Last time I was in the US (I'm not american and have no US bank accounts or credit cards) I paid with a debit card for most of my purchases. The problem then for me was that when I chose "debit" they required me to insert my PIN but didn't respond to it when I did. So I had to chose "credit" to enable me to withdraw money.

The "chip enabled card" was only a problem once, but I think I moved the card myself so it worked out okay anyway. Once I inserted my card and was told to swipe it, I politely declined and paid.

I didn't actually realise until I went to get a drink before I left and she said that they don't take Amex.

Ah, their loss then. That place is darn expensive and rather boring too!

It was a standard swipe machine, just to read the magnetic strip. There was no other way of inserting the card. That's what threw me on the whole thing. What was she doing wrong by just sliding the card?

Are you positive? Not in the bottom front? A machine wouldn't be telling her to insert the card if it didn't have an EMV slot.

All I know is that she said the message was telling her she couldn't take it. Yet I've used it at that store a dozen times. Why would it do it that time only?

I've never encountered a machine to use a chip. In fact, they haven't even sent me a PIN number to use if I ever encountered it.

What happens if is a chip machine and asks for it? Don't I then need a PIN number to enter, which I don't yet have?

You probably haven't been looking very hard. About 50% of big retailers (If not more) including places like Walmart and CVS and many small merchants have EMV machines, many of them are just not enabled yet.

As your card is probably a chip and signature card, the merchant would insert it and it would ask for a signature, like usual.

On my business and personal trips to US with my UK cards, I probably do a chip and pin transaction once or twice during the trip these days(Normally 2 weeks).

I have the citi visa Hilton honors reserve.

Sounds like next time it happens I may have to give her some instructions. It's is the first card I've had with a chip. I can't think of any other reason than she didn't know what she was doing. If the chip portion of the reader wasn't enabled, then it should have just done a regular swipe right? Otherwise, as you said, it would say to insert the card to read the chip?

The Citi card is a chip and signature, so it will be insert and a signature receipt will be printed.

Thats correct though, it would have only asked her to insert the card if EMV is enabled on the terminal. So in this instance, it sounds like it is.

As a tip though, remember to keep the card in the slot until it specifically asks you (or her) to remove it. Its not like when you swipe it and then take the card straight away.

Also just in case you don't know what the EMV slot looks like, have a look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpwURCjkDEw it shows a chip and pin transaction (Obviously with your card, it won't ask for a PIN).

Definitely an issue. She just told me they didn't take cards if they had a chip. Total nonsense is what it sounds like. She even called the main store, as this was a small kiosk in the middle of the mall, and didn't do a very good job describing...the lady on the other end probably had no idea what she was talking about. Or she may have thought she meant the cards you wave, in which her answer would have been correct. But given I've used the card there before and never an issue...

Indeed, sounds like very poor training. The machine was probably only enabled for EMV recently, as thats when all acquirers had to be able to accept EMV cards. I'd be reporting it to Visa/MC/Amex as a merchant violation. You can report her for both, failing to accept a chip card and failing to follow the terminal prompts and instructions.

lol its a shame she won't let you even insert the card (Even if she won't process it as one). It she put the card in backwards (I.e. with chip sticking out) 3 times, it would allow her to fallback and then swipe the card.

I've done this once or twice in the UK on self service machines when I've been in the US for a long long time and forgot my PIN. (I know very secure right :P).

I'm going to try again and if it happens again, then that sounds like a good idea. I ended up giving her my Amex instead. It's a cookie store at the local mall and I've not had an issue until now. I've never had someone reject a Visa card because it had an extra security measure...you're right, they obviously wasn't trained on that machine.

lol get the cookie, start eating it quickly and then go to pay with the chip card. Then you have the bargaining chip. Either you take my chip card or my half eaten cookie :P

It should be a simple matter of you knowing what it means and pointing out the chip slot, tell her to insert and to leave until the terminal prompts her to remove the card. If acceptance is still refused, call 1-800-VISA-911 for Visa or 1-800-MASTERC for MasterCard and tell them simply that your card is being refused at a merchant that displays the Visa/MasterCard logo. Do it WHILE there and while they're not busy so people behind you don't get too mad.

Reclusive - where on earth are you shopping you're seeing basically a chip transaction a week in the US? I live here and do most of my shopping with chip cards and I've never, once, done a chip transaction in the US. I think of chip transactions as something very, very rare at this point. The only place with EMV-enabled terminals around here is Walmart but they're only enabled on the PIN pad, if you actually insert the card it just throws an error (swiping works fine). Nowhere else has chip slots that react at all.

These days, its often a independent restaurant, which is annoying as it means I have to go to the counter and I enter my PIN. A few Walmarts I've sucessfully done a chip transaction, Davenport Florida comes to mind. A Pay at pump at a BP station in New York City I go to is also EMV enabled. A couple of independent shops. Oh and some of the Century 21st terminals in New York City have EMV turned on (Only some though). Some drug store in NYC that I can't remember name of.

Some restaurants the standard for dealing with EMV cards is to do a PIN-Bypass (Or if its chip and signature then the same thing) and then get the customer to sign but UK/Canadian/Kiwi cards don't allow PIN-Bypass. Keep an eye on your receipts as you may find it has been done via EMV, it should have the AID or ICC written on it.