Hi Everyone,
Today, I am writing to share my experience last night with Member Services. Like other members, I received the phased reopening announcement on Wednesday, May 27th at 3:15 PM. The paragraph that most applies to me is copied below:
Finally, as part of our continued efforts to provide flexibility during these uncertain times, we are further changing and extending our temporary policies regarding expiring points. April, June and now August, September and October 2019 Use Year points that are set to expire in 2020 and that were used for reservations during the closure period will be extended for one year from the current expiration date. Additionally, April, June and now August, September and October 2018 Use Year points that were banked into 2019 Use Years and used for these reservations will now all expire November 30, 2020. This temporary policy only includes expiring points that were used to book a stay arriving between March 12 and the end of the closure period and that involve a reservation cancelled after February 29. Additional information on these policies is available at disneyvacationclub.com.
After receiving the email, I tried to contact Member Services. Because of the high call volume, I had to call 35 times, over the past three days, before getting through on Friday, May 29th at 5:42 PM. Earlier Friday morning, I was able to get through at 9:00 AM, but the call was eventually disconnected after 7 minutes of Disney music. Although the wait time was estimated to be 65 minutes, I remained on the call.
For context, I had a May 1st - 10th Standard Studio reservation, at the Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, that was made at the 11-month booking window using 54 banked vacation points from my September 2018 Use Year. Because of COVID-19, and the closure of Walt Disney World, the reservation was cancelled. The Member Services representative with whom I spoke returned the borrowed points and suggested that I deposit the 54 banked vacation points with RCI. In my eight years of membership, I have used my points exclusively at Disney Vacation Club properties. Because of my lack of familiarity with RCI, including participating resorts, point requirements, and availability, I declined depositing the 54 points and, instead, booked a Vero Beach Standard Inn Room reservation for August 3rd - August 8th, using the 54 banked vacation points and 23 borrowed points from my September 2020 Use Year. At the time, I booked this reservation based on the Important Reservation Cancelation Updates email, that had been sent by Disney Vacation Club on Tuesday, March 17th at 12:47 PM, and because I did not want to lose my banked points, which expire August 31, 2020, or deposit them with RCI. Bloomburg and Forbes had been reporting a significant closure, possibily through the end of the year, so, at the time, a Vero Beach reservation seemed like a reasonable placeholder and possibility.
I called Member Services because, based on my reading of the Wednesday, May 27th email, believed my 2018 September Use Year points would expire November 30, 2020. The first Member Services representative with whom I spoke said that I did not have an impacted reservation affected by the closure and my points were not eligible for the November 30, 2020 expiry. Although I described how the points were initially used, several times, she asked me if I was asking her to violate policy. Although my point history, accessible through the Disney Vacation Club website, shows a 10-day May reservation, cancelled because of the closure, the use of the banked points results in ineligibility. To be eligible, based our conversation, the points should have either remained in my Disney Vacation Club account or been deposited with RCI. From the first email, on March 17th, through yesterday's communication, there was no reasonable way of knowing that the two aforementioned actions would be necessary to receive the recently announced extension. Also, our conversation seemed to suggest policies in the May 27th email that were not mentioned or highlighted with an asterisk or numeric superscript. I asked to speak with a Manager and was told it would be an 80 minute wait. I decided to wait.
The second Member Services representative with whom I spoke reiterated the words of the previous representative after I first communicated what I had said previously. I became increasingly frustrated on the call because an increasing number of nuances to the May 27th email were being described, which were not communicated to Disney Vacation Club members. Moverover, at this point, the call had exceeded two hours. I was prepared to email Terri Schultz because I had found her email address online and wanted direct clarification and details on all of the policy stipulations and, specifically, the exceptions to the May 27th email that had not been communicated.
During this call, the Manager reiterated that I needed an impacted reservation several times. Because of her emphasis on this wording, I modified my Vero Beach reservation to a Bay Lake Tower Studio Lake reservation for June 7th - June 11th. The online system allowed me to modify the reservation, I received a confirmation number, and it appeared in my dashboard. I told the Manager that I was able to modify my reservation and now had an impacted reservation. She asked me to hold. After about 15 minutes, she returned to the line and said that the reservation was ineligible because the policy stated that reservations had to be affected prior to the time of the May 27th email. The call ended after 2 hours and 47 minutes. I still do not understand all of the exceptions and nuances to the May 27th email.
Please know that I appreciate the unprecedented affect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our society. However, the communications from Disney Vacation Club could have been better. Moreover, regarding clarity, if there are policy exceptions and modifications, they should be communicated, in writing, to members. For those who were eligible for an extension, for example, when are points available for use and can they be applied to an existing reservation made less than 7-months out? If members are posting honestly, then, it seems, experiences are varied.
Today, I am writing to share my experience last night with Member Services. Like other members, I received the phased reopening announcement on Wednesday, May 27th at 3:15 PM. The paragraph that most applies to me is copied below:
Finally, as part of our continued efforts to provide flexibility during these uncertain times, we are further changing and extending our temporary policies regarding expiring points. April, June and now August, September and October 2019 Use Year points that are set to expire in 2020 and that were used for reservations during the closure period will be extended for one year from the current expiration date. Additionally, April, June and now August, September and October 2018 Use Year points that were banked into 2019 Use Years and used for these reservations will now all expire November 30, 2020. This temporary policy only includes expiring points that were used to book a stay arriving between March 12 and the end of the closure period and that involve a reservation cancelled after February 29. Additional information on these policies is available at disneyvacationclub.com.
After receiving the email, I tried to contact Member Services. Because of the high call volume, I had to call 35 times, over the past three days, before getting through on Friday, May 29th at 5:42 PM. Earlier Friday morning, I was able to get through at 9:00 AM, but the call was eventually disconnected after 7 minutes of Disney music. Although the wait time was estimated to be 65 minutes, I remained on the call.
For context, I had a May 1st - 10th Standard Studio reservation, at the Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, that was made at the 11-month booking window using 54 banked vacation points from my September 2018 Use Year. Because of COVID-19, and the closure of Walt Disney World, the reservation was cancelled. The Member Services representative with whom I spoke returned the borrowed points and suggested that I deposit the 54 banked vacation points with RCI. In my eight years of membership, I have used my points exclusively at Disney Vacation Club properties. Because of my lack of familiarity with RCI, including participating resorts, point requirements, and availability, I declined depositing the 54 points and, instead, booked a Vero Beach Standard Inn Room reservation for August 3rd - August 8th, using the 54 banked vacation points and 23 borrowed points from my September 2020 Use Year. At the time, I booked this reservation based on the Important Reservation Cancelation Updates email, that had been sent by Disney Vacation Club on Tuesday, March 17th at 12:47 PM, and because I did not want to lose my banked points, which expire August 31, 2020, or deposit them with RCI. Bloomburg and Forbes had been reporting a significant closure, possibily through the end of the year, so, at the time, a Vero Beach reservation seemed like a reasonable placeholder and possibility.
I called Member Services because, based on my reading of the Wednesday, May 27th email, believed my 2018 September Use Year points would expire November 30, 2020. The first Member Services representative with whom I spoke said that I did not have an impacted reservation affected by the closure and my points were not eligible for the November 30, 2020 expiry. Although I described how the points were initially used, several times, she asked me if I was asking her to violate policy. Although my point history, accessible through the Disney Vacation Club website, shows a 10-day May reservation, cancelled because of the closure, the use of the banked points results in ineligibility. To be eligible, based our conversation, the points should have either remained in my Disney Vacation Club account or been deposited with RCI. From the first email, on March 17th, through yesterday's communication, there was no reasonable way of knowing that the two aforementioned actions would be necessary to receive the recently announced extension. Also, our conversation seemed to suggest policies in the May 27th email that were not mentioned or highlighted with an asterisk or numeric superscript. I asked to speak with a Manager and was told it would be an 80 minute wait. I decided to wait.
The second Member Services representative with whom I spoke reiterated the words of the previous representative after I first communicated what I had said previously. I became increasingly frustrated on the call because an increasing number of nuances to the May 27th email were being described, which were not communicated to Disney Vacation Club members. Moverover, at this point, the call had exceeded two hours. I was prepared to email Terri Schultz because I had found her email address online and wanted direct clarification and details on all of the policy stipulations and, specifically, the exceptions to the May 27th email that had not been communicated.
During this call, the Manager reiterated that I needed an impacted reservation several times. Because of her emphasis on this wording, I modified my Vero Beach reservation to a Bay Lake Tower Studio Lake reservation for June 7th - June 11th. The online system allowed me to modify the reservation, I received a confirmation number, and it appeared in my dashboard. I told the Manager that I was able to modify my reservation and now had an impacted reservation. She asked me to hold. After about 15 minutes, she returned to the line and said that the reservation was ineligible because the policy stated that reservations had to be affected prior to the time of the May 27th email. The call ended after 2 hours and 47 minutes. I still do not understand all of the exceptions and nuances to the May 27th email.
Please know that I appreciate the unprecedented affect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our society. However, the communications from Disney Vacation Club could have been better. Moreover, regarding clarity, if there are policy exceptions and modifications, they should be communicated, in writing, to members. For those who were eligible for an extension, for example, when are points available for use and can they be applied to an existing reservation made less than 7-months out? If members are posting honestly, then, it seems, experiences are varied.
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