Discover in Europe

[Anonymous]

I've heard "horror" tales about European merchants refusing to swipe American credit cards, even when no chip was even present.

If someone wanted to use virus protection software on your computer from 1995, would you glady let them install it over something that's been updated recently? 

Same idea with the chip vs. magnetic stripe cards. 

[Anonymous]

I agree that it would be great if US issuers would at least give us the option to 'force' our cards over to PIN.  That way the folks who are 'savvy' enough to use it could opt-in, and everybody else could continue to do what they're doing now. 

That would mean banks are allowing the customer to change the card's payment method so it's less profitable. 

Mr. Durbin is responsible for the mess created in the card industry when it comes to EMV. I wish he was voted out of Washington and stuck working at McDonalds for the rest of his life. 

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've heard "horror" tales about European merchants refusing to swipe American credit cards, even when no chip was even present.

If someone wanted to use virus protection software on your computer from 1995, would you glady let them install it over something that's been updated recently? 

Same idea with the chip vs. magnetic stripe cards. 

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Well, that's not quite right.

If a merchant is following the rules that they agreed to follow when they started accepting credit cards, they will accept a card without a chip.  It has nothing to do with virus protection or anything else... there are rules that are supposed to be followed, but it's kind of hard to tell that to a merchant when you don't speak the same language (and even if you did, they still might simply refuse.)

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@Anonymous wrote:

I agree that it would be great if US issuers would at least give us the option to 'force' our cards over to PIN.  That way the folks who are 'savvy' enough to use it could opt-in, and everybody else could continue to do what they're doing now. 

That would mean banks are allowing the customer to change the card's payment method so it's less profitable. 

Mr. Durbin is responsible for the mess created in the card industry when it comes to EMV. I wish he was voted out of Washington and stuck working at McDonalds for the rest of his life. 

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Again, it has nothing to do with profit... I simply stated that if an individual wanted to 'opt in' to a PIN it would be nice if there was a way for banks to allow them to do so.

In Europe a PIN is all but required (there are many threads on this) and it would be convenient if this was an option for US cardholders.

We can discuss Durbin elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Well, that's not quite right.

If a merchant is following the rules that they agreed to follow when they started accepting credit cards, they will accept a card without a chip.  It has nothing to do with virus protection or anything else... there are rules that are supposed to be followed, but it's kind of hard to tell that to a merchant when you don't speak the same language (and even if you did, they still might simply refuse.)

My point was the psychology behind it. I can see why merchants in Canada and Europe are less willing to accept a magnetic stripe card. 

A magentic stripe card's security is similar to that of a 1995 virus protection software that hasn't been updated since trying to run on a brand new HP Spectre. 

Of course the owner would be a little weary of what is being done. 

Again, it has nothing to do with profit... I simply stated that if an individual wanted to 'opt in' to a PIN it would be nice if there was a way for banks would allow them to do so.

Of course it would be nice, but it's not a perfect world, and the U.S banks, being in the capitalist society we live in, will do anything to maximize profits. When the banks only require a signature, they are assuming more risk, so they're allowed to charge more money per transaction. If the issuers required a credit card to have a pin, they would need to charge less, as they're not taking as big of a risk on the transaction. 

[UncleB]

OK, I'm taking this thread back to the OP's topic of Discover in Europe. 

If anybody has any recent experience or helpful hints, feel free to share!

I know that anywhere Diner's Club is accepted Discover will work... is Diner's acceptance hit-or-miss, or is it fairly reliable in larger cities?

[joltdude]

Iv had a few problems with online merchants in Europe who insist they take Discover with their card processing software accepting the number but not actually submitting the transaction... it appears to pass verification but never gets processed....

Has happened to me with a few merchants...

-J

[UncleB]

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@joltdude wrote:

Iv had a few problems with online merchants in Europe who insist they take Discover with their card processing software accepting the number but not actually submitting the transaction... it appears to pass verification but never gets processed....

Has happened to me with a few merchants...

-J

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+1

It's ironic that you mention that... I've had an almost identical experience with a Canadian online merchant. 

I get my contacts from a Canadian merchant (they're cheaper because they don't have to follow the same pricing 'scheme' that US merchants are bound to) and the website does state specifically that Discover is not accepted, which I found weird until I went to check out... the payment interface displays the Discover logo and will let you enter a Discover card number!

Of course I had to try, and of course it didn't work (duh!) but it's notable that my experience was similar to yours, only in my case the merchant did tell me (correctly) that it wouldn't work. 

It is interesting in your case that the transaction simply 'died', so to speak.  I guess they don't get that many Discover cards on their website or else they would get enough complaints to either "truly" accept Discover or add a notice like my Canadian site did.

[Anonymous]

I encountered essentially zero Discover acceptance in Scandinavia last year. Not to mention almost no merchants willing/able to run a transaction without a PIN, so I was pretty much stuck with debit and cash. Other parts of Europe may be more flexible though, that was just what I encountered in Denmark and Sweden!

[Open123]

For small purchases, I'd imagine most Merchants will stand firm on their preferred payment method.  On the other hand, for smaller purchases, just use cash since we're not losing out on many points.

For larger purchases, most European boutiques will accept any form of CC payment, including Discover.  For larger purchases at lesser renown Merchants, they "say," only Visa/MC are accepted.  However, on more than few occassions, I'll ring up a significant purchase, then just tell them that I have neither cash nor a Visa/MC and begin to walk out.  Then, most will chase me down and accept "any form" of payment, so long as I pay.

This works most often in Asia, but it works in Western Europe too.  Never be unwilling to walk away from any purchase, for whatever reason.

*Edited*  PS - Regarding Chip & Pin, Barclay offers a true chip & pin, right?  This is really only useful in train stations and various kiosks.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I know Discover runs in the Diners Club network in Europe. I was looking more for actual stories of success/failure to get a picture of what to expect.

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Last time I used discover card in europe was in fuerteventura in october 2013, that was before u.s issued any chip card. It was at a car rental place and my ex's emv card didn't work, so I saw there was diners club network sticker at the door, so I whipped out my discover card and handed it to her. First she looked at front of the card and said "we don't accept this card", so I turned it around and pointed at diners club logo and told her to try, so she swiped it and BAM! transaction went though.

You're not going to find a lot of places that accept diners club and when you do find one, you have to show them diners club logo to let them know card will work.