their MBs to charge things. Same cc and same PIN. Before they checked out her husband settled what he thought was the bill. Turns out that what he settled was what he had charged. What my daughter had charged was outstanding and WE got the bill 3 weeks after we got home because the reservation was in my name. Just a mix up but very confusing.

Bottom line, I don't know how they got out of the lobby without setting up a PIN code.

Hope you get your $ back soon. No good deed goes unpunished, right?

I said this exact same thing when I called yesterday. We visit probably 5 times a year... and every single time we do online check-in and we put our company debit card on file. When we get there to pick up the packets... they check our bands, ask us if we remember the pins we had set previously, then they ask us for the card.

When we brought my parents in December, they did not ask them for a card and, in fact, told them that there was already one on file. My dad was nervous because he thought they somehow already had HIS card information on file. They were able to, obviously, switch it out at that point.

But... I don't understand why, if the name on the reservation didn't match the card on file, it wasn't at least questioned at check-in.

I'll never rent points out again because of this experience. At least it's all cleared up on the accounting side of things now, but... it could have been a mess come February when we went to check in and were told that we had a $1400 bill to settle first!

CY

 

[Lissete]

Wow, with friends like that... Seriously, how can anyone be oblivious to the fact that SOMEONE has to pay for all the stuff that they are charging? And I can guarantee you, it's not Mickey. I really hope that your friends step up to the plate and do the right thing.

 

[supersnoop]

I'll never rent points out again because of this experience. At least it's all cleared up on the accounting side of things now, but... it could have been a mess come February when we went to check in and were told that we had a $1400 bill to settle first!

By "friends," do you mean a random person on the internet? Did you use a contract? And, I'm curious, what was the reason for doing on-line check-in for them in advance? You mentioned that your wife didn't know how things worked; did she think it was necessary?

 

[ty_n_cy]

By "friends," do you mean a random person on the internet? Did you use a contract? And, I'm curious, what was the reason for doing on-line check-in for them in advance? You mentioned that your wife didn't know how things worked; did she think it was necessary?

No... I mean people we know who my wife considered friends of hers. I considered them acquaintances, but... that's another story. Because they were friends of hers, we didn't draw up a contract. They asked us if it would be possible because they read online that you can rent DVC points. We had some extra points left over that we weren't going to use... so we agreed. Because my wife has a good heart, she rented them to these people for far less than normal. Neither of us figured anything could go wrong... but we learned real quickly!

And, yes... my wife believed that we HAD to check-in online and when she told the woman who was renting the points, she couldn't figure it out... so my wife did it for her.

Why she put our debit card information, I do not know. But... there's no way to go back and change it now.



CY

 

[castle1]

Glad to hear that your account/future reservations haven't been compromised.

But I'm a little confused about something. Whenever I do on-line check-in it won't allow it unless I add the credit card. Ok, so I add the card and we're good. Get to the resort to pick up the packet and they want me to put a credit card on the room and create a PIN. I say I already put the credit card on the reservation and they said they don't have that information. This happens every time. At that time I decline having any charging on our cards just as a matter of course.

Last June we hosted our daughter's family at OKW. We went through the exact same procedure but they did put a cc on file and each used their MBs to charge things. Same cc and same PIN. Before they checked out her husband settled what he thought was the bill. Turns out that what he settled was what he had charged. What my daughter had charged was outstanding and WE got the bill 3 weeks after we got home because the reservation was in my name. Just a mix up but very confusing.

Bottom line, I don't know how they got out of the lobby without setting up a PIN code.

Hope you get your $ back soon. No good deed goes unpunished, right?

This happened to us, also. I checked in online with a cc number, and when we got there they said they didn't have it. I don't understand this, either.

 

[bumbershoot]

Glad to hear that your account/future reservations haven't been compromised.

But I'm a little confused about something. Whenever I do on-line check-in it won't allow it unless I add the credit card. Ok, so I add the card and we're good. Get to the resort to pick up the packet and they want me to put a credit card on the room and create a PIN. I say I already put the credit card on the reservation and they said they don't have that information. This happens every time.

For us, that happens some of the time. For others, it happens none of the time.

It's not a feature that you put in your CC info online and then it disappears. it's a mess-up in their system. A persistent one as we have been doing online checkin since Dec 2010 and have put in CC info since that was allowed, but still, a mess-up.

I assume the guests managed to finagle the PIN either from the OP's wife (or she gave it to them thinking that's what had to be done) or a change in PIN, without having to see the CC, from a CM.

 

[jstarcze]

or a change in PIN, without having to see the CC, from a CM.

I've seen this once when I went with some friends. They arrived first and were asked to give a pin when they checked in. I had given my CC with a pin when I did early checkin, but the CM changed the pin without seeing the CC. When I arrived I straightened it out, but for a few hours my friends could have charged on my CC. Fortunately they're good friends and wouldn't even think about doing something like that.

 

[finster]

We were just down at OKW two weeks ago and had an issue as well. We had another family stay with us on our points (good friends of ours). We set up so their Magic Bands were tied to the park tickets they bought, and ours to ours. We also made sure their credit card was tied to their bands and ours to ours. We spent 30 mins on Day 1 at member services setting this up because the cast member was having system issues (he had to call their help desk) and told us god magic bands are just a nightmare for them with split parties on the same reservation.

A few days into the trip we were at Ghiardelis at Downtown Disney and my wife tried charging 15 on our bands. It was declined. I went to Member Services to find that we were on credit hold because we hit 1500 in charges. Turns out our friends had all their charges goi to our Visa despite the fact we had everything setup. The cast members couldn't explain why things weren't charging right and again blamed the magic bands. They were able to finally resolve it with the help of their help desk but it was annoying to say the least.

I'm not saying this is what happened in your case but maybe your friends did give a card and the charges still went to yours which was on file as the reservation holder as it did in our case.

 

[hmillerbarilla]

We were just down at OKW two weeks ago and had an issue as well. We had another family stay with us on our points (good friends of ours). We set up so their Magic Bands were tied to the park tickets they bought, and ours to ours. We also made sure their credit card was tied to their bands and ours to ours. We spent 30 mins on Day 1 at member services setting this up because the cast member was having system issues (he had to call their help desk) and told us god magic bands are just a nightmare for them with split parties on the same reservation.

A few days into the trip we were at Ghiardelis at Downtown Disney and my wife tried charging 15 on our bands. It was declined. I went to Member Services to find that we were on credit hold because we hit 1500 in charges. Turns out our friends had all their charges goi to our Visa despite the fact we had everything setup. The cast members couldn't explain why things weren't charging right and again blamed the magic bands. They were able to finally resolve it with the help of their help desk but it was annoying to say the least.

I'm not saying this is what happened in your case but maybe your friends did give a card and the charges still went to yours which was on file as the reservation holder as it did in our case.

This happened to us as well. There is a special screen CMs are supposed to check when you're placing your CC on file. Apparently, it gets ignored often.

At check out I got the "bill" for all the 8 people in our 2 bedroom even though there were 3 separate credit cards on file. We took time to organize it at check in, but it didn't work, this isn't the first time, and we were told at check out when we tried to straighten it out, that there is an additional "box" or something that needs to be checked for it to work as it should.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[AmyB2006]

I'll never rent points out again because of this experience. At least it's all cleared up on the accounting side of things now, but... it could have been a mess come February when we went to check in and were told that we had a $1400 bill to settle first!

CY

You know you can rent out points and put the other person's name on the reservation.

A friend of ours rented us points and they made the reservation in our name. I have control of the reservation from my end. I would do the online check in, not them.

I guess that's what confuses me here. Is that what you did? Or was the reservation in your name?