Your Krabi: hotel booking

Occasionally when you try to pay through our online payment system, you will get an error message, or your card will be rejected.

The Thai Epay system does not explain these very well, so we offer some guidance below.

Some details entered on this page do not match. Either the number of the card, or the expiry date has been entered incorrectly. Alternatively the card issuing bank you selected may not match the card issuer registered to use this credit card number. If you do not see your bank on the drop down list for your country, please select "other" and write the name in the space provided. You may correct any information and try again.

Possible explanations:
a) If your card details are correct, by far the most common reason for card rejection is that your card is not authorised for use in Asia. Though you might not be aware of this, many banks block the use of their cards in foreign countries, especially online, for your own protection. When a foreign website in Thailand attempts to debit money from your card, your bank believes this is not you making the transaction (i.e. your number is being used fraudulently) and refuses to authorise the payment.

Credit cards issued in the UK (e.g. Lloyds TSB and Barclays) are almost always automatically blocked for use abroad, unless you are a frequent traveller.

In this case, rather than try again immediately, you will first need to pre-authorise the payment, i.e. notify your bank that you wish to book a hotel and request that your card be (temporarily) unblocked for this purpose. Once they have agreed to do this, you can try paying again.

N.B. You should also contact the bank again before you leave for your holiday, as you may find your card blocked on arrival, in other words it will not work in ATM cash machines, or card readers anywhere in Thailand because, again, your bank believes it may be fraudulent use of your card.

b) You have reached the credit limit on your card. Please contact your bank for further advice.

c) It is an unusually large payment (say, if you are paying for a group booking) and must be pre-authorised with your bank, as above.

Thai Epay is a registered VBV merchant. "VBV" is an acronym for Verified by Visa, or Securecode, the Mastercard equivalent. This is a relatively new feature that is being introduced by many banks as an extra level of security for their customers. If your bank offers this service, when you enter your card number to make a payment at any participating VBV merchant, you will see a pop-up window with a Personal Assurance Message and be requested for an additional password that you have set up. The idea is that only you, and not someone who has stolen your card details, can know this extra information. This is sometimes referred to as a "digital signature".

If your bank offers this service and you have not yet registered for it, you will automatically be prompted to do so by your bank after they receive the payment request from Thai Epay. If you see an unexpected "Verified by Visa" or "Mastercard Securecode" screen after entering your card details, this has been sent directly from your bank's system. It means they would like you to sign up for this service.

In the registration process, you will be requested for some personal information before being asked to create a personal assurance message and a password, that will be requested at all future purchases at participating VBV merchants (so please remember it!). If you choose not to enrol for this service at this time, your bank will decline the payment and you will get an error message saying "VBV rejected" as your bank believes it may be a fraudulent use of your card.

If you have already enrolled for the service and enter an incorrect password when prompted, you will receive an error message: "VBV checking", which means the payment has not gone through and your Verified by Visa account may be suspended - please refer to your bank in order to re-activate it.

For more information about Verified by Visa, please see this page: http://usa.visa.com/personal/security/visa_security_program/vbv/verified_by_visa_faq.html

For Mastercard holders, you can find information about Securecode, which operates in much the same way, here: http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/cardholderservices/securecode/faqs.html - or contact your bank directly.

The expiry date entered is incorrect; please return to the payment page and re-enter the correct details. You can do this by starting over completely (from the page where you enter your booking reference number: http://www.yourkrabi.com/booking/) or by using the "Back" button provided on the screen (not the one on your browser navigation bar).

Occasionally, especially when using wireless internet, the connection between the Thai Epay and your bank servers is dropped, resulting in an error or time-out. If you are using a wireless device, please try to make the payment again from a fixed line computer. If already using a fixed line, it may be a peak period; please try again later.

This screen usually appears when a session has timed out and you try to get back in. If you see this screen, please press the 'back' button on your browser to return to the previous page, then click 'refresh' or 'reload', before trying again (you will need to re-enter any details required).

If you require any further assistance, or foresee any delay in making the payment, please contact us immediately at info@yourkrabi.com so that we can make sure your reservation is secure until we are able to process your card.