As an international traveler I've never yet had a problem with my US Chip and Signature cards being wholesale rejected but always been annoyed at vendors having to find the pen when I'm checking out, or checking out at a grocery store and having to wait for a manager to come by to take my signature (sometimes). One hotel I use (Citizen M) has kiosks that don't work with chip and signature -- luckily there was front desk around to help check in. Anyway, I wanted a chip and pin priority card and after reading spotterswiki and other places decided to go through State Department Federal Credit Union.

SDFCU is known for making a hard pull both for membership and their credit products, and also being relatively anal throughout the process and requiring a high score. It did take several weeks, and I went back and forth sending documentation and being asked to transfer $250 to my membership account but I was finally approved for their credit card, and received it another week later. It seems like its an offline PIN that gets updated only after you do a non PIN transaction; my first attempts at using the card at Costco were rejected twice (it did prompt for PIN) so rather than lock it out I went to a different credit card.

I did set my PIN 'again' (so it is possible I set it incorrectly the first time) and then I went to Sams Club which also prompted for PIN. It said 'third and final attempt' and I could have sworn it said 'Not valid' but the transaction went through anyway. My next transaction was at Target where I was expecting another PIN prompt but it went through without any PIN or signature prompt. Next I went to a restaurant where I am guessing their terminal didn't accept PIN so I had to sign. Finally, went back to Costco and Walmart and both places now my PIN was officially accepted, no signature required, receipts say 'PIN Verified'.

So I'm not exactly sure what steps I did to set the PIN correctly on the card but is working now. Even crossing over to our northern neighbors I found a few places that said 'we only accept cards with PIN' (but found out that just meant they just wanted chip and signature was OK). At least next time if I find a place that truly only accepts PIN I have a card, and this card being 2% cash back with no annual fee/no FTF it's a decent card to use anyway.