A&L Credit Card "PIN not enabled"

I don't think that's the case. AIUI what will happen from 15th Feb is that you will no longer be able, in shops with chip readers, to use a card which *is* PIN enabled, other than in conjunction with your PIN.

So if your card is "chip and signature", you continue signing.

Is "PIN not enabled" the same as "PIN suppressed" aka "Chip & Signature"?

FWIW Natwest recently swore blind a problem I had with a C&S card was down to faulty EPOS equipment. Strange then that a new card sorted the issue.

I would suggest the OP have a word with the A&L manager, and be prepared to escalate the issue.

Good luck - I am being told by South West Trains that they will not accept my Amex card from 31/01/2006 because I have no PIN. The problem is the card actually has a chip on it - in fact we have had chips on this type of Amex card for about seven years - but it isn't compatible with UK Chip & PIN and a PIN isn't available for it.

Retailers had better get their act together else they are going to be causing all sorts of users with no PIN (i.e. tourists from USA etc.) a lot of problems.

Colin,

yes I also have an Amex card without a PIN and Amex say that in their view after Feb 15th the card will still be usable so they will not give me a PIN until the card expires and needs replacing. But retailers may have a different opinion. So with my A&L card reporting "PIN not enabled" and my backup Amex card pinless - I may be stuffed!

cheers

Davy

The Amex website is pretty insistent* that their non-chip+pin cards are still usable (and they're right, of course).

I'm very tempted to get printouts of relevant bits of the Chip and Pin website to take with me (suitable bits highlighted) when confronted with the inevitable refusals over the next few weeks.

John.

I am referring to their cards which have a chip on them but are not in fact chip & PIN. A retailer, seeing the chip assumes that the card must be chip/PIN, insists on a PIN which doesn't exist and therefore assumes the card is fake. Added to this the card in question is rare and sometimes cashiers query the validity of it with managers.

Added to this the card in question is rare and

Well why don't you get a different card. Once Amex lose a lot of Euro customers they might get their act together.

Tiddy Ogg.

Cashiers ought to be familiar with the chip&sig concept, and therefore if the card has a chip, and works in the chip reader, and asks for a sig, they should just assume it's chip&sig.

What chance have cashiers got of getting it right when Richard Mason, Director of Credit Cards at MoneySupermarket.com gets it completely wrong?

Chip & signature cards tend to take a little longer to process, shops staff, the majority whom have never experienced C&S cards, get impatient and attempt to over-ride the Chip reading process.

Lack of communications and training methinks.

Hot from the Press - At last

People who are not comfortable with the new chip and pin technology need to apply now for a chip and signature card, or risk being unable to pay for goods.

Their act *is* together, it's bloody Access and Visa who are mucking us around.

Well I could - but it is really a training issue in stores - and the fact that being US backed they are behind with C&P implementation (have they even started over there?). Along with my Maestro card, Amex is the most useful - I haven't yet been able to hire a car in the US with Maestro yet. Add a generous membership miles programme and you get the picture.

At 12:46:54 on 26/01/2006, Colin Forrester delighted uk.finance by announcing:

And of course since Amex are not part of VISA/Mastercard are not subject to the liability statements issued by those organisations. Whoever was liable for a fraudulent Amex transaction beforehand will continue to be so until Amex state otherwise; irrespective of the presence of a chip on their card.

At 22:43:30 on 26/01/2006, snipped-for-privacy@tiscali.co.uk delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Or, of course, they could pay cash.

And the 14th is only the date at which it is no longer recommended that PIN bypass be offered. There's nothing, other than the liability shift, to prevent merchants offering PIN bypass forever.

In message , Davy writes

You could tell them you've lost it and need a replacement!

At 14:45:24 on 26/01/2006, Davy delighted uk.finance by announcing:

They may indeed have a different opinion but it will be inaccurate.

However it may still prevent you from buying something.

So was I - my Amex card is Chip and Signature, but I've been told a few times now that I won't be able to sign from 14th February.

It's purely a training issue of course. I am planning to ask to speak to a manager every time it gets refused (although I probably won't bother in the end...)

The cashback (it's a Blue card) is too good to not take advantage of.

John.

OK I should have been clearer - Centurian cards have had a chip on them for years - but although it looks like a normal chip/PIN card the chip holds very basic data. We were all issued with chip readers years ago for personal use - when the card is introduced into the reader you can do all sorts of useless things on the reader like currency conversion, airline lounge look-up - all out of date now as there is no way to update the chip.

When the card is placed into a chip reader in a store it confuses the machine - the card becomes neither chip/sig nor chip/pin because there should be no chip! I had thought of colouring the chip black like the rest of the card to hide it!