David's Vacation Rental RESERVATION CANCELLED.... something is fishy

[cydswipe]

So, we booked BWV 11 months out for our October 9th thru 15th vacation.
Received email last night that our reservation had accidently been cancelled

You know what that means...
Our $1500 lagoon room... Columbus Day Week... Also Food and Wine is gone.

Found out minutes ago, another disboard member had the EXACT same thing happen to them 24 hours ago.

I spent quite some time on the phone w/ the supervisor. Zilch for help. We were offered our refund, but we are completley out of that awesome room/ location with no care for the customer.

We don't feel like we have a leg to stand on, but at this point, I will not just roll over. Something fishy is going on and I plan on spreading the word.

If this happened to us (we are repeat customers of David's)... it could happne to ANY of YOU, months, weeks or days before your vacation and NOTHING will be done. To throw salt in the wounds, we find out it's happening to other people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[suebeelin]

Im sorry this happened to you. It truly sucks.

I just rented points out in January for BWV for a 3 day ressie in October. It's through one of the other non David brokers.

Honestly, when I read that one person had lost their ressie the other day, I almost posted... To relay that I'm constantly scared and worried I might hit the wrong button and cancel the rental ressie by mistake.

I have a few reservations going on, which I made for my SIL as well as a best friend. But then I've canceled them.

It wouldn't be too hard to cancel the rental ressie by mistake while canceling my friend/family's ressie. I would never ever ever want to ruin someone's vacation on purpose. Esp if they planned 10+ months in advance.

I'm sure if I made that horrible mistake, some happy person on the Waitlist wiil get a few days during F&W. I would feel so horrible.

I'm so sorry.

I do think David's is reputable. But it's hard to control what other ppl do... Or if they make a mistake by canceling .

Truly sucks. I wish I could help.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You must have had the same member who failed to pay his dues on time. When you don't pay your dues, your reservations get cancelled. Your contract with David states you get a full refund if the reservation is cancelled.

I'd like to bet that David is trying to get as much information as possible from that member to make sure no one else loses a reservation.

 

[DVC Doctor]

David is a broker, not the actual owner of the points or contract - he probably deals with hundreds of renters and DVC owners, so even if mistakes happen 0.1%, then that is still a significant number

 

[cjbcam]

Wow have been looking at renting and this is exactly why I havent. Sorry to hear about this.

 

[Minniesgal]

So, we booked BWV 11 months out for our October 9th thru 15th vacation.
Received email last night that our reservation had accidently been cancelled

You know what that means...
Our $1500 lagoon room... Columbus Day Week... Also Food and Wine is gone.

Found out minutes ago, another disboard member had the EXACT same thing happen to them 24 hours ago.

I spent quite some time on the phone w/ the supervisor. Zilch for help. We were offered our refund, but we are completley out of that awesome room/ location with no care for the customer.

We don't feel like we have a leg to stand on, but at this point, I will not just roll over. Something fishy is going on and I plan on spreading the word.

If this happened to us (we are repeat customers of David's)... it could happne to ANY of YOU, months, weeks or days before your vacation and NOTHING will be done. To throw salt in the wounds, we find out it's happening to other people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm sorry this happened to you but it isn't a case of no care for the customer, if the member who booked your reservation has done something to cancel the reservation, this is not David's fault. He is a broker who is an intermediary between yourself and that owner not a travel agent. Added to that if there is no availability the member cannot rebook. This is not something David's can fix for you.

This is not something fishy with David's it is an irresponsible owner or group of owners.

in fairness i had a situation with a renter who requested a reservation which i made then waited weeks for payment and eventually i was told cancel and we will find new renters so it works both ways.

I sympathise with your situation but the problem is not with Davids, but with the owner you rented through. They have done something to the reservation. And in fact you are lucky you went through Davids as you get your money back and don't have to deal with getting it back from the owner something David's will now have to deal with.

 

[cydswipe]

I greatly appreciate the comments and time you have all taken to contribute to the conversation. I have learned a lot.

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

Look at the bright side, if you didn't go through David's and dealt directly with the owner you probably be out the moeny too.

 

[lpereira]

I'll dogpile here. This is exactly why you use a broker to rent points if you go that route. You are getting your money back. The possibility is slim to none at all if you were going directly to the point owner.

 

[AnnaKat]

I don't understand why renters don't read the contracts that they sign with David's and don't realize that this COULD happen to them or any other renter, & it is NOT David's fault! Certainly IF a renter wondered WHAT David would do in such a situation, they could have asked David BEFORE! " HAS THIS ever happened?! Did you merely honor the exact terms of the contract?" Saving money in such situations does NOT come without risk. WHY we will probably never rent points!

 

[AnnaKat]

The OTHER HUGE risk is that as a renter, IF you are not able to actually travel on your ressie--due to an unexpected medical issue or death in the family--your entire payment for the ressie is gone. Period. Again, WHY we will probably never rent points. Being out $1500 for a ressie IS a big deal! IF you book @ a moderate or deluxe--room only--you get back your one night's deposit if you cancel outside of 5 nites before. We cannot afford to risk $1500, plus the associated losses such as flight tix.

 

[DVC Doctor]

I think this thread title should be changed as it implies David is doing something bad and in reality there is an issue, but there will be solution.

As far as people being afraid of risk with renting, then simply call Disney and pay cash rates.

Even with a contract, I personally think the DVC owners that rent their points are taking MORE risk than the non-members that rent points. In the past 10 years of reading this and other Disney bbs sites, there is only a few documented cases where someone got ripped off and this is NOT one of those. As it has been said, the renters will get a refund, but if the reservation was changed (that is a risk or renting) without David knowing about it, then it is not necessary his fault no more than if you bought a stale candy bar from a Disney gift shop.

I would estimate 99.99% of all DVC rental transactions between comnplete strangers on the internet are done without any problems or issues, so the odds are in your favor.

I have rented points from a member (before I joined DVC), rented points to someone else (after I joined), and conducted a transfer. Contracts are only worth the sheet of paper they are printed on. How are you going to sue someone in Nebraska for $500 if you live in Ohio. It is far better to have some relationship of trust and verification and credentials than having a 10 page contract.

This is a sad story, but we should try to focus on how it happened and come up with a solution. What is Davids response?

 

[JimMIA]

I spent quite some time on the phone w/ the supervisor. Zilch for help. We were offered our refund, but we are completley out of that awesome room/ location with no care for the customer.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but your description of the response you got is VERY far off base. You paid a premium to book through a brokerage service, and the reason you did so was the assurance that you'd get your money back if something went wrong with the reservation.

Something did go wrong, and you were offered your money back. From your own description, David's is doing exactly everything they promised to do.

David's has already paid the owner a substantial portion of your total rental fee. If they are unable to recover that money from the owner, David's -- not you -- takes that loss. What more do you expect them to do?

It's a bad situation, and we're all sorry for that and everyone fully understands the disappointment you feel losing a coveted and difficult to replace reservation. But it's neither your fault nor David's -- it's the fault of the owner who made the reservation.

"Spreading the word" in an inaccurate way because you're mad does absolutely nothing.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I'm sorry but the David is blameless chant disturbs me. He is running a business where he basically implies the customers is more "protected" by using him. I think most guests think that means more then just a "refund".

I just went and scanned his page Nowhere in all his promo does he ever warn you of the risks. I assume it's somewhere in the fine print of the contract, but IMHO this "he has no blame" doesn't fly. He is advertising this is as an easy transaction and never saying "oh there's a risk I could leave you without a vacation resort up until the day you check in and all I have to do is give your money back"

This is what his contract says
"Should accommodations not be available on date of arrival due to an action or omission by the Member, including but not limited to negligence on the part of the Member and after communication with the Intermediary, suitable comparable accommodations for the same dates cannot be secured by the Member, the Renter will be due a refund limited to the amount paid which is $0000.00 US Dollars." REALLY? So that clearly lays out "by the way you can be homeless" Well maybe, but it's pretty "legalese" and a clearly outlined verbiage of "yes the member might cancel and there is nothing we can do" is nowhere that I found.

If he wants to hide behind the fact that he doesn't really control what happens IMHO that needs to be on the home page not the fact that it's just like any other Disney reservation which is NOT true as if this was a cash reservation the OP would have a room!

When he turned this into commercial renting I think he changed the expectations unrealistically!

 

[disneyberry]

Customers are somewhat more protected. They can get a refund. David's isn't hiding anything, it's stated in the fine print.

But customers in a way are less protected because they don't know anything about the owner that they are renting from. There are no references, there is no reputation history.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Customers are somewhat more protected. They can get a refund. David's isn't hiding anything, it's stated in the fine print.

But customers in a way are less protected because they don't know anything about the owner that they are renting from. There are no references, there is no reputation history.

IT's in the FINE print! LOL! That's exactly the problem That's the ONLY place it is. And even then it seems to imply that he's going to find you a suitable option.

But on the home page it says

"Similar to a reservation booked through Disney Central Reservations, the room will be assigned to you by the Disney Resort Cast Members on your arrival. You will be treated the same as every Disney Resort Guest and you will have access to all of the same amenities and perks afforded to each and every guest staying at a Disney Resort.

The biggest difference is: There will be no room bill to pay when you check out unless you charge purchases to your room using your Key to the World Card, Room Card or Magic Band (where applicable)."

Hmmm.... No, the biggest difference to this and a room booked through CRO is that a third party can just randomly cancel it!

DVC gets trashed on here all the time by posters for failing to disclose all and hiding in the fine print, but it's OK in this case?

 

[crisi]

IT's in the FINE print! LOL! That's exactly the problem That's the ONLY place it is. And even then it seems to imply that he's going to find you a suitable option.

But on the home page it says

"Similar to a reservation booked through Disney Central Reservations, the room will be assigned to you by the Disney Resort Cast Members on your arrival. You will be treated the same as every Disney Resort Guest and you will have access to all of the same amenities and perks afforded to each and every guest staying at a Disney Resort.

The biggest difference is: There will be no room bill to pay when you check out unless you charge purchases to your room using your Key to the World Card, Room Card or Magic Band (where applicable)."

Hmmm.... No, the biggest difference to this and a room booked through CRO is that a third party can just randomly cancel it!

DVC gets trashed on here all the time by posters for failing to disclose all and hiding in the fine print, but it's OK in this case?

Actually the same people who DON'T trash Disney and instead take a caveat emptor view of the relationship are the ones that are standing up for David. Some of us think that people need to be responsible for their own decisions. Do people really think that they can get a room at Disney for 70% off list and there not be some gotchas? Ask yourself "why is this such a great deal." If a deal is too good to be true, you probably don't understand the deal.

 

[Kingdome8]

Could be something fishy. Who knows?
Maybe someone else paid more?
Could be anything. Weird David's won't tell you reason. Unless they did and I missed it. If it was because as someone said dues weren't paid, why wouldn't they say. Def fishy. I've only rented once and thru dvc rentals tore. It worked out well but if this happened to me if could have ruined. Year of planning and excitement. Might be worth just staying in a mod

 

[Kingdome8]

And to me the refund isn't good Enuff to cover the huge letdown. My opinion

 

[supersnoop]

Could be something fishy. Who knows?
Maybe someone else paid more?
Could be anything. Weird David's won't tell you reason. Unless they did and I missed it. If it was because as someone said dues weren't paid, why wouldn't they say. Def fishy. I've only rented once and thru dvc rentals tore. It worked out well but if this happened to me if could have ruined. Year of planning and excitement. Might be worth just staying in a mod

David says that Disney applied their dues to the wrong contract, causing this one to be delinquent and subsequently cancelled the reservation. They've been very clear about that. The problem is that the explanation doesn't really add up due to the timing and experiences others have had.