What happens when you miss the banking deadline??

[wannagomore]

I've been a member since 2003 and have met the banking deadline every year until this year. We travelled to the Beach club in June of 2009 and I honestly believed I had banked my remaining points from 2009. I recently logged on to the website to view the Bay Lake resort when I noticed that my 46 remaining points had not been banked. I called member services immediately. I was very surprised at the type of discussion I had. I paid in full for my 250 points in 2003. DVC has had my money to use for the last 6 years. I have been paying the rising maintenance fees every year on a timely basis. I was hoping for some compassion. What I got was a person specifically trained to talk to people like me. I was given an "exception" and allowed to bank my 46 points but she made it very clear that this was a huge inconvenience to DVC and I would "NEVER" be given an exception again. When I suggested that a reminder e-mail reminding members of the banking deadline be sent out to all members every year at the beginning of July, I was told that all members don't have e-mail. I told her that they could mail out a letter to those who don't have an e-mail address on file with them, she went back to the fact that it is up to the member to remind themselves to bank their points by July 31st of each year. DVC does not seem to have an issue bombarding members with sales information via e-mail and regular mail.
I understand the idea that they want the points banked by July 31st so they can maximize their occupancy rates, but after this experience, I think they are capable of providing a reminder program for important deadlines but they do not choose to as part of a strategic business plan to increase revenue by filling rooms that members failed to use due to lost points - essentially getting paid twice. I'm seriously disappointed that a company who claims to be built on customer service does not hold true to that philosophy in this area.

 

[RobDoc]

Banking can even be suspended by DVC without vote of the membership. It is a convenience and agreeably adds to the flexibility of the program - but it is the responsibility of each member to abide by the deadlines.

DVC has offered a courtesy extension for this policy for years now and that is what they offered you in this case. Had you chosen not to use the "once-in-a-lifetime" extension, your only options would be to use those points by the end of your current Use Year before they expire and are lost.

While it might be nice to get reminders by email or snail mail, that does add some additional expense for all members. The Member Website does track the banking deadlines and give the final date for banking any current points - so there is already an accessible reminder available.

I'm glad they offered the extension and that you were able to use it. DVC has several situations where they are more than generous in benefitting members with such leniency - banking deadline, hurricane policies, weather delays for travelers, emergency health issues, etc. - and while each one is at the discretion of MS, they are usually able to provide moments of magic for DVC members even when those moments fly contrary to the official policy of the program.

I don't see this as a customer service issue at all - after all, they did allow you to bank your points well beyond the banking deadline, contrary to the published DVC policy. The policy is clearly stated in the member documents and on the member website.

It sounds like MS was most accommodating in your situation.

Enjoy the additional, unwrittten perk you just received!

 

[cel_disney]

I believe that the 1 time exception is all they will do. I cant say that I agree with you about it being Disney's responsibility to remind members to bank their points. The documentation about this being a members responsibility is pretty clear and it in no way benefits DVCMC if you remember to bank! The fewer points you use, the more rooms they can sell to CRO!

And I dont agree that it would be as easy as you are suggesting either as we all have different banking deadlines/use years...

All that said - very happy for you that you were able to get your 46 points banked and not lost!!! Enjoy your next trip home!

 

[Chuck S]

DVC made an exception for you, and will give everyone a one time exception. I don't see it as their responsibility to spend time and increase dues sending reminders to all the members, any more than it is the responsibility of the IRS to send a reminder to file your income taxes, or the bank to send you a notice to pay your loans before they are due.

IMO this is not a customer service issue.

 

[Deb & Bill]

When you log into the member website, it tells you how many points you have to bank and when they need to be banked by.

 

[DBBN]

I'm pleased to hear MS allowed you to bank your points.

We have 2 different use years and to ensure I don't inadvertantly miss a banking deadline I've programmed my Quicken financial software to send me a reminder 3 weeks in advance then again 3 days in advance of our deadlines. Just this week I was reminded to bank our remaining June points...this method has worked for us without fail since we became members in 1995.

 

[kimberh]

I have 5 contracts and 3 uy's. If I have extra points I try to bank them early. Once this has come back to bite me, where I had to borrow to make a reservation, but I still didn't loose any points.

 

[88golf88]

I am glad that they gave you the "once in a lifetime" exception. I know it seems that there is more that they should be able to do, but Disney is Disney for a reason. Almost everything they do has a purpose for them and for their visitors/DVC Members. I do believe that it is up to DVC Members to track their points as if you were tracking your money in a checking account. It is just one more thing you have to pay attention to on a weekly/monthly basis.

As far as reminders go, you can easily go into your cell phone/PDA calendar and go to July1st and set a reminder to check your statement and bank any points that you arent going to use. When you wake up on July 1, there will me a message on your phone/PDA. If they go the the "reminder email/regular mailing", it will just give them a reason to raise dues.

I feel that the "once in a lifetime" part is meant to scare/prepare everyone a little bit. Disney is hoping that by telling you that this wont happen again, you will be more careful in future years.

Now, we havent bought into DVC yet, but are extremely close, so I monitor these boards to see what "we don't know" about DVC. This actually seems like a positive to me that if we forget to bank our points one year, they will allow us to fix our mistake. I was under the assumption that they are "good as gone" if you forget.

Everything we have seen so far from what DVC has to offer has been outstanding, this just adds on to it! Please don't let this ruin your feelings towards DVC, it seems like you might regret it down the road if you get rid of it.

 

[wannagomore]

I thank all of you for pointing out the shortcomings of my organizational skills. In my situation, I incorrectly thought that I had rolled the remainder of my UY points when I made reservations for my June 2009 travel date. I was politely reminded by the DVC rep that I couldn't have because I couldn't have done it during the month I made the reservation. My mistake. Since we don't plan to travel again until 2011, I haven't logged onto the DVC website since June 2009. That may be hard to believe for some, but it's true. I do have the reminders set on outlook and my PDA. When I saw the reminders, I felt that my points were already banked. I should have checked. It is entirely my fault. The rules are clear. But rules can be changed. I could have absorbed the hit from losing my points. What if a family loses their entire allotment? What is the budget impact, from a percentage standpoint, for an individual who loses the value of their investment in a year vs the impact to DVC's revenue? Why can't their be a monetary penalty instead of losing the entire value? We pay penalties for late payments of bills and taxes every day. For those of you who think that DVC is all about "Magic" and "Customers First", I argue that behind the image is a corporate structure designed specifically to maximize profits. DVC is no more customer conscientious than any other company in the timeshare business. It's easy to recite and comment on the "fairness" of the current rules until your faced with a situation where you made a mistake with no intention of taking money out of the Company's pocket. Rules and policies should be constantly reviewed and amended at a Corporate level. The Secretary of the Treasury of The United States "forgot" to pay income tax, we are all imperfect and mistakes are going to happen. I didn't realize the impact of the current rules until faced with compyling with them. Looking back on how I ended up in this position, I identified a few things that, I feel, could benefit the customer and not have a major impact on the corporation. Don't let it happen to you. Remember, I didn't lose a dime this time so my comments are not based on bitterness over losing money but rather how real and financially devastating it would be to lose points without any recourse. This chapter is closed for me. I have said more than enough and will not comment further.

 

[Deb & Bill]

When points expire, they expire. I'm really surprised that they allow members to bank points. But hopefully, banking and borrowing evens everything out. Otherwise, you would have members trying to get a reservation and absolutely nothing might be available since those points represent days during that current year in a villa in the home resort.

From what I have read on other threads there are actually members who don't realize they have use years, some haven't used their points in years, but continue to pay the dues. I think DVC hopes there are members like this so that DVC can get the monetary return on those unused points (breakage).

I all comes down to knowing what you have purchased. If you buy a car and don't know you have to change the oil every so often and you damage the engine, none of the car manufacturers will give you the maintenance for free on that damaged engine.

 

[RobDoc]

... The rules are clear. But rules can be changed. ...

I'm glad you feel that the rules are clear ... and in your case, they did change the rules by allowing you to still bank your points beyond your deadline.

Historically, the banking deadlines were different until a few years ago. Originally points could be banked thru the 10th month (instead of the 8th month deadline used now). The difference is that the number of points that could be banked declined after the first 6 months. The current policy allows banking all current points in the contract thru 8 months.

The reason for having a banking deadline is to allow DVC to assess the number of current/banked/borrowed points still in circulation, allowing them to better plan the last 4 months of each Use Year regarding how points will be used. As already mentioned, banking and borrowing can be discontinued at any time. With week's based timeshares there are no opportunities to bank your assigned week with the resort (it can usually be done thru outside exchange companies like RCI and II) - so if you fail to use your week, it is lost with no recourse or refund of the annual fees. DVC at least gives it's members the option to bank points for an additional year - and all we need to do is make the call and have the irreversible action completed by MS. They will also provide a banking number as reference for our accounting purposes.

By offering another chance to bank points beyond the deadline without any penalty, the expectation is that the member will then be aware of the policy and that it will not happen again. As already mentioned, MS has lots of opportunities to create magical moments for it's members with health, weather, family issues and forgiving the banking deadline is also one of those moments.

Personally, I'd rather have the opportunity to bank and borrow and take it upon myself to monitor my points than to not have those options at all.

 

[gonzalj1]

Well said Doc.

As Doc said, it is our responsibility as members to ensure our points are all present and accounted for at all times.

 

[wildernessDad]

I've set a yearly calendar reminder to bank any unused points. It's never gotten to the reminder, but it's there as a stop gap measure.

 

[Chuck S]

DVC is no more customer conscientious than any other company in the timeshare business.

True for the most part, and the question is then...why should they be? They offer some options other timeshares do not, like staying at regular Disney hotels, though it isn't really cost efficient and fewer options than some other timeshares with RCI. But overall, it is substantially the same as most other point based timeshares.

And timeshares operate on budgets paid for by their owners. Can they even legally charge a "monetary penalty" for banking late? Perhaps not, as it isn't mentioned in the POS, and it falls under various state timeshare laws.

You seem to think that DVC should operate differently than other timeshares, but I don't thik it is entirely possible to do so. We disagree.

 

[jekjones1558]

The OP messed up with banking points. It can happen. Glad that DVC allows members to mess up once and get a second chance. As adults we all have lots of deadlines to observe and many give no reminders and no second chances. If and when my turn comes to miss a banking deadline, I hope this forgiveness is still a policy and if it is I will be posting to praise a DVC system that showed a little mercy. Sorry, OP, I think the system worked well for you and now the ball is in your court.