How come some places that accept credit Visa cards can’t accept ATM-with-Visa?
I had a gas-station machine do that to me, so I went inside to try on their counter machine. The ATM-Visa wouldn’t work, but the credit Visa would.
I thought the whole point of the ATM-Visa combination was that it was accepted whereever the Visa was accepted.
Why not ask your bank? & get back to us.
Some places won’t allow you to use a “credit” transaction with a “debit” card.
If I swipe my bank card at a grocery store I visit and try to use the “credit card” option it doesn’t allow the transaction. But, I can swipe my bank card and use the “debit” option with no problem.
I always use the “credit” option when using my bank card if possible because it takes longer to clear the bank. I suppose that is why some stores prevent you from doing that.
handy - if you aren’t going to post anything useful why post at all? It is getting annoying.
Zumba, want the answer, call the bank, that’s why people have hearing so they can ask bank clerks how these things work. I don’t see at all how your answer has answered the question nor told the OP where to get an answer.
As far as I know, any “ATM” card with a Visa logo on it should perform exactly as a credit card, with the obvious exception that the dough is deducted from your account, rather than Visa picking up the tab and then billing you.
It’s most likely that there was just some miscellaneous processing error with the card at the time; not knowing anything about how the credit card computer networks operate, I can only guess. Probably your bank’s computer was temporarily offline, and the charge could not be put through. It’s happened to me a few times (and holy shit, does it suck when you can’t get cash because of a machine error).
I did post a possible answer. Sometimes bank cards don’t work when you swipe them in a machine and call them a “credit” card. If you swipe the same card in a machine and call it “debit” it will work just fine. Maybe that is what TGIF did.
At least I had a useful idea to post. You have to post to every thread even if you have nothing useful to say. I also think that you could be a little bit nicer to people who don’t post as much as you do.
Based on some preliminary Web research I just did, it appears that “accepted anywhere Visa is accepted” is a marketing claim and not 100% accurate. Many sites (such as http://visa.edgate.com/visa/english/resources/primer.html ) point out that some locations – notably, car rental companies – will not accept a debit card in lieu of an actual credit card. Presumably, and this is my WAG, this is because a merchant has the right to decide what currency they will and will not accept.
I was going to post additional commentary here regarding the other content of this thread, but decided it was more appropriate in the Pit.
Handy, I have always defended your posting ways, but FUCK OFF! Nobody needs little smartass answers like this to perfectly reasonable questions. Feel free to be an ignorant fool but DONT be a dick for dicks sake! Why don’t you go teletype the question out to your OWN teller so they can teletype it back to you and you can type it to us?!?!
Interestingly, we also do not need personal insults in GQ.
Knock it off or take it to the Pit, as someone has already done in this very thread.
Dang my third post today. I have a small retail store that recently started to accept ATM cards and
it had to do with the equipment in the store. Not all CC machines are ATM compatable and getting one the does costs more money and you have to be able to give cash back as well and accept the sale ( in my cast up to $50.00)
CWN, I don’t think that’s what they mean. The ATM/Visa or ATM/MasterCard cards are designed to be used like a credit card – no special equipment required. You’re right about the use of the card as an ATM card. Before the CheckCards became popular, some of the stores, notably gas stations here, started accepting ATM cards for transactions, with the ability to give cash back. The downside is, your bank generally regards this as a foreign transaction, and charges you accordingly (e.g., BankOe charges me $1.50 for using non-BankOn ATMs).
Thus, like Zumba the Cat, I always tell the grocery clerk that my card’s a credit card, NOT an ATM card.
The thing people don’t understand is one visa is NOT equal to another visa. Same for MC.
For example I work in a hotel with a lot of credit. You the CONSUMER sign an agreement with VISA thru your BANK.
Any place with a VISA LOGO on front should take your CHECK or CHARGE provided it is OKd. Some clerks do not know this or it is a store policy which they are free to set.
Here’s a little history of credit card rules
For example, if my computers in the hotel go down VISA will allow me to charge up to $300.00 per customer WITHOUT authroization. Very unhelpful when our rooms start at $259.00 plus tax.
Mastercard will allow us $300 and American Express and Discover are $500.00. JCB and Diner’s I don’t know the limit off hand.
When you purchase an item at a store that store knows exactly how much the bill will be. Hotels and the like don’t. So they don’t actually CHARGE you when you check in. Instead they AUTHORIZE it. That means that they take an estimated amount depending on your length of stay, add a percentage or flat fee to it and ASK the credit card company if you COULD pay that. The cc company says SURE. And they HOLD that amount for the hotel (or car rental). When you check out the credit card company then CHARGES the actual amount and releases the hold off the difference.
If the hotel is computerized usually if you go over what the hotel authorized to hold in the first place it automatically asks for more. But not all places do this or have this ablity.
It isn’t a huge deal as if you authorize say 1,000 dollars and the final bill is 1,075 the credit card companies allow you to go over a certain percentage (10% to 25%) without getting more authoriation. So WHY get more? Because if they are fully authorized the credit card companies discount the fees they charge to the hotel. So it is to the hotels advantage to do this.
Now here is the tricky part NOT all VISA (or Mastercard) are the same. Some banks will allow you to fax over a copy of your credit card as PAYMENT. Some will NOT. So what is the hotel to do. Most will take it BUT if you dispute it the hotel loses if your bank doesn’t allow it. The only way the hotel can tell is to get the bank name and telephone number and call and ask. You can see how much trouble this would be.
To further complicate things Amercian Express, Diner’s Club and JCB will allow you to restrict usage to type.
For example Amex for Air and Rail travel only. The computer when you give a cc number for a reservation will only check to see if the number is VALID, NOT if it has funds. So if you fail to show or when you try and check in and it is run thru for authorization it will come up declined.
What is the hotel to do? When I was night manager after 6am I would run a mass authorization on all cards for reservations for that day. Those that came up rail and air travel were cancelled and the rooms resold. You have to have a VALID credit card.
Now that you have backround the card may not be accepted as if it is a CHECK card the hotel or car rental will think oh you don’t have enuff to authorize it. Or we don’t want the hassle. In an electronic authorization it can take up to 3 days to release the unused credit being held. Without an electronic system it can take a week.
Suppose you have $1,000.00 in your checking account the car place authorized it for that amount and you return it one day for $200.00. Well it could be a WEEEK till the funds get released so you can withdraw your money out.
Car rental places are NOTORIOUS for authoriing your cards to the limit. I had a brand new Visa with a $5,000.00 rented a car went to my hotel to check in and it was declined. The car rental place authorized $5,000 on it. Well I had to scream at them and tell them YES they could call the bank and release that huge sum NOW. They did. But see what problems you can have. And business too.
Again how many people carry $5,000 in a checking account to hold the authorization charge.
You see you sign a GENERAL agreement with VISA but VISA signs detailed ones with the banks. So ACME bank may have 10 conditions and Joe Schmoe bank may have 4 conditions. Since it isn’t practical to look up each bank a lot of businesses go with the most and if you don’t fill them they won’t take it. Remember they can refuse payment for service.
Also what is confusing is many establishments have contracts with ATM machine vendors. For instance we USED to be able to give guests money back on their VISA. For example if your bill was 1,400.00 we could ring the charge up for 1,500 and give you 100 back CASH.
(NOTE MOST PLACES DO NOT DO THIS – it is a very very specific user agreement)
Then our home office contracted to put an ATM in each one of our managed hotels nationwide. So this stopped. Per our agreement with the credit card company we can still do this BUT per our agreement with the ATM vendor we cannot. All cash inquires must be directed toward thier machine. As a matter of fact if the machine is empty we must direct them to the machine in our smaller hotel 4 blocks away INSTEAD of one of the THREE banks across the street from us.
So there are many, many things that could happen to cause this on the Credit Card level or establishment level.
Lastly if you feel that you SHOULD have been allowed to charge you can get the customer service number for VISA (or MC etc). They take calls very seriously. I deal with them all too much.
For example they can tell if a card was swiped (machine read) or typed in. If it was swiped you have far less leverage if a problem arises than if it were typed in. In the latter if you dispute the charge you’d be apt to win (not always but in a better position to)
Clerks ask me if I swipe and it say call or hold or destroy card do I have to. I say YES. Unless you feel physically threatend. If it says to call and you don’t Visa, Amex or MC, will most likely call and as the business WHY DIDN’T you call. We needed to talk to this guy. Amex especially has threatend me that if this happened again they would take the machine out. You can see how damaging it would be to a hotel or car place if Amex withdrew their cards.