Originally Posted by
benny08
This card have limited use in China due the lack of support for WeChat Pay/Alipay. Many store only accepts Wechat/Alipay. Like some of you said, it works great with Quickpass terminal, but only major places have those. I hardly see anybody using a "physical card" in China nowadays.
I am by no means a China expert, so take what I have with a grain of salt - but I've found the card to be quite useful. In my 4 trips in the last 16 months this card has been a life saver to be honest, and made my travels much smoother.
Yes, WeChat/Alipay are the most common forms of payment, but in the places that don't accept cards, I've never been refused cash payment, and most of them (street food seller, produce shop, etc.) I wouldn't necessarily expect them to take credit cards anyway. I do wish I was able to bind it to my Alipay and WeChat pay accounts - I've even emailed ICBC USA but it appears impossible.
I've heard stories of people who say places "only" took WeChat/Alipay, and wouldn't take cash, but I've never encountered this myself. Again, I'm no China expert, and stick to larger cities.
With this card, I've been able to do quite a few things, including (a) use it as a ticket for both Shenzhen and Guangzhou metros by just tapping the card at the fare gate, (b) purchase rail tickets on 12306.com, (c) use the self check out at Aeon and Walmart, and very importantly to me (d) avoid DCC that seems very common in many Chinese stores & hotels. My travel companion doesn't have a UnionPay card, and I've had to bail him out a couple of times when the cashier shakes her head at his Visa card...
If I may ask, how did this card let you down?