Ryanair Refusing Mastercard Prepay

Barnetbear · 19 July 2011 at 8:00PM

bertietrouble wrote: »

I can't explain this, sorry, as I have only ever used their Prepaid Mastercard to pay online in the UK. When abroad or for foreign purchases online I have a Zero credit and debit card. If you think you have been overcharged for a foreign cash withdrawal perhaps give them a call and ask them to explain why it is higher than their charges would indicate...

On my other thread, I'll post when I get their response.

Edited next day: All OK, it was just a temporary charge to allow for what they call "padding" due to rate fluctuations on the markets. I got a very good rate and the charges were back down to what I expected. All A1. See the other thread.

mhaddog · 20 July 2011 at 10:05AM

I just phoned Ryanair, and was told that they don't accept some prepaid mastercards. The call was then cut off (very spooky). I think Martin needs to update his advice.

AmitSharma · 24 July 2011 at 11:50PM

I think Ryanair were just having some issues with recognising prepaid mastercard cards and rather than admit that their payment recognition had a glitch, they have obviously been playing hide and seek. I work within prepaid and one of my clients advised that their prepaid mastercards weren't being accepted for free payments until recently. He did mention it was all sorted now - so it would be good to have some recent feedback of anyone tryin in the last couple of days?

travellerUK · 4 August 2011 at 1:38AM

I've got 8 MasterCard Prepaid cards from 5 different suppliers so far. All of them are experiencing same problem on Ryanair website - 'Payment Error'. After one or few attempts they are blocked and you have to wait.....until you can use them again. But this problem exists only if you booking a flight! You can try as many times as you've got patience and the result will be same. If you need to lift up your confidence you entering details correctly you can try to use same prepaid card on booking extra services - for example checked luggage and it works perfectly from first attempt and recognised as MP card!! On adding extra services admin fee is not calculated. So this contradicts to above comments about possible problems with card type identification from airline side or Ryanair blocking just certain suppliers. Any comments from professionals?

marywooyeah · 4 August 2011 at 1:46AM

ryanair are awful for this. I once paid with a debit card and it wouldnt recognise the card until I listed it as a credit card and suddenly it had no problems recognising it when it meant I had to pay the £4 or whatever it was fee.

dobby99 · 4 August 2011 at 12:43PM

just experienced same problem with Fairfx Pre-paid (I started a seperate log as didnt know this one had been started). Ryanair would only accept the card if I ticked the option of "Standard Card" (with associated fees). & rejected it if I correctly stated it was prepaid. If they just included fees in their advertised charges they wouldnt annoy their customers - just dont pretend that these are "optional" and then try your damndest to stop people using the "option".

ptillotson · 8 August 2011 at 10:26AM

It seems that Ryanair are not accepting the prepaid Mastercards because I have had a similar experience - I tried to make a booking on Saturday using a Freedom Eagle Cash Card (Mastercard) and the first attempt I received a message that said the payment had been declined. On the second attempt the payment was confirmed (according to the box which popped up) and I thought everything was OK. Today I have noticed that the reservation is status 'unconfirmed' and when I checked the reservation on the Ryanair site there was no record of it and when I rang Freedom to check the balance on the card I discovered no money had been taken from the card so I proceeded to make another booking (fortunately the price was unaltered) and again the prepaid Mastercard was declined. Rather than mess around with Ryanair because from previous experience I have discovered that phone calls to Ryanair Customer Services are rarely answered and when they are they cost a fortune in calling charges I decided to proceed with the booking using an ordinary Visa credit card and paying the £12 charge which went through no problem so that I now have a 'confirmed' reservation. I wonder whether Ryanair are conning us about the prepaid cards.

bertietrouble · 8 August 2011 at 12:17PM

ptillotson wrote: »

It seems that Ryanair are not accepting the prepaid Mastercards because I have had a similar experience - I tried to make a booking on Saturday using a Freedom Eagle Cash Card (Mastercard) and the first attempt I received a message that said the payment had been declined. On the second attempt the payment was confirmed (according to the box which popped up) and I thought everything was OK. Today I have noticed that the reservation is status 'unconfirmed' and when I checked the reservation on the Ryanair site there was no record of it and when I rang Freedom to check the balance on the card I discovered no money had been taken from the card so I proceeded to make another booking (fortunately the price was unaltered) and again the prepaid Mastercard was declined. Rather than mess around with Ryanair because from previous experience I have discovered that phone calls to Ryanair Customer Services are rarely answered and when they are they cost a fortune in calling charges I decided to proceed with the booking using an ordinary Visa credit card and paying the £12 charge which went through no problem so that I now have a 'confirmed' reservation. I wonder whether Ryanair are conning us about the prepaid cards.

Your experience mirrors mine,almost exactly. I made all the same attempts over a 3 days period, except I did try calling Customer Services when I had a payment pending that never turned into an actual booking. I was on hold for a ridiculous length of time, at great cost to me aswell as an abortive attempt to find help via their head office. I also had no choice but to give up and to incur their card charges by using my Visa.

I started this thread because I wanted to know if others were experiencing the same problems and it is clearly the case. I would strongly suggest anyone who has been denied the chance to use the advertised free method of payment contact Trading Standards and make a complaint. They were recently involved in an Air Passenger Rights Day at Stansted Airport, so it is at the front of their agenda. It is very easy and takes only a few minutes- (08454 04 05 06 Consumer Direct). Ryanair will only be forced to allow the fee-free method of payment if these underhand tactics are exposed. Trading Standards said they log complaints and if there are enough of them then they can build a strong case against them. Strength in numbers!

bertietrouble · 8 August 2011 at 12:19PM

marywooyeah wrote: »

ryanair are awful for this. I once paid with a debit card and it wouldnt recognise the card until I listed it as a credit card and suddenly it had no problems recognising it when it meant I had to pay the £4 or whatever it was fee.

You are not alone and it would be helpful if you make a complaint so that the situation changes- Add your voice to those that have done so with Trading Standards. It's quick and can only help. (08454 04 05 06 Consumer Direct)

marywooyeah · 9 August 2011 at 1:08PM

bertietrouble wrote: »

You are not alone and it would be helpful if you make a complaint so that the situation changes- Add your voice to those that have done so with Trading Standards. It's quick and can only help. (08454 04 05 06 Consumer Direct)

mine was about 4 years ago so too late to complain, I understand the charges have been held to be unfair on watchdog but not sure what steps are being taken to ensure companies can't charge them as yet.

Ryanair Refusing Mastercard Prepay

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