Found another place which doesn't accept our Visa debit cards...

Doucam

Went to York this morning for a little jaunt to the railway museum, decided to use the money we put by monthly for a day out with the boys.

Get to the station and chap that will be £xx.xx please, hubby gives over card, and nope, that type of card is not supported, and came up as Electron, the chap tried all sorts of ways to get it go through, but no, it would not go through.

Luckily for us my parents were with us and paid for it and we got the cash out later and gave it to them.

But we were so embarrassed, you could see other people looking with oh you don't have the money looks on their faces, so I have just fired off a stroppy why wouldn't you take our card email to Trans Pennine Express, part of first group to see what they have to say for themselves. :mad:

I will update if they reply, which they will eventually as I am planning on emailing them every few days until they do as I am mad as a wet hen about this one!

philnicandamy

and I bet TPE pass the buck back to the co-op.....

(glad you had a good day apart from the hassles though)

fermi

Was this the Co-op card then?

Doucam

Yes fermi it was a co-op card. Should I contact the co-op as well do you think?

fermi

There is a thread about the Co-op card somewhere?

I can't remember whether it's the Co-op's fault that they are not showing up correctly, or due to the retailers not updating their systems properly?

I'm not with the Co-op, so have only paid a passing attention to what was happening with it.

philnicandamy

Its all down to something called the BIN list......its a case of places not updating details soon enough but for some reason they always refer you back to the co-op

Doucam

Update:

Received this reply this morning, which if anything has served to make me more cross:

Thank you for your email of 19 February 2010 regarding your recent ticket purchase. I was sorry to learn of the problems you encountered when attempting to pay for ticket using a Visa Electron card.

I am sorry that the transaction could not be completed, as you are now aware, we along with the majority of Train Operating Companies do not accept Solo or Visa Electron cards. This is because cards of this type do not guarantee payment of funds. In the past it has been found that some customers have used the aforementioned cards and have not had sufficient funds in their accounts for payment, when the transaction goes through clearing, payment is then refused.

I am sorry that this has caused you inconvenience, but I hope I have clarified our position and thank you for contacting First TransPennine Express.

Yours sincerely

Chris Shannon
Customer Relations Advisor

So they are saying that even though it is a VISA electron not just an electron they still won't accept it!

I will have to ensure I have the cash for travelling at all times now, which isn't always convenient, I feel this is not right, but am not sure what if anything can be done about this?

Doucam

Further update, I am actually really cross about this and will not let it lie, I was terribly embarrassed on Friday, and they have not addressed this at all, nor have they said that they will look into it, so I have replied thus:

Thank you for the prompt reply, but it has not clarified your position for me as, my card is not a Visa Electron card, it is in fact a Visa debit card, and the co-op issues this card as a Visa debit card, not electron, so I would not have noticed any signs saying you did not accept electron as that does not apply to my card.

I have checked the Visa website and on there it says that you can recognise a Visa Electron by many facts, one being that it says on the card Visa Electron, nowhere on my card does it say Visa Electron, just Visa Debit, that the card no is printed and feels flat, mine is raised.

links attached for your perusal:

The electron card:

http://www.visaeurope.com/merchant/handlingvisapayments/facetoface/recognisingvalidcards/recognisingelectroncards.jsp

The Visa debit card (which is what my card looks like)

http://www.visaeurope.com/merchant/handlingvisapayments/facetoface/recognisingvalidcards/recognisingvisacards.jsp


I will also be contacting the co-op to query this, as when they issued it to me they assured me it was not an electron card, but a Visa card with full Visa benefits, clearly there is a problem somewhere, either with your systems or the co-op have not advised you of the change to their cards.

As I stated in my original email to yourselves my husband and I were extremely embarrassed on Friday by this, and your response has not in anyway answered my question, as it would appear that you are not going to do anything to change your systems to recognise Visa debit cards.

Yours,

nervousbankrupt

It might be worth emailing a photo of the Visa Debit card, showing them without any doubt.

There's an photo in one of the other forums, with the numbers obscured, so I'd just use this one;

http***://media.photobucket.com/image/co-op%20visa%20debit/littleone8/18062009078.jpg

(delete the ***)

ankspon

The same happens with my Mastercard debit card

philnicandamy

Doucam wrote: »

Further update, I am actually really cross about this and will not let it lie, I was terribly embarrassed on Friday, and they have not addressed this at all, nor have they said that they will look into it, so I have replied thus:

Thank you for the prompt reply, but it has not clarified your position for me as, my card is not a Visa Electron card, it is in fact a Visa debit card, and the co-op issues this card as a Visa debit card, not electron, so I would not have noticed any signs saying you did not accept electron as that does not apply to my card.

I have checked the Visa website and on there it says that you can recognise a Visa Electron by many facts, one being that it says on the card Visa Electron, nowhere on my card does it say Visa Electron, just Visa Debit, that the card no is printed and feels flat, mine is raised.

links attached for your perusal:

The electron card:

http://www.visaeurope.com/merchant/handlingvisapayments/facetoface/recognisingvalidcards/recognisingelectroncards.jsp

The Visa debit card (which is what my card looks like)

http://www.visaeurope.com/merchant/handlingvisapayments/facetoface/recognisingvalidcards/recognisingvisacards.jsp


I will also be contacting the co-op to query this, as when they issued it to me they assured me it was not an electron card, but a Visa card with full Visa benefits, clearly there is a problem somewhere, either with your systems or the co-op have not advised you of the change to their cards.

As I stated in my original email to yourselves my husband and I were extremely embarrassed on Friday by this, and your response has not in anyway answered my question, as it would appear that you are not going to do anything to change your systems to recognise Visa debit cards.

Yours,

just out of curiosoty....is it a card starting "4508"?

until the company that refuses to update thier BIN database it will be treated as an electron regardless of what the card says on the front...my thought? the companies dont seem to be too arsed about updates

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

although.....its pretty useless the fact co-op released these "new" cards without checking things 1st