I’m trying to get my money back from Premier Inn. The hotel chain has taken £226 even though I have no reservation to show for it.

I tried to make a booking on 13 September but it didn’t go through, so I left the website. However, Premier Inn took the payment twice, meaning a total of £226 left my account. No booking was made, and this has been confirmed by the hotel chain.

I called on the 18 and 19 September and was told there was nothing it could do: a refund takes five to 10 working days and I would just have to wait. But there is no booking to refund.

I called again today, after 11 working days, and was told I actually might have to wait 15 working days and, even then, it might not go through. It would then escalate it.

My requests to speak to a senior manager were refused.

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Even when I said this would put me in financial difficulty, it said there was nothing it could do. If I received any charges, Premier Inn said I should submit a claim and it would look into it.

NJ, Brighton

After we got in touch, Premier Inn was quick to refund you and describes this as an “unfortunate error”.

It says: “Our senior guest team has reviewed this case. We would like to apologise to the customer for both the payment error and the handling of this issue more generally. We have also been in touch to apologise directly and sent her a voucher to have a meal on us.”

You are delighted to have got your money back.

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