LOST POINTS - Cancelled trip last week of June, due to COVID and Parks not being open: Disney will not give back points

[Sandisw]

We have several contracts. The points in question where banked in 2019 February and used to book a two week trip in June 2020. I wanted to use in-same time frame next summer they said NO. I had to use by February and booking availability was after October and in school year.
While I understand the rules but they canceled, not me. That should allow me a grace period of 1 year that they have already offered others but in a different time frames. ie march thru june. Its BS and I plan on getting my money out of them anyway I can. I will be that customer they hate
till I feel that I have gotten my piece of flesh. Bitter YES

The extension simply allowed points to be banked beyond deadline, which didn’t give those points more than they could have gotten if the timing of the closure had been different.

Yes, they did extend banked points from 2018 but only until November 30th....but many of those points expired during closure or only a few months to use them. And owners dont get use of them until they expire...so for some it amounts to two months.

Disney didn’t cancel you. The resort was closed down under emergency powers due to state of emergency and as an owner, you, as well of the rest of us, have to deal with it,

Your points have a long life left on them still. I realize you can’t travel, but this is a timeshare...things happen..

With resorts opening June 22nd, your points are not even losing very many days of their use.

Sorry it’s hitting you hard, but it’s what you own.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

We have several contracts. The points in question where banked in 2019 February and used to book a two week trip in June 2020. I wanted to use in-same time frame next summer they said NO. I had to use by February and booking availability was after October and in school year.
While I understand the rules but they canceled, not me. That should allow me a grace period of 1 year that they have already offered others but in a different time frames. ie march thru june. Its BS and I plan on getting my money out of them anyway I can. I will be that customer they hate
till I feel that I have gotten my piece of flesh. Bitter YES

Why is booking availability after October? I randomly chose the 1st 2 weeks of August and there are studios, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedrooms available pretty much everywhere. I'm guessing even more options if you split stay.

I think what you need to try to realize is Disney didn't just randomly cancel only YOUR room. A pandemic is a situation where lots of people lose lots of things thru no fault of themselves or anybody else. A situation that most of us never thought we'd see in our lifetime. If you can still afford a vacation anytime in the next year consider yourself extremely fortunate.

You need to be flexible, too. Otherwise, selling your contract is a very good idea.

 

[kboo]

I had 230 2018 points with a reservation 7/4-7/11/ so I called and was told that if i cancelled I had to use them by end of my use year which is 9/30/20.
They said they would not extened them to the end of November Is this correct.You get so many different answers

I had an April 2020 trip to VGC, booked with BLT (banked Feb 2019 + 2020 points). Canceled with the COVID closures, so in early March(?) I rebooked using those points for EP MM at BWV. At that time I asked what would happen to our banked Feb. 2019 points if we had to cancel that trip too - we were told they would expire 1/31/21. About 33 days before that trip, and before any reopening was announced, we decided not to go on that trip as well. Ended up modifying our August trip (using current UY points from another contract). Couldn't transfer our expiring points, so we booked 1 night of that modified trip with the expiring BLT points. I think if we don't go in August again, we may just try to rent that reservation. The messaging had been clear since March though, that those banked points would be gone if not used by the end of the Feb 2020 UY - they wouldn't be banked or extended any further.

 

[eleven24]

Not if they were banked which they would have to have been for an April trip. They would still be available until March 31, 2021. He did state 2020 though. Too few details to be certain however.

The 18 points that will expire were points which were already banked into 2019 from 2018. I was using those for the July 2019 trip that is now canceled. I do think, however, that Disney should extend these points beyond their typical expiration date considering the extraordinary circumstances necessitating me canceling the trip. I certainly wouldn't be so unaffected if it were, say 180 points that I was losing.

On the other hand, I also understand that if they did this for everyone there would not be enough inventory to meet the demand once everything truly opened back up as people would have, in some cases, double their normal points available in the following UY

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The 18 points that will expire were points which were already banked into 2019 from 2018. I was using those for the July 2019 trip that is now canceled. I do think, however, that Disney should extend these points beyond their typical expiration date considering the extraordinary circumstances necessitating me canceling the trip. I certainly wouldn't be so unaffected if it were, say 180 points that I was losing.

On the other hand, I also understand that if they did this for everyone there would not be enough inventory to meet the demand once everything truly opened back up as people would have, in some cases, double their normal points available in the following UY

The post you quoted that had been quoted by someone else where I referenced points should still be bankable was in reply to someone with an April UY who said they had lost their 2020 points.

For the Oct UY's, and actually all that are affected, I think it would be nice if they would allow owners to at least call in now and state they'd like to have their banked 2018 points extended to November 30th. Making each UY wait until those points expire and then extending them really makes the allowance a declining benefit for each UY.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Why is booking availability after October? I randomly chose the 1st 2 weeks of August and there are studios, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedrooms available pretty much everywhere. I'm guessing even more options if you split stay.

I think what you need to try to realize is Disney didn't just randomly cancel only YOUR room. A pandemic is a situation where lots of people lose lots of things thru no fault of themselves or anybody else. A situation that most of us never thought we'd see in our lifetime. If you can still afford a vacation anytime in the next year consider yourself extremely fortunate.

You need to be flexible, too. Otherwise, selling your contract is a very good idea.

I had missed that sentence which takes me back to the question I kept asking them of why they couldn't reschedule for this July or August. Perhaps it started with a misunderstanding of the dates they could book although it also appears that they may only want to consider the dates next summer vs rescheduling this summer.

 

[sjrec]

I understand the frustration, but we were in the same timeframe-our 2019 points had to be used by the end of February. That’s 8 months to book a trip. Maybe a late summer trip and enjoy the resort? Book a larger villa? We rebooked studios for our daughter’s family and there was a lot of availability in August. There are several holidays in that time as well. Or as someone suggested, rent them out this year.

 

[eleven24]

The post you quoted that had been quoted by someone else where I referenced

My head just exploded reading this

It's been a long week, and it's only Tuesday!

 

[eleven24]

Obviously, all of us DVC owners bought in because of the parks. However, if you look at DVC as separate from WDW, and understand that ownership is not the same as booking a room & package off of Disney's website for a family vacation, then it becomes easier to figure out whether or not points will be returned. If the resort was open, Disney met it's contractual obligation regardless of whether the park was open or not.

There really is no argument to make with Disney on wanting points back on a canceled reservation if the resort was open. While it hurts to lose points, I can't argue with the reasoning behind it.

 

[RoseGold]

Disney is right, the hotels are open and the parks aren't. It's what you bought. You could sell. Contracts are ridiculously high right now for some resorts (2042/AKL/SSR).

If the risk of a timeshare isn't for you, there's always a billion Orlando hotels instead.

 

[Judique]

Selling might be a better alternative for you than hanging on to this bitter vendetta. You're most likely going to make CM's who had nothing to do with this and probably other guests miserable than you are to get Disney hate you.

I don't really get why someone would join a few days ago and make 6 posts here ranting about losing points that are still good until next year.

Lots of folks here aren't so fortunate and are much calmer and trying to wait for points to come back so they can squeeze a little value out of them.

We can't do anything for them. Seems they know the rules but want them bent all the way until next summer. That's not reasonable at all.

And, yes, I agree with selling if you are that unhappy. Though it's such a useless threat - you just bring Disney a new customer.

 

[Judique]

My head just exploded reading this

It's been a long week, and it's only Tuesday!

I think it's Wednesday here in USA. Are you in another country?

 

[JW9DVC]

We have done a resort only stay and really enjoyed it.

Especially before and after a cruise. We have stayed 15 nights with no parks. Multiple trips.

 

[DisBuckMan]

I don't really get why someone would join a few days ago and make 6 posts here ranting about losing points that are still good until next year.

Lots of folks here aren't so fortunate and are much calmer and trying to wait for points to come back so they can squeeze a little value out of them.

We can't do anything for them. Seems they know the rules but want them bent all the way until next summer. That's not reasonable at all.

And, yes, I agree with selling if you are that unhappy. Though it's such a useless threat - you just bring Disney a new customer.

Truth. Lots of folks who apparently do not understand what they OWN. Many folks worried about DVC changing the rules. Well, the only rules changes DVC has made have actually BENEFITTED the membership...not harmed. Sorry if the positive rules changes do not affect you positively. It's absolutely impossible for DVC to make everyone whole in this situation.

Good luck with that whole "pound of flesh from mega-corporation" thing.

 

[FinnFogg]

Yes, because the resorts are open. Extended points must come from a reservation that was during closure.

Actually, there are owners who rescheduled the points before they knew of the extension and have now disqualified them...it seems last reservation used in counts.

Sandisw - Have you seem anything over the last few days that confirms that DVC has reversed this (ie last reservation is the only one that counts)? When I spoke to MS this morning, the CM was adamant that because my original reservation was in late March (during the closure), it did not matter that I had rebooked a stay in September. He said if I cancelled that stay, my banked 2018 Oct UY points would be extended until Nov 30, and I could call back the first week of Oct to have them re-allocated to an existing Nov DVC reservation that I have. That all sounds great, but it’s kind of nerve-wracking just sitting around watching the (original) RCI deadline pass and letting my points “expire” on Sept 30 before I can do anything with them (particularly with the mixed messaging on the impact of “rebookings” on the extensions)!

 

[Sandisw]

Sandisw - Have you seem anything over the last few days that confirms that DVC has reversed this (ie last reservation is the only one that counts)? When I spoke to MS this morning, the CM was adamant that because my original reservation was in late March (during the closure), it did not matter that I had rebooked a stay in September. He said if I cancelled that stay, my banked 2018 Oct UY points would be extended until Nov 30, and I could call back the first week of Oct to have them re-allocated to an existing Nov DVC reservation that I have. That all sounds great, but it’s kind of nerve-wracking just sitting around watching the (original) RCI deadline pass and letting my points “expire” on Sept 30 before I can do anything with them (particularly with the mixed messaging on the impact of “rebookings” on the extensions)!

People are now reporting that they are being told they will qualify. I have 15 points I moved around from 2019 Aug UY, and was told again this morning that I won’t be eligible for the late banking because they were in a reservation that was during opening.

So, it does seem we are still getting mixed messages. With only 15 I will not worry.

Personally, if the move to a new one was before the announcement they should qualify. If I had more at risk, I would email 5em again saying I am now hearing a different story.

 

[dismedvc]

Sandisw - Have you seem anything over the last few days that confirms that DVC has reversed this (ie last reservation is the only one that counts)? When I spoke to MS this morning, the CM was adamant that because my original reservation was in late March (during the closure), it did not matter that I had rebooked a stay in September. He said if I cancelled that stay, my banked 2018 Oct UY points would be extended until Nov 30, and I could call back the first week of Oct to have them re-allocated to an existing Nov DVC reservation that I have. That all sounds great, but it’s kind of nerve-wracking just sitting around watching the (original) RCI deadline pass and letting my points “expire” on Sept 30 before I can do anything with them (particularly with the mixed messaging on the impact of “rebookings” on the extensions)!

It appears DVC does not want to put the policy regarding extended 2018 banked points in writing. I emailed member satisfaction asking about the policy and how it applied to my specific situation, and assumed I would get a written response. I immediately received an auto response saying I may experience a longer than normal wait time for a response. 14 days later I replied to that auto response and asked when I could expect a response and was told my correspondence had been sent to member services. Since my RCI banking deadline was June 17th, I called member services before receiving a email reply. (Note: it had been 15 days since I had sent the email) The MS rep I talked with took 15 minutes to go through the history of how my 2018 banked points were used and told me they did qualify and could be used after August 1st for a November reservation. I asked if he could send me something documenting that determination in case I got a different answer in August. He said no.

ETA: At one point my points were used for a late July reservation, and the MS rep pointed that out to me. However, I told him I had cancelled that reservation and used those points to rebook a reservation in for early May which was cancelled by DVC, so the "last use" of those points was for a reservation that qualified for the extension.
Not sure if the last use had been for a July reservation if my points would have qualified for the extension. Also, not sure if would have mattered whether I had cancelled that July reservation (and not rebooked using those points) before the May 27th announcement, as opposed to still having that July reservation still "on the books" on May 27th.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

We have several contracts. The points in question where banked in 2019 February and used to book a two week trip in June 2020. I wanted to use in-same time frame next summer they said NO. I had to use by February and booking availability was after October and in school year.
While I understand the rules but they canceled, not me. That should allow me a grace period of 1 year that they have already offered others but in a different time frames. ie march thru june. Its BS and I plan on getting my money out of them anyway I can. I will be that customer they hate
till I feel that I have gotten my piece of flesh. Bitter YES

The issue is that DVC is not a hotel reservation. There is a perfect number of points floating around out there to fill up every room for every single day of the year. If they give you a grace period out of good will, you are now booking the room that I was going to book. Now, because of the lack of inventory, I cannot use my points as designed and I have now lost my points. How is that fair?

Disney is not profiting off of you losing your points. They are just protecting other members. Yes, they did extend points for those who's reservations were during the closing period. That will have a negative impact on other members. So they have to limit the number of people that they are offering those extensions to. They came up with specific rules to determine who qualifies and who doesn't. You don't have to like it. You just have to live with it. Remember, you are an owner in a condo association. You are not a renter, and you are not a owner of a freehold

 

[Dean Marino]

OK - we were in the same boat....

DVC Owners, all dues paid, denied banking of APR 2020 Use year points. "Transfer to RCI" seems to be the WDW line.... we are not doing that. Instead? We are joining the DVC Owner Crowd that have become LandLords.

There is a better option. List with David's DVC Rental. RENT OUT your active points, denied for banking. You will do two things: 1) Make some money 2) Totally destroy WDWs ability to rent rooms, at rack.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

OK - we were in the same boat....

DVC Owners, all dues paid, denied banking of APR 2020 Use year points. "Transfer to RCI" seems to be the WDW line.... we are not doing that. Instead? We are joining the DVC Owner Crowd that have become LandLords.

There is a better option. List with David's DVC Rental. RENT OUT your active points, denied for banking. You will do two things: 1) Make some money 2) Totally destroy WDWs ability to rent rooms, at rack.

I wouldn't recommend David's right now given how they are ripping off owners with one hand and rneters with the other...