Buyer Beware - Renting Points

[GoofGoof]

Actually, I could do the same, couldn't I? I could donate the room to Make A Wish or something. But that would be fraud I'm guessing.

If I thought the seller had a heart, I'd try and work with him to do something like that.

Yep, that would technically be insurance fraud if you did it. If you were donating it to charity I doubt the insurance company would come after you, but not worth the risk.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

I have a question hopefully some of you will be able to help me with.

We are thinking about renting DVC points for our next trip. We have never done so, therefore I am not sure who is reputable and who is not. Do any of you know who to avoid and who are the most reputable people renting their DVC points are?

 

[EOD K9]

If I had extra points this year, you could rent from me. I am not sure if specific sites are allowed to be named on here, but an internet search would be very easy to do.

 

[tjkraz]

I have a question hopefully some of you will be able to help me with.

We are thinking about renting DVC points for our next trip. We have never done so, therefore I am not sure who is reputable and who is not. Do any of you know who to avoid and who are the most reputable people renting their DVC points are?

IMO, this discussion and the topic of "reputable" sellers are not really one in the same.

Just about every owner you deal with will have a "no cancellation" clause written into their contract. That's just common sense because use of the points becomes heavily restricted once they are committed to a rental reservation. Cancellations even on 60 or 90 days notice can leave the owner in a real bind.

Some MIGHT be willing to work with you to re-rent to a third party if you cannot take the trip as planned...but even that is hit-or-miss. DVC villa availability is nothing like hotel rooms so even if you can find a party willing to sub-let the point rental, there may not be rooms available for the desired dates.

Even the more professional point brokers typically have 100% no cancel / no change policies...which was basically done out of necessity. Without naming names, I once asked a point broker about the rigid policy and the response was along these lines (paraphrase): "We get sob stories on a daily basis. Even if we could confirm the exigent circumstances and allowed some form of changes or cancellations, we'd be doing a disservice to our customers who desire a smooth and easy transaction. And we would have to devote a tremendous amount of labor re-renting and re-re-renting the same points over and over again."

Before renting points, you really need to be 99% certain that the trip will happen as planned. And take out travel insurance if you want that extra comfort.

I do have to disagree with OP here that the owner is trying to pull a fast one. He has every obligation to keep the reservation in place regardless of what correspondence has occurred. The owner even offered to alter the reservation if OP found someone to sub-let the reservation. That's more than many others would have offered.

 

[DisneyDenis]

I have a question hopefully some of you will be able to help me with.

We are thinking about renting DVC points for our next trip. We have never done so, therefore I am not sure who is reputable and who is not. Do any of you know who to avoid and who are the most reputable people renting their DVC points are?

The popular point brokers are reputable period. If you want to save money and go to a DVC Owner, than you will want to do one or both of 2 things: (1) Go to a board (this one - MouseOwners - DIS - TUG, etc., then review length of time, number of posts and if possible content of posts made by the renter, (2) Request references or trust to item (1) if a new renter.

I am a relatively new renter. I wanted to give myself an edge in renting by doing the not common. I have done 2 rentals where I offer a 100% no questions asked refund up to day 31 after which I will attempt to re-rent the points and give the renter back whatever I collect. The renter also can re-book the points during the same use year. All of this is in my rental agreement that I sign with the person renting. This kind of matches DVC cancellation policy for me. I am NOT looking to rent for a long time, my point is that people like me are out there. Monitor forums and ask for or about cancellation policy.

 

[EOD K9]

When I rented out my points, the interested parties were both well established posters.

 

[squidward]

I do have to disagree with OP here that the owner is trying to pull a fast one.

I never said he was trying to pull a fast one. It's just my opinion of what is right versus what is wrong. If I approached the seller 2 months in advance and said "I can't go, help!", I could see the problem. But we're talking about 10 months before the trip. Is he obligated to help? No. Could he have without it being too much of an inconvenience? I would guess this far in advance, yes.

Regardless, it doesn't matter. I got the money back from the insurance company. My bad fortune, is this seller's free $5,000. That's just the way the cookie crumbles I guess.