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How switching to BOI Payment Acceptance helped payments click into place for Faythe Guesthouse

Faythe Guesthouse is a 19th century guesthouse in Wexford, built on the grounds of a former castle. The guesthouse has ten rooms and enjoys an outstanding reputation for friendly service and tasty breakfasts.

Although Faythe Guesthouse has long since accepted card payments from its guests, its owners had often experienced problems with their payment acceptance systems and providers. Poor technical support and card reader connection problems were hindering the business until they switched to BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA) in 2015.

Background

Damian and Siobhan Lynch have long since accepted card payments from Faythe Guesthouse’s customers, in-line with industry standards. Guests have always appreciated the option to pay by card – but that often carried a cost to the efficient running of the business.

Before switching to BOIPA in April 2015, the Lynches were using a rival merchant services provider to take card payments. The provider’s customer support was unhelpful and expensive, which caused the guesthouse team problems with their account setup and payment system operation. For example, the provider once charged the Lynches for assistance with a compliance issue, then failed to provide guidance in a timely and accommodating manner. On one occasion, a card machine was lost in-transit at a cost of approximately €200 to the Guest House.

exterior image of the front of Faythe Guesthouse

Considering these issues along with day-to-day problems with the reliance and connectivity of their hardware, Faythe Guesthouse concluded it was time to try a different payment acceptance provider.  

“The problem with my previous provider is that I could never get anything out of them. Not only were they hard to deal with when negotiating our relationship, they also couldn’t answer my questions on how to use the service. Any time I rang them about any issue it was long-winded. It was painful.”

– Damian Lynch, Proprietor, Faythe Guesthouse

quote from damian lynch recommending BOIPA

Performance, connection and customer service

The main drivers for swapping to BOI Payment Acceptance were:

  • The need for clear, helpful technical support.
  • The need for better card machine connectivity.
  • The need to turn time spent figuring out payment acceptance into time spent with customers.

“Our previous payment provider was giving me the run-around whenever I came to them for assistance, and we frequently encountered problems with the card reader going wrong. We were also having issues with the quality of the card reader connection. Sometimes we’d have to move out of the customer’s sight with the card to process the transaction.”

“BOIPA just sounded a much better deal all-round: both the product itself, and the fact they were going to help with compliance, so I didn’t have to struggle anymore.” – Damian Lynch

Solving problems and communicating clearly

BOIPA wasted no time in helping Faythe Guesthouse’s meet its “PCI” payment compliance requirements, by working through them with Damian over the phone. Unlike the Guest House’s previous merchant services provider, BOIPA offered this assistance at no extra cost. According to Damian, this freed up time for the guesthouse team to spend time on what matters most: providing great service for guests.

“Everything has clicked into place. When I have issues, they’re solved quickly” – Damian Lynch

“One of the biggest plus points to BOIPA – a huge point in terms of execution – is that the call centre is in Ireland. You feel the person understands what you are talking about. You don’t get the extra hassle of trying to talk to someone who takes a long time to get what you’re saying” says Damian.

“Before we switched to BOIPA, our previous payment acceptance provider gave me the runaround with my customer support queries, BOIPA just ran through them with me over the phone.” – Damian Lynch

A better connection = better service for guests

One of the most important benefits BOIPA has brought to Faythe Guesthouse has been the GPRS mobile  connectivity of its card readers.

The Guest House’s previous card terminal relied on a phone line or Wi-Fi connection, which meant Damian often had to take guests’ cards out of their sight in order to process a payment. By contrast, BOIPA’s card terminal has proven to be in-range wherever Damian needs it, and requires technical attention less often.

“With BOIPA’s GPRS card terminal you could go to Timbuktu and still get through. This is especially helpful in my industry. If someone goes out the door and has forgotten to pay, you can take the machine out to the car park with them and sort it out. You don’t have to embarrass them by marching them back in; you can just do it at their car. I’ve also had fewer issues with the terminal going wrong.” – Damian Lynch

internal image of Faythe Guesthouse living room

“The quality of the device itself is extremely important. I’ve had many machines through the years that were cumbersome, didn’t work properly and took ages to go through. You spent a lot of time with them.” – Damian Lynch

Conclusion

Switching to BOIPA has been the solution to Faythe Guest House’s problems with poor card terminal  performance and customer support from their previous payment provider. By offering clear guidance on the technicalities of payment acceptance, plus a more reliable card terminal  connection, BOIPA has given this already-exceptional guesthouse the tools it needs to serve guests even better than before.

“Having a better terminal means you spend more time with your customer, and that’s what you want. It makes life simple.” – Damian Lynch

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