Citi Rejects Any Online Purchase from Musee d’Orsay

I just use my Capital One visa to purchase from there and it was no problem.

Well, good grief. That is good to know. I usually try to use my AMEX card if I can or if not my default is a Chase VISA. I do carry a Costco Citi card with me on vacation so good to know I might not be able to use it.

I've had trouble in the past with my credit union debit card and getting it opened for transactions in the UK. To hear them talk it is a nest of fraudsters but of course I've never had any difficulty there with ATM withdrawals or CC usage.

I'm glad you got your ticket!

I haven't had any problems purchasing from Musee d’Orsay but when I encounter difficulties it sometimes helps to switch to Paypal where the rejected card will often go through! I keep a variety of credit cards available within Paypal for selection at checkout time. I try to remember which have foreign transaction fees - I hate when I inadvertently invoke one.

Yea, it really was the most bizarre explanation I’ve ever heard, given that it’s the Musee d’Orsay … and, Citi had the code verification (through my designated phone number) hoop set up for me to jump through, which I did (twice) … but then it was rejected. I know many of us often have international charges rejected, but this situation has me shaking my head and considering switching my business to a different CC provider.
Without going into details, it’s the 2nd oddity with Citi in the past few days.

Use the forum’s SEARCH function and search on the term “3D Secure” for a possible explanation.

Hint: Most customer service representatives, when unable to understand what’s actually happening, will just make up an answer, rather than admitting they don’t know.

I actually had this happen with Bank of America..... I got to Spain and had all kinds of problems. Several calls confirmed "we have had fraud there so we don't allow you to use your card"

I decided to protect them from any further fraud... I moved all my money and accounts elsewhere :) That was probably 20 years ago. I have not missed BofA and their horrid service at all!

@David - yes, that was my suspicion while speaking to the first CSR, because it did sound as if she was just spouting from a script. I requested to speak to a supervisor, who said largely the same thing. At one point she actually said that “Mastercard” was no longer accepting any MDO charges, but when pushed, she backpedaled to saying it was just Citi MC.
I may just be blanking out on this, but I only remember seeing options of choosing Visa/MC or AMEX as payments … not Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Same thing. CITI rejected two cc for Musee d’Orsay ticket purchase. They unlocked the cards, I attempted again, cards rejected again.Customer Service stated as other said “this vendor is suspect” so rejected. USAA Visa also was rejected. All cards are valid. Will attempt debit card. BTW I contacted Musee d’Orsay customer service online, no response after 6 days.

I'm with David, it has to do with the French new anti fraud system. I tried to purchase tickets to the Louvre with three different Citi Visa cards and all were rejected. These are cards I use daily and are paid off each month. I then tried my Bank's MC debit card. It went farther in the system but was rejected. I went to my bank and found that since I had the debit card over a year and had not used it, they were suspicious. They said try it again and finally, the MC debit card worked. First time I have ever used any debit card.

YMMV

I have back-up accounts at Capital One (savings and checking) that seldom get used, because my credit union ATM card and two airline credit cards have similar features. I checked my Capital One account online while I was working on my taxes last month and saw it was flagged as "inactive". I didn't get a very clear suggestion of how to handle the situation from the customer service rep I spoke to, but with an impending trip to Europe I've since used the ATM card for a debit transaction at retail, used the credit card at retail, and done an online transfer from one account to the other. The "inactive" flag is now gone, so I hope those all-important ATM and credit cards are going to work if I need to use them in Europe this summer.

When I tried in March, my Citi Visa was rejected and I got this message from the museum: "Our ticketing system has not recorded any orders linked to your email address but shows a failed transaction of 32€ on 02/03 at 03:14. This transaction was declined by your bank due to an authentication failure or because the verification code transmitted by the bank (3D Secure code) was not recognized." Yes, the verification code that Citi sent me didn't work.

I tried again a couple of weeks ago, using the same card, and it went through. I now have tickets in hand. Some things are unexplainable. But, I'm excited to be using my tickets in six weeks!

I was using a Chase Visa card. The website rejected my payments twice, so I tried navigating to the Musee d'Orsay website on my phone. The purchase went right through! So odd... (but I'm so happy I got tix - Thursday evening was selling out fast!)