Just providing a little additional information that we may want to have available when DVC decides again that it may raise the points needed for studios and 1BRs year round while lowering 2BRs. While going through an old box, I found a couple documents I thought were long gone.
One is a Product Understanding Checklist given to purchasers at BWV dated in 1998. Even more than other documents mentioned in this thread, it appears to limit DVCMC's right to reallocate points only in response to seasonal demand not in response to differences in vacation home type demand:
"Each Vacation Home is assigned a nightly point value which varies depending upon the season of use, location and the size of the Vacation Home. The total number of Home Resort Vacation Points required to use all Vacation Homes during the entire Use Year will never change, but DVCMC reserves the right to change the number of Vacation Points required to reserve any specific night in a particular Vacation Home, based upon seasonal demand. The reallocation cannot exceed 20% per calendar year."
The second document is actually a Public Offering Statement filed by DVD with the State of Illinois from 1997 relating to BWV. It is a document given to purchasers in Illinois in late 1990s It has a section in which it sets out what is intended by section 3.3 of the DVC Membership Agreement, the one that deals with DVCMC's ability to reallocate points.That section in the Illinois POS states:
"Pursuant to paragraph 3.3 of the Membership Agreement, a certain number of Vacation Points have been or will be established by DVCMC in its sole discretion for the use of each type of Vacation Home during each Use Day, with variations that take into account , among other factors, anticipated seasonal and geographical demand factors and the related actual use demand of Club Members experienced by DVCMC in the operation of the Club.
"The total number of Vacation Points required to reserve all Vacation Home types during all Use Days in the condominium or any other DVC Resort associated with the Club must always equal, and be symbolic of, the total number of Ownership Interests owned by Club Members at the resort. In order to meet the Club Members’ needs and expectations as experienced by DVCMC during a given calendar year, DVCMC may in its sole discretion increase or decrease the Vacation Point requirements for reservation of a given Use Day within a given Vacation Home type at that DVC Resort during the given calendar year by any amount not to exceed twenty percent (20%) of the Vacation Points required to reserve that Use Day during the previous calendar year; provided however, that the total number of Vacation points existing within a given Vacation Home type and at that DVC Resort at any time may not be increased or decreased because of any such reallocation. The twenty percent (20%) reallocation limitation shall not apply to increases or decreases in Vacation Point reservation requirements relating to holidays which do not occur on the same Use Day each year.
"Any increase or decrease in the Vacation Point reservation requirement for a given Use Day pursuant to DVCMC’s right to make this Vacation Point reservation requirement must be offset by a corresponding decrease or increase for a comparable Use Day or Use Days."
Notice how this section, which provides that it applies to each and every DVC Resort, says DVCMC may increase or decrease the points required for a given Use Day for a “Vacation Home type” but such activity cannot change the total points within that given “Vacation Home type.” This appears to further confirm our belief that DVCMC cannot increase point requirements for studios or 1BRs while lowering point requirements for 2BRs.
Makes me wonder what documentation DVD may have filed in other states that may further support our position.
Drusba, thank you so much for posting this. It is a very important document. Please make photocopies of it, take pictures of it, and store it away in a safe. The day may come when it is a key piece of information in a court case. I would also encourage EVERYONE who still has and can locate their own closing documents to do the same, no matter when you bought and which resort. They literally might be worth their weight in gold at some point in the future.
I think it is VERY clear that the document you posted says they can NOT increase total points (increase lock-off premium, anyone?) and that ANY point reallocation that they make MUST be balanced within the SAME TYPE of unit by decreasing those other, same units, by an identical amount during different days or seasons.
There is no way Disney can get around this. Any claim that the 'checklist' is not the contract are erroneous. Yes, they are not 'The Contract' but they ARE part of the closing documents. They were used by Disney to make their sales. And that gives them validity and legal standing in a court of law. They become an 'implied contract.' Implied in official Disney writing. Also, the checklist is to help explain the contract, and the contract says the same thing!
So, Disney better be VERY careful, or here is what is going to happen:
1. Once a sufficient number of people get pissed off by Disney's actions, they are going to sue Disney.
2. They WILL be able to get it certified as a Class Action suit.
3. Disney will lose the case, because their own documentation is against them.
4. Disney will be slapped with fines.
5. Disney will need to make Restitution, not only for what is happening now, but going back to the very first changes they made (at SSR?) which violated this.
6. This Restitution will probably take the form of a specific amount of 'floating DVC points' which are given to each individual, depending on when they bought into DVC and how much they own. They might even be required to 'restore' those points to the people who actually owned the contracts at the time, so they can use them, even if those people no longer own DVC contracts. The Restitution Points will be 'floating points,' not attached to a particular use year, because they will have been accumulated over many years, so it will not be reasonable to require the owners to use them all up in one year. This means, among other things, that they can function as a collection of long term banked points.
7. All of this will cost Disney money and will give them a very black eye, as well as greatly harming current and future Direct Sales.
So, come on Disney, what will it be? Will you continue to go down the same reckless path that you have already started on, increasing points (especially lock-off premiums) willey-niley? Or will you take a look at some of the errors you have made and start to roll back some of those mistakes, to restore balance, and 'fix' the problems you have caused? If you don't do that, then in the end, YOU CANNOT WIN, because once it goes to court, and you lose, you WILL be required to 'make it good' for as far back as you have been violating the contracts, and restore the points you have taken egregiously.
