PREMIER CARD SERVICES SCOTLAND AIM TO PLEASE

Premier Card Services (PCSS) is the number one regulated (FSA) supplier of merchant services in Scotland. It provides customers with the most appropriate product for their needs and can supply Scotland’s most familiar products, some of which offer customers no contracts and a 7-day settlement period.

The business has more than 1,000 customers, and it is growing. Owner Julie Aitchison comments, “I set the business up five years ago having worked in various sales and management roles. I was looking for a new challenge and saw a gap in the market to provide, what I believe is a truly ethical product, to the hospitality industry. Today most of my customers are in this business, although I do service other industries too.”

She continues, “I go and visit clients and do an assessment of their businesses. I will then advise them of the best product for their needs. That might be 7-day settlement – which means you get the cash from the card payments next day, 7-days a week, including weekends and bank holidays.”

The business is ever evolving. A new service which Julie can also offer is a competitor to Resdiary and Opentable. She explains, “The benefit of our new service is that restaurateurs and hospitality operators get their first month free and there is no contract going forward. There is simpy a flat fee of £99 a month. The benefits include listing on Google Reserve, an international app, and 24/7 cover and all texts are free. Another benefit to restaurant customers is that they can check on their app when in the vicinity to see if there are tables free.”

Business funding is the third offering in Premier Card Services Scotland’s armoury. Julie explains, “PCSS is here to help the industry in Scotland where we can, to help business grow and flourish with the necessary cashflow.

“We can offer a lending facility to hospitality when the banks are not lending. It is not a loan that needs to be taken out over five or ten years. But I do advise my customers to weigh up all the pros and cons. For instance a customer can call and say we need business funding and sometimes within 48 hours the cash can be in their account... that is one of the benfits. I can turn around the finance quickly. We can lend up to a months takings upfront. However this flexibility can be expensive. Says Julie, “ Although it can seem expensive, the payback is taken off at source from the card payments and there is usually a six to nine month repayment period. But if clients are quiet, or closed for the winter season, they pay less or nothing.”

She re-iterates, it is not a loan from a bank and needs to be paid back more quickly, but she says, “It is an instant lifeline to businesses, especially as they can get a minimum of months card takings up front.”

Julie prides herself on her customer service. She smiles, “I am straight talking, believe in customer service and I am persistent. One of Julie’s happy customers is Brian Flynn of Behind the Wall in Falkirk.

He says, “I am not really an early adopter when it comes to new technology, preferring normally to stick with the tried and tested, resistant to change just for the sake of it. Thanks goodness for the persistence and professionalism of Julie Aitchison. She never gave up on her quest to convert Behind The Wall over to using the new card machines we now have had for a few weeks. She was so convinced and persuasive that the service would work better for us and eventually after about a year of me humming and hawing we made the switch.

I have to admit I now wish it was something we had done earlier as it has been an absolute revelation for us. Faster transactions, greater functionality and best of all cash flow improvement beyond anything I could have imagined. Thanks to Julie and the card services she offers we are now moving on to upgrading to the Bookings platform which looks like it will save us a small fortune and give us fantastic flexibility as well as promotional tools while making it easier and quicker for customers to book online. Thanks Julie you are the best!”

While Darren Margach of Tinz Bowling comments, “Premier Card Services Scotland has been great for our business offering next day settlement, flexible contracts and extra terminals for any peak times or pop-up events that we may host. The rates, settlement times and costs are all preferential to our previous provider and the guys are really easy to deal with”.

For further information contact Julie Aitchison on 07864931672