Does anyone know...

Can't you speak to them at the Premier Inn and explain the mistake so they can cancel it for you soop?

The other way (and I'm only describing this, not recommending it) is to go along on the second arranged date, then next morning sail up to the desk saying you've never been so appalled at the standards and you refuse to pay. I know someone who had the cheek to do this at a Premier Inn near Windsor, and they got away with it!

The trouble is, soop's already paid, so it would be a lot of faffing about to get a refund as well as keeping up the pretence!
Anyway, I'm sure soop and Mr soop are far too honest....

I do sympathise - we have lost so much money over the years cancelling "non-refundable" bookings. Was it a £29 deal or a more expensive one? If the former, I'd say chalk it up to experience if the latter - is there no way you could use it/offer it to family/friends? You could try flinging yoourselves on therirmercy - poor old dear/confused and bewildered .com/poor health - nothing to lose!!

I think you have to throw yourselves on their mercy soop. Surely customer services will see this type of mistake happen frequently with online bookings? Good luck!

(The person who complained in Windsor didn't do an online booking - he just turned up there in the afternoon but would have presented his card when signing in).

I did the same with a Travel Lodge booking - I thought I was booking an hotel in the country and it turned out to be right in the heart of Hull. I explained that I was an old lady and I didn't understand the site and they gave me a full refund.

Thanks such a lot for your comments. We've been told that we cannot claim a refund, neither can we switch dates. We've lost about £70...all our earnings doing odd jobs for pal with a guest house. Ah well, we'll be that little bit wiser from hereon! Greatnan love the "old lady" ploy. Even that didn't move anyone to feel sympathy for our stupidity.

Shame on them!

Greatnan

Do you have a Twitter acount soop? Always worth a couple of grumbly tweets when you come across such unreasonable customer 'service'. All the big companies & chains monitor Twitter. My daughter had a poor experience with a well known parcel delivery company recently. They responded to her tweets about late delivery with tweeted apologies and a link on how to claim compensation.

It would be well worth E-mailing them and telling them the problem has been discussed on our famous site and that they are getting a lot of negitive publicity from the age range of people who would use their hotels on a regular basis.Got for it soop and of course mr.soop from me x 2

We use Premier Inn all the time and their policy on cancelling is up to 1pm on the day of arrival for full refund, after 1pm and they levy a cancellation fee.

Would that apply to an online booking, though, harrigran?

I am quoting from the print out we did fo our holiday three weeks ago. we booked online and it says "to cancel by ringing the number or via the website"

In the terms and conditions it states that Premier savers can not be amended so one must assume that soop has taken up a special offer. The charge of £70 sounds a lot for a special offer though as we only paid £86 for a room in Ashford near to channel crossings.

It is always worth going to the top - I googled the company and wrote to the CEO at the Head Office.

What are the dates you've got booked soop? I've got a refundable one booked in Carlisle for our return trip in July so if the dates match I could take yours and cancel ours.

Be wary of trying to use a booking made by someone else, name and credit card numbers must match original booking.

Not necessarily if you explain in advance.

As the trip is to see 'folks', would it put them out if you changed your dates to fit the hotel booking? Hope you sort something out.

I hate to be boring but I like Premier Inn and, in my experience, they give you the option of a non-refundable price or, for a little more, a flexible booking where you can cancel up to 1.00 pm on the arrival date. With the flexible deal, if you book for several days but want to leave early, you can cancel the rest of your stay and get a refund. The 'good night guarantee' is real - at least it was for me with a genuine case of loud noise in a room next to the car park. I don't stand up for many companies these days because they are often pretty hopeless but I think Premier Inn do, usually, give good value. This looks like an honest mistake in booking and I sympathise; but I can also see the company's point of view. If it refunds the cheaper non-refundable deal, why would anyone pay more for flexibility?

Nemo...our rooms are booked for September. Good of you lot to take the time to help with some sound advice. Frankel seems to have made a valid point. As my Nana used to say...'yer live and yer learn...'

Must agree with you Frankel have always found Premier Inn to be very helpful, everything is set out if you read the terms and conditions. We use them for overnight stops when travelling and the mattresses and pillows are better than some 5 star hotels I have stayed in. Their meal deals are good too, dinner with a drink and breakfast for £22.

I took a deep breath and crossed my fingers yesterday after reading soop's post as I had just booked a non-refundable night at the Stratford Waterways Premier Inn for the end of August when we are going to see middle DD's production of King John at The Swan.I booked dinner and breakfast the next day as well, and with DH's record that was a risky thing to do!! But you have to have faith (?)[fingers crossed] emoticon

gracesmum...I agree. We've not done anything this daft before. The deal is a good one, providing you're willing to take a chance. Cannot fault the system. It's our brains that malfunctioned on this occasion.