BostonFlyer1624

Marriott Chase

kebosabi

As a person who has never understood the fascination of metal cards, can someone chime me in on how one is supposed to destroy such cards when they send you a replacement card? They don't go into the shredder as well do they, right?

mia

Discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...-shredder.html

kebosabi

And it seems I posted in that thread. Short memory indeed.

SuperKirby

That is hilarious...

TOMFORD

Did Chase redesign their Ink Bolds? They look sparkly now, I wonder if they are made of metal as well?

dko3tgk

Metal cards are impractical. I have the Chase UA (formerly CO) Presidential Plus and the Sapphire Preferred. On a few international trips i used the Presidential Plus. Cashiers are flipping the card around an extra 2 or 10 times trying to figure out which side the numbers are on and which side the strip is on. One person thought it was a membership card and not a credit card. A few said they don't take "this kind of card", which to me meant they were so confused they just decided not to accept the card, than listen to my explanation. And it gets even worse when dealing with a small shop where they still use carbon slips and the rack. They end up tracing it with a pencil.

So any time I get a metal card I immediately have them replace it with the standard plastic one. Although Chase CS originally claimed that there was no plastic version of the Sapphire Preferred. They sent me the postage paid envelope to send them back the metal cards for destruction.

call me old, but having the card look and feel cool is secondary to being able to use it anywhere without extra hassle.

Vasco

However, I find my plastic cards barely last a year before they split in half or otherwise get ruined. Plastic was fine for the world where cash still had a place. But for those of us who no longer carry cash and use a card for every transaction, no matter how small the amount, plastic is just not a long lasting material for these things.

(I'm Canadian, and so have no choice but to use a plastic card, btw.)

kebosabi

Use better plastic?

When I compare the plastic of my 1990s issued AMEX and Diners, they were made sturdier than the plastic that credit cards uses today. I've also noticed that credit cards and bank cards issued in Asia also tend to be made of higher quality than those issued in North America.


This too.

Banks like to think that carbon copy imprinters are gone and there's no need for raised numbers anymore.

But somethings are better to be kept as is for backwards compatibility. Carbon copy imprinters still have use in places where there's no telecommunication access, take out deliveries, incidentals at places of stay, or as a back up during natural disasters when power is disrupted. If it has worked and is still is an accepted form of payment as the back up, keep it.

Vasco

Help me get Chase to offer a version of the Sapphire Preferred in Canada, and I'll say goodbye to all the others.

I agree with you there. All my cards are Chip & PIN and I find that they all crack and split in the same way at the place where the embossed numbers and the Chip meet. Next time it happens (and by the look of my Amex Plat it could be momentarily) I'll try to post a picture, since I think this is a fundamental weakness in all EMV cards.

kebosabi

I actually meant it in a way that "card production companies should use more durable and stronger plastic materials than the ones they are using today" with the addendum being that back in the 1990s, they were made out of stronger materials.

My suspect is that card production companies (perhaps pressure from bank issuers?) have begun cost cutting into using cheaper plastic materials that down the road, last less and break more. In sharp contrast, my old AMEX and Diners that I used to have back in the 1990s are still pretty strong and durable with nary a crack.

If anyone has an old plastic card, they should compare it to ones today. In all likelihood, the older plastic feels more durable than those being made today which IMO, are more "flimsier."

oceandreamer

So very true! ^^^

2tall4economy

Sparkly yes, metal no.

dko3tgk

I'm not saying i prefer plastic over metal. What I mean is that the single sided metal cards with flat numbers and strip on the same side is a PITA when traveling. I have to explain and point to the fact that the strip and numbers are on the same side at almost every cashier. that's after all the flipping and confused looks. It doesn't help that the strip is blue and blends in with the background blue.

If they made the standard double sided design in metal. I would be totally fine with that.

A little off topic, but isn't it common sense for Chase to put a EMV chip in every card that has 0 foreign usage fee? It seems silly to have for only some cards without the fee.

kebosabi

Add that you have to explain to them when they do not understand English so well it because more of a hassle than a convenience.

The "flat number" thing is good for prepaid cards to save costs. But for a truly EDC credit card, flat numbers IMO are not a good idea. Imprinters still are in use in many places these days whether it be somewhere with no electricity or telecommunications, when ordering pizza, carbon copy for lodging incidentals, or in times of natural disaster. They also have a benefit of the numbers being raised to help the visually impaired; sort of like a braille thing.

You have to wonder if banks really put these things into consideration over "hey it looks cooler that way."


The EMV thread has shown that banks and common sense don't seem to go together.

Many international travelers have been complaining to US banks to issue an EMV card. Until recently, the diatribe spat out of US banks were "we can't issue them because all the terminals in the US has to change and that'll take years to do."

Their common sense lacked the idea "duh, why don't we just issue hybrid cards that still retains the mag-stripe on the back so that's it's still usable that way in the US, just like oh I don't know, practically every EMV card in existence in the world?"