Expensive travel card!

Briggs44

Following an MSE recommendation I got a Halifax Clarity credit card for travelling to the USA.  Big mistake.  When I tried to use it they insisted on validating the purchase by sending me a code number to input. But I don't have a US roaming deal - £6 a day is too expensive and I use WhatsApp instead.  But Halifax don't.  Basic text - even when I tried to use, it took 24 hours to receive the code number.  Useless. So had to use other credit card costing £150 in fees.  When I visited Halifax on return to complain - their response was only that "well my phone works fine over there".  Bully for her. Their customer service whilst abroad was appalling and nowhere near a "service". So -  beware of this requirement with travel cards.....

Emmia

If you'd bought roaming for your trip, how much would that have cost?  Less than £150?

I'm sorry the bank employee wasn't sensitive to your complaint, but it isn't Halifax's fault you opted not to have roaming and instead chose to use another card.

DullGreyGuy

Briggs44 said:

Following an MSE recommendation I got a Halifax Clarity credit card for travelling to the USA.  Big mistake.  When I tried to use it they insisted on validating the purchase by sending me a code number to input. But I don't have a US roaming deal - £6 a day is too expensive and I use WhatsApp instead.  But Halifax don't.  Basic text - even when I tried to use, it took 24 hours to receive the code number.  Useless. So had to use other credit card costing £150 in fees.  When I visited Halifax on return to complain - their response was only that "well my phone works fine over there".  Bully for her. Their customer service whilst abroad was appalling and nowhere near a "service". So -  beware of this requirement with travel cards.....

It doesnt cost anything to receive a TXT message whilst abroad and doesnt require any form of roaming package. 

I would be taking the matter up with your network provider as I, like your complaints handler, have never had any material delay on TXTs arriving whilst overseas. This assumes you hadn't instructed your network to stop everything whilst overseas and then had to instruct them to turn it back on in which case that sort of thing normally does have an activation timescale.

born_again

Wonder if OP phone was in Airplane mode while away?

Olenna

born_again said:

Wonder if OP phone was in Airplane mode while away?

No, the OP is correct.

Vodafone charges £6 if you use any roaming service in North America other than incoming texts - therefore if you reply on different days you'll get charged at least £6 a message.

I'm not aware of any bundles for North America unless you're able to switch to their few tariffs that includes non-EEA roaming. 

If I needed roaming data then I use a secondary sim, otherwise Wi-Fi calling works fine if you leave the phone on airplane mode. 

DullGreyGuy

Olenna said:

born_again said:

Wonder if OP phone was in Airplane mode while away?

No, the OP is correct.

Vodafone charges £6 if you use any roaming service in North America other than incoming texts - therefore if you reply on different days you'll get charged at least £6 a message.

I'm not aware of any bundles for North America unless you're able to switch to their few tariffs that includes non-EEA roaming. 

If I needed roaming data then I use a secondary sim, otherwise Wi-Fi calling works fine if you leave the phone on airplane mode. 

But you dont need roaming for receiving TXT and given the OP states they were using WhatsApp they clearly had some form of data connection. 

WiFi calling is still charged as an international call with most providers

eskbanker

Briggs44 said:

Following an MSE recommendation I got a Halifax Clarity credit card for travelling to the USA.  Big mistake.  When I tried to use it they insisted on validating the purchase by sending me a code number to input. But I don't have a US roaming deal - £6 a day is too expensive and I use WhatsApp instead.  But Halifax don't.  Basic text - even when I tried to use, it took 24 hours to receive the code number.  Useless. So had to use other credit card costing £150 in fees.  When I visited Halifax on return to complain - their response was only that "well my phone works fine over there".  Bully for her. Their customer service whilst abroad was appalling and nowhere near a "service". So -  beware of this requirement with travel cards.....

Your conclusion is too much of a generalisation when what you actually mean is beware of the specific scenario where:

1. You have a Halifax Clarity card, and
2. You travel to the USA, and
3. You make a purchase requiring authentication, and
4. You don't enable access to data/app, and
5. The combination of Vodafone and your US network provider(s) don't deliver texts quickly

Olenna

DullGreyGuy said:

Olenna said:

born_again said:

Wonder if OP phone was in Airplane mode while away?

No, the OP is correct.

Vodafone charges £6 if you use any roaming service in North America other than incoming texts - therefore if you reply on different days you'll get charged at least £6 a message.

I'm not aware of any bundles for North America unless you're able to switch to their few tariffs that includes non-EEA roaming. 

If I needed roaming data then I use a secondary sim, otherwise Wi-Fi calling works fine if you leave the phone on airplane mode. 

But you dont need roaming for receiving TXT and given the OP states they were using WhatsApp they clearly had some form of data connection. 

WiFi calling is still charged as an international call with most providers

To send a confirmation text, requires it go via your home network and doesn't use WhatsApp either. Wi-Fi calling doesn't always charge roaming costs. 

Wi-Fi calling is free if the phone remains on flight mode and therefore never registers on a local US/Canadian mobile network. I regularly use this on Vodafone and Three without issue. I even last used it on flight mode for free WhatsApp over Greenland... 

Olenna

Briggs44 said:

Following an MSE recommendation I got a Halifax Clarity credit card for travelling to the USA.  Big mistake.  When I tried to use it they insisted on validating the purchase by sending me a code number to input. But I don't have a US roaming deal - £6 a day is too expensive and I use WhatsApp instead.  But Halifax don't.  Basic text - even when I tried to use, it took 24 hours to receive the code number.  Useless. So had to use other credit card costing £150 in fees.  When I visited Halifax on return to complain - their response was only that "well my phone works fine over there".  Bully for her. Their customer service whilst abroad was appalling and nowhere near a "service". So -  beware of this requirement with travel cards.....

Probably better ditching Clarity and get something else that uses app based 2FA such as Barclaycard Reward.

Roamed texts are usually near instant but as they're being sent across multiple networks  there can be delays. 

retiredbanker1

I have used Clarity in USA many times and have never been texted a code to authorise any transactions.

grumpy_codger

To summarise:

• The OP was paying online, not in a store - only in this case Halifax can be "sending ... a code number to input".
• Receiving an SMS abroad is free - there is no need to pay for roaming, although it has to be enabled.
• Only a (dumb) phone is needed - no mobile data, no app, no laptop/PC, but online purchase implies using internet.