Premier Inn - Useless website!!

GillianY1

For 2 days I have been trying to reserve a room in Manchester (at the online Premier Saver rate of £39) however when I enter my card deatils and go through the bank security verification process, a error message comes up reading "Sorry, but your payment didnt work with this card. Please try again with a different card." I have now tried with 4 different cards, on 3 different PCs and even asked a family member to try booking it using their card details, however they are getting the same problem.
I have phoned Premier Inn customer service line on 4 occasions and have not had any help from the advisors. All they can ask is if my card is in date (which of course it is and I had already explained I tried 4 different cards!!) They then offer to book the room over the phone which will cost me £80 - why would I want to pay double the price of the cost advertised online when it is their website that is not working???
I really think their staff need better training to listen to customers and at least try to help as they all sound like they are reading from the same script! On 2 occasions I have been passed through to "someone else who can help" however the first time I was put through to a hotel answer machine and the second time I sat on hold for 15 minutes then eventually got fed up and hung the phone up!
I still have not managed to make a booking and cannot be bothered wasting my time with phoning customer service number again.
Then I tried to send a complaint using the contact us on their website but yet again another error message comes up and it does not send:mad::mad::mad:
has anyone else experienced problems with Premier Inn?

soothyerboots

Nope. Love 'em.

GillianY1

Not complaining about the hotels in general - I have stayed in them a few times, but I am complaining about their (lack of) customer service! Why can they not book me a room over the phone at the price advertised on the website if their website is at fault and not accepting payments?!?! Alternatively, why can they not pass me through to someone who can actually solve the problem with the website not accepting payment?!?!:mad::mad:

System

Either the whole payment system of the premier inn doesn't work and nobody can book online. Or you're doing something wrong. It's more likely to be the second thing to be honest

Optimist

If it is the verified by visa part then I had a similar problem. I found it was the security on my firefox browser the "adblock plus" add on to be precise not accepting it as valid. Try with another browser..

GillianY1

goater78 wrote: »

Either the whole payment system of the premier inn doesn't work and nobody can book online. Or you're doing something wrong. It's more likely to be the second thing to be honest

Can't be me doing something wrong when I asked someone else to try it on their pc with their card details and they too got the same message.

GillianY1

Optimist wrote: »

If it is the verified by visa part then I had a similar problem. I found it was the security on my firefox browser the "adblock plus" add on to be precise not accepting it as valid. Try with another browser..

Was using Internet Explorer. Managed to get past the Verified by Visa part but it was after that the message came up saying the payment could not be accepted and to try another card (which I tried another 3!)

hcb42

wrks fine for me.

I would safely say if it was a PI problem the techs would be all over it with their throughput!

kazzah60

I just had the same problem today on the Parcelfarce website - needed to get 5 parcels collected from one venue and delivered to 5 separate venues.
first two transactions went through fine
3rd one came back card payment declined use another card or contact your merchant

called barclaycard commercial ( 45 mins on phone- thank goodness for say not to870 website!)
they confirmed nothing wrong with details added, nothing wrong with card, not stopped by fraud department - they claimed it was parcelfarce website

not quite believing them, I tried the third transaction again -this time it went through
logged out, logged back in and tried 4th transaction - got the card declined message again

eventually I phoned and arranged the final two collections - but in all a job which should have take 10minutes took an hour and a half - clearly the parcel farce website doesn't like you trying more than 2 transactions in one sessoin - but also doesn't allow for multiple pick ups either ( well i couldn't find any information on them if it does)

very annoying !

fredsnail

We've had a similar problem to the OP - but it was because the card would be out of date by the time we stayed, we changed the card to one that would still be valid when we stayed and it went through fine.

GillianY1

Just wanted to give an update on the situation.

I still have no booking with Premier Inn (not that I want one now anyway after all the hassle, I will be taking my business elsewhere!) but I am about £200 out of pocket. I have had 2 payments taken from my bank account by Premier Inn, plus 2 payments taken from one of my visa cards plus another payment taken on another visa card. Phoned Premier Inn to ask how this has happened since I have no confirmation and they have also confirmed I do not have a booking. They are still claiming it is not their fault and I need to take it up with my card providers.

Completely and utterly useless - they now have £200 of my money and I am the one who has to make the effort to get it back when it is their mistake in the first place!!!!

The customer service is absolutely shocking and after being passed from the customer contact centre to the actual hotel I was trying to book, I asked the girl what their complaint procedure was and she said I had to phone back the customer service line!!!