Help !!! I just got a call from DSVC saying that

[lulu71]

Good luck with that Maggie person. BTDT.

Of and all of you expecting baskets, lot of luck there. I'm still waiting for mine two trips later after Disney screwed up and promised me pixie dust on my next trip for my troubles. I guess maybe it was in the room and was invisible.

 

[erin.w]

We just made it, our last night will be concierge level, on September 20th.

 

[Laxmom]

Hi Laxmom,
I've been a member since 2008 and honestly this is the first time I've heard anything as messed up as this from DVC. Not saying that I could've missed some other bad events but nothing this messy.
I'm surprised as well on how disney is handling this and I agree with kimber that my thought about adding on is a bit soured at this point. However, it doesn't worry me to the point of wanting to sell my contracts.
So I don't think you should be worried about your new membership. Disney can't make repeated big mistakes without many members jumping ship and hurting themselves in the long run.
I just hope that this particular incident gets resolved in a satisfactory manner with all guests affected. If it were me, I'd be extremely p-o-ed (and be on the phone daily until it's resolved) because I'm a type A and so doesn't like last minute bad surprise changes... hehe
What surprises me the most is usually disney would try to go above and beyond when THEY made the mistakes. And this time around, they didn't even barely try....

Thanks for the words of encouragement but I am really disapointed in how this is being handled and the lack of effort also.

 

[izzy]

Finally a success story! I just got off the phone with MS, and the rep I've been working with said that someone cancelled a savannah view studio so he immediately booked it for me. (He said that he had checked several times for me already, so he thinks the cancellation had just happened.) They're also going to give me access to the lounge.

I'm so happy that I'm ready to

Good luck to everyone else who is in this situation. While I'm glad that it worked out well for me, I really do think that DVC should have thought this out a little better and not put so many people through so much grief.

 

[disneyandme]

2Princes2Princesses: I'm curious too as to where the 9th person is supposed to sleep. I didn't think there was a 9th sleeping spot in SSR- hence the 8 person limit.

 

[buckeyebill1995]

Hey. Just talked to Jessie, who is on Maggie's team. We have been moved to SSR and I was told I could have 9 in the room because of special circumstances. We were given the difference in points back, back to the Use Year they came from, bankable if needed. Oh, and the ever popular gift basket!!!

No free dining for us. Probably because there are 9 of us, 2 of the kids are over 10, so the equivalent of 7 adults and 2 kids. I am go with the flow, like I said, but now that I know for sure, I am VERY disappointed.

I would call MS and ask for Maggie. She is on the team handling the issues. If you happened to hang on to the AKV villa, I am glad.

Nice of them to let you cram 9 people into a smaller room because of their mistake! Also, they have given other people free dining or access to the lounge, it is not fair that they don't do it for you, no matter how many people you have. Please call back and argue with them! I feel so bad for you.

 

[Squidrific]

Well I just got the dreaded call from supervisor "Reggie". Our 2 studios that we made DBD at the 11 month window for October 25-27th are affected. They are offering me studios at SSR and point difference back - nothing else. They feel they owe me nothing but the point difference back.

 

[Inkmahm]

Nice of them to let you cram 9 people into a smaller room because of their mistake! Also, they have given other people free dining or access to the lounge, it is not fair that they don't do it for you, no matter how many people you have. Please call back and argue with them! I feel so bad for you.

That's what I was thinking! I'd refuse to put 9 in a smaller room with no place for one of them to sleep. That is unbelievable.

Argue with them! Demand fair treatment!

 

[Inkmahm]

Well I just got the dreaded call from supervisor "Reggie". Our 2 studios that we made DBD at the 11 month window for October 25-27th are affected. They are offering me studios at SSR and point difference back - nothing else. They feel they owe me nothing but the point difference back.

They are CRAZY. I would NEVER select SSR over AKV, much less over AKV concierge! They most definitely DO owe you something for that switch, something more than a few points back.

I"m getting irritated with DVC over this and I"m not even personally affected. At least not this time. I'd be furious if this scheduling nightmare happened to me.

 

[dbriggsq]

I feel really bad for all of you caught up in this situation
When I heard that AKV would be offering some Concierge rooms I was delighted because it's my dream to stay AK concierge, but when I heard how few rooms were available I realized I would probably never get one. Having said that when I called at 7 months for our August trip there were some days available but not all. However if I had managed to get them and then was cancelled I would have been devastated. DVC must know what a premium these rooms are and to have them cancelled must cause so much disappointment - almost nothing would make up for it.

Press on with your claims for accomodations commensurate with what has been cancelled - as has been said Disney should not treat DVC owners as second class citizens simply because they are a captive audience.

It has also made me worry slightly about our upcoming vacation when we have our first Grand Villa booked at OKW and will be arriving very late from the UK - is there any chance that we will be 'bumped' because of overbooking. This has happened to us before but in a good way when we had booked 2 studios which weren't available and were given a 2 bed. But we have looked forward to the GV and would be disappointed not to get it.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

Okay, I am calling back tomorrow from work.

I am going to ask for either an additional studio or something. A dining credit would be wonderful, considering the number of people we have. I was very nice and calm about the move, but DH told me to knock that off. And he agrees with everyone on here.

As much as I can be mellow, a few things came up since I got off the phone and talked to everyone going with us:
1. The 9th person. I have my mom, my sister (40s), DH and I, my male best friend (38), and my 4 kids....a 15 and 5 year old girl and a 13 and 3 year old boy. Without the extra fold out chair, my 13 year old has to sleep on the floor. Would he care? No. Do I care? Yes, I do. He should not have to.
2. They never called me. I called THEM. Had I not kept at it with the rep yesterday, I would have thought everything was swell and our reservation was fine. That annoys me to no end. I can be flexible, but you need to let me know things.
3. The concierge lounge. To be honest, not a huge deal to me, but still...I booked at 11 months, day by day, to get this. And then 75 days before my trip, they tell me I am staying at SSR. I love SSR. It was our first home. But NOT the same. We were going to add on more AKV points with the new incentive, and we are reconsidering because this was handled badly. No matter how much I tried to be okay with it, I am really disappointed. I know the kids and my mom would have loved AKV. My DD15 was so excited when we bought the contract.

I am going to be on the phone with MS tomorrow, from work, which also grates on my nerves because I really dont have time to keep dealing with this. I work 2 full time jobs and neither one is conducive to spending an hour on the phone with MS.

Or should I contact my guide? Or both?

 

[LisaS]

Well I just got the dreaded call from supervisor "Reggie". Our 2 studios that we made DBD at the 11 month window for October 25-27th are affected. They are offering me studios at SSR and point difference back - nothing else. They feel they owe me nothing but the point difference back.

You often hear that the best strategy in this sort of situation is to ask for what you want. I think it would be worthwhile to think about what you would consider fair compensation and then call back and tell them what it will take to make you feel better about this. I would ask for something reasonable but which covers what you are losing by not staying concierge.

You will be losing out on a free breakfast every morning and snacks, appetizers and drinks so giving you the DDP for free plus a room credit to cover tips seems like a reasonable deal. If you don't want to do a lot of TS meals (or won't be able to get ADRs at the last minute) then ask for a room credit to cover a CS breakfast and snacks and drinks for everyone in your party for every day of your stay. Calculate it ahead of time and suggest the total dollar figure and then explain what it would cover. If the points mean more to you than the food/money, try telling them that you are OK with moving to SSR provided they refund all of your AKV points so that you will have those points to try to book Concierge again for your next trip.

I would think the MS reps are really stressed over making these calls so if you call back and ask for something reasonable they just might be willing to give you what you ask for if it means they won't be hearing back from you about this.

 

[lisaviolet]

I'm so sorry everyone. So sorry.

I'd hate to be one of those CMs if someone at Disney is telling them to stay tough on the issue. Quite the job.

Regardless, stay very firm about what you expect guys. Best of luck. You do deserve to be given something at equal value for the loss of your booking. I think Lisa's advice is great. And I do find that if I stick to limited words in these situations it works best. Repeated phrases. As in 'that's not okay with me" - "you need to figure this out" and not get into too many discussions with stressed employees.

Lisa

 

[LIFERBABE]

Unbelievable!!! I am satisfied with my resolution, but I am still upset with the way this is being handled for others.

Here I was worried about earthquakes and GCV. I don't even think I will spend the time or effort to look at GCV next week because I wont be giving DVC anymore of my money to purchase anymore points.

Say what you want, but if they can upgrade the Value Resort overflow guests to 1 bedrooms at SSR with FREE DINING!!! last year, and they can't take care of these few affected Member Families??? These families that dropped 10k or more on their purchase of AKV points, not SSR points!!

Those people were asking for the moon and getting it. Many were offered studios at SSR last year and demanded 1 bedrooms and GOT THEM!!! They paid less than $100 per night for a 1 bedroom and all their food because POP Century was overbooked.

I'll take my chances with cash on our few visits to DCL or to the Monorail resorts.

And I agree, where the heck is #9 supposed to sleep? If they roll in a cot, I would definitely go clean off!!!

 

[Laxmom]

It has also made me worry slightly about our upcoming vacation when we have our first Grand Villa booked at OKW and will be arriving very late from the UK - is there any chance that we will be 'bumped' because of overbooking. This has happened to us before but in a good way when we had booked 2 studios which weren't available and were given a 2 bed. But we have looked forward to the GV and would be disappointed not to get it.

We have a Grand Villa booked for HHI for spring break. I don't think there is one owner who has read this thread that won't be nervous about any future reservation until they see the room they reserved in person from this point on. I know I won't!!!

 

[lisaviolet]

Business decisions are so bizarre.

This would have been a much different story if they phoned and said we need to move you to SSR. We're very sorry for this change. A mistake was made and because of the change, and your probable disappointment since you booked AKV concierge, for your vacation we are adding the DDP for everyone.

Or the choice of an upgrade in suite for those in a studio. They must have one bedrooms at some resorts if they have all that room at SSR.

And then some would be absolutely fine and the ones that aren't - well Disney could negotiate with them. Seems so simple to me

I think people just want to feel heard and respected with something to make it comparable. And to play such hardball on this issue seems, well, simply dumb.

 

[pyrxtc]

I think if more people are ahving to call to find this out and they are giving us all something that is nothing comparable, we need to start writing to higher up than the member satisfaction team or member services. My guide just kept telling me how wonderful SSR was and nothing he could do about it, he didn't even know about it until I called him.

Maybe we could start sending out e-mails requesting exactly what we expect due to the mess up. We should make a list of what would make this comparable and why and then we can all be asking for the same treatment.

The dining plan for each day we are out of the lounge - they gave me 3 nights of dining instead of 4 days in the lounge. it does not equal 4 days of food.


Here's a start:

1. Dining plan for each day we were supposed to ahve the lounge available, not each night we were staying. 1 night is 2 days, 2 nights is 3 days etc...
2. room credit to cover tips on TS meals
3. possible help in getting TS meals since so few are available to us
4. a room wiht beds for the whole party to sleep in, which means if you ahd 9 people, you now need a 2 bed and studio at SSR
5. null

add anything else you think makes it comparable.

Some of us may need to get back for the safari so I would request a free cab for that. It needs to be comparable, not outrageous. I don't want to be in a better position, just in the same one I was before the call.

 

[lisaviolet]

Unbelievable!!! I am satisfied with my resolution, but I am still upset with the way this is being handled for others.

Here I was worried about earthquakes and GCV. I don't even think I will spend the time or effort to look at GCV next week because I wont be giving DVC anymore of my money to purchase anymore points.

Say what you want, but if they can upgrade the Value Resort overflow guests to 1 bedrooms at SSR with FREE DINING!!! last year, and they can't take care of these few affected Member Families??? These families that dropped 10k or more on their purchase of AKV points, not SSR points!!

Those people were asking for the moon and getting it. Many were offered studios at SSR last year and demanded 1 bedrooms and GOT THEM!!! They paid less than $100 per night for a 1 bedroom and all their food because POP Century was overbooked.

I'll take my chances with cash on our few visits to DCL or to the Monorail resorts.

And I agree, where the heck is #9 supposed to sleep? If they roll in a cot, I would definitely go clean off!!!

I think I'm going to write LIFERBABE just from reading your post. In essence, it doesn't really matter if some of us are not affected. This is about all members.

Thanks for the post.

Lisa

 

[cocowum]

OMG! I would be livid!!!

I think Lisa gave some really good advice! I would keep calling back. I feel awful and I'm not even involved! I take that back, I'm a member so that makes me involved!

Please keep us posted! I've got my fingers crossed for you.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I think I'm going to write LIFERBABE just from reading your post. In essence, it doesn't really matter if some of us are not affected. This is about all members.

Thanks for the post.

Lisa

Thank you Lisa. I need a moment!

It truly is about all members. All of us bought where we want to stay. I bought AKV to stay concierge. If they cannot provide concierge when booked, then they need to start buying back memberships.

The POS says that when a resort becomes uninhabitable, the owners of that resort may lose the ability to trade out because the other owners cant trade in. OK so if part of the resort becomes uninhabitable, everyone that traded into that resort should move down the totem pole and be returned home, before 1 owner is completely displaced from their home. Will they be upset, yes, but that is fair. Your 7 month points should never have advantage over 11 month points. That is what we all purchased and that protects all members.

They could have bumped members back home or to comparable resorts because they were not staying in concierge. The concierge guests could then stay home and have access to the lounge. To put concierge guests at SSR with no comparable equivalent to a lounge is beyond asinine (sp?) and should not be tolerated.