runDisney rumor NO MORE DEFERRALS??????

Ariel484 · Jul 27, 2016

bellanotte10 said:
Just called to ask about deferrals for the Disneyland half on behalf of my boyfriend since I had some time to kill at work. Just got told no deferrals.... Looks like I'm going back to Disneyland and he is NOT a happy camper.. He was sort of relying on it.

I'd say to keep checking...I started getting nervous about the deferrals no longer being offered before Dark Side weekend. I called to ask and was told that they were not offering deferrals for that weekend...then the link appeared on the website a week or two later. :confused3

I still maintain that they'll go away some day, but runDisney's phone support is sketchy at best.

BuckeyeBama said:
If rD stops allowing deferrals, they will lose challenge participants. One might be willing to risk $150, but not $600. I know that I would never register for another challenge if I could not defer or in some other way be guaranteed of getting my money back if I could not participate.

And they'll see illegal bib sales skyrocket.

pigletliz · Jul 27, 2016

BuckeyeBama said:
If rD stops allowing deferrals, they will lose challenge participants. One might be willing to risk $150, but not $600. I know that I would never register for another challenge if I could not defer or in some other way be guaranteed of getting my money back if I could not participate.

Perhaps. I signed up for the 2017 Dopey challenge knowing that deferrals were probably going to go away and they don't offer refunds. Once they said, no refunds, I knew I was not going to get my money back. I am not local, so it is certainly costly, but they have been waffling about it for months. Now, at least, people will know upfront. I saw someone mention something about a race insurance policy, which is a great idea.

I still think it will make the sign up process less stressful. No need for the mad dash because people won't (shouldn't) need to sign up for a race before they are sure they can participate. (Time off from work, training, injury, etc.) Back to the way it used to be. Plus, Disney is about the money. If they actually decide to pull the plug on deferrals, nothing says they can't reinstate it if it affects their profits.

GreatLakes · Jul 27, 2016

wilkeliza said:
No transfers is not just a runDisney thing. I would get it as being greedy if it was only runDisney doing it but NYRR who runs all the big races here including NY Half and NY Marathon doesn't allow transfers either. We've had many people in our office offer up bibs when they get into stuff and don't want to run it. Myself and a coworker the only two who were actively running races had to inform them that you can be banned from future NYRR events if you are caught giving your bib away.

It is either greed or laziness on both their parts. If RunDisney or NYRR wanted to allow bib transfers they could very easily.

wilkeliza · Jul 27, 2016

BuckeyeBama said:
If rD stops allowing deferrals, they will lose challenge participants. One might be willing to risk $150, but not $600. I know that I would never register for another challenge if I could not defer or in some other way be guaranteed of getting my money back if I could not participate.

I think they will start offering bib insurance soon. They already do it if you book your room through runDisney. That is one reason I booked my room with them for Wine and Dine because they said I could buy trip insurance which also included coverage for the cost of the bib.

camaker · Jul 27, 2016

GreatLakes said:
It is either greed or laziness on both their parts. If RunDisney or NYRR wanted to allow bib transfers they could very easily.

While I agree that we've been getting less for paying more from RunDisney recently, I think there is an element of consumer protection in the prohibition of bib transfers. Given the popularity and speed at which the races have sold out (until recently, at least), having a bib transfer system is begging for scalpers to come in and buy up as many bibs as they can only to resell them at (more) exorbitant rates after the fact. Even if RunDisney set up the bib transfer system through themselves to discourage the practice, it would be very easy for scalpers to circumvent and keep their profits. I think offering the option for race fee insurance is a good step, although I'd like to see what conditions there are on exercising it and I don't like that it will add another fee/option to an already expensive venture.

Sailormoon2 · Jul 27, 2016

GreatLakes said:
It is either greed or laziness on both their parts. If RunDisney or NYRR wanted to allow bib transfers they could very easily.

It may be either but it certainly isn't unusual. All of our Big Ticket Race Weekends (Marathon, 1/2 and 10K included) here in Ontario have NO transfer policies. I'm not saying I agree, as I have had to forfeit those costs due to injury, but it is more the norm than the exception. I'm sure it's a CYA measure for the corporations that run these events.

GreatLakes · Jul 27, 2016

camaker said:
While I agree that we've been getting less for paying more from RunDisney recently, I think there is an element of consumer protection in the prohibition of bib transfers. Given the popularity and speed at which the races have sold out (until recently, at least), having a bib transfer system is begging for scalpers to come in and buy up as many bibs as they can only to resell them at (more) exorbitant rates after the fact. Even if RunDisney set up the bib transfer system through themselves to discourage the practice, it would be very easy for scalpers to circumvent and keep their profits. I think offering the option for race fee insurance is a good step, although I'd like to see what conditions there are on exercising it and I don't like that it will add another fee/option to an already expensive venture.

It really depends on how you implement the solution. If you allow people who registered to sell the bibs back to Disney they can just refund your registration (minus a fee of course) and put the bib back into the pool for new registrants. They could also implement a system where you could transfer your bib to someone else but only through Disney. Could a seller ask for more money outside of the actual transfer transaction? Sure, but so what? At that point the only way to take advantage of the buyer is if the buyer lets you. Not implementing a transfer policy because of the few that may attempt to take advantage of it is just an excuse.

ETA: Here is a very good transfer policy that the MCM implimented. There is no reason every other race can't do the same. It is their choice of course if they don't want to but it isn't because they can't, it is because they won't.

GreatLakes · Jul 27, 2016

Double post.

Keels · Jul 27, 2016

Our local big marathon weekend is offering transfers in 2017 - but it's for a pretty steep fee ($40) PLUS the difference in registration rate - which could be up to another $60 depending on when you registered initially. Nope. I'll just eat the money.

wilkeliza · Jul 27, 2016

GreatLakes said:
It really depends on how you implement the solution. If you allow people who registered to sell the bibs back to Disney they can just refund your registration (minus a fee of course) and put the bib back into the pool for new registrants. They could also implement a system where you could transfer your bib to someone else but only through Disney. Could a seller ask for more money outside of the actual transfer transaction? Sure, but so what? At that point the only way to take advantage of the buyer is if the buyer lets you. Not implementing a transfer policy because of the few that may attempt to take advantage of it is just an excuse.

ETA: Here is a very good transfer policy that the MCM implimented. There is no reason every other race can't do the same. It is their choice of course if they don't want to but it isn't because they can't, it is because they won't.

Even that transfer policy has restrictions that some would deem ridiculous. Why can the marathon transfer but not the 10K? I just follow the rules of the event that I sign up for. If it allows transfers cool if not then I hope nothing happens that would prevent me from running.

camaker · Jul 27, 2016

GreatLakes said:
It really depends on how you implement the solution. If you allow people who registered to sell the bibs back to Disney they can just refund your registration (minus a fee of course) and put the bib back into the pool for new registrants.

This could be workable to a point. It would probably require an early cutoff, though, so that there was time for RunDisney to resell the bibs and prevent folks from getting too close to the date and seeing the weather forecast or something similar and just bailing out because it was going to be too hot/cold.

GreatLakes said:
They could also implement a system where you could transfer your bib to someone else but only through Disney. Could a seller ask for more money outside of the actual transfer transaction? Sure, but so what? At that point the only way to take advantage of the buyer is if the buyer lets you. Not implementing a transfer policy because of the few that may attempt to take advantage of it is just an excuse.

This is exactly the nightmare scenario that they HAVE to prevent, though. It's not just a matter of taking advantage of the buyer if the buyer lets you. This puts bibs in the same category as race merchandise, just on steroids. I don't think RunDisney wants (or any of the rest of us trying to register for the races) wants Dopey bibs bought by speculators/scalpers for $600 and then put up on eBay for $1,000! The merchandise is bad enough, bibs going that route would be a disaster for everyone except the scalper!

Neon Cactus · Jul 27, 2016

I live in Dallas and the marathon here does not allow bib transfers or deferrals. I don't consider them, or Run Disney, or any other running organization that does not offer these services, greedy or lazy. A few years ago, we had an ice storm and they had to cancel the entire event. Nobody got refunds. I think Disney was going above and beyond to offer deferrals while they had it, and I think the insurance is a great idea (depending on the cost of the insurance, of course). I don't like the idea of re-selling bibs, unless they are going to set some sort of limit, maybe 10% above face value max. I've only been on the boards and Run Disney's Facebook page a relatively short time, but there are always posts going up asking Disney to ban non-runners from the Expo or from the ability to buy merchandise. I can only imagine what would happen if those people were able to do the same with bibs.

BuckeyeBama · Jul 27, 2016

FWIW, I am not judging rD for this policy. Their races - they get to get the rules. Their customer service sucks, but that is another discussion altogether. I was just saying that I would never invest $600 on a race without the chance to defer or purchase insurance (for a reasonable rate). I will still run rD races, but this will likely be my last challenge.

Keels · Jul 27, 2016

Very few - if ANY - races around the country do challenges to the extreme like RD does. I think that Challenges should come with a COMPLETELY different policy than singular races. Dopey is going to be over $600 next year, before fees based on price increases of late. And just like that - if something happens over the almost nine months and you can't make it ... tough? That's ridiculous.

I'd still be angry if I had to pay $24.95 or whatever to "insure my purchase" like they do with Travel Insurance, but it's better than nothing.

ZellyB · Jul 28, 2016

Keels said:
Very few - if ANY - races around the country do challenges to the extreme like RD does. I think that Challenges should come with a COMPLETELY different policy than singular races. Dopey is going to be over $600 next year, before fees based on price increases of late. And just like that - if something happens over the almost nine months and you can't make it ... tough? That's ridiculous.

I'd still be angry if I had to pay $24.95 or whatever to "insure my purchase" like they do with Travel Insurance, but it's better than nothing.

Right. I mean our local marathon doesn't allow deferrals either, but the cost is $55 for early bird registrants and a max of $110. They also allow transfers for a $10 fee! $600 is a lot of money to throw out there with no options to protect that investment should something happen. It certainly would make me cautious about pulling the trigger MONTHS before the race. I can appreciate a no deferral policy, but there's no reason other than the desire to do so to prevent them from allowing transfers. They could easily apply a transfer fee that would cover their additional costs in managing that process. And, yes, while I'd also be ticked about it, I'd see no recourse but to buy the insurances if it were offered.

Disneyland_emily · Jul 28, 2016

I get local races not doing deferals etc but i also am not paying a oh $100-150 premium and having to register so far out to run those races..

Ill eat the $30-60 local race fee if something happens (or seems a lot will mail you the swag now days)

TaraHumphrey · Jul 28, 2016

Can anyone tell me...does Active offer insurance when we register? I'm always so rushed to get through registion that I don't notice. My running buddy is telling me that they do but no one ever mentions that option when this subject comes up.

wilkeliza · Jul 28, 2016

TaraHumphrey said:
Can anyone tell me...does Active offer insurance when we register? I'm always so rushed to get through registion that I don't notice. My running buddy is telling me that they do but no one ever mentions that option when this subject comes up.

I've never seen it.

Keels · Jul 28, 2016

I've registered for races through Princess in 2017 and they have not.

Has Star Wars registered yet? They'd be next and then Tink if there is going to be a change.

wilkeliza · Jul 28, 2016

Keels said:
I've registered for races through Princess in 2017 and they have not.

Has Star Wars registered yet? They'd be next and then Tink if there is going to be a change.

Star Wars starts next week I believe.

runDisney rumor NO MORE DEFERRALS??????

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