 Poster: A snowHead
|
|
We're making the trip over from the US (to L3V) and have been reading a lot about French establishments not accepting US Visa cards (we still have the ones with only the magnetic strip issued to us here). Can anyone shed some light on this/ or experience you or someone you know has had?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
makwendo, In the UK it is up to the shop to decide to accept a card without a chip and pin number input. Most will not accept a card without a chip/pin number. (The retailer is liable for transaction if a card is accepted without a chip/pin input.) Many shops retailers now refuse to accept American Express cards as Amex is now the card of choice for a credit card thief as it has no security built into it at all.
In France the situation is similar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
| boredsurfin wrote: |
In France the situation is similar. |
or not, no real problem with magnetic cards apart from the storekeepers sometimes don't know how to strim them. I use mine a lot of the time still. That may change in the future.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
Some French businesses say they are not able to take foreign cards at all. I was never sure whether this was true or not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
I had problems this summer (with a C&P card) at at least one pay at the pump petrol station.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Contact your C C card company and ask for a chip and pin card for Europe. They will probably refuse but as more requests come in, they should become increasingly aware of the profit they are NOT making and will make the change sooner rather than later. Then do an internet search for a C C company that will issue a C+P card.
Visa (Barclaycard) should in my experience.
Also, try the US branches of European banks. There is a branch of HSBC (a VISA issuer in UK) in New York. They are also the biggest bank in the world with more branches than anyone else.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you have an Amazon.com CC then contact them and they should issue you with a C+P card as the Amazon.co.uk CC is C+P.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our Swiss cards still have magnetic strips. In France they are always accepted in cashpoints and at manual tills but never at automatic petrol pumps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
Our UK chip and pin card was not accepted at a petrol pump in October, fortunately I have a French bank account, and had the debit card with me. I have used them all elsewhere without problem, but was asked for ID in a DIY store at Easter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
None of my credit cards (which all have chip and pin now) are accepted at French petrol pumps. It's a pain, because the opening hours of the payment booths are often quite short. The moral is never to run low on petrol in the mountains (a mistake you make only once). Otherwise, both now and before chip and pin, I found that the machines used by French retailers did, or did not, accept my cards in a totally random manner. One Casino supermarket will take the Tesco Visa card, the next won't, but will accept the Barclaycard. Don't try to puzzle it out, just have a few available. The good news is that I have never had any problem with any of them in an ATM. Actually, not true, I had a problem when I tried to get a tyre repaired after a puncture, in some god forsaken dorp off the autoroute around St Quentin. The tyre man said we needed to buy not just one, but two tyres, which was a blow (though added "foutu" to my expanding French vocab), then the ATM kept telling me to take the cash, but wasn't offering it. I had to trek to another machine and find another card to use. Fortunately I had a receipt slip, and kept all details, and eventually my bank refunded the money. But a big hassle. But that was four years ago and all ATMs 100% since. But you can't afford to run out of euros. If only to be able to pay the friendly Frenchman you have to persuade to use his credit card to fill up your car at the automatic pump... At some little shops, with few foreigners, they are not sure what to do with "les cartes etrangere". They often need to be swiped in a different way, it seems. Another thing to watch is that some shops (again totally randomly) demand to see your passport if you present a foreign credit card. So don't go to the supermarket without it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Thanks, the american CC companies, while aware of the problem, told me over the phone that they still don't issue chip style CC's yet. Guess it's hit or miss and keep some cash/ ID on me at all times.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
Does anybody know which cards the Carrefour supermarket automated pumps take? As they wont take any of my UK debit or credit cards nor my French bank a/c debit card?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| boredsurfin wrote: |
| Does anybody know which cards the Carrefour supermarket automated pumps take? As they wont take any of my UK debit or credit cards nor my French bank a/c debit card? |
Normally any French bank card. Be careful using bank cards in automated pumps as they are a key target for card cloners.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
makwendo
Just make sure you take some picture ID with you.
If the card/pin fails, most stores will accept additional ID.
Banking 'rules' vary all over the world, including across Europe. In spain, you pretty much _have_ to show picture ID (the locals do, at least). I understood that the French banks were going to phase _out_ the C&P cards, as the extra cost did not justify any reduction in fraud. A few years ago in the UK, one company started printing user photos on the back of cards, but it never caught on.
It's a very wise idea to have more than one card (which you'll presumably keep somewhere slightly different, so you don't lose _all_ in one go)...
I had a 'pin failure' in France last year - but as it was in a restaurant, they just took the signature - but then that's a lower risk transaction than someone pitching up and filling a car up with fuel.
good luck,
h.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
boredsurfin, I used my French card in one recently.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
davidof, Is card cloning in France more common than the UK?
My card was cloned at a peage a couple of years ago but luckily my card issuer spotted the cloning and I only had the inconvenience of a new card being issued (2 weeks!) I notice that you have referred to clonong a couple of times recently.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| boredsurfin wrote: |
davidof, Is card cloning in France more common than the UK?
My card was cloned at a peage a couple of years ago but luckily my card issuer spotted the cloning and I only had the inconvenience of a new card being issued (2 weeks!) I notice that you have referred to clonong a couple of times recently. |
I have no idea about card cloning in the UK although I did watch an episode of "The Real Hussle" where it looked pretty widespread.
France it is rife and getting your money back from French banks can be like getting blood out of a stone in my experience (despite a EU wide banking code which should protect customers). My wife had 7000 euros taken from her bank account (in madrid apparently) and it took over 2 months to recover the money. We think her card was cloned at the Leclerc Petrol station at l'Espace Comboire just out of Grenoble on the road to les Deux Alpes.
I don't know if getting the money back was incompetence or deliberate but the missus eventually got my dad-in-law to phone the director of the Bank de France (the French equivalent of Mervyn King) and things started to move a bit afterwards. People talk about rip-off Britain but I have never experienced service as bad as here in France and banks are not exactly cheap to use. That said my local bank, Credit Mutuel are very helpful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
davidof, Thanks, Card cloning here is rare OR being kept very quiet, I am the only person in our faily wide circle of friends that has had a card cloned and of course that was in France. The "The Real Hussle" was I believe pointing out what was possible NOT what has happened.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
I won't however be using the card on my next trip, as it expires on 31st December, and the cards are waiting for me at my bank in Paris, rather than being posted to me.  I could use my cheque book I suppose.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
C A S H..
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
CANV CANVINGTON, mmm, but I can't get the cash out if my card is expired, can I? (It's a debit card)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On the petrol pump thing - yes, in general French pumps will not accept UK cards. Shops have no problem with them.
I think it is because the pumps have a different style of reader in them from when the French banks first introduced chip/pin, but shops have the modern one which is the same as the UK.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
CANV CANVINGTON, I can, my New Year is meant to be spent in Serre Chevalier.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Helen Beaumont, go now then!
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
CANV CANVINGTON, I wish!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
