I don’t mean to be argumentative, but when owners and brokers keep renter’s money after Disney returns owners point is a game changer for me. To me that is simply taking advantage of people. It negates all conceivable benefits there are to DVC rentals. I’ve rented many times without issue that my rental was non refundable. But now, by returning points, Disney is effectively covering the owner’s rental risks that generated the need for the no refund policy in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read many posts about decent & honorable owners and some brokers who are working hard to help renters and/or refund their money. It looks like you were fortunate to rent from such people. But all it takes is one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch.
But many of those points are worthless if they cannot be used. So the fact that some owners cannot rebook is because the points are being returned to them but they have or will expire before the parks can open.
Not wanting to, or not willing to is another matter. As you say one bad apple spoils the bunch.
But you are also being selective about what you are hearing, ignoring the full facts and tarring all of us. Which is equally unfair IMO.
I was really hoping to try and rent points for next October because we are a family of 5 and it seems like such a great deal, but now I’m really reconsidering and I have no clue what we will end up doing!
But you are also being selective about what you are hearing, ignoring the full facts and tarring all of us. Which is equally unfair IMO.
I understand your reaction. Based on some of your previous posts, I take it you are a DVC owner, right? I came darn close to buying a DVC membership a few years ago myself, but did not. I would not be happy today either if I were a DVC owner faced with potentially losing rental income, all your points, and/or having to deal with the realities of Use Years, DVC scheduling or having to compete in the future for the limited DVC availability once Disney reopens with so many extra points chasing so few room, … especially in light of the gargantuan amount of money and 50 year commitment Disney wanted from me to buy that membership in the first place. Not to mention ever increasing annual maintenance fees I would have paid whether or not I used my membership. No, I’ve not walked in your shoes, but do understand your point of view. You are right. You have my apologies if you felt I tarred you.
Unfortunately I am not wrong either. I am after all a DVC owner’s cash paying customer. I stand to lose $5,000, or potentially more given how the DVC Rental Store collects fees, which kind of important to me. And in my case, the owners point would come back at the start of his Use Year. So this is not a theoretical discussion for me, as I am sure it is not for you either. But the hard, cold reality of it all is that customers do not need DVC owners. There are simply too many other alternatives out there. But if DVC owners want to continue renting points, DVC owners need customers. We are all selective about what we hear, and seldom know or appreciate the full facts. And I do not have an answer. This COVID-19 pandemic has created problems none of us envisioned. Hopefully one of the lessons we learn from all this is to seek middle ground.
No worries but thanks.
Believe me, I empathise with you, and I would be upset too. I can’t remember, can you remind me (because the other thread is so long now).
What was your position? Was it a case where the owner refused to return, or is it the broker who is now simply offering a voucher instead of refunding, or something else entirely?
I am an owner, and I offered to refund in an email to the broker which they accepted. And they did refund in full. That was right at the start, the reservation started the day before the parks closed. Luckily for me I have rented out half my points to a liner, so I will get some of what I had to refund at least (barring another park closure of course). The rest are still with the broker. My points don’t expire until the end of November, so I have a chance of renting out the rest. Regardless, I would have refunded anyway; to me (and DH) it was the only option.
Thanks for posting. That’s good that they offered you a partial refund or credit. I had not heard any indications of this in my communicaiton.
We would take the credit, but that is specific to our situation. Our whole reservations is 159 points and we are splitting the cost among the adults in the party. To quote my father when we were discussing all this, “I don’t want a refund, I want to go on vacation.”
We are trying to re-book since our owners points don’t expire until later in the year.
Thanks for sharing. So the refund being offered to you is ~ 20% of the total you paid? The charitable view is that they recognize that this is a terrible situation and want to help out their customers in some way. A somewhat cynical view is that they recognize that the contract may be void since they are unable to provide the contracted services and are trying to get you to go away cheaply. My read of the DVCRS contract (caveat: not an attorney) is that there is no force majeure clause covering resort closure, so it is possible that the contract would be viewed as void. You could try a chargeback with your credit card for services not provided to see if they agree with that view (credit cards will often interpret things in a manner that benefits their client, which is you).
Another thing you may want to consider is to try to delay. I don’t think DVC has yet made a determination on whether they are going to change rules re: banking and expiring points due to the pandemic. Perhaps remote, but those points could become useable if DVC extends the use deadline or allows banking.
In their canned response they make sure to include legalise from contract.
“The DVC Rental Store or the Member shall not be responsible for any injuries,damages, or losses caused to the Guest or Guest’s travel party in connection with terrorist activities, social, or labor unrest, mechanical or construction failures or difficulties, diseases, local laws, climatic conditions, criminal acts or abnormal conditions or developments, or any other actions, omissions, or conditions outside the DVC Rental Store’s or the Member’s control”
It states disease, but I’d look at that more as guest or guest party gets diseases than park and resort closing or being more limited, but same not a lawyer.
Went back and looked since I hadn’t heard yet and they basically responded they can’t help me because they aren’t helping anyone booked after April 30th.
While I understand this, at same time I’m not going to make my last payment if not going to be able to use it, esspecially based on the option posted above. Sent email stating the same and hope they will work with us sooner.
If you are ok with it and can swing the trip within a year I’d do that, but, just saw Davids is doing a full credit for their people so you might use that as leverage to get better deal.
I may try to do the same. I’m kicking myself for not using Davids again. Last time things were bit weird, and saw lots of people saying Dvcrentalstore was better experience.
For the person above second thinking it, I think how they are treating people should tell you everything and I’d use Davids for your trip. We used them twice before for good deal. The mini kitchen also works well for us to do cheaper quick, cheaper, easy breakfasts vs normal rooms without that option
thanks for your responses everyone. I just cancelled and took the meager 600.00 refund. I don’t know, maybe it was the wrong call but I need the money now.
Let me start by saying I have been very clear, like @Nicky_S that I will take the loss, not a renter but let’s be clear - the owner will be taking a loss. The cost of DVC is the total amount of points over the life of the contract. Yearly the owner pays dues on those points (about $7-8 per point and charges about $13-15 a point for these reservations). Some owners have decided to not use their points and are renting them. Those points for some are gone. Next year’s points and next year’s dues are something an owner has purchased or owes.
I will take the loss because I have prepaid for my vacation and I hope to have another chance someday. I am also financially able to take the loss and hope my renter will have another chance too. My points are gone. I am not getting them back, please do not dismiss that some of us, including @Nicky_S have made this choice on our own.
I certainly understand schamberry and nothing wrong with that. That’s where we are at with not wanting to make the last payment which is about the same as yours, esspecially if only looking at getting half that back.
Yeah, it’s a tough situation for everyone. Ya know I was on the fence too about buying my own resale dvc contract but this has turned me off. I’ll just stay a cash customer and book directly through Disney from now on.
Thank you @PrincipalTinker for eloquently explaining things better than I could.
To add, I made the decision along with DH, despite the fact the money we received for our points 11 months prior had already gone towards our Washington DC trip last year. DS had been working on the Apollo 50th celebration show that the Smithsonian put on in the Mall; the money enabled us to go and see a genuine once-in-a-lifetime show that he helped create. We wouldn’t have been able to do that otherwise.
As a result, when we refunded, we put that $1500 onto a credit card. So in effect we have repaid more than we received. Our choice, but it was a financial hit. Even if we manage to rent out all the points before they expire, it will still be a net loss after paying the maintenance fees.
Yeah, I’m sure they’d like to have that be interpreted as they’re covered in this situation (or simply to act as a deterrent to people pursuing chargebacks or other legal recourse). But my read is the same as yours (and it specifically references guest or guest’s “travel party” where the rest of the contract references the Renter). At best it’s ambiguous. They could easily have added in a standard force majeure clause stating what happens if the resort is closed and the contract can’t be fulfilled, but they didn’t. My understanding (again, not a lawyer) is these ambiguities are usually not decided favorably for the party that drafted the contract.
Agreed. Accepting the $600 is certainly the no risk option and you have to do what’s best given your risk tolerance and financial situation. I’m in a similar boat where we’ll be deciding soon whether or not to make the second payment, but haven’t been thrilled with hearing about options others have been provided.
I don’t think anyone has ever seriously expected the resorts to be completely closed. Even during hurricanes, resorts stay open. A hurricane may make it impossible for the guest to get to WDW. My family doesn’t rent points during hurricane season for this reason.
That said, I think they may update their contracts moving forward.
We were able to re-schedule our May trip to August. We had a split stay with 2 different owners.
68 points for 2 nights in a BLT 1 bedroom (standard) in May became 2 nights in a BW 1 bedroom (pool/garden) in Aug. Needed 6 more points for this section which the owner had (we pay for the extra 6 points).
91 points for 5 nights in a BW studio (pool/garden) in May became 3 nights in a OKW 1 bedroom in Aug (90 points total, we lose the 1 point).
Not sure if the resorts will be open in August, but thought we would give it a try. The 91 points expire at the end of Nov. We want to avoid hurricane season as much as possible, plus late Sept- Nov travel doesn’t really work for my father who is super looking forward to this trip. Like willing to drive down from the northeast for a resort-only trip looking forward to it.
The right call is the one that helps you out. You made the right decision for you based on your own needs.
My family’s needs are probably quite different from many people on this thread. Partly because we are all adults and everyone pays their own way so no one has to take a financial hit for the whole family. However, we vacation very differently from most Liners. My parents and I could easily spend a week a WDW without going into the parks. Our full family trips (which is what our rental was for) are driven more by what dining we want to do than what attractions we plan on riding.