Just got back from an amazing 11 day driving trip around France. There were a few places where I tried to use my Visa card (from Bank of America) in automated machines and they were rejected. One was in an SCNF machine trying to buy RER tickets into Paris, another was in a Gas Pump in Amboise, France, trying to refill the car.
In both cases, all of my cards as well as my girlfriends were all rejected, even though the machines stated that they would accept those card types (Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX in a few places). I've never had this problem before (haven't been to France for about two years).
A woman at a B&B where I was staying mentioned that a lot of European credit cards are including a PIN number now, similar to those found on debit cards in the US. When using the cards for a transaction in an automated machine it asks you for the PIN. Does that sound like a good explanation for why our credit cards wouldn't work? It was a bit nervewracking at times...
Anyway, putting a PIN on credit cards is a fabulous idea and I hope we do that in the US soon. However I wonder if this will cause a set of new frustrations for americans traveling in Europe now?
<jmdolin...@earthlink.net> kirjoitti viestissä:1158332067.803597.115...@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all,
> Just got back from an amazing 11 day driving trip around France. There > were a few places where I tried to use my Visa card (from Bank of > America) in automated machines and they were rejected. One was in an > SCNF machine trying to buy RER tickets into Paris, another was in a Gas > Pump in Amboise, France, trying to refill the car.
In many European countries credit/debit card terminals attached to gas pumps allow only those cards which are issued at that country. It sounds crazy and actually it is crazy. This is common in France too. I guess in near future things will improve in the Euro-region. National cards will disappear and the Euro-cards will replace them. This means that there will be no "French only" terminals but all of them will be"Euro-compliant". Perhaps this doesn't guarantee that they will be "universal". Hopefully they will be just that.
> Just got back from an amazing 11 day driving trip around France. There > were a few places where I tried to use my Visa card (from Bank of > America) in automated machines and they were rejected. One was in an > SCNF machine trying to buy RER tickets into Paris, another was in a Gas > Pump in Amboise, France, trying to refill the car.
> In both cases, all of my cards as well as my girlfriends were all > rejected, even though the machines stated that they would accept those > card types (Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX in a few places). I've never > had this problem before (haven't been to France for about two years).
My girlfriend's son was in France last week and his (UK) credit card didn't work either, despite having a chip. Maybe something in the French system has changed recently?
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On 15 Sep 2006 07:54:27 -0700, jmdolin...@earthlink.net wrote:
>Hi all,
>Just got back from an amazing 11 day driving trip around France. There >were a few places where I tried to use my Visa card (from Bank of >America) in automated machines and they were rejected. One was in an >SCNF machine trying to buy RER tickets into Paris, another was in a Gas >Pump in Amboise, France, trying to refill the car.
>In both cases, all of my cards as well as my girlfriends were all >rejected, even though the machines stated that they would accept those >card types (Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX in a few places).
That's because the French credit cards are *all* chipcards (much safer, actually). The automatons expect to read a chip, and an American card doesn't have one. Credit cards with chips are at last available in Switzerland, I can't wait to have the one I ordered, right now I'm having the same problem you had when I go to France.
"Nathalie Chiva" <Nathalie.Chiva.inva...@gmail.com.invalid> kirjoitti viestissä:hlhlg2d6mbrj0rh75sbo34cvqd91qtn...@4ax.com...
> That's because the French credit cards are *all* chipcards (much > safer, actually). The automatons expect to read a chip, and an > American card doesn't have one. > Credit cards with chips are at last available in Switzerland, I can't > wait to have the one I ordered, right now I'm having the same problem > you had when I go to France.
I guess this is not the whole story. The magnetic only cards also hold the PIN code (you wouldn't withdraw any money from most cash dispensers if they didn't). One possibility is that the card reader is capable to read only those cards with a chip. However there are lots of readers around which are able read magnetic tape as well. New protocols will be issued all the time and the magnetic tape only cards will disappear in a few years time.
> >On 15 Sep 2006 07:54:27 -0700, jmdolin...@earthlink.net wrote: > >>In both cases, all of my cards as well as my girlfriends were all > >>rejected, even though the machines stated that they would accept those > >>card types (Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX in a few places).
Just spent 3 weeks in England and Ireland. My North American credit card was about 50/50 at best. Some pubs/resteraunts would take it- Car rental took it-Gas stations wouldn't have anything to do with due to lack of chip/pin. Souvenier stores were hit and miss.
jmdolin...@earthlink.net writes: > Just got back from an amazing 11 day driving trip around France. There > were a few places where I tried to use my Visa card (from Bank of > America) in automated machines and they were rejected. One was in an > SCNF machine trying to buy RER tickets into Paris, another was in a Gas > Pump in Amboise, France, trying to refill the car.
> In both cases, all of my cards as well as my girlfriends were all > rejected, even though the machines stated that they would accept those > card types (Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX in a few places). I've never > had this problem before (haven't been to France for about two years).
> A woman at a B&B where I was staying mentioned that a lot of European > credit cards are including a PIN number now, similar to those found on > debit cards in the US. When using the cards for a transaction in an > automated machine it asks you for the PIN. Does that sound like a good > explanation for why our credit cards wouldn't work? It was a bit > nervewracking at times...
> Anyway, putting a PIN on credit cards is a fabulous idea and I hope we > do that in the US soon. However I wonder if this will cause a set of > new frustrations for americans traveling in Europe now?
France isn't necessarily representative. The country has a long history of doing things in its own way with credit cards, which has caused problems with international cards for years.
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> In many European countries credit/debit card terminals attached to gas > pumps allow only those cards which are issued at that country. It sounds > crazy and actually it is crazy. This is common in France too.
I've not had problems using British cards in the Languedoc during the past couple of years, although French card machines would not work with British chips before that. More often, I have had problems when a French garage cashier swipes my card, because he or she has seen my UK numberplate and not noticed I've tendered a Carte Bleu.
