Getting Chip & Signature Cards vice Chip & PIN

Altarf

thechatking wrote:

Regarding what Natwest told me above (that I must be "blind or something" to get a C&S card), are they allowed to ask this sort of information when someone is applying for a card? It says on the C&P website that no medical evidence is required to get a card, so where does this leave everything?

It is just badly trained staff making it up as they go along, using the logic - Blind people need C&S cards, therefore to have a C&S card you must be blind.

One of the banks I deal with started down that line, and back-pedalled very rapidly when I challenged them on their medical qualifications (which they would need if they were to perform some kind of assessment), whether such an assessment could be carried out over the phone, and that they had registered their systems with the Data Protection Register specifically to hold medical information.

The call got passed to the supervisor who just issued a C&S card.

James

Des,

Thanks for that you may consider dropping an email of your experience to:

http://www.cardwatch.org.uk/default.asp?sectionid=5&pageid=91

(They actually replied to me and were a lot more helpful than some card issuers).

and also a email to the NCC (National Consumers Council) to keep them in the loop.

press@ncc.org.uk FAO Janice Allen.

It should help others

thechatking

Altarf wrote:

It is just badly trained staff making it up as they go along, using the logic - Blind people need C&S cards, therefore to have a C&S card you must be blind.

One of the banks I deal with started down that line, and back-pedalled very rapidly when I challenged them on their medical qualifications (which they would need if they were to perform some kind of assessment), whether such an assessment could be carried out over the phone, and that they had registered their systems with the Data Protection Register specifically to hold medical information.

The call got passed to the supervisor who just issued a C&S card.

Nicely done. I'm going to check my card T&Cs and then decide what action to take. My PIN-less Marbles card runs out today. (

Snapelover

Has anyone had problems with staff asking why you don't have a PIN since 14th February?

I sometimes shop at Matalan and was in before the 14th Feb. and was asked 'don't you have a PIN?' so I explained that I didn't, she told me that from 14th I would have to have one. I won't, I told her as I am visually imapired and am allowed to continue signing.

This made me very worried and I contacted my card supplier, Capital One, who informed me that i could continue signing. I also contacted the RNIB and they told me that by law, under the DDA, it was wrong to refuse me using my card.

I returned to Matalan after the 14th and, lo and behold, the same member of staff commented on the fact that I had no PIN. I told her that I had already had this conversation with her once before - but it was the way she spoke to me and the fuss it created, it's more embarrassing than anything else. Surely, it is not necessary for her to have to make any comment. I put the card in the machine, it tells her that a signature is required and Bob's your uncle.

Should I make a complaint about her?

thechatking

Snapelover wrote:

Has anyone had problems with staff asking why you don't have a PIN since 14th February?

A small charity shop refused my card a few weeks back, but that's the only time it's not been just put through as normal.

James

Here's the link to make the complaint to:

http://www.chipandpin.co.uk/consumer/2005/problems.html

Bet you get the bog-standard reply that it is a stores training issue - as it is a bank/call centre staff training issue.

Snapelover

thechatking wrote:

A small charity shop refused my card a few weeks back, but that's the only time it's not been just put through as normal.

If you are disabled and that is the reason why you have a C & S card then that charity shop is not allowed to refuse your card under the DDA.

King_Of_Fools

Snapelover wrote:

If you are disabled and that is the reason why you have a C & S card then that charity shop is not allowed to refuse your card under the DDA.

Technically, any shop can refuse to accept any credit card for payment at their own discretion. However, they should not refuse on the grounds of not having a C&P card[1].


[1] They or the bank can refuse to accept a C&P card without a PIN, however.

jenniferpa

King_Of_Fools wrote:

Technically, any shop can refuse to accept any credit card for payment at their own discretion. However, they should not refuse on the grounds of not having a C&P card

While this is true, I would suggest that such stores should be reported to the specific credit card company. They can get pretty shirty when they think retailers aren't sticking to the T & C's they sign up for, and I'm reasonably certain that refusing to accept valid C & S cards, while accepting C & P ones would come under this category. Of course, in the case of a charity shop it's likely that the staff will be untrained, perhaps volunteers. Still, it's the principle of the thing.

Jennifer

thechatking

Sorry, there's been a mis-understanding. The charity shop refused my non-chipped credit card as they believed they weren't allowed to accept anything that didn't operate through the new C&P machines. I tried to explain but he wasn't having any of it. Two minutes later, I had been to an ATM and the problem was no more. )

I don't have any C&S cards as no-one will issue one to me as I'm not disabled.