Charged £5.85 by Premier Inn to get a refund

HurriKane91

Premier Inn charged me twice for my room, once when I booked and then the day after the booking. I called up guest relations and they apologised and issued a refund. However, their phone number charges 13p per minute and I was on the call the 45 minutes. I asked for this charge to be refunded as it's not fair to get charged for a refund which was Premier Inn's mistake in the first place but was refused. Do I have any rights here? Seems absurd to be charged £5.85 for a £79 refund. 

Alderbank

Are you certain that the £5.85 was actually a fee for a £79 refund?

The listed numbers for each of their hotels is an 0333 number which is just an ordinary call, included in your minutes.
Guest support is similarly listed as 0333 003 8101 between 9am – 5pm from Monday to Friday.

Premier Inn also do have some premium rate numbers which presumably are available 24/7.
They say:
Calls to 0871 numbers cost 13p a minute plus any additional charges from your phone operator. Calls to 0333 numbers are charged at the national rate.

Could it be that the premium rate call was because you chose to call outside normal working hours?

sheramber

You must have used an 087 number which is a premium rate of 13 p per minute

https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/faq/cancelling-or-amending.html#:~:text=If you haven't received,call on 0333 003 8101.

How do I contact Premier Inn for a refund?

If you haven't received your refund within 15 working days, please give our reservations team a call on 0333 003 8101.

0333 is a local rate and may be included in a free calls bundle.

HurriKane91

HurriKane91 said:

Premier Inn charged me twice for my room, once when I booked and then the day after the booking. I called up guest relations and they apologised and issued a refund. However, their phone number charges 13p per minute and I was on the call the 45 minutes. I asked for this charge to be refunded as it's not fair to get charged for a refund which was Premier Inn's mistake in the first place but was refused. Do I have any rights here? Seems absurd to be charged £5.85 for a £79 refund. 

The £5.85 wasnt a fee, it was the total cost of the 45-minute phone call to get my money back. I called the premium rate number because that is the number the hotel gave me.

HurriKane91

Alderbank said:

Are you certain that the £5.85 was actually a fee for a £79 refund?

The listed numbers for each of their hotels is an 0333 number which is just an ordinary call, included in your minutes.
Guest support is similarly listed as 0333 003 8101 between 9am – 5pm from Monday to Friday.

Premier Inn also do have some premium rate numbers which presumably are available 24/7.
They say:
Calls to 0871 numbers cost 13p a minute plus any additional charges from your phone operator. Calls to 0333 numbers are charged at the national rate.

Could it be that the premium rate call was because you chose to call outside normal working hours?

The £5.85 wasnt a fee, it was the total cost of the 45-minute phone call to get my money back. I called the premium rate number because that is the number the hotel gave me.

eskbanker

HurriKane91 said:

HurriKane91 said:

Premier Inn charged me twice for my room, once when I booked and then the day after the booking. I called up guest relations and they apologised and issued a refund. However, their phone number charges 13p per minute and I was on the call the 45 minutes. I asked for this charge to be refunded as it's not fair to get charged for a refund which was Premier Inn's mistake in the first place but was refused. Do I have any rights here? Seems absurd to be charged £5.85 for a £79 refund. 

The £5.85 wasnt a fee, it was the total cost of the 45-minute phone call to get my money back. I called the premium rate number because that is the number the hotel gave me.

So you weren't really "Charged £5.85 by Premier Inn to get a refund", but paid that money to your phone provider as a result of choosing to call Premier Inn on a premium number, albeit one they'd supplied - was the cost of calling that number shown on the email (or however Premier communicated it to you)?

HurriKane91

sheramber said:

You must have used an 087 number which is a premium rate of 13 p per minute

w1ww.premierinn/gb/en/faq/cancelling-or-amending.html#:~:text=If%20you%20haven't%20received,call%20on%200333%20003%208101.

How do I contact Premier Inn for a refund?

If you haven't received your refund within 15 working days, please give our reservations team a call on 0333 003 8101.

0333 is a local rate and may be included in a free calls bundle.

I called the premium rate number because that is the number the hotel gave me. Now I feel even more scammed as there was a national rate number which I was not made aware of by the staff.

user1977

HurriKane91 said:

sheramber said:

You must have used an 087 number which is a premium rate of 13 p per minute

w1ww.premierinn/gb/en/faq/cancelling-or-amending.html#:~:text=If%20you%20haven't%20received,call%20on%200333%20003%208101.

How do I contact Premier Inn for a refund?

If you haven't received your refund within 15 working days, please give our reservations team a call on 0333 003 8101.

0333 is a local rate and may be included in a free calls bundle.

I called the premium rate number because that is the number the hotel gave me. Now I feel even more scammed as there was a national rate number which I was not made aware of by the staff.

You could have looked it up yourself. Or used a different method of communication.

HurriKane91

eskbanker said:

HurriKane91 said:

HurriKane91 said:

Premier Inn charged me twice for my room, once when I booked and then the day after the booking. I called up guest relations and they apologised and issued a refund. However, their phone number charges 13p per minute and I was on the call the 45 minutes. I asked for this charge to be refunded as it's not fair to get charged for a refund which was Premier Inn's mistake in the first place but was refused. Do I have any rights here? Seems absurd to be charged £5.85 for a £79 refund. 

The £5.85 wasnt a fee, it was the total cost of the 45-minute phone call to get my money back. I called the premium rate number because that is the number the hotel gave me.

So you weren't really "Charged £5.85 by Premier Inn to get a refund", but paid that money to your phone provider as a result of choosing to call Premier Inn on a premium number, albeit one they'd supplied - was the cost of calling that number shown on the email (or however Premier communicated it to you)?

Well I was, the cost of the call was £5.85, and the hotel didn't offer me a national rate number or an email. They made a mistake and because of that I have to pay out of pocket to get my money. Does that seem OK to you? 

A_Geordie

You may find the following regulation useful under the The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

Help-line charges over basic rate

41.—(1) Where a trader operates a telephone line for the purpose of consumers contacting the trader by telephone in relation to contracts entered into with the trader, a consumer contacting the trader must not be bound to pay more than the basic rate.

(2) If in those circumstances a consumer who contacts a trader in relation to a contract is bound to pay more than the basic rate, the contract is to be treated as providing for the trader to pay to the consumer any amount by which the charge paid by the consumer for the call is more than the basic rate.

There was a European Court of Justice case about 10 years ago that clarified the basic rate as being the cost of a normal telephone or mobile phone call and applied ever since.

Alderbank

The ECJ ruling above might well have been part of the reason why Premier Inns makes available a basic rate (0333) phone number for each of its hotels as well as for its guest support and reservations phone line (0333 003 8101).

The OP chose to contact the trader via a premium rate line but was not bound to do so because basic rate lines are published and available during office hours.