Error when booking with borrowed points

[Bmlors]

Just a heads up for anyone who has a similar situation to mine. For the last week or so, I would get an error page (7 Dwarfs) when attempting to make an online DVC reservation. I couldn’t figure out a pattern or why and it wasn’t pressing, so I just ignored it. This morning I finally had something pop that I really wanted to reserve, so I called Member Services. The very helpful CM indicated that for the past several weeks, there is a system issue preventing booking for anyone with a resale contract trying to borrow points to make the booking. He wasn’t even able to borrow on his end — he had to put me on hold for awhile to contact someone else to shift the points around and then complete my reservation. He did not know when the issue might be resolved. He was great and my reservation was completed, but still not ideal to have to call just for a simple reservation.

So, if you own a resale contract and are planning to book with borrowed points, be aware that you’ll need to call until they get this resolved.

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks for sharing. Since the newest update a few days ago in which they changed things to let you use OTU and transferred points online, many members are experiencing issues.

Glad they figured it out for you!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Oh my! Glad you were able to get the reservation!

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I had this happen just tonight (hence my being on the disboards to see if it's happening to others). In my case, these are NOT resale points, but points purchased directly from Disney. I did the chat, and they advised me to call Member Services tomorrow. I agree with OP: it is a bit of a hassle to make a simple reservation. I'm only looking to borrow a few points.

 

[Wedgeout]

Good info. Hope they get their act together and realize resale owners are still deed owners with same booking rules.

 

[Sandisw]

Good info. Hope they get their act together and realize resale owners are still deed owners with same booking rules.

This is an IT issues and nothing to do with different owners, Many people with direct only parts are having the same issue.

 

[FinnFogg]

Argh! I just had this happen re a limited availability booking. I’ve been stalking an unavailable night in the middle middle of an existing booking and it suddenly popped up. Immediately tried to book it (with borrowed points) and got the seven dwarves. Room is gone now.

 

[Bmlors]

Room is gone now. ☹

One note on this problem -- I managed to hang onto my room until I was able to get on the phone. If you do the search and then select the room (so you're on the screen where you'd tell it to borrow points), it will "lock" the room for you. Just don't advance to the next screen (which is when you'd get the error). It will pop up a message about every 10 minutes asking if you're still there -- if you click that, it will keep the room locked for you. Otherwise, it will release it back to available. If you click the "Back" button on the page (not the browser back button) it will let you know that the room will be released and ask if this is okay. Once I got the CM on the phone, I had to explicitly release it so he could make the reservation.

This obviously would only be something you'd want to do for a short period of time, not overnight. But, yesterday I only had about an hour before the phones opened up, so I was able to keep it alive.

 

[Bmlors]

@FinnFogg -- also, you may want to double check the availability. After you got the dwarfs screen, that room probably showed as unavailable because you actually had it locked (not because someone else scored it). From what I divined in doing this over the past week, I think it locks the room you selected for about 15-20 minutes before it defaults it back to being available. So if you immediately do a new search after the dwarfs error, you won't see it available (because the system thinks you still have it in checkout). If you look in a half hour, it may be there again. Obviously if someone else jumps in right when it becomes available, then you're out of luck...

 

[Sandisw]

@FinnFogg -- also, you may want to double check the availability. After you got the dwarfs screen, that room probably showed as unavailable because you actually had it locked (not because someone else scored it). From what I divined in doing this over the past week, I think it locks the room you selected for about 15-20 minutes before it defaults it back to being available. So if you immediately do a new search after the dwarfs error, you won't see it available (because the system thinks you still have it in checkout). If you look in a half hour, it may be there again. Obviously if someone else jumps in right when it becomes available, then you're out of luck...

This has happened to me and when I logged out and back in it was there.

 

[FinnFogg]

@FinnFogg -- also, you may want to double check the availability. After you got the dwarfs screen, that room probably showed as unavailable because you actually had it locked (not because someone else scored it). From what I divined in doing this over the past week, I think it locks the room you selected for about 15-20 minutes before it defaults it back to being available. So if you immediately do a new search after the dwarfs error, you won't see it available (because the system thinks you still have it in checkout). If you look in a half hour, it may be there again. Obviously if someone else jumps in right when it becomes available, then you're out of luck...

Thanks! I checked again first thing this morning. The room was back and I was able to book it using borrowed points (I took them from a different contract number....so not sure whether that made a different or the problem is fixed).

 

[RoseGold]

I did the chat,

Wow! The chat is back?!

 

[Sandisw]

Wow! The chat is back?!

Its hit or miss. I’m on a few times a day and sometimes I get it and sometimes not. I think it depends on how busy they are.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Good info. Hope they get their act together and realize resale owners are still deed owners with same booking rules.

To be clear, this isn't just resale owners. I'm not a resale owner. I did end up having to call to book the reservation online, and the agent was not able to do it either. She had to get a supervisor to do it, and it took about half an hour to complete. I seemed to be related to borrowing points, but she didn't really give me an explanation.

I hope it won't be this hard when I go to modify the reservation when the 7-month window opens. I may just call right away, rather than waste minutes trying to do it online.

 

[Bmlors]

To be clear, this isn't just resale owners.

The CM must have been mis-informed when they told me it was just resale, as multiple people have now reported this against "normal" contracts. Let's hope they get this fixed soon...

 

[DebbieB]

I had the opposite problem. I couldn’t get a cancellation to go through on a reservation with borrowed direct points. Had to call and they took care of it, sending the 2021 back.

 

[msjprincess]

Do you know if it was all resales or just resales after the restrictions were put on resales? I'm a resale owner pre-restrictions. I'm just curious because i have a wait list that will need to borrow points if it comes through.

 

[Sandisw]

Do you know if it was all resales or just resales after the restrictions were put on resales? I'm a resale owner pre-restrictions. I'm just curious because i have a wait list that will need to borrow points if it comes through.

Honestly, people who have had trouble have had direct, and resale points, Its a glitch that is impacting some owners but not all.

I have had no issues with anything yet....though haven’t tried borrowing, but could do everything else since the changes and I did have transferred in points,

It doesn’t sound like this is done for specific contracts but rather something that happened when the updated the system for using OTU and transferred points.

 

[Bmlors]

Based on the comments here, it does seem to be an issue with borrowed points, regardless of resale contract or not. The CM who gave me that information must have been mis-informed.

 

[FinnFogg]

I have 3 resale contracts from the same. I can borrow from two of them without issue, but get the glitch with the third. Called yesterday as I needed to borrow from that contract. The cast member told me that all resale contracts now had to call to borrow points, and that has been the policy since they put on the restrictions. I told her that was clearly not the case, as I had jut borrowed from another resale contract re another booking the night before.