Within the 10 day window, can we reduce our points?

[jenmsmith]

We recently attended a DVC presentation and signed a contract for 150 points at Poly. Now that we're home, we aren't sure that's the best fit for us. We are still within the 10 day window. Can we reduce the points to 50? Or would we need to cancel the contract and rebook?

 

[Marionnette]

We recently attended a DVC presentation and signed a contract for 150 points at Poly. Now that we're home, we aren't sure that's the best fit for us. We are still within the 10 day window. Can we reduce the points to 50? Or would we need to cancel the contract and rebook?

Is this an add-on contract? You cannot purchase only 50 points direct if you do not already have another DVC contract.

 

[JimMIA]

You would need to cancel (the legal term is rescind) the purchase.

My advice in any timeshare purchase, from any developer, is if you have even the slightest doubt about your decision, rescind and start over from scratch. That is exactly the reason there are rescission periods to begin with.

Take your time, and study the question carefully.

The first thing I urge every potential buyer to consider is whether they really want to enter into a 30-50 year financial commitment to a timeshare -- or in the case of most other timeshares, a never-ending commitment. In order to answer that question, you have to look far into the future and try to guess how your vacationing needs might change as you have kids, the kids grow up, you retire, etc, etc.

You also need to realize that DVC covers only lodging, and the other costs (park tickets, airfare, food, etc) are not covered and many of those costs have exploded in recent years. So even if you lock in your lodging cost, Disney vacations are still going to be an expensive vacation option and may increase in cost faster than other options.

In the case of DVC, I would look at two additional things -- your past history of WDW visits, and the capabilities of DVC beyond WDW. People sometimes purchase DVC after their first-ever visit to WDW, or their first-ever visit with their kids (like me, for instance!). If you have a history of numerous visits over a period of years, I think you have a much sounder rationale for purchase than someone dazzled by pixie dust.

I think any prospective DVC purchaser should also really consider how they might use this timeshare for non-Disney vacations. The fact is that DVC is a very small system, heavily concentrated at WDW (9 out of the 13 total resorts) -- so it is seriously limited once you branch out in your vacation choices. Yes, you can currently exchange through RCI, but those exchanges will often be downgrades from DVC and that capability could go away entirely -- it is a contractual arrangement between DVC and RCI, not something that is guaranteed to you.

If you decide DVC is for you, I would encourage you to take a long, hard look at resale. You may be able to save 30-50% purchasing resale.

If you decide you want to own a timeshare, but DVC won't meet your needs, you should know that there are several other very fine timeshare systems available -- and some of those can literally be purchased for $1 on eBay.

If you decide timesharing is not for you, there are many other options out there to save money on vacations -- particularly at WDW.

 

[jenmsmith]

Thank you. We've been to Disney World about 15 times in the last six years. Sometimes as a couple only, sometimes as a nuclear family and sometimes as an extended family. We never thought the numbers made since for us to join DVC, as we have a mix of on-site moderate and off-site stays. But after the presentation thought that it could work for us. When we looked closer at the resorts, we realized our family of five (nuclear) would only fit in some of the one-bedroom and studios. Many places we would need two-bedroom units or multiple units. So we were considering lowering our points to use for just couple-only trips and paying cash onsite or staying off-site for the bigger trips until we decided if DVC would work for the larger family. Then our initial contract and mainentace fees would be lower.

I thought our guide said he owned 50 points only. Is that just a cast member offer? Or is 50 points direct for the public as well? If we need to purchase a minimum of 100 points, I'm not sure how helpful that would be for us.

 

[BillPA]

If you will still make 2 1/2 trips a year, you are going to need much more than 50 points. That will only get you 1 night in a studio each trip.

 

[jenmsmith]

If you will still make 2 1/2 trips a year, you are going to need much more than 50 points. That will only get you 1 night in a studio each trip.

Correct. Even 150 points wouldn't cover our trips including family and extended family. If we went with a smaller contract, we were considering just using them for our couples-only trips. We can travel at off times. So that could get us 2 or 3 nights at Poly or five nights at Boardwalk, etc.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We can travel at off times. So that could get us 2 or 3 nights at Poly or five nights at Boardwalk, etc.

Two red flags here for me:

1. When do you think are "off times?" DVC high season is from September through January marathon weekend, with higher activity for other runDisney events and some holidays as well.
2. Your estimate on days-at-BWV suggests you priced those as Standard Studios. It is extremely hard to get a BWV Standard Studio if you own points anywhere but BWV. You need an 11-month booking window to reliably get Standard at BWV.

 

[Marionnette]

Thank you. We've been to Disney World about 15 times in the last six years. Sometimes as a couple only, sometimes as a nuclear family and sometimes as an extended family. We never thought the numbers made since for us to join DVC, as we have a mix of on-site moderate and off-site stays. But after the presentation thought that it could work for us. When we looked closer at the resorts, we realized our family of five (nuclear) would only fit in some of the one-bedroom and studios. Many places we would need two-bedroom units or multiple units. So we were considering lowering our points to use for just couple-only trips and paying cash onsite or staying off-site for the bigger trips until we decided if DVC would work for the larger family. Then our initial contract and mainentace fees would be lower.

I thought our guide said he owned 50 points only. Is that just a cast member offer? Or is 50 points direct for the public as well? If we need to purchase a minimum of 100 points, I'm not sure how helpful that would be for us.

If your plan is to try out DVC before taking the BIG plunge, why not take the time to rent points for your couple's trips and explore your options. Even a 50-pt contract will cost several thousand dollars to buy in PLUS annual dues ($300+ for 50 pts @poly in 2016).

 

[jenmsmith]

Two red flags here for me:

1. When do you think are "off times?" DVC high season is from September through January marathon weekend, with higher activity for other runDisney events and some holidays as well.
2. Your estimate on days-at-BWV suggests you priced those as Standard Studios. It is extremely hard to get a BWV Standard Studio if you own points anywhere but BWV. You need an 11-month booking window to reliably get Standard at BWV.

1. We usually take our couples-only trips in late January. That is considered Adventure season for the WDW DVC resorts.

2. Good point. We have considered a small direct purchase for Poly and a resale purchase at BWV.

 

[disneynutz]

Is the polly your favorite DVC resort? If you can't answer yes then why would you buy there?

Bill

 

[jenmsmith]

If your plan is to try out DVC before taking the BIG plunge, why not take the time to rent points for your couple's trips and explore your options. Even a 50-pt contract will cost several thousand dollars to buy in PLUS annual dues ($300+ for 50 pts @poly in 2016).

We might do that, and it is a smart idea. This may sound silly, but I really like being in control of planning the reservation and "controlling" it, which I wouldn't get if we rented points. However, we have stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek several times on a friend's points. So we pay her directly. I guess that feels a little different because we know her and there's no middle-man between the two of us.

 

[jenmsmith]

Is the polly your favorite DVC resort? If you can't answer yes then why would you buy there?

Bill

It's one of our favorites. It does help that their studios fit all five of us, in contrast to several other resorts.

 

[Marionnette]

We might do that, and it is a smart idea. This may sound silly, but I really like being in control of planning the reservation and "controlling" it, which I wouldn't get if we rented points. However, we have stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek several times on a friend's points. So we pay her directly. I guess that feels a little different because we know her and there's no middle-man between the two of us.

I understand your reluctance to give control to someone else. I rented 3 times (AKV, SSR and BWV) before I took the plunge into DVC. All 3 times, I rented points from friends or family. Even then, I didn't get a real feel for the booking process until I had to manage my own contracts.

 

[disneynutz]

It's one of our favorites. It does help that their studios fit all five of us, in contrast to several other resorts.

Booking at 7 months is a challenge, you really need to:
Either find out which resort is your favorite and buy there, or
Buy knowing that you might not get to stay where you want and that you may have to sell and buy your favorite later after deciding where that is.

Bill

 

[LisaS]

We have considered a small direct purchase for Poly and a resale purchase at BWV.

Just be aware that if you want to book BWV in the 11-month window, you would need enough BWV points to pay for your reservation. Your Poly points cannot be used to book BWV unless you are 7 months or less from check-in.

 

[disneynutz]

It's one of our favorites. It does help that their studios fit all five of us, in contrast to several other resorts.

5 in a studio gets old pretty fast, especially when you realize that you will be back at Disney at least once per year and you don't need to do it all. What you don't do today, you can do tomorrow. We alternate parks from visit to visit and never park hop, sleep in sometimes, 2 adults we book a 1 bedroom, 3 adults, we book a 2 bedroom.

Bill

 

[gluestickgirl]

We bought 50pts at the Poly to use in a similar way - either for a long weekend for just me + my husband, or to tack on a couple days at the end of a longer stay at a moderate w/ our 3 kids.We have our stays planned our for the next several years and it will work well until we're ready to buy more. Our kids are older, and we had no intention of buying to cover our 10 day stays with them when we're getting to a point where that may change.

For us, it's been a great way to dip our toes in.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We recently attended a DVC presentation and signed a contract for 150 points at Poly. Now that we're home, we aren't sure that's the best fit for us. We are still within the 10 day window. Can we reduce the points to 50? Or would we need to cancel the contract and rebook?

You would have to rescind and DVC would do a new contract. That's easy to do with a fax and I'd also call.

You have this one small 10 day window to do this or your locked in. When there's any question at all I 100% recommend taking advantage of that ability and then taking a little time to examine how you want to use DVC and review if owning is even the way to go. You're lucky to have realized you may want to go a slightly different route while you still have the ability to change it up!

Then, once you have a plan your comfortable with you can either call and do the purchase direct, buy resale or a combination of both, or even not to buy but continue off site, with mods, or even renting.

If buying and you do think you'd like BWV you might think of buying that first and then adding on the poly direct after you close on the BWV. Direct has all the UYs available at the Poly so it's simple to match up to an existing UY but when you're having to match up a resale to an existing UY then you become restricted to whatever contracts people are selling in the UY at the time you're ready to buy. There's usually at least 2 or 3 UYs that will be optimal for a buyer so if your not already tied to one you'll have a larger pool too look at. Then DVC will match that UY for the Poly points.

Poly will be there for quite awhile to buy. You could re-initiate the properly sized purchase tomorrow, next week, next month or next year.

 

[drusba]

Getting back to the original question. Be aware of what your rights are within that 10 day period. You have the right to cancel. You do not have any stated right to change the contract's number of points. That right to cancel can legally only be exercised in writing. Your contract for sale, most likely at the end above your signtures, should provide a statement of your cancellation right, the address you need to send notice of cancellation to, and that you can also fax the notice to a given a facsimile number.

If you fail to properly cancel and the 10 day period passes, then you are bound to contiune to complete the sale made. They will likely let you back out after that 10 day period but the contract provides that, if they do, you lose everything you have already paid as a down payment.

In other words, you might be considering calling your guide and say you want to make it a 50 point contract and he might even agree. That is fine. But if you fail to send that written notice of cancellation, Disney can later require you to go through with the original contract regardless of what the sales rep might tell you. In fact, your contract also provides that the sales rep has no power to waive the written notice of cancellation required to cancel the contract.

In other words, regardless of what you do with the sales rep to do a change, it is imperative that you send that written notice of cancellation on time and also fax a copy when you mail it.

 

[jenmsmith]

We bought 50pts at the Poly to use in a similar way - either for a long weekend for just me + my husband, or to tack on a couple days at the end of a longer stay at a moderate w/ our 3 kids.We have our stays planned our for the next several years and it will work well until we're ready to buy more. Our kids are older, and we had no intention of buying to cover our 10 day stays with them when we're getting to a point where that may change.

For us, it's been a great way to dip our toes in.

Good to know. Our boys are 8, 12, and 15. So, like Bill said, staying five in a studio for a whole week is a bit cozy. As far as we can tell, DH and I plan to go to Disney together at least once a year or every other year. I don't know how long the boys will vacation with us. They enjoy Disney, but I'm not sure if (the two oldest especially) will be adult Disney fans.

So you were able to book just 50 points?