DVC Exchange Fee. Who, how to pay?

[M&M]

OK I seem to recall that I'm supposed to pay the $95 exchange fee prior to my exchange week. Who do I pay and how do i go about it. This is the first time we've exchanged into DVC (we've rented before) and we got the exchange so long ago that I forgot the particulars.

Thanks For Any Help You Can Provide,
Mike

 

[sandcastles]

There will be a phone number for DVC on your confirmation from II. Just call this number and pay DVC.

 

[littlestar]

There's an 800 number on your II confirmation to pay it - it's DVC's Member Services Department. They can set up the dining plan for you if you want it (make priority seating reservations) and set up your Magical Express from the airport if you don't want to rent a car (you'll need to give them your flight numbers).

Have fun.

 

[Detailor]

OK I seem to recall that I'm supposed to pay the $95 exchange fee prior to my exchange week. Who do I pay and how do i go about it. This is the first time we've exchanged into DVC (we've rented before) and we got the exchange so long ago that I forgot the particulars.

Thanks For Any Help You Can Provide,
Mike

Mike,

From II exchange certificate language for a DVC...

"SURCHARGES (energy, accommodations/occupancy tax, bed tax or similar) ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OCCUPANT AND ARE PAYABLE DIRECTLY
TO THE RESORT. Surcharges are subject to change without notice.
A pre-paid, non-refundable 95 USD resort services fee, per unit is required. This fee covers the use of DVC Member Services for making advance dining
reservations, golf tee times and other vacation planning. For PAYMENT and inquires about other Disney programs, such as Disney’s Dining Plan and the Magical
Express airport transportation service,which must be reserved prior to arrival, call 800-800-9800 or 407-566-3800 and select option 3 for Member Services.
PAYMENT OF RESORT SERVICES FEE MUST BE RECEIVED NO LESS THAN 48 HOURS PRIOR TO ARRIVAL."

Dick Taylor

 

[timeos2]

Bring a wheelbarrow

You should pay it at the Disney Desk and use rolled pennies, or at least dollar bills, for this ripoff. Then make them count to be sure its right. Same with the Manhattan Clubs service fee. These unfair fees on exchange guests are a pox on timesharing and any resort or group endorsing them should be made to suffer in any way possible including low scores on comment cards. Or just avoid them altogether as it isn't worth the extra costs in most cases. There are plenty of great resorts out there that play by the rules unlike these two.

 

[M&M]

Thanks Everybody

I appreciate all of your help. I'm just glad that I remembered about this before we arrived there.

I gotta agree with the idea that this is a rip-off. A Member Services Fee even if we don't use Member Services. And I'm sure that the DVC Owner that deposited their points also paid their fees.

Oh well, I did know that I'd have to pay when I exchanged (i just forgot about paying in advance)

Mike

 

[rickandcindy23]

C'mon, John. The $95 fee includes free parking at all the Disney parks and boat/ bus transportation to all the parks from the resorts. No other resort does that. That is a plus for those who would rather not rent a car, especially people from other countries. There is always the Disney Dining Plan! :whoopie:

I think it is nicer to stay on property and we have enjoyed all of our Old Key West visits, but of course we found the bus service inconvenient. We only tried the bus once and waited for a good half hour at the MK (no benches at the bus stops) for the bus to take us back to our resort. We drove the rest of the time but had our annual passes, so the parking was free for us anyway. We would still stay with Disney, if we get another chance.

 

[timeos2]

You don't need to pay twice

But Cindy all of that is included in the owners fees already paid that you are trading into. If every resort was to pull the same thing then when you got there you would pay to use the pools while owners didn't, pay to use the parking lot while owners didn't, pay for front desk services, etc. It's already been paid for and comes with the trade. Thats the whole concept behind timeshare exchanging - more so than even a week for week system is. The resorts that don't care to follow the standards and the rules as specified by both RCI and II (although waived by II in the DVC case wink wink) should not be allowed to take part in the systems. Its closer to a rental, which is now the most likely outcome for all exchanges anyway thanks in part to this type of nonsense, than a trade if you have fees and mandatory costs piled on your "prepaid" use. Throw them out. Can you say ripoff?

 

[AwayWeGo]

Rental, Shmentle.

Its closer to a rental, which is now the most likely outcome for all exchanges anyway thanks in part to this type of nonsense, than a trade if you have fees and mandatory costs piled on your "prepaid" use. Throw them out. Can you say ripoff?

Rental is no excuse to pile on those bogus timeshare fees. Shucks, whenever I rent out my (non-DVC) timeshare to somebody, my renter is entitled to absolutely everything whatsoever that I'm entitled to as an owner (because I've already paid for it), without having to pay any extra on the flimsy excuse that the renter is only a renter & not an owner.

Once my time is paid for, it's paid for -- period, end of story, case closed. I might use my time myself, rent it out to somebody else, or deposit it with RCI or some other company for potential exchange into somebody else's timeshare. None of that is any concern of the timeshare resort, & none of it is an excuse to pile on more bogus fees. Whoever makes an appropriate, legal arrangement to use my paid-for time -- me, a member of my family, my renter, or an exchange guest who gets his or her reservation via the timeshare-company where I deposit my paid-for timeshare week -- whoever that is should get everything I've paid for. Otherwise, not only is the exchange guest or my renter getting ripped off, so am I.

The situation outlined in this discussion is grounds enough for me never to buy into DVC or ever to affiliate with any timeshare exchange company that lets DVC get away with that. (Then again, in view of my modest non-DVC timeshare portfolio, that's like my saying I'll never-ever drive a Rolls Royce, never-ever wear a Rolex watch, never-ever shop on Rodeo Drive, etc. So it goes.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[sandcastles]

I am a DVC owner and I also trade in to DVC twice a year.

Do I like the $95 charge? No. But I have the choice not to trade into DVC if I don't want to pay it. No one is forcing me to.

 

[littlestar]

Yeah, but other timeshares don't have a Member Services department that makes your priority seating arrangements and schedules your Magical Express from the airport, etc. Those people have got to be paid a wage, don't they? I figure if you hate the fee, don't trade into Disney at Walt Disneyworld. It's pretty simple. Trade into another timeshare and stay where they don't have a member services department.

I don't like the fee, but hey, I figure those people don't work for free. I wouldn't.

 

[timeos2]

I am a DVC owner and I also trade in to DVC twice a year.

Do I like the $95 charge? No. But I have the choice not to trade into DVC if I don't want to pay it. No one is forcing me to.

You're ignoring the point. If you trade out of DVC to resort XXX you would be charged the exchange penalty fee based on the actions of DVC. And your'e accepting a policy that you as an owner should be challenging not quietly accepting. Oops, forgot. You don't own DVC you lease for XX years. Now this may actually be a contract of adhesion as has been thrown about regarding RCI. Unlike the RCI case where there are plenty of other companies to use to get the same resorts with II and DVC there is only one and they force the unwitting exchanger to pay a fee or lose the exchange. Adhesion! Adhesion! Where are the class action shysters when we could actually use them?

Best advice is to ignore DVC for trade. RCI walked away - you can too. (That may be why to this day I respect RCI despite all the trash they pull. They stood up to DVC even if it meant losing the account in their wishbook. II got them but at a terrible cost. It opened the floodgate for sweetheart deals to all sorts of brands that has now neutered the paying II member as all the sweetheart deals getpriority) Rent it if you must or just go elsewhere.

 

[timeos2]

Yeah, but other timeshares don't have a Member Services department that makes your priority seating arrangements and schedules your Magical Express from the airport, etc. Those people have got to be paid a wage, don't they? I figure if you hate the fee, don't trade into Disney at Walt Disneyworld. It's pretty simple. Trade into another timeshare and stay where they don't have a member services department.

I don't like the fee, but hey, I figure those people don't work for free. I wouldn't.

But, again, those features are already PAID FOR through the owners, sorry, lessors annual fees (they aren't high enough to cover that?) It is a double dip - benefiting only Disney as the lessors get no rebate on their fees. It is not fair and no amount of spin makes it so. Timeshare weasels have nothing on the language of Disney Speak when it comes to twisting facts to their advantage.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Disney Double Dipping.

Yeah, but other timeshares don't have a Member Services department that makes your priority seating arrangements and schedules your Magical Express from the airport, etc. Those people have got to be paid a wage, don't they? I figure if you hate the fee, don't trade into Disney at Walt Disneyworld. It's pretty simple. Trade into another timeshare and stay where they don't have a member services department.

I don't like the fee, but hey, I figure those people don't work for free. I wouldn't.

That's the point -- those people have already been paid, by the fee-paying DVC owners. It costs DVC no more for the service staff to do their thing on behalf of exchangers who show up & use the services than for those Member Services people to do what they do for the owners who show up. All costs -- all -- are covered by the payment of the DVC members' mandatory annual fees. By charging for some of those costs all over again when an exchanger shows up & checks in, DVC is double dipping. Shame on them. Shame on I-I. Boo. Hiss.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[sandcastles]

John,
I don't understand your post. I don't know what point I am ignoring. If it is worth $95 to an exchanger to stay at DVC, pay the fee. If it is not, go elsewhere. I have no intention of ever trading my DVC.

As far as the right-to-use, I'm not going to be around in 50 years. Even if I were, I wonder what kind of condition most of the TS we own are going to be in 50 years from now.

 

[Detailor]

Yeah, but other timeshares don't have a Member Services department that makes your priority seating arrangements and schedules your Magical Express from the airport, etc. Those people have got to be paid a wage, don't they? I figure if you hate the fee, don't trade into Disney at Walt Disneyworld. It's pretty simple. Trade into another timeshare and stay where they don't have a member services department.

I don't like the fee, but hey, I figure those people don't work for free. I wouldn't.

But, again, those features are already PAID FOR through the owners, sorry, lessors annual fees (they aren't high enough to cover that?) It is a double dip - benefiting only Disney as the lessors get no rebate on their fees. It is not fair and no amount of spin makes it so. Timeshare weasels have nothing on the language of Disney Speak when it comes to twisting facts to their advantage.

That's the point -- those people have already been paid, by the fee-paying DVC owners. It costs DVC no more for the service staff to do their thing on behalf of exchangers who show up & use the services than for those Member Services people to do what they do for the owners who show up. All costs -- all -- are covered by the payment of the DVC members' mandatory annual fees. By charging for some of those costs all over again when an exchanger shows up & checks in, DVC is double dipping. Shame on them. Shame on I-I. Boo. Hiss.

John and Alan are absolutely correct about the idea that the member services people aren't simply paid from the collection of $95 fees. Those fees add to the DVC profit margin. Remember, these people work in the member services department - service for DVC members. The little bit of work that they do for exchanges has to be marginal at best.
But then no one should be surprised that a Disney subisidary would be trying to add to the bottom line. $10 to park in a big asphalt field before even getting to a theme park! Is that 'fair?' Didn't we already pay a lot of money for tickets? How is any of this justified? Well, Disney obviously operates under the assumption that their products are valued and have value for people. And the people who buy the theme park tickets agree and simply accept the parking fees. So do the people who choose to exchange into a DVC. Some accept it, some resent it, some choose not to exchange into DVC but complain about it anyway. Is it fair? It is if Disney guessed right that people want to experience their DVC product without buying it. So far it seems that Disney guessed right.

Dick Taylor

 

[timeos2]

John,
I don't understand your post. I don't know what point I am ignoring. If it is worth $95 to an exchanger to stay at DVC, pay the fee. If it is not, go elsewhere. I have no intention of ever trading my DVC.

As far as the right-to-use, I'm not going to be around in 50 years. Even if I were, I wonder what kind of condition most of the TS we own are going to be in 50 years from now.

June - At most any other resort group as an owner you would not be expected to pay fees that only apply to exchange guests. What are you using to trade in?

 

[sandcastles]

I use my Foxrun week and then the A/C I get for depositing it. My other II weeks also see DVC but I will not trade them.

 

[gmarine]

I dont typically agree with resorts charging exchangers extra fees. And I dont necessarily agree with DVC doing it, but anytime I get an exchange to DVC I will gladly pay the fee because of the extras provided. They are simply better resorts and it is more cost effective to pay the fee than not.

The exchanger gains more by paying the extra fee than by simply exchanging into another resort to save the fee. Free parking in all the parks, transportation to/from all the parks and resorts as well as free roundtrip transportation from the airport to the resort. That alone is worth more than $95.
Then you have extra magic hours as well.

No other resort in Orlando provides the quality or the extras that DVC does.
For me the $95 fee is well worth the extras provided.

 

[gjw007]

An interesting discussion but at the end of the day, it is an unfair fee. Anybody staying at a Disney resort gets free parking at the the theme parks. Anybody staying at Disney resorts gets free transportation although my experience has been that it is better, depending on the resort and the theme park that you are going to, to use my my car. Anybody staying at Disney gets the Magical service from the airport. These hardly seems to be an added benefits as they are already available to any Disney guests and the DVC member has already paid for these services. Members services are already paid by the owners (in this case, it would include me as I am an owner) and doesn't have any real additional costs to Disney for exchangers. The reality is that Disney charges it because it can - people want to stay at DVC. If other resorts thought they could, they would. I believe that the Manhatten Club also charges an additional fee. If you don't want to stay there, don't pay the fee but the reality is that most people will pay the fee because they do want to stay on Disney property and the fee is small enough that although they may complain about it, they will pay the fee.

 

[gmarine]

To me its different from resorts that make exchangers pay for energy or parking. The vast majority of resorts have free parking and dont charge extra for utilities.
I dont know of any other resorts where transportation to/from the airport and free parking at theme parks is provided.

Those paying to stay on Disney property arent getting anything for free. They are paying for it in their room rates.

Want to rent the two bedroom Old Key West unit I just traded into? Break out the wallet and part with $4000. For less than $14 a day I get free parking,transportation and extra magic hours. Not a bad deal.

 

[timeos2]

Believe me If there was a way to enforce it any DVC exchange that came into one of my resorts would be hit with special fees. Fair is fair and DVC is the bully in this play. I actually sold my long term DVC lease back in the days of the free park passes, another perk they played big time games with, and the first time these fees reared their ugly head as I knew it wasn't in the spirit of the timeshare exchange. And to their credit RCI stood up for the exchanger at that time. That was one of the major factors in DVC switching to the clearly inferior II system. It clearly violates the rules of both RCI and II that every other resort/group had to honor. Of course once they got away with it others followed. You want to know why timeshare week for week exchanges are now on the endangered list look no farther than the DVC mess. It soured my view of Disney overall as it exposed the crass underbelly of what they want to portray as a fun, benevolent company. It may have been that when Walt was alive but today its Microsoft with much better PR. They are out for themselves and the rest of the world be hanged. I can't stay far enough away from the whole organization now. Read the insider books if you need to know more. The Mafia thought less of themselves than the recent Disney upper management.

 

[gmarine]

Do any other Orlando resorts provide free transportation to/from all the parks and resorts, free transportation to/from the airport and access to extra magic hours? The answer is no.

So there are no other resorts that are on equal terms. You are getting extra perks by trading into DVC. Why shouldnt you have to pay for them?

If your Orlando resort wants to charge DVC exchangers an extra fee, then to be fair your resort should provide the same perks. But then again, the perks would cost far more than $95.

Like I said previously, I'm not in favor of extra fees for exchangers. But in this case, DVC provides extras that other resorts dont.

Hey John, your soured on Disney? When are you sellling your Westgate week

 

[timeos2]

You have to think this through. It is paid already

Do any other Orlando resorts provide free transportation to/from all the parks and resorts, free transportation to/from the airport and access to extra magic hours? The answer is no.

So there are no other resorts that are on equal terms. You are getting extra perks by trading into DVC. Why shouldnt you have to pay for them?

If your Orlando resort wants to charge DVC exchangers an extra fee, then to be fair your resort should provide the same perks. But then again, the perks would cost far more than $95.

I really hate to keep repeating, and others have pointed it out as well, but it keeps being ignored. The fees have been PAID by the long term lease holders - thats why they pay $1000 or more a year if they own many points in the system - to charge anyone AGAIN is double dipping and unfair. It is part of the exchange not an add on. Period. End of story. Why can't DVC owners understand that? It is pure profit for DVC to charge it yet again to exchange guests. And that is unjustifiable and wrong.

 

[Carl D]

I really hate to keep repeating, and others have pointed it out as well, but it keeps being ignored. The fees have been PAID by the long term lease holders - thats why they pay $1000 or more a year if they own many points in the system - to charge anyone AGAIN is double dipping and unfair. It is part of the exchange not an add on. Period. End of story. Why can't DVC owners understand that? It is pure profit for DVC to charge it yet again to exchange guests. And that is unjustifiable and wrong.

John, does CP have any benefits for owners that exchangers are charged for? I'm not sure about CP, but other resorts do.
Please don't give me that mandatory vs. optional charge excuse. The optional stuff is still completely paid for by owners, and is purely extra revenue from exchangers.