Cancelled Reservation

[Scrappy_Tink]

Okay, I'll concede, I'm possibly more cynical than you! Only time will tell. I truely hope for the OPs sake that things work out for her and her DH...I don't want to turn this thread into who's right and who's wrong.

OP I admire your ability to see the best in people. I hate when people that work hard to achieve their goals are taken advantage of, whether intentionally or not. Who knows, after this experience, maybe you can talk DH into buying DVC so you don't have to deal with something like this again. That's it!! YOU'RE scamming your husband with this whole thing, so he'll acknowledge the need to buy DVC!! (Of course I'm just kidding!!!)

 

[Cmbar]

So???An assumption on your part...and you know what happens when we assume?So? No verification needed - I'm sure the transaction was confirmed through Paypal and the OP received online confirmation of the reservation.Again, your assumption... No, they had made other transactions prior to the family emergency. And yes, Hubby screwed up. DW will be happy to confirm that he is not alone.FinALLY calls, actually. Yep, Paypal may have had something to do with it. I doubt the DIS post generated any response, but Paypal might have. So what?And because all this is posted on the DIS...what? There is magically availability between Christmas and New Years? Not likely.I agree...clues. But there is a huge difference between "clues" and fact...and EVIDENCE. When I see EVIDENCE of criminal intent, I'll believe there is a scam going on.

But until then, I think the OP is better advised to work things out the best way for OP's FAMILY, -- which may not necessarily be the resolution folks here (who have only one side of the story) may want in their heart of hearts.

OK Jim, I'll play. Could you tell me what would be an evidence of a scam for you? Just for future reference.....

Because I gotta say, when someone has paid for a reservation that is no longer there and has difficulty getting that information from the rentor, then I gotta believe something is going on. A legit rentor would bend over backwards to fix a "mix up" or "mistake". At least be in contact with the renter to tell them they couldn't make the call, couldn't get the reservation, couldn't fix the mess they made.

I do believe Paypal had something to do with it. Which means that the Rentor obviously is getting some kind of contact from people in the outside world and therefore should have received the emails and calls from the OP.

To the OP I sure hope this gets fixed for you. Please know there are many, many wonderful rentors out there. We have rented both ways and never had a single problem.

 

[disneynutz]

IMHO the OP could be dealing with who knows what. There are a lot of people who can barely make reservations for themselves, making one for a renter is beyond their abilities.

Just because someone owns points, that doesn't mean that they know what they are doing as a landlord.

Until we have more information, we are all guessing.

Bill

 

[bytheblood]

Seriously, no sign of a scam?

1. DVC owner hasn't been on Disboards since transaction took place (at least not with the ID used for renting points).
2. DVC owner used email account that appears to have been created specifically for this transaction, and is now inactive.
3. DVC owner never verified they had received payment.
4. DVC owner "lost" or never saw emails from OP.
5. DVC owner's husband "accidently" cancelled OPs reservation, because someone else didn't pay. (Which would indicate they had been making other transactions during their family emergency)
6. The DAY AFTER OP posted the thread about filing a claim with Paypal, after not hearing from the DVC owner for almost two months, the DVC owner finely calls.
7. DVC owner contacts OP, and promises to get a reservation the next day for OP and would call the OP yesterday. Two days later, still no word from DVC owner.

Where I work, these are called "clues".

 

[rachel_a18]

That's it!! YOU'RE scamming your husband with this whole thing, so he'll acknowledge the need to buy DVC!! (Of course I'm just kidding!!!)

gasp! I would NEVER try to pull one on the DH! Owning a piece of Disney is a long-term goal, hehe... may be a little premature on the bank account right now.

So... the member emailed me JUST NOW:

"Hi Rachel,
I have resubmitted your reservation request. I should have the confirmation, by Friday. Once I get it I will email it to you. Again, thanks for understanding."

I so badly want to believe that this could be a legitimate mistake and there could be no risk involved. I want to trust this member, but I don't have a whole lot of reason to. On one hand, its hard to believe she went through this much trouble (getting another reservation, re-establishing contact, etc) to scam us out of only $610... but it would be a nightmare if we showed up to Disney after paying $1100 in plane tickets just to find out that we have to turn around and head back home minus $2K.

I'm going to be honest with the member and ask for our money back. We'll see how she responds... it may not go over well, but who knows! Paypal case stays open until we reach an agreement. I have a contract from her that proves we're within our cancellation period. DH and i are SO grateful to each of you for your thoughts, support, and helpful ideas. I would have been lost without you guys to talk me through this!

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

gasp! I would NEVER try to pull one on the DH! Owning a piece of Disney is a long-term goal, hehe... may be a little premature on the bank account right now.

So... the member emailed me JUST NOW:

"Hi Rachel,
I have resubmitted your reservation request. I should have the confirmation, by Friday. Once I get it I will email it to you. Again, thanks for understanding."

I so badly want to believe that this could be a legitimate mistake and there could be no risk involved. I want to trust this member, but I don't have a whole lot of reason to. On one hand, its hard to believe she went through this much trouble (getting another reservation, re-establishing contact, etc) to scam us out of only $610... but it would be a nightmare if we showed up to Disney after paying $1100 in plane tickets just to find out that we have to turn around and head back home minus $2K.

I'm going to be honest with the member and ask for our money back. We'll see how she responds... it may not go over well, but who knows! Paypal case stays open until we reach an agreement. I have a contract from her that proves we're within our cancellation period. DH and i are SO grateful to each of you for your thoughts, support, and helpful ideas. I would have been lost without you guys to talk me through this!

I'm glad you took my joke in the spirit it was intended!

I think you're making a wise decision Rachel. If she were truely concerned about you and DH losing out, I would think she would have picked up the phone and called member services and gave you an answer as promised.....even if it wasn't positive news, instead of submitting the request electronically. We know either they have availability or not, and if you're waitlisted, it could take days, weeks, or months before you know whether or not it goes through. In my (somewhat cynical) opinion, it's another stall tactic. But, you know what they say about opinions too....

 

[LisaS]

So... the member emailed me JUST NOW:

"Hi Rachel,
I have resubmitted your reservation request. I should have the confirmation, by Friday. Once I get it I will email it to you. Again, thanks for understanding."

What?? This sounds like she is trying to make your reservation by emailing Member Services instead of calling them. That is very inefficient. It will take days rather than minutes to make a reservation this way.

I'm going to be honest with the member and ask for our money back. We'll see how she responds... it may not go over well, but who knows! Paypal case stays open until we reach an agreement. I have a contract from her that proves we're within our cancellation period. DH and i are SO grateful to each of you for your thoughts, support, and helpful ideas. I would have been lost without you guys to talk me through this!

I agree with JimMIA that I don't see a scam here based on what we know. But it sounds like the owner you are working with is either not very knowledgeable about DVC and/or has decided that sorting out the mess she and her DH have created is a lower priority than other things going on in her life. For all I know she could be in the middle of a crisis and doing the best she can but unfortunately she has you caught up in it as well. If emailing MS is the best she can do for you, I would ask for my money back and find a more knowledgeable owner who handles their rentals in a more professional manner.

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

I have rented several times from dvc members over the course of the last 10 years. There are plenty of really good ones out there. I have rented from them. I know that one of them is haveing health issues themselves so they are looking at renting most of their points out this year as they can't use them. It is to bad you can't post the name of the person you were renting from and compare names. The best laid plans and all that. I do wish you luck. I like to see the cup as half full so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe if you know someone you trust who is a dvc member the person you wanted to rent from could transfer the points. My sister was a dvc member at one point, had to sell and we were not able to take over at that point. Anyway she did not have enough points for us herselpf. We were wary so the other member we rented from transfered the points to her account and she had control. Much easier to put our faith in her than a stranger. We are looking at possibly becomeing one ourselves now.

You know, kind of along that line, there are a lot of people that waste their timeshares every year. My sister has a timeshare with Interval International, and let us have a week (at that time DVC was associated with Interval International) for our honeymoon. She hadn't used her timeshare for four years!!! You might ask around, one of your friends may have something you can use. Just an idea! Don't give up, there are kind, generous people all around you!

 

[lilpooh108]

gasp! I would NEVER try to pull one on the DH! Owning a piece of Disney is a long-term goal, hehe... may be a little premature on the bank account right now.

So... the member emailed me JUST NOW:

"Hi Rachel,
I have resubmitted your reservation request. I should have the confirmation, by Friday. Once I get it I will email it to you. Again, thanks for understanding."

I so badly want to believe that this could be a legitimate mistake and there could be no risk involved. I want to trust this member, but I don't have a whole lot of reason to. On one hand, its hard to believe she went through this much trouble (getting another reservation, re-establishing contact, etc) to scam us out of only $610... but it would be a nightmare if we showed up to Disney after paying $1100 in plane tickets just to find out that we have to turn around and head back home minus $2K.

I'm going to be honest with the member and ask for our money back. We'll see how she responds... it may not go over well, but who knows! Paypal case stays open until we reach an agreement. I have a contract from her that proves we're within our cancellation period. DH and i are SO grateful to each of you for your thoughts, support, and helpful ideas. I would have been lost without you guys to talk me through this!

Not to totally freak you out but when you call MS to book a reservation, they give you a confirmation instantly. As in, I am logged on to my dvc website and as MS is reading off my confirmation # to me, I can already see it under "Vacation Details."

I've never submitted a reservation request via email, so can't tell you if Friday is a legit day. It just sounds weird (since if you don't call, you can't tell if there is availability which would result in a confirmation # for the trip).

 

[DMKEDM]

Rachel: Your decision whether to get a refund or try again on the reservation is 100% yours, based on your own risk tolerance and other feelings. And either decision is entirely justifiable. But if you want our (my) opinions:

1. Not everyone can make a phone call during the business week during the hours MS is open...and email is less efficient, but works very well...I've used the email reservation system multiple times...generally, it takes about 3 days to hear back...

2. None of us knows (or ever will know) what forces are at work on the member you're renting from...but not only do I trust JimMIA, I agree w/him independent of having had the benefit of his experience and expertise back when I got scammed...this looks to me a lot more like a bungled rental than a scam...now, bungling can be just as damaging to a reservation as scamming...and so if you want your money back (whether to start over or to do a different vacation), you certainly are justified in making that decision...

3. And I entirely "get" a spouse canceling the wrong reservation...not all that hard to say to your spouse (or adult child or whoever else you may share your DVC m'ship with) "do you have time to cancel X reservation" ... and have it turn out that the wrong reservation gets canceled...if this member was trying to rent out a block of points, it's entirely possible your reservation was one of several and that the cancellation was an honest mix-up. Again, just as damaging to your vacation as it would have been if they were really trying to scam you, so if you want "out," you should definitely pull the plug!

And yes, at 6 months out getting a reservation for Christmas could be difficult...but if your dates didn't include Christmas itself (or the week between Christmas and New Year's), you may well be just fine, should you decide to go forward...bottom line is we won't know til your renting member hears back from MS and gets back to you...

Wishing you massive amounts of pixie dust as this plays out...and hopefully you'll get your Disney vacation, one way or another, as soon as you want it...

Dani

 

[Chuck S]

IMHO the OP could be dealing with who knows what. There are a lot of people who can barely make reservations for themselves, making one for a renter is beyond their abilities.

Just because someone owns points, that doesn't mean that they know what they are doing as a landlord.

Until we have more information, we are all guessing.

Bill

And if the owner submitted an email request, 6 months out, for a Christmastime reservation...well, this maybe one of those owners.

(to bring Rachel up to speed)...DVC does not have a true online booking system, we can email a request and it will take a few days (2 or 3) for the owner to get a return email either confirming the reservation, or saying there is no availability. And while this works well for slow season bookings, for a major holiday, I would ALWAYS call Member Service and book live.

 

[CarolAnnC]

For someone who has been unable to email with the person who rented points from her, it is interesting she is choosing email to contact DVC.

If I were the OP I would ask for my $$ back and find other accommodations.

 

[Inkmahm]

3. And I entirely "get" a spouse canceling the wrong reservation...not all that hard to say to your spouse (or adult child or whoever else you may share your DVC m'ship with) "do you have time to cancel X reservation" ... and have it turn out that the wrong reservation gets canceled...if this member was trying to rent out a block of points, it's entirely possible your reservation was one of several and that the cancellation was an honest mix-up.

I just don't see it. My gut tells me there are very few couples where both call or email MS for reservations.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2484266

 

[hoffmann2828]

Honey, I'm the "RUN" camp! Sure, it may be all just legitimate bungling, but that is the BEST case scenario? Relying on (at best) an inexperienced or possibly "dim" owner? Worst case scenario is obviously that she is scamming you, which I'd rate at about 50/50 chance right now.

I would ask for my money back and if there is any kind of delay in returning the funds, I would file a small claims suit.

Just remember the bottom line - you worked hard for that $610 and it's rightfully yours.


Jenny

 

[DMKEDM]

Well, maybe we're the only people in the DVC world w/two people using (calling MS and using the website) the m'ship...I don't have a DH, but I do have an adult DS and while I do most of the reserving/ME/DP arranging, there are times--and they're not all that infrequent--when I say to him, "Honey, I don't have time today, can you call to do X"...and we almost always have more than one reservation pending...and we've even made the mistake of cancelling the wrong reservation (I did it, not DS...and fortunately was able to fix it when I figured out my error (this was early-on and was clear unequivocal bungling on my part...but it was our own reservation, not one for someone else)...

So...it can happen; it did happen (my scenario)...

As noted, the "wrecked reservation" is just as wrecked if the mistakes were bungling as opposed to malicious...but the key here is the extent to which (1) the bungler can/will fix it; and (2) the extent (if any) to which Rachel is willing to take another risk...

I don't know how I'd react if it were me...heaven knows I'd appreciate better communication than she's getting from the owner...and the lack of regular communication might tip me into deciding to asking for my money back. But if I really really REALLY wanted that vacation, I might accept a rebooking...just don't know...

Rachel, as noted in an earlier post, while you don't know me either (and therefore why should you trust me?), I would be happy to refer you to a completely trustworthy truly awesome owner who almost always has/is willing to rent points...just let me know if you want to try that...

Dani

 

[brittsmum1998]

For someone who has been unable to email with the person who rented points from her, it is interesting she is choosing email to contact DVC.

If I were the OP I would ask for my $$ back and find other accommodations.

Excellent point CarolAnn.

 

[zalansky]

Yep, sounds like more stall tactics to me too. I find it VERY hard to believe that after a "mistake" of the owners Dh "cancelling the reservation by mistake" and a Paypal claim being filed, that the owner would be so laid back about the whole thing to not call MS and get the availability IMMEDIATELY. I don't buy that - don't have time to call - thing. It takes a few minutes. By the time you log into DVC online and fill out the request form, you could have called and gotten the answer about availability. Clearly, because of the paypal case, the owner knows the renter is anxious and upset about this. If I were the owner and this truly played out how she makes it seem, I'd have been on the phone with MS at 9am sharp the next day trying to make things right. Again, it just stinks all the way around.

Rachel - you're right in asking for a refund.

 

[downontheBW]

just my 2 cents...

I've been an owner for almost 10 years and have rented out points a few times - I guess 9 or 10 times; 3 have been repeat renters. Those that I've rented to have been very happy. During hard-to-get season, I've called at 9am daily to get a week at BWV standard view for first week of December (back when that was how we did it). I ask for 50% down to make the reservation and the other 50% at 60 day before check-in. I think the most important thing is the communication so I make sure I lay everything out, give all the info I can. A few of my renters have not shared my enthusiasm for "good" communication. It is unnerving when someone only reads their email once every few days, or doesn't acknowledge when they received the confirmation letter that I sent, or just sends phrases / not a full sentence. But this is just how some people communicate - minimally; whether its around a DVC rental or anything. And, I often forget that everyone doesn't live in front of a computer just because I do

Regarding Rachel's situation, I wouldn't worry about the fact that the renter hasn't posted in a long time; months go by when I don't read or post. I'm only on Disboards when I'm getting ready for a DVC vacation or going to rent points so I don't have a "lot of posts". It's probably more important to look at the history of the person - have they been long time members of Disboards and have they rented points before, then ask for references (which may be valid or not).

The fact that a reservation was accidentally canceled... yeah, I can see that if a renter is renting to multiple parties but it is strange that 2 people are managing the rental points. The renter emailing DVC rather than calling could be because they're busy and didn't want to call, or maybe they wanted to take care of it immediately so sent the email. When there is no urgency, I've sent emails to DVC a few times to ask for what's available or to add the dining plan, etc. It is nice to have some things in writing from DVC. Reserving for Christmas time now is probably not urgent because there's likely not much available and just lot of movement in reservations. That said, I would have made a phone call on this one, mostly because I'd feel so bad about canceling the ressie in the first place and want to do my best to make it up for the renter.

Rachel, the bottom line is that if you're not comfortable about this situation, it is smart to bail out if you can. I'm sorry for the renter's situation - if they did have a emergency and this is all a mistake - but they did mess up and don't offer good communication so I wouldn't want to rent from them. Renting points means the owner has all the control and all the renter has is trust. If you don't trust them, you won't be comfortable. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[karebear06]

Have you found out anything yet?

 

[dianeschlicht]

IMHO the OP could be dealing with who knows what. There are a lot of people who can barely make reservations for themselves, making one for a renter is beyond their abilities.

Just because someone owns points, that doesn't mean that they know what they are doing as a landlord.

Until we have more information, we are all guessing.

Bill

But if that's the case, they darn well better learn fast if they are going to rent out points!