FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Chase now offering MP cards with EMV chip (Explorer, Club, PresPlus)
Old May 28, 2015 | 5:37 pm
  #346  
Mike Jacoubowsky
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Chip & Signature might be worse than worthless

Originally Posted by Eric Westby
Please read the thread before you make further false comments that will confuse new readers of the thread.

Many of us can confirm with certainty that chip-and-signature cards, while deeply flawed, do work in a variety of unattended kiosks, including train stations where magstripe-only cards would be worthless. I myself used one in exactly such a scenario at the LHR tube station a few weeks ago.
Thankfully, this is "only" a 9-page thread...

While I don't agree that a Chip & Signature card is "worthless", I could see making the case that they're actually worse than worthless, due to lack of certainty that they could be used for any given toll booth, train station kiosk or automated gas station in France (France just being the relevant example for me). You could wreck your day if you assumed you'd be able to use it somewhere, and you couldn't. So you're not dumb, you make sure you have a workable Plan B. That means extra planning, more work, all for what? For the novelty of using the card, that's what.

Early adopter syndrome. And yes, I'm going to try it out myself, but obviously not in places where failure to take a chip & signature card would cause grief.
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