Why did they do that?

[happenin2you]

Long story: We were booked perfectly using all our 300 points, we have a 100 point contract in which we had banked 2011, used current year 2012, and borrowed from 2013. We had booked a short cruise on the Dream and several nights at our home resort AKV. My husband transferred to a new department at work that does not allow any vacation during January (he's an accountant), which happens to be when we booked our vacation, so we had to cancel the whole thing.

We knew we had to use up the banked points fast, and we couldn't find an open time that worked for us in WDW, so we booked an Alaska cruise on the Wonder that is leaving very soon.

For some reason, when the reservation was cancelled and rebooked under the Wonder, they used up our 2011 and 2013 points first, then the 2012 points for a total of 286 points with 14 remaining. We have an April UY, so our 14 2012 points with expire 3/31/13. They can't be banked either, since they were already used for a booking that was cancelled.

Why would they have done this? Isn't it more sensible to use the years chronologically and leave us with the points furthest out? 14 points isn't enough for a room at Disneyland anywhere. We could get up to 2 nights at AKV with 14 points, but I don't think we'll be able to get out there before the points expire and it's kind of a waste to come all the way from the west coast for 2 nights. At least if they were 2013 points, I could wait until I could borrow from 2014 and use them together for a whole week stay, or longer.

What the heck?! Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[happenin2you]

Correction:

When I am on the DVC member site, it says I can bank 2 of my 14 points. Which is even more confusing. Why would that be?

 

[AllieV]

I don't have a good answer myself, but I started a thread on this board titled, "in what order are points used". I got some good answers there that I think will explain this to you. A couple of people explained (and showed screen shots) of how points are used up and why. They also said you can get on the phone and ask them to allocate certain points first.

 

[disneynutz]

When you bank 2011 points, they become 2012 points and will expire at the end of your 2012 UY.

When you borrow 2013 points, they become 2012 points and will expire at the end of your 2012 UY.

Your 2012 original points can be backed if you are still in the first 8 months of your 2012 UY, if not, they will also expire at the end of your 2012 UY.

When using MS you need to tell them what you want them to do with your points, don't take it for granted that they know what you are thinking.

To them you are just one of thousands of calls, to you they are your points.

Bill

 

[happenin2you]

When you bank 2011 points, they become 2012 points and will expire at the end of your 2012 UY.

When you borrow 2013 points, they become 2012 points and will expire at the end of your 2012 UY.

Your 2012 original points can be backed if you are still in the first 8 months of your 2012 UY, if not, they will also expire at the end of your 2012 UY.
When using MS you need to tell them what you want them to do with your points, don't take it for granted that they know what you are thinking.

To them you are just one of thousands of calls, to you they are your points.

Bill

My UY is April, so my 2012 points should be bankable, but the site says I can only bank 2 of them.

Thanks for the info. We just bought bacn in September and this is our first time using our points. I just wish the first time could have worked out better.

 

[DebbieB]

You can't bank reservation points, which the points cancelled from the dream would be.

 

[disneynutz]

My UY is April, so my 2012 points should be bankable, but the site says I can only bank 2 of them.

Thanks for the info. We just bought bacn in September and this is our first time using our points. I just wish the first time could have worked out better.

Call MS and ask that a Team Line CM explain the point break down to you.

Bill

 

[vicki_c]

You can't bank reservation points, which the points cancelled from the dream would be.

Yes - this, and ...

You banked 2011 points into 2012 - they are stuck there in all circumstances.
You borrowed 2013 points into 2012 - they are stuck there in all circumstances.
You had 2012 points, which IF you were still within your banking window COULD have been banked in 2013, EXCEPT for the fact that using them for the cruise turned them into Reservation points, as Deb stated. Therefore not bankable.

So you have 300 points stuck in 2012 as reservation points is what it sounds like.

"When an owner makes a reservation outside the Disney Vacation Club Resorts (such as a cruise, or a stay at the Polynesian hotel), then cancels that reservation, DVC designates them as "reservation" points. Basically they have designated those points for usage outside the DVC resorts and they can't be "put back". Reservation points can be used for any of the Disney hotels, the Concierge Collection, cruises, etc. The only thing they cannot be used for are staying at the DVC Resorts or the World Passport Collection. Reservation points must be used within the use year they are designated and may not be banked, borrowed or transferred." (source - dvcbyresale.com)

I don't know why they used 2012 last, leaving you a 14 points in that year but it really didn't matter in your situation. And I think having the site saying 2 are bankable is in error. None should be bankable.

Edit: oh I missed the part about the AKV part of the stay - those points would not be reservation points, so part of what I said was incorrect. MS did the right thing as far as I can see - your points that are now unused (the 14) probably came from the AKV part of the trip. By using the 2011 and 2013 ones first (because they were already stuck in 2012 and reservation points), they allowed you the ability to bank any leftover non-reservation status 2012 points. I still don't know why it says 2 of the 14 are bankable though (maybe only those 2 points were not reservation points? not really logical though). This interpretation is obviously my speculation, but I think that might be what happened. As a PP stated, call and ask them to walk you through what they did.

 

[Dean]

Any points showing up should be points that were originally in the AKV reservation minus the additional points taken for the cruise. It should depend on the exact timing and points usage for the original cruise and AKV reservation. I'm betting you booked the cruise using 2011 & 2012 points first then borrowed to make the AKV reservation added to the 2 current UY points that are now bankable. Was your original cruise 198 points and AKV 102 points? The points from the original cruise are reservation points and not returned to DVC points. They then took additional points in your current UY (mostly banked) and converted to additional reservation points to get enough to make the Alaska cruise reservation. Of course this is simply a guess. You should call DVC and ask them about it. It's entirely possible they can rearrange so that you get all points as bankable. You should definitely ask them if they can.