Originally Posted by
JEFFJAGUAR
Just backs up what I've been saying for a while. However, there are still questions,, especially in France, about toll booths on the autoroutes but then again that has been an ongoing problem long before emv became an issue with many foreign cards, not just USA cards, in France. Also there are some questions about the automated parking garages where some have complained. But use of chip and signature cards is getting close to being able to say universally accepted.
Interesting about the sign at the SNCF station; especially the translation of the French which points out there is a €35 maximum and simply refers the machine as an "automate". In American English, an ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine and is primarily used to dispense cold hard cash. I think the person doing the translating refers to an ATM thinking it stands for Automated Ticketing Machine; we simply refer to it as a ticketing machine kiosk and there is no mention of the €35 limit. I couldn't tell you what the third version is (I think it's Spanish but it could be Italian) as I am not fluent in whatever language it is but it's probably pretty close to the French version.
The third language is Spanish and tracks pretty closely to the English text and I presume the first line of the French at top. It's weird that the French text regarding the €35 isn't translated at all though. Is it possible to spend more than €35 with a PIN perhaps? Is it just assumed that American cards won't have a PIN at all and thus will allow transactions through regardless of the amount?
Also keep in mind that there are still offline-only terminals in Europe (how many at this point exactly is unknown) and as of now no way to determine which ones are such without either trying the card or reading previous experiences from people. The new CVM processing rules don't apply and thus are likely PIN only. That said, the Barclay cards would have still worked in those cases.
I do wonder if issuers are setting themselves up for serious customer support issues by having a PIN on the card at all. The vast majority of kiosks won't even be capable of asking for it for one thing. Most cards also have it below "no CVM required", pretty much guaranteeing that it won't be asked for 100% of the time in the US and 95%+ percent of the time abroad. How are you going to explain to your customers when they'll be using the PIN? And what will happen when someone gets a PIN prompt after having had the card for a couple of years without ever having to use a PIN? Maybe every card will end up becoming signature-only at some point.