VISA Gold with no chip - many problems in UK

LWMAR

Hello,

I have 2 VISA cards, one of them is a gold card, issued in Argentina.
I am experiencing a lot of problems in the United Kingdom as most shops think they should not take any card without a chip & pin system. After I sent many letters to the central offices of those merchants, most of the times the answer is that my cards are absolutely fine and they should be accepted, sometimes they just want to see my ID, which is fine. However in some small shops there is nothing I can think of doing to sort it out so I just avoid them. But the real big problem is with a huge supermarket called ASDA as they centralized customer service is really useless and most of their many managers are really sure that my cards are not the ones they take or some others just don't even know. Unfortunately I have one of those supermarkets near my house and I need to buy there. Since 10 months ago when I moved here I am still having many difficulties, specially when I go out of office hours as the supermarket is open 24 hours but not many supervisors and managers are available. It is very stressfull, dissapointing and I am really furious as I wasted so much time with this matter + other customers show me with their faces that they think I am crazy saying to the managers how wrong they are. I contacted VISA Argentina, who told them to contact my bank issuer, who told me to contact VISA UK, who told me to contact VISA Argentina. There is no way round this and a few times they also rejected my AMEX card which again does not have a chip as well.

I hope and wish you can help me.
Many thanks in advance
Regards

Marcelo

[Deleted User]

pay cash at asda?
solved

LWMAR

I have very little cash as I work for a company in Argentina and they pay me into my account in Argentina. Because of political problems it is not possible for them or anyone else to send me the money by any means. If I want to get cash from the cash machine with this cards it is not possible because of the same reasons.

Eonel

I can't see there is a solution to your problem with your current cards. It also can not be very cost effective to use your Argentinian cards when you live here as every transaction will incur foreign currency transaction fees or penalties.

If you are here on behalf of an Argentinian employer then i suggest you explain your problem to them. They have sent you here without adequate access to cash or credit cards.

Paul_the_Painter

I was in ASDA yesterday for the first time in 3 years, and their "fast pay" checkouts (the unmanned ones) have an option to swipe the card. It may be easier to use those.
Regarding the main problem, in areas with lots of tourists, you won't run into nearly as many problems! Where are you based?
Maybe get used to going in at the same time of day, and using the same checkout. After a few times you will be running into the same members of staff.

chattychappy

Unfortunately you have no legal/regulatory remedy. You can't demand that a shop takes your card. If they wanted to, they could even have a rule that they don't take red visa cards. This might break their merchant agreement, but that is a contract between the shop and the network (via their merchant services provider). So you can't enforce it.

I'm guessing one day the chips will be introduced in Argentina. Really I think fault lies with the Visa/Mastercard networks for allowing a situation where different countries operate different systems when it is meant to be a global system. Though retailers are meant to be able to take cards without chips, it is yet another headache when they train staff. And of course, some places - eg railway ticket machines simply cannot work without the PIN.

Eonel wrote: »

It also can not be very cost effective to use your Argentinian cards when you live here as every transaction will incur foreign currency transaction fees or penalties.

Not necessarily. Afterall there are UK cards which don't levy these charges. You effectively get something very close to the interbank rate.

Plxply

chattychappy wrote: »

This might break their merchant agreement, but that is a contract between the shop and the network (via their merchant services provider).

If it helps though, all merchant agreements include the "accept all cards" policy which state you have to take Visa/MasterCard cards no matter what features they lack/have. Although unfortunately this will be a problem as you can't enforce it and there's little you can do in terms of complaining.

Have you tried seeing if your bank will issue a chip card? I know some international banking services in America offer chip cards that tell the terminal to take a signature so it's easier to use in Europe. You just insert it in the Chip & PIN device like normal except it prompts for a manual signature.

piemaeu

Me and my friend from the states were in asda and she went to pay with her Visa card (has no chip) the cashier looked at her like she was a Nigerian con artist and told her due to fraud policies they could not take her card. I told her to ask her manager who stood by the 'policy' so I asked the manager to get HER manager who said she was unsure. Still we refused to make a payment with one of my cards or cash until they understood that denying the payment was against the terms of the merchants and they could face a fine.

It's unfortunate there are so many uneducated people who know nothing about their jobs.

jonesMUFCforever

piemaeu wrote: »

Me and my friend from the states were in asda and she went to pay with her Visa card (has no chip) the cashier looked at her like she was a Nigerian con artist and told her due to fraud policies they could not take her card. I told her to ask her manager who stood by the 'policy' so I asked the manager to get HER manager who said she was unsure. Still we refused to make a payment with one of my cards or cash until they understood that denying the payment was against the terms of the merchants and they could face a fine.

It's unfortunate there are so many uneducated people who know nothing about their jobs.

I think you are in the wrong here. Any shop can refuse to serve you and tell you that they do not want your custom.
If they insist on a chip and pin card they can do that to.
Up to you either to pay by a different method or leave without the goods.

CKhalvashi

piemaeu wrote: »

It's unfortunate there are so many uneducated people who know nothing about their jobs.

It's nothing to do with this.

I went to pay for something last week on an Israeli debit card, and they wouldn't accept, so I paid on a UK one; same name on the card.

I went to pay for fuel in the same supermarket, using the same card, and they used my DL instead of a pin no.

It's the way the world works; sometimes you win, sometimes you don't.

CK

System

It would be against the merchant agreement, but this is an issue you'd need to take up with you issuer and card scheme.

The reason why retailers are reluctant to take non-chip transactions is that there was a liability shift from issuer to merchant (for fraudulent transactions) where retailers swipe rather than use the chip. It technically doesn't apply to non-chip or Chip n signature cards but many retailers have told staff not to swipe any purchases.

Some US banks e.g. Bank of America issue Chip n Pin for travel cards.