Problems using SCB VISA at Paris hotels.

[Sakeopete]

I am a frequent traveller and often have troubles at hotels with my SCB VISA card. I usually book online so there is no issue having the booking paid however the hotel usually wants a pre authorization for purchases etc. Almost every time my VISA card doesn't work at various Paris hotels.

I have had my wife call SCB and they say everything is fine with my account it must be the hotel machine. How could that be considering I am using different hotels? My card has never failed to work in Thailand only in Paris so I don't think there is an issue with the card itself.

Curious if anyone else has similar troubles. The card has the chip.

[Pib]

Does the machine in Paris require a "Chip & PIN" type card since Chip & PIN is very common in Europe. If so, does your SCB card have a chip on it versus just a magnetic stripe...and then the machine asks for a PIN entry when inserting the card?

If the SCB card is a "debit" card I doubt it uses a chip since I think Bangkok Bank is pretty much the only Thai bank with chipped debit cards; but if a credit card then your SCB card probably has a chip.

Also, if your card is debit card vs a credit card, debit cards can be problematic in purchasing some products/services.

[cnx355]

I kind of agree with the other poster. I have been to France and if you do not have a chip many place have POS ( point of sales terminal ) that work only with chips.

Visa and MasterCard are trying to push Thailand to update their card but ......

[Sakeopete]

As I wrote on the last sentence of my opening post it does have a chip. It is a VISA not a debit card I use it often for online purchases.

[MeowBundit]

This is second report about SCB cards this year. First was been in this spring, when SCB cards stops working in Russia (before any sanctions) for both withdrawals of cash and payments.

AFAIK Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn banks are most acceptable anywhere, and KTB CUP for China just second in the row..

[Pib]

As I wrote on the last sentence of my opening post it does have a chip. It is a VISA not a debit card I use it often for online purchases.

You sure did say it had a chip in your OP...if it had been a snake it would have bit me. But when a card says Visa or Mastercard that just means the "card network" the card-issuing bank (SCB in this case) issued the card under...the card could be either a credit or debit card and the only way to tell the different is to look for the word Credit (or lack of) or Debit on the card...however, usually Credit cards will "not" say Credit anywhere on the front of the card but Debit cards will have the world Debit usually in the lower right hand corner.

Anyway, although your wife called SCB about the problem I expect the SCB has the card blocked for certain countries as it is common for banks to block certain countries....just google "Visa card blocked countries" or something along those lines and you come up with links to banks which list the countries their credit/debit cards are blocked for unless you notify the card-issuing bank in advance of your travels....and apparently some banks won't unblock your card for certain countries, In doing that google you see France comes up on a lot of the blocked countries especially for U.S. credit union issued credit/debit cards. And it could even be the POS machine in France rejecting a card issued by a Thailand bank as blocking can be setup to work on both ends. And although your card works for online transactions, online transactions and Point of Service (POS) transactions are handled differently especially in the card verification process,,,and if you were making those online transaction "while still in Thailand" that could be a factor also. It can indeed be very frustrating. Let me bore you with my own recent personal experiences in getting a new credit card which was chipped and getting it to work in Thailand.

Ok, I just got my first "chipped" card, a U.S. PenFed Credit Union Visa logo credit card....the wife got a duplicate of the card with the same card number and even CVC code on the back....mirror image card common for a supplemental card issued for a family member. Called and activated the card as required. The U.S. is just now beginning to make the switch to chipped cards. Anyway I get my chipped card and when trying to use it at Lotus the chipped portion rejects but swiping the magnetic stripe works...same thing happened next day at a PTT fuel station. The wife tried her chipped card at Foodland and it worked fine...insert card and the signature for receipt spits right out.

So since my card works with the magnetic stripe but not the chip it must not be a country blocking problem...plus, I have another PenFed credit card (no chip) I have been using in Thailand for over a year. So I call PenFed and ended up talking to 3 reps by the time the dust settled. 1st rep listened to how the card wouldn't work when attempting a chipped transaction but worked fine with magnetic stripe transaction....he transferred me to the Lost and Stolen Card Voice System which only gave me option of cancelling the card by pressing a certain button on the phone. I hung up and called back. Got a different rep this time, explained the problem again in that chip portion was not working but magnetic stripe portion working, the rep said it probably a bad chip, but I insisted can we just look into their system a little more to see if there is a card setup problem on their end...the rep then started working with an individual in the credit card technical dept...the rep was being the middleman between me and that technical dept...we seemed to be making process when I had a one second power outage here at my Bangkok home and I lost the VOIP call connection. So I called back and asked for the same rep (I had her name) but the rep answering this time didn't know any such rep and once again I explained the problem, asked can we talk to the credit card technical dept since that was what I was doing in the previous all, but the rep just politely would not go down that road and said all they could do was ship out replacements cards. I said OK and hung up.

Next day I tried the card again at Foodland...the chipped transaction worked fine. A day or so later I use the card for a chipped transaciton at Lotus where it had failed before and it worked fine. I have since used it several more times using the chipped portion and it works fine. Now, what that is telling me is there "was a card setup problem" on PenFed end and they completed fixing the problem shortly after I lost the call connection. I'm guessing, but maybe the chip portion and magnetic strip portion can actually be setup separately to block certain countries or transactions (i.e., cash or purchase). Just too coincidental that my card started working the next day.

In closing I would guess the problem in how SCB has the card setup (i.e.., block for certain countries/types of transactions) although it could still be a problem on the other end in how the merchant/ATM has the machines setup to accept only certain cards transactions and/or from certain countries. Yeap, credit/debit card usage outside the country of issue can indeed be frustrating sometimes especially when trying to find out "what is the real cause/source of the problem"...problem being caused on the card-issuing bank end or on the merchant end...and of course each end blaming the other end for the problem.

[Sakeopete]

I think I will get a second card probably from Kasikorn. Too bad I can't rely on my SCB card. A bit off topic but I also don't like how SCBeasy doesn't have real-time purchase information online. I hate having to wait until a statement comes. Everything is electronic now it should show transactions immediately.