We had a strange experience this morning. My partner and I went to a grocery store in Laundau, a small city in Germany. We tried to use a credit card at the grocery store. The clerk indicated, "No way." We assumed they didn't like credit cards and offered them a debit care. "No: again. A nice woman in the line explained that it is necessary to use a credit card or debit card from a German bank. So I offered her my debit card (Bank of America) and my credit card (Capitol One). We've used these same American credit cards for years. In Italy and France. I used American credit cards for years when I traveled to Europe and Asia. I don't remember that there was anything special about those cards. What is going on????
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23622 posts
Nothing. A merchant has always had a right to establish what they will accept as payment. My guess is that they have had problems in the pass with non-German credit cards and they are not a heavy tourist attraction so they do not have to cater to tourists. Pay cash and more on.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19272 posts
I'm more surprised that they would take any cards then that they wouldn't take American cards with magnetic strips. Maybe after years of not taking any cards, and not having the equipment to read one, they have finally installed a chip card reader, but still don't have anything to read strip cards. Germany has always been a "cash society". Outside of big tourist areas, cards are not well accepted. And, BTW, I believe the town is "Landau". The German website, Meinestadt.de, does not recognize the name Laundau.
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2787 posts
Another good reason to deal in cash for anything but MAJOR purchases in Europe and your hotel room.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Certain businesses that don't expect to see any foreign tourists do not accept Visa cards. Some accept the Volksbank card, or a Maestro Card, others, nothing at all. Even relatively familiar stores like Ikea don't accept Visa.
Posted by
Sacramento, California, United States
253 posts
A similar incident happened to us in a shoe store in Dover, England. The store accepted credit cards, but they had to be local and with a gold dot, or strip, on them. We hadn't gotten cash yet, so went to another store and did not have the same problem.
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
265 posts
Many countries have a national debit card scheme, such as Carte Bleue in France. A fair amount stores only accept these cards, and not real credit cards because they have smaller fees for the merchants. But as a foreigner, it is not easy to see, since these stores have credit card terminals, but they are set up just to work for national debit cards.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15777 posts
I was just talking to a friend here (I am in Berlin - woohoo) about Germans not liking ccs. He said he was surprised when he recently went to Ikea and even they would not take a credit card. I am old enough to remember BEFORE credit cards when everyone paid cash for everything in the U S of A. I can even remember when my dad got paid every week in cash ( I used to get the pennies).