FairFX card -- acceptance problems

beniamino

I have a Euro FairFX card. I took it on holiday last year, and generally found it to be a good and cheap way to get travel money. However, on the French motorways (Southwest, around Toulouse), the card wasn't accepted by the card readers in the motorway toll booths, even though they had Mastercard signs up. This could be uncomfortable if one drove into a cards-only booth. Can anyone tell me why this happened? Is it possible to know in advance that a FairFX card won't be accepted? Thanks for any ideas!

lorweld

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Cumbrian_Male

I have the Fair fx card too, it needs to be authorised like a solo or electron so if the machine isn't connected to a phone line it can't get that authorisation.

Saying that Ryanair just did a manual card imprint for me to sign for my breakfast on a flight last year.

Pleased you mentioned it as I'm off to France in just over a week.

beniamino

Thanks Cumbrian Male! Now I understand the reason, I should be able to avoid the situation in future. I must say that FairFX's FAQ is rather misleading:
'The Euro and Dollar FairFX Currency cards can be used anywhere in the world or to spend in any currency wherever there is a MasterCard® acceptance mark, including shops, restaurants, online or on the telephone.'

Have fun in France.

pelirocco

I couldnt use mine in The US for the prepaid fuel pumps, even tho the mastercard acceptance mark was on them.

Sometimes you need to put it through as a debit card not as a credit card to get it to work

Cumbrian_Male

I know what you mean about the fairfx website. I read a testimonial where the poster said they paid tolls with their's.

I have found that they answer questions very quickly if you email them.