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Credit: DisneyThere is nothing more magical than planning a vacation to Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort.
While some don’t enjoy the details, most Disney fans absolutely love to spend hours beforehand planning out their days, looking at new attractions and offerings, booking reservations for restaurants, selecting their favorite MagicBands for the entire family, and so much more.
However, just recently a Canton Ohio woman found herself in a heart-sinking situation when she discovered she had paid nearly $5,000 for a Disney vacation that was not valid.
Corey Doyle, her husband, and friends were planning a trip to Walt Disney World Resort. She elected to purchase extra points through Disney Vacation Club (DVC) so that the group could stay in a unit with multiple rooms rather than two separate rooms.
Doyle said she reached out in a DVC Facebook group looking to purchase extra points– which is common in the Disney timesharing program– and found someone with excellent references and reviews.
“The lady who replied wanted $21 a point, which is a little on the high side, and then [another seller] wanted $17 a point, which is still common, but on the lower side,” said Doyle via News 5 in Cleveland. “I looked them both up on the Facebook group, and she didn’t have anything, but he had a bunch of posts where he had rented out a few nights a day and there was a couple of people who had said like, ‘Hey, does anybody have references?’ And people had replied and said, ‘Oh yeah, I stayed with him and he was great,'” said Doyle. “He sent me other people saying like, ‘Oh, these people have stayed with me in that same group. You’re welcome to check in with them.’ So I checked in with four people who had either stayed with him or had upcoming stays with him. And everybody wrote back and said, ‘Oh, no, yeah, he’s great.'”
Doyle said that her bank actually declined the $4,726 transaction in Apple Pay, Cash App, and Zelle, flagging them as fraud, but eventually, she paid the entire amount in $500 increments through Apple Pay.
The seller told Doyle that once everything was paid in full, he’d send over a reservation number but that never happened.
“I’m new to this whole thing. So I didn’t know that it doesn’t cost someone who has DVC points, as their timeshare owner, it doesn’t cost them anything to make this reservation. But in my mind, I was thinking, ‘Oh no, he’s already invested something. I need to make sure I get him paid quickly,'” Doyle said.
Then, one of her references came back and had bad news to tell her: You need to start fighting to get your money back.
It turns out more than a dozen people have reported this seller for fraud and one family even made the trip all the way to Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii before finding out that the reservation number he had given them was fake.
News 5 did not share the name of the conman.
At this point, Doyle says she has not gotten her money back but has filed a police report. She said she has rebooked her Walt Disney World Resort vacation for $6,100.
“Like, I’m probably not getting my money back, but at least hopefully I’ll stop anybody else from giving him more money, hopefully,” said Doyle.
What do you think of this incident? Let us know in the comments!
Let the expert team at Academy Travel help you plan your next magical vacation to Disney World’s water parks, four theme parks — Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios — and the Disney Springs shopping and dining district! Or, how about a trip to Disneyland Resort to experience Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, as well as the Downtown Disney shopping and dining district!