Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere
by gambiting on Monday July 25, 2016 @05:07AM
(#12157378)
Really? I had my Polish-issued signature-only card with me here in UK just a few years ago and the only place that would take it was the post office - every supermarket I tried just refused(I had one instance where I convinced the cashier to just try swiping the card and it did actually work, to her surprise, but in most places it was just a flat out no).
Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere
by aninhumer on Monday July 25, 2016 @06:03AM
(#12157583)
If you're Polish, this might just be xenophobia.
I can imagine a cashier just rolling their eyes at an American using a weird card, but being much more distrustful of a Polish person doing the same.
Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere
by feintruled on Monday July 25, 2016 @05:27AM
(#12157457)
It's all about the liabilites - the shops are allowed to accept swipe and sign, but the fees and liability are massively shifted to the merchant. A lot of places do have this as a fallback for PIN damaged cards though, you are right. They judge it to be worth the risk to not lose the business.
Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere
by wiredfool on Monday July 25, 2016 @05:23AM
(#12157435)
In the UK, Ireland, and France I've only found a couple of places that wouldn't take a signature card -- Automated service stations and the Autoroute toll plazas in France and a toy store in Ireland. Everyone else has been ok with a chip+signature card from the US.
> terminals which can take magnetic-strips are just super rare and usually not supported even if the machine has them.
I've not found this to be the case. I used a non-chip US card here in the UK extensively over the last year or so, and I've never once encountered a merchant that didn't want to take my card, nor a terminal that didn't read magnetic strips.
I do find people at checkouts to be a little surprised by someone having to swipe & sign, since that's quite rare now. And often they had trouble finding a pen for me to sign with :) But I was always able to complete the transaction nonetheless.