What would you do? Haven't heard from renter.

[mello]

The final payment was supposed to be paid June 1 but we've heard nothing from the nice lady who rented points from us. I've sent 3 emails and gotten no reply. DH says if we hear nothing tomorrow, we should cancel the ressie and send back her 1st depost. Since I'm the one going through all the hassle, I'm inclined to wait a little longer. But what is reasonable? Anyone ever been in this position? WWYD?

 

[mydogdrew]

I would not return the deposit unless you agreed to those terms formally. I would hold the reesie until 31 days out and then cancel. However, your action should be driven by the contract you established, not by my opinion.

 

[castleri]

I would base my decision on what you can do with the points after you cancel. If you are within your banking window you may want to base it on that not the 31 days out if you are not going to use the points . You could also try to rent the reservation again and just change the names on it. In the end it depends on what you and the person renting agreed to and what you feel is right. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Cinderpals]

Do you have her ph. number? Since you've received a deposit, I would try and contact her again. She may be travelling, or not checking emails lately. How long has it been since you've heard from her?

I hope it works out for you.

 

[salmoneous]

I'm not sure what you accomplish by cancelling the reservation and sending back the money. Unless you are approaching a 30-day window, why not keep the reservation open?

If you have any contact information other than email, use that to try and contact the person. Email systems are pretty darn unreliable. I can't tell you how many times I've had people send me emails that get lost in a spam filter somewhere.

If you are worried, it would be reasonable after some period of time to try to rent the reservation or points out to somebody new. In my book, a week sounds about right for "reasonable period," but I can see arguments for longer or shorter periods of time.

 

[Granny]

This is one reason why it is good to have a contract with the person renting points. Even if it's not written in legalese and 100% enforceable, at least it lays out the expectations and what can happen.

It also "forces" both parties to trade mailing addresses and phone numbers, which helps in situations like this.

When I rented, the initial deposit was non-refundable but that was understood up front. If you didn't make that clear, I'd wait and continue to try to contact the person. However, I wouldn't put the points in jeopardy of being non-bankable or not easy to use or re-rent.

 

[DemoBri1]

Did the renter send you a check? If so, I'm assuming her address is on the check. I would try to track her phone number down at this point if you don't have it already. A couple of the other posters are correct...e-mail is not as reliable as some of us think. It could be her ISP's server is down or somehow sent your e-mail to her junk bin as if it might have been spam. A sure fire way is to give her a call, and just explain the situation to her. If there's nothing much you can do with these points and you are going to lose them you might try to negotiate a termination fee if she is not willing to go through with the ressie.

Brian

 

[JimMIA]

As you've seen from the responses all over the place, you didn't really give us enough information for anyone to give you any informed advice.

I'm sure you don't want to embarrass the renter (nor should you), but it would be helpful if you could post the approximate time period of the ressie (month and maybe # of points), when your banking deadlines are, how she did with the deposit (was it timely, or did you have to drag it out of her), what the initial agreement was as far as the timing of deposits and full payment, etc.

If you provide the information needed, the answers you get will be much more accurate and helpful to you.

 

[Cinderpals]

As you've seen from the responses all over the place, you didn't really give us enough information for anyone to give you any informed advice.

I'm sure you don't want to embarrass the renter (nor should you), but it would be helpful if you could post the approximate time period of the ressie (month and maybe # of points), when your banking deadlines are, how she did with the deposit (was it timely, or did you have to drag it out of her), what the initial agreement was as far as the timing of deposits and full payment, etc.

If you provide the information needed, the answers you get will be much more accurate and helpful to you.

True! Comment about email possible not going through. This happened to me recently. I tried to send an email through a link from a previous email from a person, and it got through. I also had a ph. number that I called. The email address typed in didn't work for some reason.

 

[byoung]

I guest when we where renting, we had to be good renters we paid it full after getting a copy of the booking.

 

[Cruelladeville]

Why don't you send your renter an email saying,"if I don't hear from you within 48 hours, your rental money will be forfeited, and the points cancelled." See if that elicits a response. If it doesn't, then something may have happened, and you will need to try one of the other ideas mentioned. My idea is just to see if she CAN email you, and chooses not to, or if there might be a real problem that you will need to allow for. You can always hang on to the ressies until about 45 days out, and then cancel without a penalty. Generally, though, when I rent, if I have to send those "if I don't hear from you..." emails, after 48 hours I send a second email saying "your ressie has been cancelled", and then I still hold onto the reservation just to see what response I get. I have never had to go beyond threatening to cancel without suddenly getting an apology, and the promise of a check immediately. Then I send them an email saying, "you're in luck! I got busy, and MS was closed when I remembered about cancelling your ressie," but then they know I mean business, I am not going to fool around.

 

[JandD Mom]

Mello,

Did you have a rental agreement? If so, what did it say with regard to nonpayment of rent? I would follow exactly what the agreement said about nonpayment.

I think plenty of people have chimed in here on what to do, and , assuming you don't have an agreement, or assuming it is silent, I agree the solution should be based on your banking deadlines. However, I would suggest to everyone, when renting in the future, please make sure your rental agreement deals with what will happen if rent is not paid in a timely manner.

Good luck!

 

[mello]

I'm sure you don't want to embarrass the renter (nor should you), .

which is why I didn't give more details. We do have an agreement about timing of deposits, dates and % the ressie is refundable if cancelled, etc., that works well with our use-year, etc., but unfortunately it didn't specify what, exactly, would happen if a deposit was not sent on time. JandD Mom is right - be sure to specify what will happen! Live and learn on that one...

Cruella, I think your suggestion is perfect for this circumstance.

Thanks for all of the input everyone. Being rather new at all of this, I really appreciate the info and advice I get here.

 

[JimMIA]

I agree with Cruella's suggestion, but I'd soften it a bit. I think I'd use language like, "We will have no alternative but to cancel the reservation."

I'm assuming that you have previously communicated successfully with her by email. Another approach you might also try -- assuming she's a member here -- is to PM her with a receipt requested.

Without knowing the language of your agreement, it's hard to know whether you would owe her a refund or not. If SHE cancels within the specified period, certainly you would. But if YOU cancel because she didn't pay, I think you'd certainly be within your rights to keep her deposit. Whether you actually do or not, of course, is up to you and I'm sure would depend on the circumstances.

One thing I'd do before refunding anything is go look at her other posts and see if she's been trying to get a better deal after contracting with you. If she has, I know what I'd do!

 

[Cinderpals]

....

One thing I'd do before refunding anything is go look at her other posts and see if she's been trying to get a better deal after contracting with you. If she has, I know what I'd do!

YEEKS!!! I hope that's not the case! That would be very sad...Hopefully, you'll hear from her soon. In the future, I would probably request payment in full especially if you accept cc through Paypal. That way, no one needs to keep track of when the money is due many months later... Did you send her a letter through snail mail? I still betting that she's on vacation, or with school winding down etc...everyone I know is very busy just before school lets out. I'm still hopeful this will work out for you! Hang in there.

 

[JimMIA]

Actually, a renter "shopping" your price is not unusual. They have their ressie set (because you've made it), and if they can get the same thing for less, they often think they have nothing to lose. It's a very common cause of the initial deposit being slow in arriving -- less common after they have money invested, but still happens. There have been a number of threads regarding that very practice.

Fortunately, most renters are ethical folks and abide by agreements they've made...but not all are. It pays to be alert in these transactions.

 

[Disney Doll]

I'd try a different avenue to contact her, either by phone or mail, and tell her that you have tried to contact her 3 times by e-mail without response and she is late with her payment.

I am not sure how you worded your contract with her, but I would cancel the reservation before my points went into that "holding and use within 60 days" thing. I'd want my points to go back into my regular account.

 

[CarolA]

Reading these threads always makes me wonder why so many posters think that renting is the solution to all DVC issues???? Every time someone posts that they may need to sell for some reason there will be 10 responses going RENT... WHY? I don't want to deal with this type of mess!

 

[Kitala]

Hi there,

One option that you might want to look at is a website called "did they read it" obviously you need to make it a web address by adding the proper letters before and after it but I haven't posted enough to post URL's is what this is telling me so I can't POST the URL in here.

What this website does is TELL you WHEN the email was opened -how many times it was opened and the location WHERE it was opened. I use it to track business emails and it is very reasonably priced. There used to be a trial period where you could sign up and send 10 emails free. It is VERY simple to use and the person receiving the email has NO idea that it is being tracked this way so it might work well for something like this. Then you have proof one way or another whether your email is being opened.

Kitty

PS - if you can't figure out the site - PM me.

 

[Mark099]

Always include a non-refundable portion in any rental and you'll be sure to attract only serious renters.

One of my renters was late with a payment. It turned out to be a mix up and payment was sent out fairly quickly. Communication was good, however, but knowing that I could keep their $400 deposit allowed me to be more patient. Their final payment arrived a little early. In the end, everything worked out great and they had a great vacation.