Royal Alcazar website problems

Spanish websites can be very hit and miss. It is rarely the problem of your card company blocking the purchase and more about the website having layers of security (like verified by visa - but not) that doesn't compute with some country's cards. Will they take reservations by phone?

Hola,
I tried to buy tickets using the official web site for the Real Alcazar. My credit card got billed but I did not recieve any tickets or even the promised email. That was April 6, 2019.

I will challenge the payment with my card issuer when I get home. Trouble is, my credit card is likely to forgive me the payment and not retrieve the money from the offender. So they are likely to get off Scott free.

Wayne in Spain, with just one more Spanish experience

Wayne, I am assuming you checked your junk box or verified the email address you entered was correct? Just asking to cover all bases, as not all errors are scams.

Could be a timing issue since it's the weekend. When I ordered my Granada Pass, it took a while for the email to come through. I'm guessing that not everything is totally automated.

I had issues with many of the sites in Spain with my regular credit card, but I'm having no issues when using my debit card. Try that instead? Getting the email confirmations have also been hit/miss, so I'd advise printing and saving your PDF upon purchasing.

Hi,

Yes, I checked all possible hiding locations for the email. I even did the same for my email account I didn't provide. I am still checking even though the website said they would issue the email within a few minutes.

A scam? I didn't say that. I do think that if your website takes a payment but some how does not provide the promised goods, then you should be interested in that event. It can lead to abad reputation.

I went to the best Alcazar people I could find about this. I have photos of the computer terminal number, the transaction number, the exact time of the transaction as their website provided as I was buying the ticket, and the big green congratulations check that showed the process was sucessful. Besides showing them these I showed them the current transactions of my credit card where it showed my account being charged for the tickets. Their response was , "You made a mistake." You bet I did!

Buyer beware is what we are all taught.

As for other Spanish websites and US credit cards denying an attempt to purchase? Very true. I have been denied Spanish based purchases repeatedly, even with Iberia Airlines, their nationsl carrier.

I was denied with my Citi card when I tried to buy Alhambra tickets while still in the US. I even phoned Citi and had a customer service person on the line who told me to try again while he watched from his location, and he would make sure the charge went through. Well the two of us tried three times. No luck. I swtched to CapitalOne and that same charge was completed without advance notice that I would be buying something in Spain.

Renfe tickets (Renfe is their national train system). You must notify your credit card in advance. At least that has been my experience over the years. This last time I bought my Renfe tickets using an English site to purchase my Spanish rail tickets. Absolutely no hickups. I went to, The man in seat 61, to get that train ticket information. Seat 61 is Very useful.

So it goes.

Wayne iNES

Sol Star, I just signed up for this forum so I could answer your question. I had the exact same problem. After trying multiple times, I did some research and found some advice to call my credit card company. I did this, and after being connected to a “Verified VISA” representative, the agent was able to see my “stuck” purchase attempts, and was able to do something so that my next purchase for the Real Alcazar successfully went through. So this might be a way forward if you are using a VISA card. (I might suggest trying once more with your VISA card before calling VISA, so that the failed purchase shows up as your most recent transaction.) If you’re using a different card, I imagine a similar process would work.

Hola from Wisconsin,

I tried to buy tickets to the Real Alcazar. Everything went as planned. I got my credit card number in and sent and the next page popped up with a big green check image (you remember those red checks when you got a question wrong in school. This was a big green one indicating success) saying 'you have successfully purchased tickets...an email containing copies of the tickets will be mailed to you in a few minutes'

I am home. I have tried many times to use the 'contact us' option the Real Alcazar offers. Never have I gotten through. It is always, something like 'sorry, its currently not working, try again later'. I think I get it. It doesn't work, Period.

My credit card was charged for the price of two entrances. So it was not a blocking problem by my credit card. I have had many issues with Spanish sites while trying to book from the USA and my credit card refusing them. So I know when it happens. The first hint is that the card doesn't accept the charge. When my card was blocked, and I spoke to personnel of the card company, they something like, 'You know you are trying to buy something in Spain'.

No email was sent to my hotmail or gmail (just in case), my junk, my spam, my sent, my favorites, my new, my old, rejected, my sad...

A trusting person might think that their computers would recognize that some how the transaction was not completed. And withdraw the charge automatically. You might even think that an email would be sent stating that your attempt was not successful so as to get that last customer's Euro. But no.

wayne iNWI

Wayne,

I don’t know if this will be helpful. There’s an e-mail address posted near the top left of the Real Alcazar ticketing page: [email protected] . (The page itself is here: https://realalcazarsevilla.sacatuentrada.es/en .) It sounds like it’s for the ticketing service that processes the tickets, and not the Real Alcazar itself.

The Real Alcazar also has a Facebook page, with options to message them via Facebook, and a phone number.

https://m.facebook.com/RealAlcazarSevilla/

Hi All,

I had this problem for several days trying several methods/cards with no luck. My latest attempt which WAS successful seemed to be a result of using Mastercard's virtual card number service. See more here: https://www.creditkarma.com/credit-cards/i/virtual-credit-card/

I did try my Mastercard straight away and also Masterpass with no luck along with difference times, browsers, and cards. I hope this helps others, good luck all!

David

I just bought tickets yesterday using a Costco Credit card.
The only problem was how to enter the phone number they were requesting.
001 ....then number.

I had the same problem. I called my bank and they had to release permission for the charge to go through,. Had that problem wit many sites in Spain as I was purchasing tickets for our upcoming trip,.

I just purchased my tickets yesterday. I didn’t have any problems.