Barclays Connect/Electron Visa Debit with Ryanair ?

billloudon

I have had the same misinformation. I asked if Barclays did an Electron card and told them it was specifically for Ryanair flights.
I was told they had sold a number of these cards for that purpose. Eventually I got my card.
I tried all weekend to book flights without the transaction charges with no success. Phoned the Barclays helpline and was told it was an Electron card and that my card was fine. It was then suggested that the Ryanair site may in some way be defective.
All a waste of time. I will now open a Co-op account

melb

Hi I know this is an old thread but I wondered if Adams 30 was online and if he could update about his barclays electron/connect card. I will be so .......'ed off if I've been given the wrong one, because of the complete shambles which I had to endure to get it. Firstly rang the number I use to pay my barclay card (I'm with barclays) and ask if I can open an electron account - yes you can but you'll have to go into a branch. Monday morning try to find out tel number of local barclays branch so have to speak to call centre on 0845 number. No barclays branches don't have tel numbers and why do you need to ring them anyway. Because I want an electron card. Cetrainly madam I can organise that over the phone and sorry you have been given wrong information I'll transfer you to relevant department. Wait 20 minutes on hold then get through - no we can't do that over the phone you'll have to go to a branch - oh I asked that question 20 minutes ago. while you're on can we interest you ion any loans .....no ..... we notice you have xxxxxx in your account can we interest you in a savings account ... no. so I spend 2 lunchtimes in branch attempting to open an electron account - why do you want one you've already got a connect platinum - because I do - you'll have to come back tomorrow.. Card arrives yesterday looks exactly the same as my first connect card - bright blue and it says connect on it so I ring Barclays where I started off a week previous and he says it's an connect electronic card so i transfer £100 into that account. Now it seems I haven't got an electron card at all. Please tell me what happened to you when you enquired.

melb

Please could adams 30 let us know how he got on with his enquiry re his barclays electron card. I've just been sent a bright blue card that clearly says connect on it when I clearly asked for a n electron card. thanks

Villa198

I`ve just applied on line for a Halifax visa electron, will advise how it goes.

Extant

username wrote: »

The reason why they probably call it an "electron" is because it does have the same functionality embedded as the (old) electron; in that all transactions are forced by the software on the card to be authorised online so (in theory) you can't get overdrawn on it.

They probably refer to it as the "electron" for familiarity. The Barclays "Visa Electron" doesn't exist anymore as far as I am aware.

This is correct. It is referred to as a "Connect Electronic." It has the same basic functionality as the Visa Electron, but allows us to emboss the cards etc.

The card is fundamentally the same product - the issue here lies with who or whatever Ryanair chooses to use for their card processing.

Certainly, I have seen that Barclays do 3 types of Connect debit card; an "electron" with no cheque guarantee, one with a £50 cheque guarantee and another with a £100 cheque guarantee. They are all Visa Debit, but have varying degrees of cheque guarantee, and for the upper levels, it is up to the software on the card and/merchant or bank to decide whether to authorise a transaction online or offline.

Also correct. We also offer a £250 cheque guarantee on platinum/premier/private banking products.

Merchants can set a floor limit below which they don't seek immediate authorization from the card issuer, which is actually a serious fraud issue (if the merchant has a floor limit of £50, and the card is used for £49.99 then no authorization is sought and there will be no instruction to capture the card issued).

Natan358 wrote: »

basically the electron with Barclays requires you to have a normal current account but the card you can get with it will either be a normal debit or an electron

by the way i work for barclays not halifax but i do have a normal account with both banks and the cash card account with Halifax, it works well

Go speak to your line manager and ask for further training and development. Raise it in your next one to one, and get it recorded in your Personal Development Plan. Ensure an action plan is in place with realistic and achievable goals, agreed by both the member of staff and the manager.

In short, your product knowledge sucks: you can have a Connect Electronic on a CCA. Go read SID some more.

PROLIANT

Visa Debit is...Visa Debit no matter how you want to dress it up and Electron is Electron, two different systems, Visa Debit can be processed off-line whereas Visa Electron can not, if the card says it is a Visa debit then it will work as a Visa debit, depending on your credit rating the bank will only issue a Visa Debit with the Cheque-Ok function if your score was high enough, a Visa Debit minus the latter cheque function does not perform any different than a 3 in 1 Visa Debit, one less function that is all.

jool25

:mad: I have spent the whole morning trying to book flights with Ryanair using my new barclays electron card, I downgraded to this card last week just to book flights:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: wish I had read the posts on this forum before!

dave_wd

Apparently Ryanair have some sort of marketing agreement with Visa to promote the use of Visa Electron. This is very odd because as has been previously mentioned, few UK banks offer Electron now. But Ryanair has hubs all over Europe and it may be that Electron is more widespread in other EU states. It would probably have to be because Ryanair claim that more people pay for flights using Electron than any other type of debit card.

Not sure what the banks charge Ryanair for processing cards now but years ago UK banks would charge business customers a flat fee for debit cards and a percentage of the transaction for credit cards and overseas cards.

Source :
www . ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php?yr=08&month=jul&story=cst-en-040708

You'll need to remove the spaces after the www. As it's my first post I'm not allowed to post a clickable link

agsnu

The fees that Ryanair will be charged for processing the card transactions are tiny in comparison to the £4 per person per direction "card fee" as they call it. It is highly unlikely that it costs them less to process VISA Electron than VISA Debit (or Maestro, for that matter).

It seems far more likely that they have picked a card that pretty much nobody has so that they can advertise a lower fare than the one most people have to pay. Ryanair are cheating lying scum.

exel1966

dave_wd wrote: »

It would probably have to be because Ryanair claim that more people pay for flights using Electron than any other type of debit card.

I wonder why you ressurrected a thread which hasn't been contributed to for 4 months ? Maybe to kick-up some more anti-ryanair feeling from a TROLL ?

If you want to troll at least provide up to date links and not ones which are 8 months old and then spout a lot of B/S about more people paying for flights using Election than any other card.
FACT : Ryanair actually state that 20% of all pax who choose to fly with them have their flights paid for by an Electron card ! Far more people choose to use VISA debit cards/credit cards and Mastercards.