Where to direct complaint??

[Davered]

We have a wierd problem that we have been trying to resolve.
Our family made reservations through Small World Travel to stay at VWL in a 2 bdr. villa from Feb. 10-16. We did this in June. Later, upon the recommendation of friends we became familair with the DVC Rent/Trade Forum. We checked with the Disney Vacation Club and were satisfied that this was a great way to reduce our expenses. We asked for help in comparing costs between our original reservations and using DVC points and purchase option and DVC told us to keep our original reservations over the weekend ($535) and try and buy points from an owner for mid week. We had a very satisfactory experience using the rent/trade board and successfully purchased points for the three nights (tues-wed-thurs) and planned on keeping the other nights with our original reservation. Earlier this week we called to cancel the nights for which we had purchased points. The agent said no problem, that will cost you 1/2 of your original amount. The next day we got an email from our agent saying that she was wrong and our cost would now be over $900 a night because our first night with them was now in a different season.

It took us a few hours to figure out what happened, but in short-
Disney reservations and DVC reservations "seasons" dates are different. The central reservations for Disney goes to high season on Feb. 12th and DVC on Feb. 15th.

It would have been approx. $!000 cheaper just to purchase all of the nights from an owner and completly drop our reservations with Small World Travel. Since this was several months ago we could have still done this, but we already had been told by a Disney DVC person that going the other way was cheaper.

Now, it's so late we can't find any owners who can get a reservation for those dates and were stuck paying the extra $1000.

Our complaint is with the info we were given- Disney should coordinate the info between groups. We can't find anyone at DVC or Disney who will let us get beyond the "gate keepers" to discuss this and seek a remedy.

Who do we need to talk to??? thanks for reading all of this and I hope it makes sense. could you send me a PM if you choos to respond.

 

[RobDoc]

I'm a bit confused who you talked with to arrive at the conclusions about the costs involved. Did you call Member Services at DVC and are they the ones who told you it would be better to rent from a member??

It sounds as though your original reservation was thru a travel agent- if so, they would be the ones where you'd bring complaint. As a non-member, you cannot make any reservation directly thru DVC- even if you were somehow able to get rate information from Member Services.

Disney does allow pricing based on the first night of the reservation even if it spans two "seasons". If you later make a change to a different season, it will affect the rate. Disney also allows changes to be made to a room-only reservation until 5 days before arrival ( was this a package?) If it was a package, the minimum is a three nights and a 2 night stay would not have been allowed. Packages can be changed/cancelled uo to 45 days in advance without penalty.

It would seem that you didn't have a good understanding of the cancellation policies from your travel agent before making these changes.

I can't see where anyone at DVC can assist with your reservation changes. The advice you have regarding a DVC reservation seems to be entirely correct, but as you noted, DVC uses different seasons than regular reservations thru Disney.

Good Luck!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

we already had been told by a Disney DVC person that going the other way was cheaper.

I'm slightly confused by your wording. When you say a "Disney DVC person" do you mean someone who works for Disney or an owner of points who rented them to you?

DVC doesn't get involved in the rental of points so I don't think you will really have anyone to complain to about that. Renting points is considered to be at your own risk. Central Reservation books DVC resorts to non owners for cash and it is totally separate from Member Services where owners use their points to book rooms through.

DVC told us to keep our original reservations over the weekend ($535) and try and buy points from an owner for mid week.

I have never heard of DVC officially suggesting that someone do that. I'm a bit surprised because if you aren't an owner, how did you get through to them?

Good luck in your quest to make this right but it sounds like you will continue having a difficult time trying to fix what seems to have gone wrong.

HBC

 

[DebbieB]

Have you checked if there are any AP or Code discounts available for your cash dates?

 

[PamOKW]

Disney and DVC have absolutely nothing to do with any member who rents you points. The practice is allowed but Disney does their best to try and discourage the practice. I can't imagine a Disney CM voicing the opinion that you should rent points -- it's taking money out of their own company's pocket.

As to your costs going up, that is a discussion between you and your travel agent. It is true that the start date of your reservation can effect your total cost.

Disney should not have been involved in this transaction at all. You are dealing with a private travel agent and a private individual.

The rack rate for 2/11 is $535 and on 2/12 it does go to Peak Season or $835 (plus tax).

Your original 5 nights should have run about $2,980. The two new nights are roughly $1,862. If you are paying less than $1,118 for your rental then you are still coming out ahead.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by Happy Birthday Cat
I'm slightly confused by your wording. When you say a "Disney DVC person" do you mean someone who works for Disney or an owner of points who rented them to you? DVC doesn't get involved in the rental of points so I don't think you will really have anyone to complain to about that.

I had exactly the same thoughts when I read this. DVC is a Timeshare SALES company. When a current member rents their points to another individual, Disney makes NOTHING on the transaction. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

The renting of points is an under-the-counter transaction which DVC grudgingly admits does occur, but they certainly don't condone it.

That said, the concept of paying cash for weekend stays is commonly-discussed (and used) strategy for DVC members. 99% of the time it's a valid strategy, but you've apparently discovered the one instance in which it may end up costing you extra.

For what it's worth, if I had been in your shoes, before researching DVC, renting points, etc., I would have sent a simple email to my travel agent that said "how would the cost of my trip change if I cancelled ___ days?"

The only bit of advice I can offer would be to contact the member from whom you rented points and see if he/she could re-rent the points, perhaps with only a minimal service charge to you. Unless the point owner is coming up against the end of his Use Year, he has the ability to cancel the reservation up until the night before arrival, and still have the points returned to his account.