Vent - Problems with MS

[Tink-aholic]

I am on hold right now for a supervisor at MS. I have been on the phone almost 40 minutes now.

At issue is 13 "missing" points on my DVC membership. At the beginning of the call, the rep told me that I transferred out 13 of my 2009 points (I didn't) and she was kind of snarky about it to me. I told her that I only know two people with DVC and haven't transferred points to anyone. I asked her to find out who they belong to and she put me on hold for a looooooong time.

When she came back, she told me that the 13 points were borrowed for a vacation we had planned at SSR this past June, and we must have changed our vacation plans. I told her we originally booked a 2BR then downgraded to a 1BR (the 2BR was 208 points and the 1BR was 162 points, so 208-162=46). It appears that they replaced 33 points into my 2008, but failed to replace 13 points into my 2009. I have gone round and round with this rep and we can't see eye-to-eye on this, so she is getting a supervisor for me.

On one hand, it is only 13 points. I know that I made it more complicated by changing the reservation, but those points still belong to me and I expect to be able to use them. I wouldn't have even known, except I started a list today of all of our reservations and point usages and the math didn't match what we currently have showing as remaining points with DVC.

I'll update all of you when I finally get this resolved.

 

[hakepb]

Sorry for your troubles.
I do not think that they could "replace" 2009 points. Once they move the borrowed points for a reservation, those 2009 points must be used in 2008.
Now in 2008 they should of used all of those borrowed 2009 points on your 2008 resie, and then allowed you to bank the remaining 2008 points into 2009. Of course that (changing the resie to better use all of your points) is more work for MS, so they will only begrudgingly do that.

 

[Tink-aholic]

Thanks for the reply. Just got off the phone. 53 minutes! The original rep looked everything over line by line and realized that I was right, and we do have 13 points missing. She will have to do a manual adjustment that will take a few days, but I will get them back.

You are correct, hakepb, that they don't put them back in the 2009. She will be putting them back in 2008 and told me I can bank them back into 2009 when I get them. I will keep checking to see when they "arrive".

I guess this is just a cautionary tale to everyone to check their points occasionally. Not implying anything insidious about DVC MS, but they are only human and can make mistakes like anyone else.

To me, the 13 points were worth the almost-hour of my time!

 

[jbrowna]

I believe that borrowing/banking points is a "final transaction". So, once the 2009 points had been borrowed into 2008, that's where they would stay. Of course, they still should be there for 2008, so they shouldn't just go missing. But I wouldn't think they could restore them to 2009.

 

[Doctor P]

I am on hold right now for a supervisor at MS. I have been on the phone almost 40 minutes now.

At issue is 13 "missing" points on my DVC membership. At the beginning of the call, the rep told me that I transferred out 13 of my 2009 points (I didn't) and she was kind of snarky about it to me. I told her that I only know two people with DVC and haven't transferred points to anyone. I asked her to find out who they belong to and she put me on hold for a looooooong time.

When she came back, she told me that the 13 points were borrowed for a vacation we had planned at SSR this past June, and we must have changed our vacation plans. I told her we originally booked a 2BR then downgraded to a 1BR (the 2BR was 208 points and the 1BR was 162 points, so 208-162=46). It appears that they replaced 33 points into my 2008, but failed to replace 13 points into my 2009. I have gone round and round with this rep and we can't see eye-to-eye on this, so she is getting a supervisor for me.

On one hand, it is only 13 points. I know that I made it more complicated by changing the reservation, but those points still belong to me and I expect to be able to use them. I wouldn't have even known, except I started a list today of all of our reservations and point usages and the math didn't match what we currently have showing as remaining points with DVC.

I'll update all of you when I finally get this resolved.

Sounds to me like MS actually might have gotten this right. Sounds like you had to borrow 13 points from 2009 to complete the 2BR reservation. Once you downgraded, the 2008 points were put back where they belonged. There may be 13 points missing in your 2008 use year (borrowed 2009 points), but the 13 points out of your 2009 use year would appear to be correct from the facts you have posted.

 

[DebbieB]

It's always good to check your account online after you make reservations or changes. Last November, I was doing a day by day for this October. Everything was fine until the last day. I had enough 2008 points for the entire reservation. Somehow on the last day, MS put all the points back into 2008 and borrowed 2009 points for the entire stay! They had to do a manual correction, it took a couple of days. They ended up cancelling the day by day reservation and rebooking it with a new # after the correction. Good thing the room was still available (BWV bw view 1 BR).

 

[Doctor P]

Thanks for the reply. Just got off the phone. 53 minutes! The original rep looked everything over line by line and realized that I was right, and we do have 13 points missing. She will have to do a manual adjustment that will take a few days, but I will get them back.

You are correct, hakepb, that they don't put them back in the 2009. She will be putting them back in 2008 and told me I can bank them back into 2009 when I get them. I will keep checking to see when they "arrive".

I guess this is just a cautionary tale to everyone to check their points occasionally. Not implying anything insidious about DVC MS, but they are only human and can make mistakes like anyone else.

To me, the 13 points were worth the almost-hour of my time!

MS goes over, without a request, my point balances every time I have a transaction. It is important to know what your balances should be so that you know if what they are telling you is correct. Glad it seems like it is going to work out for you!

 

[JimMIA]

You may need to call MS back, or you're still going to lose the points unless you take another trip in your 2008 UY. If they return your borrowed points, they will be "use or lose," and you'll lose them anyway if you don't take another trip.

What MS should do -- in fact what they should have done in the first place -- is to use the borrowed points for your new 1 BR ressie. That would give you 13 more 2008 points returned to the current UY, and you'd be able to bank them all...subject to the new banking deadlines, of course.

That's what you need to make sure MS does -- USE your borrowed points for the ressie you are going to keep.

 

[Tink-aholic]

Quick update:

When I originally called, MS told me it would take a few days for the points to show up in the system and to keep checking the DVC member site. It has been a week and no changes...

We are not planning any other trips for the next few months, so I guess I will keep checking. I think I'll give them another week to show up and then call them again.