Mike Jacoubowsky

I've not have an issue using my US non-chipped credit card for any toll roads in the Alps or Pyrenees, but a couple days ago was dumbfounded when it did not work on either All or A85 (don't recall which) entering the Loire Valley. The machine "took" the card (as in, grabbed it all the way into the machine, unlike chipped-card readers which you typically push in just an inch or so), but came back with an error "unreadable card."

I pushed the attendant button, and she told me that's right, it won't accept a non-chipped card. And she further told me to back up out of the lane and go into one that took cash. Yikes. Just what I really wanted to do in a rental, possibly play bumper-car trying to go backward in a toll booth.

Thankfully I had enough cash (it had only been a toll road for a short distance) but what a rude awakening. All those roads I've driven without an issue until now. I can't believe this is a new development; hard to believe they would have taken non-chipped cards previously and not any more.

And wouldn't it be nice if rental car companies gave you a map showing where gas stations could be found near the place you return the car to? Especially "manned" gas stations that can take a non-chipped credit card?

Thanks, enjoying France but I sure do prefer my trips without a car!

nicolas75

I have the same issue with my Amex card, which is sometimes accepted, sometimes not (but my French Visa card is always accepted).

The global internet site of French motorways does not give clear indication.

I guess you need to check before departure which highway you are going to take, and which company manages this highway to make sure if you can pay or not with your credit card.

nicolas75

You might try this next time:

Cash Passport will change the way you think about your money when traveling. With all the convenience of travelers cheques, but without the hassle, it allows you to pre-load your travel budget for smart and convenient use in millions of ATMs, shops, and restaurants where Euros and Pounds are used. You can load your Cash Passport with a choice of.two currencies, € Euro and � GBP.

Key Benefits.

All Cash Passports are enabled with chip & PIN functionality, making it easier to transact abroad, particularly in countries throughout Europe, where this payment method is most popular. When conducting a chip & PIN based transaction, you must insert the Cash Passport into the machine and the machine will prompt you to insert a PIN number before confirming payment. These transactions are very similar to debit card transactions in the United States. There will not be a receipt to sign, as your identity is verified using the PIN number.


http://www.travelex.com/us/products/cash-passport/

b1513

Thanks Mike. That's good information. I just got a Hyatt Chase card which is a smart card with 0% foreign transaction fee.

Bobette

WC_EEND

Last time on the A311 (exit for Dijon), the machine at the p�age refused to accept my p�age ticket I got just past Lyon. Obviously this led to an ... interesting situation. Still, at least it accepted my CC without a hitch.

mikew99

I'm not sure if this is a new issue or not. The need to reliably use credit cards in Europe is the reason many of us want chip & pin cards. (See the sticky and the ongoing discussions in the Credit Card Programs forum.)

The Hyatt card is chip & signature (vs. chip & pin); it's still not clear to me whether chip & signature cards have the same level of acceptance as chip & pin cards.

Mynameismud

[QUOTE=nicolas75;19190054I have the same issue with my Amex card, which is sometimes accepted, sometimes not (but my French Visa card is always accepted).QUOTE]

Never had any issue with my Flying Blue Amex card

Koby

Yes, it would be nice... But they very much prefer to charge you a full tank at their rates.

b1513

I did a bit more homework on this and there are varying opinions on it. It seems that if you charge under $25.00 at a kiosk there would be no problem with the chip and signature vs the chip and pin. Some say that it worked under $50.00 if at a kiosk. If there's an attendant there's no problem whatsoever with charges over that amount. At least this is what I interpreted from what I read. Why, or why, can't we here in America not be able to get one of these chip and pin cards like other countries have had for years?

Bobette

nicolas75

You could find yourself:

• Trapped in a parking lot that relies on automated kiosks to exit.
• Unable to buy gas at a pay-at-the-pump station.
• Prevented from buying bus, subway or rail tickets.
• Stopped at toll booths that require chip-and-PIN cards

Remind you something?

Here are some tips:msn Money

nicolas75

Indeed.

In the United States, the scene on the security and fraud side is becoming dramatic. It is the consensus among observers – although in the U.S. there are no published fraud numbers like in other domestic markets – that physical world fraud in the U.S. is already above the global average today and is on the rise.


The use of magnetic stripe cards present a potential risk of fraud. The main players in the payments industry in the United States have suffered major data loss in recent years, including a huge loss of information relating to credit cards and debit cards.

There is evidence that these losses are the result of the focus on the U.S. activities of fraud and cybercrime because of active migration campaigns to chip cards with PIN code in other parts of the world.

Europe, Japan and many other countries and regions around the world, including countries and regions around the United States (Canada, Mexico and Latin America) are conducting migrations campaigns to smart banking cards.

The United States which continue to use magnetic stripe cards, find themselves increasingly isolated and become,a fertile ground to which criminals are moving their activities. This phenomenon is called "export of fraud".

Now the proof of the existence of this phenomenon are visible. According to APACS, the payments association UK, migration, in 2007, to smart cards and PIN has reduced losses due to fraud transactions from payment terminals byaround 67%. The total losses rose from 218.8 million pounds in 2004 to 73 million pounds in 2007.

While fraud counterfeit cards fell by 32% within the UK, it has increased by 46%, or a total loss of approximately GBP 144.3 million. This increase is a direct result of the activities of fraudsters who conduct the cloning of cards in the United Kingdom for use in countries that do not yet have systems with smart card PIN. This trend continued in 2008 and APACS reported that the export of fraud has almost doubled in the space of two years.

There is also strong evidence for export to the United States of international fraud related to the theft of credit cards. Last summer, 11 individuals were indicted for stealing more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers, following the intrusion in the computer systems of major U.S. retailers such as 7-Eleven, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, it is the largest identity fraud ever observed. Most criminals involved in this case are credit cards pirates acting internationally.

It is not the first case of this type of cybercrime in the United States. In January 2009, the operator Heartland Payment Systems, which provides processing services for credit and debit cards, has been the target of fraud due to the credit card hacking. Although the nationality of criminals and the losses have not yet been established, Heartland Payment System handles more than 100 million card transactions per month.

Source: Gemalto

stimpy

Amex is not quite yet system-wide on French toll roads. It's getting closer every day though.

But I don't know what people are bothering with about with chip or non-chip when it comes to toll roads. You don't enter in your pin code so it really doesn't matter. Perhaps the OP just had a weird one-time issue.

nicolas75

Because non-chip cards are not accepted at some toll roads :

Mike Jacoubowsky

?I knew someone was following me in France! I just knew it! Actually only three of the four on my last trip, since I couldn't find a gas station near the Tour SNCF Hertz drop-off. But if I had, I'm sure it would have been automated and required a credit card I didn't have.

What still amazes me are the number of merchants who pretend(?) not to know what to do with a non-chipped credit card. In the old days I let them get away with it; now I tell them, firmly, "Here, let me try" and voila, it works.
Wait until you are told, as if it should be no big deal, to back up out of the toll booth (with cars behind you) and drive over to the far-right lane that accepts cash. It was one of the more-unbelievable requests I've ever had. She could have raised the gate and asked me to pull over to the side, where they had their offices. But no, busy exit and I'm driving backward against oncoming traffic and moving over two lanes.

Why didn't I use the cash lane in the first place? First, because I haven't needed to in the past. Second, I didn't know if I had enough cash (fortunately, I did).

stimpy

First of all, if you card doesn't work, it doesn't work. And you have to do the back up thing. I've had to do that in the past too. But that doesn't mean that French toll roads have stopped accepting chip-less cards. And if you have coins the staff normally will take your coins and open the gate for you to avoid disrupting traffic.

Secondly those other examples of using chip cards like automated petrol stations, require you to enter your pin code. The toll booth does not have that requirement which is why they still to this day accept non-chip cards. Thousands per day. Even if you give your non-chipped card at a manned gate they do not ask you to produce your ID. There is no difference between chipped and non-chipped cards on toll roads, unlike petrol stations where you enter the code.

As for parking lots, that is more of a bank card network issue than chip versus non-chip. And they don't require a card at all as all parking lots have machines that take coins.