My wife had her Barclaycard rejected in March a number of times while in France. Barclaycard could not see any transaction attempts on their system and told me her card must be faulty. However it was quite new and was CHIP & PIN enabled. The stores in question all swiped her card
- no attempt was made to use the chip. She paid with Amex in each case to expedite matters.
Today in Spain I had my Barclaycard rejected twice in a store (same account). The cashier was using a terminal the size of a shoe box with a wire attached. As is the practice in Spain a passport is required and inspected first. Then she then swiped my card on two occasions - she rejected the card. An alternative Visa card met with the same fate. I asked to see the terminal and she agree to hand it to me. Sure enough swiping the card failed - with a message which translates to "card only valid with chip & pin". I located an unmarked slot on the side of the terminal, slid my card in, it was recognised and she was then advised by me to follow the onscreen instructions to enter the amount etc. She did this, paused, explained that she had not been given a PIN and showed me the screen. I entered my PIN, pressed the only key that seemed sensible (green - there were no other prompts) and an authorisation message came up. I removed my card and a paper receipt came out of the reader.
I was then not allowed to leave the store until I had signed the receipt. I was then given an unsigned copy of the receipt which makes no mention the transaction was verified by PIN. A call to Barclaycard confirms I was only charged once though.
With millions of us heading for France and Spain this summer I wonder how many others will have their cards rejected like this? I wonder as well whether cashiers will be entering their own PIN's into the terminals in error, perhaps more than three times and blocking our cards for us?
Barclaycard confirmed to me that the card is marked as CHIP & PIN and they would not expect cashiers overseas to extend any descretion and allow swiping of such cards, as they do in the UK at the moment. I hope cashier's in France (they should know for goodness sake) and Spain learn where their CHIP readers are located - even if they are unmarked.