Originally Posted by
hmeyer
My experience in the UK has been that they are ABLE to accept cards without a chip, but they just refuse to do it, aren't allowed to do it, or don't even know they can do it...
I've had to show a barmaid how to use the machine to swipe my card before. I've also had a bar owner flat out lie to me and say their machines couldn't accept cards without a chip. After I had been drinking there nearly every day for a week and using my card. I've also been to a couple of supermarkets where they'll sometimes accept the swipe card, and other times they won't, depending on who's working at the register.
I'm assuming this is because they want to avoid the charges associated with a credit card transaction. Am I wrong? If so, why else would a business simply refuse to accept a credit card?
These US cards being issued with a chip -- are they actual credit cards or are they debit cards?
Do you still get the points/miles/rewards when you use the chip instead of swiping?
Refusal to accept a signature card is based often on the higher discount rate they pay to accept a non-EMV compliant card, and the fact that the merchant often must accept full liability for the non-EMV card. Thus although they can accept them many do not want to. It all depends on how much they want US, Russian and Jamaican business. Everyone else has EMV.