I will try that now, will report shortly

Wow, I wanna [censored] die. 6 hours ago, that was my first change I made to the Innkeeper alias (check stores text), but I used a level 80 save. Just loaded a fresh save and it worked. [censored] me. Thanks all I have much respect for all of you.

I'm pretty familiar with these bad boys so ill try to help.

Just out of interest what conditions are your game in that you're testing?

I ask because I'd you are COCing into the game somewhere and then starting your quest, that can cause aliases not to fill. Make sure you're using a save game from after the Helgen start.

Also, how are you staring this quest? SetStage? StartQuest? Actually in dialogue with the NPC?

Edit:

Oh well at least you sorted it lol yep remember to tick allow reserved. Optional helps sometimes to if its a dynamic quest. Usually if you create aliases in a script as the quest launches

All is fixed, the problem was I wasn't using a fresh save. Yeah, cost me 6 hours of my life