One4all voucher refused

myflipflops

I stayed in a well know Dublin hotel with my OH at the weekend for 2 nights. I have a one4all voucher card that i got as part of a bonus to avail of the tax free element so i wanted to use it. I got an information booklet with the card that listed everywhere in the country that accepts the voucher. The hotel was clearly listed and the info is in date. I choose the hotel over others solely on the basis on them taking this voucher.

When i went to settle the bill after checking out, a manager was called when i went to pay with the voucher and he said they couldnt take it becuase 'we don't have any way of scanning it and taking the money'. I pointed out that the hotel is clearly listed as accepting it but he gave a shrug of the shoulders, a curt 'sorry, there's nothing we can do' and then he walked off leaving the receptionist to deal with it. There was no point having a go at the poor girl who could do nothing so i paid the bill with my credit card and left seething.

The refusal of the card was bad enough (and a bit embarrasing) but the fact that the manager clearly walked off just so he didn't have to deal with any complaint i had really got to me. I have mailed the hotel stating my issues and i will contact the one4all people and inform them of the incident and suggest they remove the hotel for their booklet (although they state in the small print that they can't be reponsible for businesses not taking the card in individual incidents).

My question is this - should i complain or refer this to anyone else? The consumers association came to my mind. Basically, i made the point in my mail to the hotel that i choose to use them solely on the basis that they take this voucher. The fact that they then refuse to take it means that they are attracting business through false information which is not legal.

Any opinions or should i just leave it?

MagicMarker

What was the voucher worth?

egan007

I'd like to know the name of the Hotel so that I can avoid it. Slowly but surely those crap businesses will close.

Paulw

In my view, you should have contacted the hotel prior to booking, and made it clear that you planned to use the voucher. That would have given you the answer before you even got there.

But, their decision on the day was very unusual, especially how the manager dealt with it.

Possibly you should write to the hotel owners/management and explain your surprise, embarassmenet and situation with how you were dealt with.

whippet

I would be lean towards blaming the One4All people, i've had these vouchers refused at shops which were included in the brochure.

I'd imagine many places have opted out and One4All have not updated their database as it wouldn't be as attractive a sell then.

myflipflops

MagicMarker wrote: »

What was the voucher worth?

I don't see how that's relevant but it was enough to cover the cost of the stay.

egan007 wrote: »

I'd like to know the name of the Hotel so that I can avoid it. Slowly but surely those crap businesses will close.

I think the charter allows me to name it - it was the Temple Bar Hotel.

Paulw wrote: »

In my view, you should have contacted the hotel prior to booking, and made it clear that you planned to use the voucher. That would have given you the answer before you even got there.

This is something i was thinking myself but to be honest, i saw no need to ring them when they are on an official list of establishments that take these vouchers. I booked online in the first place so was never in phone contact with before i arrived. It's not like I cut a coupon out of the independent directory! As far as I'm aware, the tax incentive was added to the vouchers to get people out spending money. I gave up the cash equivalent to take it with tax-free being the incentive to me.

I have mailed them to get across my point so we'll see if i get a response.

smelltheglove

I would definitely take it further. It is about time people in this country started providing the service they are paid for. There are so many people looking for work yet large establishments choose to employ arrogant people with no interest in customer service.


It is high time for people to name and shame as much as possible but also alert others of those worth going to. The business should be going to companies who take pride in their customer service.

MagicMarker

pwhite587 wrote: »

I don't see how that's relevant but it was enough to cover the cost of the stay.

Well, if it's worth 99c then I'd say forget about it.

If you were looking for a free night in the hotel then I would have called to confirm first.

dahamsta

The OP shouldn't have to call and confirm if One4All was doing their job correctly. I'd make written complaints to both parties, stressing the dismissive attitude of the manager in the letter to the hotel. Address the latter to the company secretary, it has a better chance of bypassing the manager.

dade

the managers attitude sucked IMO. he should not have just walked off but should have stayed to resolve the matter, maybe offered to call All4One to validate the voucher or something.

i assume you paid in full before leaving? why would teh manager's attitude been i wornder if you had no cash on you to settle the bill

elainee40

Hey,

Must admit i work for a hotel group in ireland and our hotels were in the book ALL4ONE had out, but all4one were so bad at doing there side on the payments back to hotels we have stopped taken them.

I have nothing to do with Temple bar hotel.

But from personal experiance its happened to us in a large store and we were refused so i always ring ahead now to see if they take them and if they do get the persons name on other end of phone

calex71

a family member got some as a xmas bonus, and also couldnt use them in several places especially restaurants.

One place even had a sign on the door saying no one4all vouchers accepted.

there are plenty of places that do accept them but seems to be a bit of a lottery i think. I know argos and hmv take them but i dont think my dad would fancy blowing 200 on dvd's or some overpriced tat from argos

jor el

OP, you should take the issue back to One4All firstly, and pretty much demand a full refund from them for miss-selling the voucher. Also, write a letter to the management of the hotel (or group, if it's part of a group) and outline your issue, and how badly the manager behaved.

Vouchers are not cash, and a business doesn't really have to accept them, but One4All should have their list up to date, so they should be held mostly liable for this.

Lollipops23

the OP shouldn't have to ring ahead to confirm, he already made a point of checking the database before going.i would have refused to pay until the manager contacted one4all himself; they don't get to choose the method of payment when they clearly advertise they accept the vouchers(in the booklet and online).

the manager's attitude(even if he had been in the right) is riduculous, he obviously sucks ass at customer service.write to both one4all and the hotel, but i'd say the best you'd get out of it is a free night.

JohnC.

The hotel is part of the Tower Hotel Group (which is part of FBD) and Tower Hotel Group is listed on the site.

However, I wouldn't take that as meaning the list is up to date. One of the first things I happened to notice is a shop which closed in January 2008, yet is still on their list.

It looks like One4All are the culprits to me.

Photojoe

Do this.

1. Ring one 4 all, demand cash to the amount of the voucher. If they fail at this then just take them to the small claim court. You lose e20 doing this but make sure to bad mouth them here if they take it that far.

2. Complain to the hotel for their poor way of handling the matter. Instruct them that you will no longer stay with there.

myflipflops

MagicMarker wrote: »

If you were looking for a free night in the hotel then I would have called to confirm first.

I wasn't though, i was going to be staying somewhere anyone but figured I'd stay there and use the voucher. It's not really 'free' - the voucher was taken as part of my annual bonus in lieu of the cash (did anyone else avail of this scheme??). It is money/something i have earned.

dade wrote: »

i assume you paid in full before leaving? why would teh manager's attitude been i wornder if you had no cash on you to settle the bill

I did pay in full. I thought for a second about refusing but to be honest, I wasn't going to make a scene with my girlfriend there and I didn't want to start hassling the receptionist. I'll cost them enough business by spreading word that it is a much bigger issue from for them.

elainee40 wrote: »

Must admit i work for a hotel group in ireland and our hotels were in the book ALL4ONE had out, but all4one were so bad at doing there side on the payments back to hotels we have stopped taken them.

This is something i was thinking too so thanks for pointing it out.
The thing is though, the manager said that they were rightly listed as taking one4all vouchers but not the cards as 'we can't scan them'. I thought this was a bit of a joke (on top of his attitude) - they take the voucher form but not cards??!! one4 al will certainly be getting an e-mail too.

I appreciate all the advice/comments.

Also, I would point out that i had no issue withmy stay the hotel at all until i went to settle the bill. I had a missed call from them earlier when i was busy and they are ringing me back tomorrow so i will update.

wmpdd3

Loads of places take the vouchers but not the swipe cards. You need AIB to upgrade your pos terminal to accept the swipe card.

There really was no way the hotel could have taken the voucher, they have no way of even checking the balance.

I agree it's a really bad situation, but what could the hotel do, take the voucher and use it for stationary supplies?

Davy

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Loads of places take the vouchers but not the swipe cards. You need AIB to upgrade your pos terminal to accept the swipe card.

There really was no way the hotel could have taken the voucher, they have no way of even checking the balance.

I agree it's a really bad situation, but what could the hotel do, take the voucher and use it for stationary supplies?

Have a system to accept it in the first place, otherwise not be in the book saying they accept it

wmpdd3

I know your right, it's a far from perfect system.

Davy

And it doesn't help with a manager who doesn't really give a toss either. If they don't have a system to scan them, does this mean that every person who went to this hotel was refused them!

MysticalSoul

When I worked in a hotel (different group), we would only accept a certain number of rooms for vouchers per night, so is imperative at time of booking to ring the hotel informing them you have a voucher, and which type of voucher you have. That aside, the managers attitude sucked. I would suggest writing to both the hotel and One4all, and send any letters by registered post as well.

Lollipops23

where i work we accept the cards just like a debit card, swipe it in the terminal and it takes the amount off!they've been out for ages so they really should have upgraded their system accordingly by now.

Peckley

Hi OP,

I work in a hotel and we do accept the one4all gift cards, they are basically treated as a credit card and swiped through a credit card machine as normal as they have a Visa card number. I would email the hotel's GM or their group GM, if this fails I would contact someone in FBD head office. Something similar happened in our hotel over xmas because one of the receptionists didnt know what to do with the voucher, the guest contacted the hotel after her stay and we just refunded her credit card and charged the voucher instead.

myflipflops

Just to update.

I got a mail from the main front of house manager apologising to me. He had attempted to ring me personally but i was unable to take the call. He has offered to refund the money to my card and accept the voucher as payment. He stated that he understood my concerns and would be dealing with the staff issue.

Generally, a very satisfactory reaction from the hotel i must admit.

Cabaal

Paulw wrote: »

In my view, you should have contacted the hotel prior to booking, and made it clear that you planned to use the voucher. That would have given you the answer before you even got there.

Given the hotel is listed in the booklet I fail to see why a customer should need to do this, B&Q also accept these...you wouldn't ring them before visiting the store though because you shouldn''t have to

The hotel has clearly faltered on their agreement with the crowd who run all4one, very poor show

Cabaal

Photojoe wrote: »

Do this.

1. Ring one 4 all, demand cash to the amount of the voucher. If they fail at this then just take them to the small claim court. You lose e20 doing this but make sure to bad mouth them here if they take it that far.

All4One have done nothing wrong, OP you'd be incredibly stupid to follow this pointless advice...your problem is with the hotel

whippet

Cabaal wrote: »

All4One have done nothing wrong, OP you'd be incredibly stupid to follow this pointless advice...your problem is with the hotel

Not necessaraly, the hotel may have requested that they be removed from the list and One4All hadn't updated their records

Hagar

The moral of the story is "Money is real, vouchers are just paper".
In the current climate it is absolute madness to hand over cash for a voucher when the company issuing the voucher could fail leaving you holding a useless piece of paper.

ToxicPaddy

I had a chat with a guy in a shop about these vouchers before.. apparently there is a hefty charge on a business that uses them, something like 15% iirc.. maybe I'm wrong on the figure but I remember it being fairly large and as a result with the current climate and a lot of businesses suffering and having to drop prices, I can't imagine them being too willing to accept something thats going to probably cost them more in the long run.

Defo contact One4All about the voucher as at the end of the day, if they say a business is accepting their vouchers, its up to them to make sure the voucher is being accepted and valid
if businesses arent accepting them anymore then its up to them to update their customers.. Despite what other posters have said here, both All4One and the hotel are at fault, if they cant
get their system working, then why bother selling the vouchers in the first place. The only person that suffers in the end is the customer and both businesses come out looking bad.

In saying that I always find its a good idea to ring ahead anyway just to be sure and mention it when booking.

Tox

Paul S

Just to clarify - I work for a large company that use these One4Alls as reward schemes. We recently ran an event in the Temple Bar Hotel and they most definately accept the vouchers.
Now we did use printed vouchers as opposed to a card so I word strongly suggest contact8ing management and profess your annoyance about the manner in which the situation was handled and the enbarrassment that arose from it.




Then hope that they offer you a free night in the hotel as a result!