Points Rented, now I am stuck with the bill!

[erickr123]

I rented points to semone last year and they stayed for 2 nights. Well, apparently the front desk only takes the Credit Card info down and does not verify it. When the person checked out, they had $400 in incidentals that were not charged to a valid Credit Card. Now there is a hold on my account for banking and making new reservations.

I have contacted the person who rented from me and they said it was an oversight, that the card was involved in fraud and therefore cancelled, but she was unaware of this at the time. I was waiting for her to pay, but she asked me to wait for her husbands bonus, which came and went and still no payment.

Has anyone had this experience? Is there no liability for the guest that incurred the charges?

Thanks,
Erick

 

[lisah0711]

I am sorry that this happened to you. The renter does have liability to you. Unfortunately, you also have liability to DVC. I would figure out a way to take care of DVC and then you will have to chase down the renter through small claims court or through an attorney. That is what you have to do when someone doesn't do what they agreed and you as the owner are left hodling the bag. It's a bummer! Good luck to you.

 

[dianeschlicht]

And this is EXACTLY why I would NEVER rent out my points to anyone other than someone I know!

 

[kaffinito]

That's terrible! As a current and former "renter" it was their responsibility to check out at the front desk and pay any incidental charges they incurred while using your reservation. If you can't get them to pay, then by all means take them to small claims court. I am so sorry this happened to you!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Taking someone to court can be an expense too. Unless you both live in the same state, there are some real problems there as well.

 

[Brian Noble]

I would pay off DVC now. I would then give your renter a deadline---say 30 days---to pay voluntarily, after which you'll be "pursuing other avenues for collection." Don't be a nice guy about this, because nice guys get paid last---after heat, food, etc.

You also should recognize that there is a chance you'll never see that money.

 

[disneykidatheart]

Is there any way for an owner to specify when making a reservation that no credit card be allowed on the account? Or does the owner lose that option when changing the name of the reservation to the renter? I never put a credit card on my reservation. I realize that having a credit card on the account is a great convenience for some, but renters don't necessarily know that option is available and may plan to pay as they go anyway. Just wondering.

 

[JodyTG]

There's no way to do that. Besides, while you're checking in, you're asked if you want to put a credit card on your room keys. So...if the renter doesn't know at the time that it's possible, they soon will.

This is another reason that I have never rented my points. We let 50 points expire last year for this very reason.

 

[permavac]

If it were me, I would call the person and tell them that since they have made no effort to pay for the charges that they incurred, I will be calling the police on them. It would appear that you have been defrauded and even if it's unclear whether or not criminal charges can be brought against them, I would think that the threat alone would light a fire under them to pay up. Tell them they have by the end of the day to pay to your PayPal account and if they don't do it tell them to expect the police to get involved (go ahead and use the word "fraud"). Good luck! Unfortunately, there are such rotten people out there...

Terri

 

[diesel]

Ugh I feel you pain on this situation. this happened to us a few years back when we got a room for my BIL. When checking out BWV said that he had no charges on his room when he knew that he did. Front desk argued with him that the balance was zero. So my BIL figured the front desk would figure it out and charge his credit card. Well a month down the road I go and try to make a reservation and they tell me my account is on hold because of an unpaid bill (which was from my BIL stay). I argued until I was blue in the face that I should not have to pay the bill since they are the ones who entered into an agreement with my BIL to allow him to charge to the room. BIL was going to pay the bill but wanted a print out of all charges to make sure they were correct (he tried to do this when checking out at front desk but since they showed no charges he couldn't). It took almost a month for BWV to get him a print out of the bill and during this time they did let me book my reservation but said if the bill was not paid by the date of the reservation it would be cancelled. I ended up paying for the charges and BIL reimbursed me. Good luck with this.

 

[plc001]

Sorry for the lost.

For those of you that do not want to rent the points, I could always find an excuse to go to Orlando. Hate to see points go to waist; I'm here to help you

 

[colonialtinker]

Sorry for the lost.

For those of you that do not want to rent the points, I could always find an excuse to go to Orlando. Hate to see points go to waist; I'm here to help you

Me too I hate to see waste.

 

[browniemtb]

You know what I never thought of this happening. I always thought that when the desk took a card they would verify that it was in good standing. So then in reality what would prevent anyone from using a cancelled card and going on a field day, tickets, souveniers, food, and other stuff and leave the DVC owner holding the bag or even Disney themselves from holding the bag. This really stinks and makes me second guess renting extra points.

 

[Brian Noble]

Nothing stops it, short of disallowing room charges, or running the charges through more frequently.

Disney resorts face this all the time. Freddie the Fraudster checks in, and puts a card on his account. Disney puts a hold on the card, and the hold succeeds, but no charges are incurred until the guest either checks out, or hits their resort limit (ranges from $500-$1500, depending on resort category).

Freddie then calls his bank, and says "I lost my card." The card gets cancelled. But, Disney doesn't know this yet, and it will be days before they ever put a charge on the card.

Freddie can use express check-out, because he has a card on file. Disney runs the card, finds it fails, and does whatever they can do to recover the money at the lowest possible cost. In this case, that's freezing the DVC Member's account. Disney doesn't care who pays them. They care only that they get paid.

In the non-DVC resorts, my guess is that Disney just builds in a certain level of expected fraudulent charges into their business plan, and sets room rates accordingly. At some level, it's cheaper just to let a few hundred dollars go than to spend a lot more pursuing Freddy and his ilk. That's also why the room charge limits vary by resort class---to tie the risk exposure to room rates.

 

[thelionqueen]

Good Point Brian! I always wondered why the room charge limits were different at the resorts, I just thought that it went by average cost of stay, value's being much less than deluxe etc. I cannot believe people do this. I am amazed every day at the lack of morals in people. I have rented 2 times with absolutely no problems; just couldn't imagine making someone else, the owner or Disney, pay for my vacation.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

So, if I understand it correctly, MS takes a credit card on file but does not at the time ensure that it's good and gives whoever is staying in the room a credit line of $1500 just based on the fact that it's a DVC reservation? In this day and age of techno fraud and hackers etc., I can't believe that the credit card wouldn't be verified.

 

[dianeschlicht]

So, if I understand it correctly, MS takes a credit card on file but does not at the time ensure that it's good and gives whoever is staying in the room a credit line of $1500 just based on the fact that it's a DVC reservation? In this day and age of techno fraud and hackers etc., I can't believe that the credit card wouldn't be verified.

Even if it was, the card owner could cancel the day before checking out, and Disney would be SOL!

 

[dcamdad]

And this is EXACTLY why I would NEVER rent out my points to anyone other than someone I know!

AMEN!

 

[JimMIA]

When the person checked out, they had $400 in incidentals that were not charged to a valid Credit Card. Now there is a hold on my account for banking and making new reservations.

How often do we tell people here that a rental transaction is a private transaction between the owner and the renter? Usually when we say that, we are cautioning the nervous prospective renter not to expect Disney to jump in the middle of a problem and help them.

Unfortunately, this case is the flip side of that coin. Sorry for your aggravation, but there is risk on both sides in any rental transaction.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Even if it was, the card owner could cancel the day before checking out, and Disney would be SOL!

and we really think that Disney would continue to be defrauded like this over and over and not change it's procedures! or that Disney is just content to shut out the owner until the bill is paid. DVC started in 1993-4 and if this were on on-going or growing problem, this perk (?) would have been stopped by Disney long ago! This seems rather unbelievable! Every business expects a certain amount of fraud but this is leaving the door wide open! and Disney's into it to make money! Personally I don't rent my points, frankly I never have enough but based on this I would never leave myself open to renting to people I didn't know.