Member Services Breaking 11 Month Rule!

[EM Lawrence]

At this point it feels like they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and put the cookie back. It is frustrating because they need to come clean about what caused this and not just say it was a “glitch.” We are not unintelligent, and should not be treated as such.

The appearance of impropriety on their part can be just as damaging as actual impropriety.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So, either ineptitude in loading inventory or caught.
Awesome.

 

[twinklebug]

So, either ineptitude in loading inventory or caught.
Awesome.

LOL, either way it's on them.

I am confident it was no mistake and the only ineptitude was that of the person, or group, that was doing it underestimating how observant and stubborn members are.

We saw this coming back in early September as someone was playing around in the system practicing their blocks and then releasing.

Shame on MS for treating anyone as the fool. We have a very intelligent bunch of owners here.

 

[pangyal]

So...I just called back to MS and asked to be transferred to a supervisor, saying I’d been accidentally cut off and hadn’t caught her name (oops). They agreed to transfer me to one.

I spoke with a very nice lady who told me that she knew exactly why I lost my CL studio. It was because DVC is required to keep a certain percentage of rooms for cash booking. I asked if this was for more than eleven months out. She said yes, they are required to and that’s why my studio stopped being available. I really had no words for this, so I thanked her for finally illuminating the situation for me and ended the call.

I wonder what other amazing things each of us will be told on our other respective phone calls!

 

[JETSDAD]

So I did get a call from Terri's office. At first the lady tried to say that they hadn't received any other reports of this until I mentioned that I knew that a number of other emails had also been sent in the past couple of days and that at least 2 people had received calls in which availbilty was found even though it didn't show online. Her response was....Oh. I mentioned the details of my situation and that we had seen it happening at various resorts....that the only way that rooms could be blocked as they were would be from DVC booking ahead of 11 months which is against the POS. She never denied but also wouldn't confirm.

Unfortunately, and as expected, there was no way to get a CL studio for my dates. She asked if there was something she could do to help. I said that what I would really like would be for them to admit to pulling rooms early and to not do it anymore. She said she would take it back to Terri and they would look into it. She also said that she knew she wouldn't be able to meet the first half of my request but that I shouldn't see that happening again in the future.

There was more to it but that's the conversation in a nutshell. I appreciated that she didn't try to claim that someone had just beat me to the rooms and that hopefully it wouldn't happen again (I assume it will but they may hide it better).

 

[JETSDAD]

I just got my call from a supervisor at MS. Unfortunately, I seem to have gotten the bottom of the barrel in this regard. She insisted that I was "confused" about how booking works and why I was not able to move my reservation at AKL CL from the 26th forward when I had up to the 28th. She kept telling me that somebody else had just moved their reservation forward and taken that room after the 28th. I even tried to give her an analogy about a highway with five lanes, one for each studio, and how each car could only keep moving forward in their own lane. She suggested I try their waitlist and perhaps read up on how to use my membership if I was experiencing issues with booking the rooms I want. Seriously?

ETA: I am still waiting for a response to the email I sent last night. I realize it might be a few days. This call was very discouraging as she put the blame on my shoulders and essentially told me that I was unaware of how to use my points to book using their system.

When I had my call from Terri's office I also mentioned that it was inappropriate for MS to be putting the blame on members and claiming that it was their fault when in fact it was DVC pulling rooms for cash bookings that were blocking legitimate reservations.

 

[Sandisw]

At this point it feels like they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and put the cookie back. It is frustrating because they need to come clean about what caused this and not just say it was a “glitch.” We are not unintelligent, and should not be treated as such.

The appearance of impropriety on their part can be just as damaging as actual impropriety.

Also try to remember that outside of our small little bubble here, the majority of DVC owners probably don’t even realize it is an issue.

While it is happening, it really is only a few rooms, and mostly high interest rooms in that so if one isn’t doing such in-depth watching as we are, info being put out could cause more confusion,

I agree that something is going on and those of us, regardless of how few, have caught it, they now know it has to get fixed.

 

[Gherdlitcka]

I had this issue yesterday. I was checking available at CCV 2 bedroom and everything was unavailable. Including the Cabins. I could believe it, since I checked availability 2 days prior and all was good to go. Im not into playing games. My 11 month widow opens in a October. I’m not worried about the first weekend, but I wold like the second weekend.

 

[JETSDAD]

Also try to remember that outside of our small little bubble here, the majority of DVC owners probably don’t even realize it is an issue.

While it is happening, it really is only a few rooms, and mostly high interest rooms in that so if one isn’t doing such in-depth watching as we are, info being put out could cause more confusion,

I agree that something is going on and those of us, regardless of how few, have caught it, they now know it has to get fixed.

I think normally it's a small amount of rooms or in categories that are large enough that we just don't see it. Pull a few Lakeview Studios at BLT on some random dates and nobody will know. Right now I think they've pulled a lot of rooms across many more categories than normal because it's the 50th and they don't have all the hotel side rooms available that they normally would. Mix that with some high demand from owners and we see the pulled rooms in many more categories.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So...I just called back to MS and asked to be transferred to a supervisor, saying I’d been accidentally cut off and hadn’t caught her name (oops). They agreed to transfer me to one.

I spoke with a very nice lady who told me that she knew exactly why I lost my CL studio. It was because DVC is required to keep a certain percentage of rooms for cash booking. I asked if this was for more than eleven months out. She said yes, they are required to and that’s why my studio stopped being available. I really had no words for this, so I thanked her for finally illuminating the situation for me and ended the call.

I wonder what other amazing things each of us will be told on our other respective phone calls!

That's an incredible untruth. Maybe now email and request documentation for this requirement.

 

[heapmaster]

When I had my call from Terri's office I also mentioned that it was inappropriate for MS to be putting the blame on members and claiming that it was their fault when in fact it was DVC pulling rooms for cash bookings that were blocking legitimate reservations.

I agree, and that would mean they are pulling every room possible for it to be not available in the RAT, vs just a couple of rooms their are allowed with their own points and beyond the 11 month window at that.

 

[Sandisw]

I think normally it's a small amount of rooms or in categories that are large enough that we just don't see it. Pull a few Lakeview Studios at BLT on some random dates and nobody will know. Right now I think they've pulled a lot of rooms across many more categories than normal because it's the 50th and they don't have all the hotel side rooms available that they normally would. Mix that with some high demand from owners and we see the pulled rooms in many more categories.

I will say that in reading over the POS of being able to pull for breakage by anticipating, it is possible why something like a cabin or GV could get pulled as those are almost always available.

September isn’t usually a busy time...it starts October..so that could be why we see rooms other than normal,

But, I have been monitoring daily, and honestly, it isn’t very many rooms this is happening to. I just checked now, and nothing has holes.

Here is another thought. People can trade out for cruises and things more than 11 months out...would that allow DVCM to pull things for that too? Those would not be DVD owned points so it wouldn’t be violating the rule.

 

[JETSDAD]

I will say that in reading over the POS of being able to pull for breakage by anticipating, it is possible why something like a cabin or GV could get pulled as those are almost always available.

September isn’t usually a busy time...it starts October..so that could be why we see rooms other than normal,

But, I have been monitoring daily, and honestly, it isn’t very many rooms this is happening to. I just checked now, and nothing has holes.

Here is another thought. People can trade out for cruises and things more than 11 months out...would that allow DVCM to pull things for that too? Those would not be DVD owned points so it wouldn’t be violating the rule.

The 27th-28th seem to be where a lot of the reservations got blocked and showed holes. Once we hit those dates we can't see holes because it can appear to be legitimate bookings. Reports and screenshots I've seen include AKV Club, VGF Lakeview, BLT standard 1BR, BLT Lakeview Studio, BLT 2 BR (not sure category), CCV studio and Cabin, and others (I'd have to go back through a bunch of FB posts to find all of them).

The points traded out I've assumed would be treated like any other points because they're essentially using that person's points in exchange for the cruise or whatever other trade it is. I haven't found anything in what I've read that outlines how they're handled though.

 

[Sandisw]

The 27th-28th seem to be where a lot of the reservations got blocked and showed holes. Once we hit those dates we can't see holes because it can appear to be legitimate bookings. Reports and screenshots I've seen include AKV Club, VGF Lakeview, BLT standard 1BR, BLT Lakeview Studio, BLT 2 BR (not sure category), CCV studio and Cabin, and others (I'd have to go back through a bunch of FB posts to find all of them).

The points traded out I've assumed would be treated like any other points because they're essentially using that person's points in exchange for the cruise or whatever other trade it is. I haven't found anything in what I've read that outlines how they're handled though.

I can’t find it either but if they allow members to book the collections more than 11 months out, then it may mean they get to take rooms associated with those points out of service ahead of time.

Its this clause that is giving me pause because the managing entity is DVCM, and the points that are subject to the 11 month rule are DVD owned points,

I am just not sure what this specific clause allows them to do because I thought it was breakage and it is not:

 

[pangyal]

That's an incredible untruth. Maybe now email and request documentation for this requirement.

Of course all I could do was to roll my eyes to myself and nod and smile over the phone at the supervisor who told me that. When I get my reply from Terri’s office, I plan to mention this little tidbit first and foremost.

 

[Catherine S]

I will say that in reading over the POS of being able to pull for breakage by anticipating, it is possible why something like a cabin or GV could get pulled as those are almost always available.

September isn’t usually a busy time...it starts October..so that could be why we see rooms other than normal,

But, I have been monitoring daily, and honestly, it isn’t very many rooms this is happening to. I just checked now, and nothing has holes.

Here is another thought. People can trade out for cruises and things more than 11 months out...would that allow DVCM to pull things for that too? Those would not be DVD owned points so it wouldn’t be violating the rule.

The issue with your method is that you couldn’t see the hole if you didn’t have the reservation booked. The holes were showing for people who had a reservation, tried to modify it and were then blocked from adding more days. This happened to me with both a BLT standard view 1br and lake view 1br. I had both room types booked at the 11 month mark and couldn’t go past the night of the 28th.

 

[Sandisw]

The issue with your method is that you couldn’t see the hole if you didn’t have the reservation booked. The holes were showing for people who had a reservation, tried to modify it and were then blocked from adding more days. This happened to me with both a BLT standard view 1br and lake view 1br. I had both room types booked at the 11 month mark and couldn’t go past the night of the 28th.

I could see the holes because I did have a September trip booked and went in to see what was available for the future.

I could not get past for my RIV SV but I also checked more rooms sizes too.

But, you don’t have to actually have the rooms booked to see what is and is not there when we are talking about holes.

I just wanted to point out that i got to thinking of valid reasons why they could pull things more than 11 months out and the booking of cruises and ABD came to mind because I don’t think there is anything that requires them to wait to pull rooms traded out.

I think the strange piece is these rooms are only gone a day or two and coming back. The two rooms you had issue with are available for the days you could not get and the only day now booked is the 29th, which would be with walking.

So, it does not seem to make sense the they book them ahead of the 11 month only to put them back. It’s just very weird.

 

[JETSDAD]

I could see the holes because I did have a September trip booked and went in to see what was available for the future.

I could not get past for my RIV SV but I also checked more rooms sizes too.

But, you don’t have to actually have the rooms booked to see what is and is not there when we are talking about holes.

I just wanted to point out that i got to thinking of valid reasons why they could pull things more than 11 months out and the booking of cruises and ABD came to mind because I don’t think there is anything that requires them to wait to pull rooms traded out.

I think the strange piece is these rooms are only gone a day or two and coming back. The two rooms you had issue with are available for the days you could not get and the only day now booked is the 29th, which would be with walking.

So, it does not seem to make sense the they book them ahead of the 11 month only to put them back. It’s just very weird.

Them returning may not be the rooms that DVC set aside....people walking reservations would be releasing dates as they go by (or people may have just dropped the reservation). Not every room in the category would have been booked by DVC. I'm not saying that it isn't possible, just that it's not the only explanation for rooms showing back up. In a category like CL studios I've yet to see the days of the 28-29th show back up but if they are being walked that could be coming yet.

 

[Sandisw]

Them returning may not be the rooms that DVC set aside....people walking reservations would be releasing dates as they go by (or people may have just dropped the reservation). Not every room in the category would have been booked by DVC. I'm not saying that it isn't possible, just that it's not the only explanation for rooms showing back up. In a category like CL studios I've yet to see the days of the 28-29th show back up but if they are being walked that could be coming yet.

But, when rooms are booked before anyone should be able to book them, then it indicates to me that DVC took the bulk, if not all of them out because if it was just a few, other than for things like CL where there are like 5, we would not see it.

Some of the rooms I have monitored have them showing up back before it would appear people are changing...like 10 or 11 pm.

I dont think they are pulling them to keep them out of booking and moving for cash. But. I think something in the system has been set up to block walking.

 

[JETSDAD]

But, when rooms are booked before anyone should be able to book them, then it indicates to me that DVC took the bulk, if not all of them out because if it was just a few, other than for things like CL where there are like 5, we would not see it.

Some of the rooms I have monitored have them showing up back before it would appear people are changing...like 10 or 11 pm.

I dont think they are pulling them to keep them out of booking and moving for cash. But. I think something in the system has been set up to block walking.

I personally don't think it has anything to do with walking. Many of the categories that we've seen the issue with surrounding the 50th aren't typically walked....and those that often are walked aren't being blocked. I'm not too concerned about losing my CL Studio that I was limited to 3 days at 11 months because I still have my Value Studio that I actually did walk.