Disgruntled members: What are the DVC-specific issues?

[murmer]

I think one thing to add would be if something like COVID happened again and the parks shut down for 1 year or more but DVC has to be open due to the rules would you enjoy staying at just DVC without the parks...because we saw that happen with COVID and now know it could be a possibility in the future.

 

[redboat45]

The 50% borrowing limit is a thorn in my side right now. I had to buy 1 OTU point to make a reservation a couple of weeks ago. It was annoying because I had to call to do that. The website showed that I could borrow 80 points even though I had already borrowed most of those. So if I would have borrowed the 80 it said I could my reservation would have been canceled.

Not being able to by AP's in also very annoying and makes taking multiple trips a year to use my DVC hard.

 

[kes601]

For example, I have a 25-point resale contract which was purchased in 2012. I cannot use those points for cruises, hotel rooms or ABD but they wouldn't get me much anyway. What it does get me is a "blue card" membership. You can't get that today even if you could purchase just 25 points direct.

A little while later (2016, I believe), DVC changed the rules so that you needed to purchase direct in order to get a blue card. They did not set a minimum amount and people began buying resale and adding a 25-point direct contract to qualify.

Over the years, DVC has increased that minimum buy-in for blue card status, grandfathered previous owners each time. At this point, you could have a anywhere from 25 points resale to 150 points direct (total) as the minimum that you own to qualify. And if you own multiple contracts, you best keep track of which ones qualify and which ones don't in the event that you decide to sell some of them.

Got it. I guess for those thinking of buying in for the first time I don’t see any of that as an issue. If they buy in resale they won’t get the perks (if you want to call them that). If they buy in direct then they will. So, for new members I don’t find the current way of distinguishing to be confusing or problematic. But, in your case I completely get it.

 

[BamaGuy44]

I've only been a member for few months, but I haven't had that much of an issue with the site, and I've been on it almost daily. It has issues more than it should, but they are usually short lived and it's pretty much luck of the draw. The board makes it sound like it's completely unusable 90% of the time, which is just not true.

The borrowing thing is definitely a big issue for a lot of people for sure, inexcusable they haven't fixed that. Hopefully it will resolve itself when the borrowing restriction goes away, since they seem to have no intention of fixing it. But it's not something that affects using the site day to day.

Chat is intermittent for sure, but I've always been able to use it when I needed it, at least after refreshing every few minutes or whatever. I suspect that's more of a staffing issue than a technical one.

APs don't affect me, we've been going once or twice a year for 20+ years and never bought one. I see why it's frustrating for the people that count on them. More of a Disney overall issue than DVC IMO.

There are some frustrations but I wouldn't call myself disgruntled by any means. I'm fully gruntled

 

[Minniemoo15]

I would say DVC is the only reason I am not a disgruntled disney fan. Our last trip, being DVC owners significantly contributed to making our trip magical. It was the other stuff (genie+, no ME) that was a downer.

 

[BeachClub2014]

I'm fully gruntled

LOL, love it.

 

[BeachClub2014]

I would say DVC is the only reason I am not a disgruntled disney fan. Our last trip, being DVC owners significantly contributed to making our trip magical. It was the other stuff (genie+, no ME) that was a downer.

Yes. I am not disgruntled with DVC but I do have a beef with Disney and WDW in general. But that's for a different thread

 

[Bjaiken77]

I get tired of the subdivisions pointing fingers: “Thats DVC, that’s parks that handles that, that’s ticketing, that’s DVD, that problem falls under customer service.” So you know how much I care? Not at all! It all falls under the Disney umbrella. Therefore, Disney needs to take responsibility for all their subdivisions, and if there are problems, coordinate in the best interest of the member or patron.

 

[ray3127]

Above all, the nickel & diming is exhausting. Not DVC specific, but it permeates the entire time we're there (visited this Feb & Apr).

G+ is not DVC specific, but it kind of is. We bought in thinking we'd get APs and have not-so-frenetic days on vacation. Pre-scheduling 3 Fastpasses a day was awesome. Now we have to pay $60/day to play roulette at 7AM, or get the whole family up earlier to rope drop if we want to do our favorites. Then spend the whole day on our phones. None of that is fun/relaxing. We bought DVC with a certain way of visiting in mind, and we can't do that anymore.

For DVC-specific things, the lack of APs is insane. If I hadn't bought ours when they were available last fall, I'd be selling our points right now. I don't much care if it's officially DVC's fault or not; members need access to APs. But then, TWDC is on record stating their guest mix is more profitable now.

And some might think its minor, but the lack of Top of the World Lounge is maddening. On our first DVC visit my wife and I took in fireworks from up there, and decided we needed more points (which we bought upon returning home). It was such a relaxing place to be. It still hasn't opened, even though it takes minimal manpower to staff it.

We just don't feel like DVC is a priority for the company, and I'd actively caution anybody from jumping in right now.

 

[PalmettoPath]

I have never had a problem with the website either. And I have 99% of the time had good experiences with DVC CMs on the phone. Yes, there are pain points--like right now no AP discounts at the top tier (which is what we always bought pre-pandemic) and other things here and there. But that's true for all of Disney--changes I don't love. Things ebb and flow. We are 15-year members personally and still enjoy it. We are not considering leaving or anything like that at this point. But different things rub each of us the wrong way, so I understand if something that was a showstopper for someone pushed them over the edge. But all in all it's still a better value for us than paying rack rate for rooms.

 

[DonMacGregor]

This may be true in relative terms in that more people are unhappy now than many periods on the past. However I will bet that on balance most owners are still perfectly happy. The DIS is not a representative sample of owners and the place seemed full of guests enjoying themselves when I was there last month.

I agree with this. The DIS board is a haven for more sophisticated/experienced DVC owners, and as such, many of the complaints relate to more complex or sophisticated ownership and reservation strategies that the more casual or new owner likely won't be concerned with (at least initially).

Things like walking reservations, stalking, 7-month reservation swaps, waitlists, piecing together longer stays using single day reservations at multipole resorts, combining reservations, and other potentially complex strategies tend to elicit and are the nexus of a significant number of complaints on the forum. Stuff you'd never even begin to imagine when just shopping for that first DVC contract (and most of which I personally can't be bothered with).

There are quite a few "I used to be able to..." and "Why do they make this so difficult?" types of posts on a daily basis, many of which involve a complex strategy requiring an incantation and twirling three cats in a gunny sack over your head while facing north.

Certainly plenty of more mundane and well-deserved criticisms of the current state of IT and Member Services in general, but for me, I really don't have any more substantial complaints.

 

[BeachClub2014]

There are quite a few "I used to be able to..." and "Why do they make this so difficult?" types of posts on a daily basis, many of which involve a complex strategy requiring an incantation and twirling three cats in a gunny sack over your head while facing north.

Awesome.

 

[wnielsen1]

There are quite a few "I used to be able to..." and "Why do they make this so difficult?" types of posts on a daily basis, many of which involve a complex strategy requiring an incantation and twirling three cats in a gunny sack over your head while facing north.

I knew I was doing something wrong

 

[BamaGuy44]

And some might think its minor, but the lack of Top of the World Lounge is maddening. On our first DVC visit my wife and I took in fireworks from up there, and decided we needed more points (which we bought upon returning home). It was such a relaxing place to be. It still hasn't opened, even though it takes minimal manpower to staff it.

I forgot about this one and it seems so crazy. I have never been to TOTWL and had literally never heard of it until I started researching DVC last year. But it sounds so cool and seems like it would be such an easy bone to throw our way. Compared to the operations they are running, opening a lounge seems like such a no brainer.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Awesome.

Seriously, I know it's not ALL of the complaints, but sometimes it seems to go something like this: "This cake recipe calls for flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and water, but what if I want to mill my own flour, grow my own yeast culture, harvest my own sea salt, extract my own sugar from cane, utilize solar desalination as my water source, and bake it in a clay oven I hand crafted in my back yard from rare Chilean mud? Why can't they make this process easier? This is so FRUSTRATING!"

 

[BeachClub2014]

Seriously, I know it's not ALL of the complaints, but sometimes it seems to go something like this: "This cake recipe calls for flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and water. But what if I want to mill my own flour, grow my own yeast culture, harvest my own sea salt, extract my own sugar from cane, and utilize solar desalination as my water source? Why can't they make this process easier?" LOL

I get it. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, I can empathize with folks that have a complaint, but some of the issues are really more about perspective and managing expectations.

 

[redboat45]

Just thought of another one. The dang membership card. JUST GIVE US A PHYSICAL CARD! We do everything DVC/Disney with 1 email EVERYTHING. To have to invent a new email just to be able to get a digital blue card to get the benefits is maddening! My parents have the same problem. My mom's email is their only email at all. So only she will have a digital blue card and have to figure out how to even get to it on her phone etc.

I do not WANT to use Google wallet or whatever the Apple version of that is!

 

[BeachClub2014]

Just thought of another one. The dang membership card. JUST GIVE US A PHYSICAL CARD! We do everything DVC/Disney with 1 email EVERYTHING. To have to invent a new email just to be able to get a digital blue card to get the benefits is maddening! My parents have the same problem. My mom's email is their only email at all. So only she will have a digital blue card and have to figure out how to even get to it on her phone etc.

I do not WANT to use Google wallet or whatever the Apple version of that is!

Yeah, I am with you on this one. I do miss having a doggone physical card.

 

[kilik64]

New owner since 2021, took first trip with DVC in early March of this year.

Had a wonderful time BECAUSE of DVC and getting to stay at BLT and BCV doing a split stay trip.

Taking both sets of grandparents in march of next year, again thanks to DVC.

Couldnt be any happier with our decision to buy in.

Only gripe would be the resale restriction nonsense, but I knew that going in with a resale contract, but its still pretty asinine all the same.

 

[RoseGold]

The availability issues are baked in the system. Availability will always be an issue. Some of the rooms are way better than others and always have been. Some times are more popular and always have been. Future resort decisions could make this worse (poly bungalows) or better (VGF2). Covid extra points made this worse, but it’s by design.

The website is inexcusable. It has many known issues, and I have wasted tons of time dealing with this. If this were my bank, I would get a new one. Would I make a choice to buy DVC based on this? Probably not. But that and the crazy wait times for the phone lines show the level of customer service DVC is operating at right now.