Upgrading a PowerPass on flexpay to a Preferred?

[bumbershoot]

This question is for my Florida relatives, not me. Don't want to confuse anyone.

My relatives have decided that they love Universal (yay!) and they got the resident Power Pass, which they are doing the flexpay for. Now they wish one of them had the Preferred, so they don't have to pay to park each time.

They asked a TM, and were told that they have to pay *something* off entirely in order to upgrade to a Preferred. But I'm not sure they were totally sure what the TM was saying to pay off.

Can someone explain exactly what is paid at the time of upgrading a (resident) flexpay Power Pass to a Preferred AP? I would love to help my relatives out.

Thanks!

 

[damo]

I didn't think you could upgrade with a flexpay. They should contact the annual pass office.

 

[Metro West]

Can someone explain exactly what is paid at the time of upgrading a (resident) flexpay Power Pass to a Preferred AP? I would love to help my relatives out.

With FlexPay, I believe they would have to pay off the remaining months on their contract...then pay to upgrade. Your best bet would be to call the AP office and find out for sure.

Here's a link to the FlexPay page on the website that might help:

http://www.universalorlando.com/Theme-Park-Tickets/Annual-Passes/Flex-Pay-Details.aspx

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks to both of you!

That sounds like what they said they were told. They weren't very happy about it; felt that Universal should just be able to add it into the monthly fee. I think I see their point.

 

[phamton]

With FlexPay, I believe they would have to pay off the remaining months on their contract...then pay to upgrade.

This is correct. You can't upgrade while you are still on a contract. They would have to pay off the contract and pay in full to upgrade that pass to a Preferred pass. So after paying off the contract, they would then pay the difference in price between the Power Pass and the Preferred Pass.

 

[bumbershoot]

So then they are entirely off of the monthly payments and it's all paid in full, yes? That's what the relatives were not happy with. They wanted the monthly payments.

Is there any way to buy a parking pass for the year, or something like that?

 

[phamton]

They can't amend the contract. They can only pay it off. There is no parking pass that they can buy either.

 

[Metro West]

Is there any way to buy a parking pass for the year, or something like that?

Once they upgrade to the Preferred, the parking is free.

 

[damo]

Once they upgrade to the Preferred, the parking is free.

That's probably why they wanted to upgrade.

 

[bumbershoot]

That's probably why they wanted to upgrade.

Yep.

They do NOT want to pay off the PowerPass and the upgrade to Preferred all at once; that's not how they have budgeted for this. (they've been surprised by their love for Universal...they hadn't been since they were in high school! and they only recently got these Power Passes) When they get WDW season tickets they do it monthly, too.

Since they only take day trips, the parking charges are getting to be annoying for them.

 

[2girlsmom]

I am a bit surprised that they were shocked to hear, when I purchased my initial pass on the payment plan, they asked repeatedly to confirm which pass I wanted and told me that basically I was locked into the pass that I bought until the year was up on my contract.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am a bit surprised that they were shocked to hear, when I purchased my initial pass on the payment plan, they asked repeatedly to confirm which pass I wanted and told me that basically I was locked into the pass that I bought until the year was up on my contract.

Interesting. Since I wasn't there, I don't know what their experience was, and of course I think we've all been first-timers, just excited to be there.

They've been Disney people for SO long, too, and they've had the monthly payment on Epcot after-4 passes, etc, and I think they just figured Disney rules would be Universal rules, too. Of course, I don't even know if you can upgrade a Disney season-type pass on the monthly payment plan in the way they wanted to upgrade the PowerPass, but sometimes it comes down to perceptions.

 

[Metro West]

They've been Disney people for SO long, too, and they've had the monthly payment on Epcot after-4 passes, etc, and I think they just figured Disney rules would be Universal rules, too. Of course, I don't even know if you can upgrade a Disney season-type pass on the monthly payment plan in the way they wanted to upgrade the PowerPass, but sometimes it comes down to perceptions.

I'm not sure about Disney but I'm pretty sure SeaWorld is the same as Universal where you're locked in for a year.

 

[Rip]

Interesting. Since I wasn't there, I don't know what their experience was, and of course I think we've all been first-timers, just excited to be there.

They've been Disney people for SO long, too, and they've had the monthly payment on Epcot after-4 passes, etc, and I think they just figured Disney rules would be Universal rules, too. Of course, I don't even know if you can upgrade a Disney season-type pass on the monthly payment plan in the way they wanted to upgrade the PowerPass, but sometimes it comes down to perceptions.

If I remember correctly from the one time I purchased a couple of passes, it isn't actually Universal that is providing the loan. It's like going to a furniture store with the "1 year same as cash" deals. What they actually do is partner with a credit company that pays Universal in full at the time of signing, and then you owe the credit agency. I found this out the hard way when trying to renew the passes I purchased with Flexpay, as in order to do that you have to pay off the contract, cancel it so that it doesn't renew at the full purchase price, and then renew at the discounted price within 30 days of cancelling your contract - not the usual 30 days of expiration. My contract expired 2 months before the passes did because of when we actually activated them, but with Flexpay it's an entirely different animal. This is likely why they would have to pay off the initial contract before upgrading - and if they choose to upgrade later they need to do it within 30 days of their contract expiring!

 

[snoopboop]

If I remember correctly from the one time I purchased a couple of passes, it isn't actually Universal that is providing the loan. It's like going to a furniture store with the "1 year same as cash" deals. What they actually do is partner with a credit company that pays Universal in full at the time of signing, and then you owe the credit agency.

I'm quite certain you're correct.

To the OP: Yay for your relatives wanting to upgrade! It's too bad they're kinda being stinky about fulfilling the terms of the contract that they agreed to.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's too bad they're kinda being stinky about fulfilling the terms of the contract that they agreed to.

They aren't being "stinky". They are wanting to give Universal more money, so they can go have fun more often (and, by the way, they don't have ANY WDW tickets/passes right now for their whole family...they want to give it all to Universal right now), and they wanted it to be easy.

that's all.

They were just disappointed by what they were told by the TM, and I was trying to help them see if there was any other option than paying it all off plus the full upgrade price, just a couple months after they got the monthly payments started.

No one needs to get all "the contract says this" about the situation. I was just hoping for some "mummy dust" situation, LOL, that they hadn't thought about. Or that the TM was wrong. Neither is happening, but there's no need to get weird about my relatives.

 

[snoopboop]

I wasn't trying to get weird, LOL! You said they "weren't very happy about it" and thought Universal should do something to accommodate them... so that's why people are mentioning the terms of the contract. It's a bummer that they didn't understand what they were agreeing to when they made the purchase... at least now they know, so they know what their options are in the future!

 

[macraven]

i didn't think stinky was a bad word.
snoopboop was just adding to the conversation and trying to be helpful.




btw,
i call my kids that all the time and they laugh..........

 

[bumbershoot]

Okay, maybe I read that wrong, I'm sorry for overreacting.


..."thought Universal should do something to accommodate them"...I think I might have said something wrong here*, though, because they just thought the rules were different. Not that the rules should be changed...they just didn't know. When I asked her about it, she couldn't really explain it, and it seemed to me that the TM hadn't explained it. And I didn't know, since I haven't used the payment plan (and can't use it for Disney so I don't know those rules, either), so here I am.






*I was being cute with the "mummy dust" mention, but now I think that's what caused the problem...I was just being silly.

 

[Metro West]

Disney - Pixie Dust

Universal - Mummy Dust