Wait List Snafu

[lolakat]

I'm still learning the DVC ropes and I got myself into a pickle with my most recent bookings. I thought I would share as it may help someone else in the future.

I wait listed a F+W weekend reservation back in early December with my 2016 Beach Club points. At the same time I booked the same weekend at BLT using my 2016 points there. When the wait list wasn't filled at the 7 month mark I figured it was unlikely to happen so I planned to keep the BLT reservation. I went to the web site with intention of canceling the BC wait list and making a February reservation at BC instead using those 2016 points. I was suprised to see the wait list was no longer showing up on my Dashboard. I thought it must have expired or I accidently had already canceled it. All my 2016 points still showed as available so I went ahead and booked the February dates using most of my 2016 points. Today I open my email to see that my Beach Club wait list was filled. They borrowed 2017 points since I had used the 2016 points on the February reservation. While I'm glad to get the wait list it is not ideal as I ended up with unneeded borrowed points. It's not a catastrophe as I can still cancel the F+W rese at BLT and bank those points to make up for the borrowed points but it makes the next year less flexible for me.

I called Member Services who couldn't give me any information on why the wait list disappeared from my Dashboard at least 3 days before the actual reservation was filled and my points adjusted. My take home lesson was don't trust the dash board or at least call member services if what I see doesn't match what I expect. Also, I guess a wait list randomly disappearing from the dashboard may be a sign it will be filled soon.

I tried to explain all this to my husband but he just stared at me blankly. I figured you good folks would understand..... Thanks for listening!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Ugh, so sorry to hear how that went down. Very frustrating. Oddly, I have been part of a wait list watching thread, and it seems like some of the time the wait list just fills and displays, but for several of the folks it disappears and then a few days later is somehow a reservation.... make you wonder what the heck is happening behind the scenes (although, i'm not sure I really want to know, just introduces more potential for human error to worry about!)

On the flip slide, pretty much guarantees you'll take a 2017 with banked 2016 points - DH wouldn't want to lose points, eh?

 

[lolakat]

Good Point! Hubby will absolutely not want to miss out on those points!! He is so confused by the whole process he leaves all things DVC in my hands so its all the same to him.

 

[cdnjason]

Oh, that is frustrating. Sorry to hear about the snafu. Is there no way member services can't swap the 2016/17 points to allow you to be more flexible?

 

[lolakat]

Oh, that is frustrating. Sorry to hear about the snafu. Is there no way member services can't swap the 2016/17 points to allow you to be more flexible?

I asked and they could not. They say I gave authorization to borrow at the time I made the waitlist. I don't recall that as I didn't intend to need to borrow but I'm a newbie so I probably did something wrong. It is a teaching moment I guess. Next time I will definitely call member services instead of just assuming if the dash board doesn't show what I think it should.

 

[n2mm]

Sorry about the points. I'm in that situation right now. My wl on my dashboard disappeared yesterday but no change in my reservation. My wl is scheduled to use the points from an existing reservation. I check throughout the day. Trying to be patient but it's hard. Last time this happened it took several weeks to adjust.

 

[cdnjason]

@lolakat Sorry to hear that. At least, all is not lost. Sounds like you will still make good use of the points.

 

[ziravan]

I asked and they could not. They say I gave authorization to borrow at the time I made the waitlist. I don't recall that as I didn't intend to need to borrow but I'm a newbie so I probably did something wrong. It is a teaching moment I guess. Next time I will definitely call member services instead of just assuming if the dash board doesn't show what I think it should.

Call back and ask someone else. They're usually very flexible about such things.

I've had them "fix" such problems for me even when I didn't ask and didn't care because of how I planned to use the points. (Twice MS have put points from cancelled trips back in the right use year without my requesting it only for me to reborrow them when I used them.)