RE: Prepaid Mastercard not accepted

osmononame

Hi, as a gift I was given a Prepaid Mastercard loaded with £200. The letter with the card said that it was not a chip and pin card so I had to sign it but would be accepted anywhere I see the MasterCard logo. So yesterday I went to town and tried to use the card at various shops and each and every time I got a cashier with a confused look on his/her face saying 'computer says no'. :mad:

So now I have a gift card that I can't use in the shops, anyone experienced anything similar?

fozmcfc

Which company is the card from. I.E. who issued the card, not Mastercard themselves?

Mr_Oink

They often have the caveat 'electronic use only' i.e. online.

osmononame

Hi, Newcastle Building Society issued the card. It does say Electronic Use Only on the card so I guess this is why the shops weren't accepting it? The letter that accompanied the card did say though that I could use it in any shop displaying the logo.

Mr_Oink

Perhaps my understanding of 'electronic use only' is weak - but I assume that to mean 'online', but I can't see any reason why a store could not verify it manually (other than they don't know how?). All card usage is 'electronic' thinking about it.

It's stupid I can use one of my prepaid cards with Next online, but can't use it instore. How weird is that? They are still useful things to have - I used them for companies where the trust bond is weak. Paypal being one of them.

DagmarL

I had a prepaid mastercard and was able to spend the money in a Tesco petrol station.

Mickiest

I too was given a £20 "Vanilla" pre-loaded gift card with the Mastercard logo and supposedly valid wherever Mastercard was accepted. Not so! I tried Debenhams, Matalan, Harvester Restaurant and Arcadia Group (Topshop, Miss selfridge, etc) without success. I have registered it online as recommended.
When it failed in Matalan I e-mailed the card issuer and they said the cashier should have used it as a "swipe & sign" transaction. I tried that in the Harvester but it failed there too. Apparently if it is for say a £25 transaction you are supposed to pay the £5 first aand then the rest with the card otherwise it will come up as "insufficient funds". I'm starting to lose heart but Tesco sounds worth a try.

Dave_Z

I always thought 'electronic use only' meant they couldn't use those old fashioned machines which took an imprint of the raised numbers. The only cards i've ever seen with that disclaimer had printed numbers instead of the usual raised type.

Bob_the_Saver

Just get a FairFx £ card for Free. ONLY charges 1.5% when you spend - it always works for me anywhere between here and OZ.