Originally Posted by
Mike Jacoubowsky
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.
I get your point, but that's the case with any credit card at any time. I've been t
plenty of places that couldn't accept cards at all for a period of time for some reason.
In Europe (particularly the UK) I find chip+signature to be far better than the mag stripe cards. Many merchants either don't have mag stripe readers or workers have no idea how they work. With chip+signature I no longer have to explain anything or try to convince someone to try swiping my card. Instead, they stick the familiar-looking chip end in and instead of asking me to enter my PIN a piece of paper pops out. Sometimes this happens as they ask me to enter my (n
nexistent) PIN.
Do I wish we had real chip+pin cards? Of course! But this isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I find it actually causes less confusion.