milepig

I don't quite know where to post this, so Travel Technology seemed a good place to start. If the moderator wants to move the thread to a better home please feel free.

Diverse threads have talked about how in many situations non-local credit cards won't work. I've most commonly experienced this at ticket machines in train stations and at toll booths on highways. Some reports say that typically any European Credit Card will work, sometimes people say only a card issued in the country is valid.

I'm curious about why this is. Is it some technical issue of how the machines are hooked up (or aren't hooked up) to the credit system? Is it some difference with the way information is encoded on the mag stripe? Does it have something to do with carrying charges that the system doesn't want to incur? Or is it just one of those things that beaurocracy has managed to mess up? My American Credit Cards seem to work everywhere else (hotels, restaurants, shops, museums, etc.) with no problem, the problem is just with these unattended machines. Some people have pointed out that the AmEx will sometimes work when other cards won't, but I can't say this has been my experience.

I've increasingly noticed that ticket machines, in particular, will ONLY take a credit card and that they have no ability to ingest either coins or paper currency, forcing all non-locals to stand in line at the ticket window. Of course, you find this out after working your way through the entire selection menu (which has a perfect English interface) only to have your Credit Card rejected at the last step with some obscure message like "card not recognized".

editing to add: The train station situation is especially frustrating, since you're always in a hurry, somewhat disoriented, not quite sure to do with the mysterious buttons on a machine you've never used before (love the French roller bar) and there are always people queued up behind you waiting for the stupid tourist to finish.

ScottC

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the international network the card is signed up with. Interlink, Plus, Cirrus are just a few of them, I've seen Visa cards that work fine in the US but are not part of Cirrus. These are called "interbank networks".

Here is some more on them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_...ank_network%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbank_network

Xyzzy

I've been at unmanned gasoline pumps in remote places outside of the US where my US credit card was recognised by the pump but where I couldn't get gas. Why? I needed to enter a PIN and there is no PIN associated with my account (or any US credit cards that I know of).

milepig

Correct about the interbank network, but I don't think this is the problem in this case - all my cards are affiliated with one of those networks, usually Cirrus.

And, to also answer xyzzy, my US credit cards all DO actually have a PIN. I think this is standard, and I've usually been prompted to select a PIN when I call in to confirm the receipt of the new card.

rdraper

They refused my credit card at a pub in the UK because it didn't have a chip in it.

ramraideruk

Cuba - surprisingly. Although they take some cards, no cards issued from US banks will work. Also all Maestro and Amex cards don't work either.

The UK did switch over to chip and pin earlier this year. Non chip and pin cards can be accepted at most places with relevant picture id (driving licence or passpoprt)

Xyzzy

If your card is an ATM card and a Visa/MC then maybe it does. I don't have any of those. I've also never been asked to pick a PIN for my cards.

milepig

Strange, both my regular VISA cards, as well as the AMEX, none of which are also debit/ATM cards, have PINs.

timfountain

USA. No seriously, I live in the USA and my chase VISA works in the self-serve Avgas pump at my local aiport, whereas my Wells Fargo Visa doesn't. Go figure!

studentff

I too had the "train station problem" in France this year; none of my 3+ US-issued Visa/MC credit cards or 2 debit cards would work in the long-distance train kiosks. These kiosks do not take cash. My credit cards worked fine in the Metro kiosks, and European-issued credit cards clearly worked fine in the long-distance-train kiosks. My US-issued credit card of course worked fine at the ticket counter after waiting in line and having to work with an agent. The same problem occured at multiple train stations, so it was definatley systemic. I've never had this problem in any other European country. I eventually decided the only rational explanation was French anti-Americanism.

So I complained to Chase and Visa, who issue my Mileage Plus Visa on which I spend much money and for which I pay an annual fee. Grounds of complaint: My understanding is that merchants displaying the Visa logo must accept all Visa cards; the French kiosks display the logo and do not accept the cards; therefore you should demand that the French quit displaying the Visa logo.

Good old outsourced customer service cluelessly misinterpreted the point of my letter. Two months later I got a letter thanking me for "notifying Chase in advance of my planned international travel." Since I had sent no such notice and have concerns about identity theft, I ended up wasting half an hour on the phone with CS before they figured out that my post-travel letter had triggered the "thank-you for pre-travel notification" letter. And I still have received no acceptable response as to why French kiosks can display the Visa logo and not accept Visa cards.

redburgundy

I had this happen in Frankfurt, but no problems in Berlin.

cj001f

Why? My experience/hunchs:
-Crap communications linkage from Country XYZ to the central database (sometimes repeating the same transaction results in success)
-Bizarre transaction value limits (like less than US$100 in many parts of S. America)
-Retarded antifraud measures. Washington Mutual refused an NZ$40 withdrawl (to protect me from fraud )

tide

Oyster kiosks on the London Tube won't take my cards because don't have a chip+pin

Doppy

Lots of automated machines in France these days only seem to take credit cards that have smart chips embedded in them. It's quite annoying.

cpx

and sometimes you end up with double charge. it happened to me in AMS
but my CC company wiped it out for me without any trouble.

it helps to call them before you visit another country.