Problems using Kasikorn Bank VISA debit card and Wise VISA debit card online in Europe

[sonjai]

I've been travelling across Europe for the last few weeks and paid most of my small incidental expenses (taxi, groceries, restaurants,etc.) by a Wise (formerly Trasnferwise) VISA debit card without problems. I've also paid online for airfares, rail tickets, and accommodation via booking.com within Europe during the trip. I've discovered, with disappointment, that the airlines, rail companies, and some hotels and apartments did not accept my Wise card for online purchases. Even when I linked my Wise card to my PayPal account and then tried to pay via PayPal the payments were rejected. So I had to use my Kasikorn bank VISA debit card instead. In most cases those airline and rail websites accepted the Kasikorn card. I'm signed up for an SMS notification service from Kasikorn Bank, and after every transaction I get an SMS with some details about it. When I used the card for online purchases in Thailand such notification messages included the name of the merchant. However, when paying by the card on these European websites the bank only advised me the amount in baht taken from my account after each transaction. There was no information about which merchant charged the card and the amount in euros paid. When I looked up the transactions in my account on the Kasikorn website there was no information about merchants and euro amounts debited. That made it difficult sometimes to figure out which debits related to which merchants. A more serious problem occurred when I booked an airfare with EasyJet online. I paid for it 5 days before the flight and got a confirmation email with my booking details. The night before the flight I tried to do online check-in but the airline's website could not find the booking. So I spent like 30 min in front of my laptop waiting for an online customer support chat human representative to become available to ask about the problem. It was a shock when I was told by the representative that my booking has been cancelled by "Revenue protection service", as my payment by my Kasikorn card appeared fraudulent. I naturally protested asking why I have not received any notification from the airline about the cancellation and I've not received any refund either for the cancelled booking. The rep told me they did not have to notify me, and, moreover, my name was now on a blacklist and no new booking would be accepted in my name. I demanded to escalate to case to the rep's supervisor and to speak to someone in that department of revenue protection, but to no avail. Apparently the customer support agents cannot communicate directly with that department.The rep suggested submitting a bank statement showing details of the purchase by the card to the airline to dispute the cancellation and then wait for 30 days for their decision. My first intention was to do exactly that, just to prove how wrong the airline was, until I remembered that a Kasikorn Bank account statement does not show overseas merchants' names or transaction amounts in foreign currency. I had no options but to buy that night an airfare with another airline for the next day's flight. Later I submitted a chargeback form to Kasikorn bank in relation to my ill fated booking with EasyJet. I'm still waiting for a full refund. 

[scubascuba3]

That does sound like painful series of events, have Wise said why your card wasn't accepted? I thought Wise took purchases out of existing Wise balance, did you have a sufficient balance?

[sonjai]

It's difficult to contact Wise for support. Their help/support article on the topic of declined transactions lists many possible reasons, some are beyond Wise's control. My Wise account balance in EUR was well above the value of purchases I tried to make. During the payment process in many cases I actually had to receive a code from Wise by SMS to authorize the purchase, and I entered it accordingly, but still the payment was rejected by the merchant's website. So it seems these were the cases where the merchants either did not accept Wise cards outright or a connection to Wise cards database was not correctly configured during the payment process.

[scubascuba3]

35 minutes ago, sonjai said:

It's difficult to contact Wise for support. Their help/support article on the topic of declined transactions lists many possible reasons, some are beyond Wise's control. My Wise account balance in EUR was well above the value of purchases I tried to make. During the payment process in many cases I actually had to receive a code from Wise by SMS to authorize the purchase, and I entered it accordingly, but still the payment was rejected by the merchant's website. So it seems these were the cases where the merchants either did not accept Wise cards outright or a connection to Wise cards database was not correctly configured during the payment process.

Many banks are introducing this more frequent use of OTPs to verify online purchases, you'd think it should work after that

[sirineou]

59 minutes ago, sonjai said:

It's difficult to contact Wise for support.

I am sorry to hear about your issues with your debit cards, It's no fun to have such issues especially when you are traveling. 

I am surprised that you would have problems calling wise support. I had an issue with a transaction last week, and called Wise four different times with no problem , They have telephone numbers in different countries , which makes it easy to call during the time deference's at your location ,

I called Wise USA : 1844 926-4381

and Wise UK : 44 20 3974-1321.

I used Skype to place my calls. 

I am following this thread with interest as we are flying to Europe in three weeks and I I was considering getting a Wise  credit card , and at the same time , we also have a Kasikorn debit card, But we also have a Bank Of America debit card, and a Wells Fargo debit card. 

Question, How long did it take to receive your Wise card in the mail in Thailand? I was thinking that it might take too long  and arrive after we left. and was considering applying after we arrived in Greece and having it delivered there. But I am not sure if they will deliver to an address other than the address they have on record. and the address they have on record is our US address. 

Complications complications LOL , I guess I should give them a call. 

[steven100]

Why not get an AMEX or Citibank or some similar international debit card that you know will work every time,  no hassles. 

[RubbaJohnny]

40 minutes ago, sirineou said:

a Wise  credit card

There are Wise debit card I am unaware thy issue credit cards?

 

I have use SCB, TMB. visa cards with Kasikorn ANZ, NAB, NW and Citibank over the years and now find Wise does all I need faster easier to track and cheaper, I  chose a Wise Mastercard to have max choice as I recall having all Visa cards rejected in Indonesia one visit despite of course having sufficient funds.

 

I am not sure they will send a card to Thailand and you cannot transfer baht out, use Dee money

 

I appreciate your frustration with so many variables and schlonky service by Easyjet.

 

Thank you for the warning.

 

What I don't understand is if your Easyjet  booking payment taken you would have received with flight ref email, a receipt? and proof of purchase or option to request the invoice, or have they changed since pandemic?

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, RubbaJohnny said:

There are Wise debit card I am unaware thy issue credit cards?

Thank you for that reply. 

Apologies, I meant to say Debit card, we don't use credit cards. 

We make our transfers to Wise from our US based accounts. but I was interested in a Wise debit card  (of which I know little about) because of the promised easy of use , no fees. and better conversion rates. We are planning to spend 6 months in Europe, most of it spend in Greece but also traveling in other countries  there. I was told that a Wise debit card would be a good option in such situations but I don't independently know it , which is why I am following this thread. 

[sonjai]

18 hours ago, sirineou said:

I am sorry to hear about your issues with your debit cards, It's no fun to have such issues especially when you are traveling. 

I am surprised that you would have problems calling wise support. I had an issue with a transaction last week, and called Wise four different times with no problem , They have telephone numbers in different countries , which makes it easy to call during the time deference's at your location ,

I called Wise USA : 1844 926-4381

and Wise UK : 44 20 3974-1321.

I used Skype to place my calls. 

I am following this thread with interest as we are flying to Europe in three weeks and I I was considering getting a Wise  credit card , and at the same time , we also have a Kasikorn debit card, But we also have a Bank Of America debit card, and a Wells Fargo debit card. 

Question, How long did it take to receive your Wise card in the mail in Thailand? I was thinking that it might take too long  and arrive after we left. and was considering applying after we arrived in Greece and having it delivered there. But I am not sure if they will deliver to an address other than the address they have on record. and the address they have on record is our US address. 

Complications complications LOL , I guess I should give them a call. 

I think it took me about 2 weeks to get the card by mail. My card was issued in Australia and I received it in my PO Box in Pattaya.

 

 

17 hours ago, RubbaJohnny said:

There are Wise debit card I am unaware thy issue credit cards?

 

I have use SCB, TMB. visa cards with Kasikorn ANZ, NAB, NW and Citibank over the years and now find Wise does all I need faster easier to track and cheaper, I  chose a Wise Mastercard to have max choice as I recall having all Visa cards rejected in Indonesia one visit despite of course having sufficient funds.

 

I am not sure they will send a card to Thailand and you cannot transfer baht out, use Dee money

 

I appreciate your frustration with so many variables and schlonky service by Easyjet.

 

Thank you for the warning.

 

What I don't understand is if your Easyjet  booking payment taken you would have received with flight ref email, a receipt? and proof of purchase or option to request the invoice, or have they changed since pandemic?

I had no prior experience with EasyJet and when I received an email confirming my booking and saw that the payment was taken from my Wise account I assumed that everything was in order and did not expect any further correspondence from the airline. However, you're right, there was no receipt included in the booking confirmation email and the support rep I cahtted with asked me if I had received an invoice confirming the payment from EasyJet. Only then I realized that a lack of such invoice email could've indicated a problem.

[JimmyJ]

OP - Paragraphs.

[sonjai]

An update. I'm in Italy now and have just bought  a local train ticket online using Wise VISA debit card. The payment was accepted. When I tried to pay for another train ticket, from the same Italian rail company and using the same card, while I was in France, the payment was declined. Perhaps many European companies do not accept online payments with Wise card when the buyer's IP's geolocation is in another country.

[topt]

On 3/7/2022 at 12:36 AM, sonjai said:

Later I submitted a chargeback form to Kasikorn bank

I was aware of this for cc but never having had to do this I am pleasantly surprised this option exists with a debit card also?