Buona giournata travelers!
I've tried using a number of my bank cards to book two tickets to the Vatican museum in mid-September and I keep being told that it's not working. I've booked tickets to the Arc de Triomphe and also the bateaux mouches in Paris, and that's gone without a hitch. Do I need to make the dreaded 2-hour call to Bank of America?
I'm very worried I won't be able to do this and my daughter won't see the Sistine Chapel. Thanks in advance for your help!
Call the bank, see if they are blocking it. They may think it is fraud, happened to me.
You need to call your bank and tell them you must speak with a Verified-by-Visa representative.
Odds are that the first person answering your call won't know about the Verified-by-Visa security protocol for online purchases abroad, but the fraud prevention office will know about it.
The Master card equivalent is called SecurCode if I'm not wrong.
Yep, you likely have the same common issue someone else had just last week:
If your calls to Bank of America really take hours, it may be time to get another card. My calls to Capital One and Chase don't take long at all; I have to go through a phone tree, but I can press 0 pretty quickly to get to a person.
Also, you don't have to wait to press 0. I do it as soon as the phone tree starts presenting me options. The first time you press, it may try to divert you ("are you sure you want to speak to a representative?"). Just be persistent, and you'll get through.
All that aside, yes you do have to call. You need to figure out whether BoA got the transaction request and is blocking it (in which case they can remove the block, and you can re-do the transaction with them on the phone to make sure it goes through), or never got the transaction request (in which case, they can't help).
If the transaction never went through, try a different web browser or device. For inexplicable reasons, sometimes one will work when another will not.
Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to help me. Great advice and I'm sure I'll be able to book the reservations. Thank you!!
Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to help me. Great advice and I'm sure I'll be able to book the reservations. Thank you!!
It did take me around 2 hours of being on hold with Bank of America and then finally the right Fraud Prevention person who was able to give my card the Verified by Visa clearance so that I was able to FINALLY get the tickets. Schwab was easier to reach but they weren't able to help me. I learned that Verified by Visa and 3rd level security are the same thing and also that other merchants will be requiring the same thing. It was like navigating through Kafka's Castle, but I'll finally get to see all the wonderful art in this museum. Thank you all!
Wow, Dorothy! 2 hours????!!!!!! Poor you! :O(
Thanks, Kathy. Wasn't it you who also had trouble? (I've read all the threads on this topic, it seems!) The 2 hrs was mostly being on hold. I hate B of Am - that's why I tried Schwab (twice). If I knew how to use the online app it might have been different but I'm a bit of a technophobe. Glad I got the tickets though!
