Hello- I have been trying to buy tickets online for these museums and from what it says, I should be receiving an email that I bring with me to show I have purchased them. I am able to put my cc info in, and it provides a summary, order number etc. I can push a back button, confirm button or a cancel button. I try to push the confirm button, but it doesn't go through. I have tried this a few times over the course of a few days and it just won't go through. I hope I don't have multiple reservations, but nothing has gone through my cc, so I think I am safe that way. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I should just try and call them in the morning. We will be there the first week of November, so perhaps tickets aren't such a big deal, but I'd like to be prepared ahead of time.
Thanks for whatever insight you can provide!
Posted by
WA USA
1114 posts
Check with your credit card company. I'm wondering if your credit card has a safety feature that is blocking the transaction. For example, when I make a purchase, I get a popup on my phone asking if I approve before the transaction can go thru. If I don't approve, the transaction doesn't process.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Hi Gail, Thanks for your reply. We did have our card halted when trying to buy train tickets, but after a call to them, they said we were free to use it for our upcoming planning for our trip. It is frustrating because I had called both of our cards a number of weeks ago to alert them of our trip, so you would think some of this leading up, making reservations, etc. would be ok.
Posted by
WA USA
1114 posts
Here's an old posting that might be helpful. It mentions making sure you have the "verified by visa" protocol on your card.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/book-tickets-vatican-museum-online
Posted by
Southwest Florida
877 posts
Was in Florence just 2 weeks ago. Bought tickets while we were there and waited in line for maybe 10 minutes. YMMV.
Posted by
Washington DC
27236 posts
Do those websites offer PayPal as a payment option? If so, that will probably work for you. You can charge the PayPal payment to your credit card that doesn't work for direct charges. Look for a link to change the currency in which the charge is recorded from US dollars to euros; otherwise, PayPal with make an extra profit at your expense.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
838 posts
Second the "Verified by Visa" issue. I have one card that I jumped through the hoops to get set-up years ago and I used it for all my ticket purchases. The Verified by Visa pop-up would appear and sometimes you need to enter the code and sometimes it will just go through but international purchases for these things can be problematic.
Note: Once I was in country this was never an issue.
=Tod
Posted by
MD
488 posts
I had a similar problem when I purchased tickets in the spring. I was trying to use a Visa card. It looked like it was working, but wouldn't finalize. After reading a post here about someone else having issues with a Visa card, I tried again with a Master card and it went through with no problem. I just purchased Uffizi tickets again a few weeks ago and used the Master card and had no problems. Maybe that's the problem you're having? I hope you figure it out so that's one less detail for you to worry about!
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you all for your responses. I tried two cards, spoke with both companies and they checked if it was a halt with them or with Mastercard itself, and neither were showing a problem. I ended up calling the booking line this morning and everything went through. I have no idea what the issue was with their system because we used the cards yesterday for a few other things. Now we focus on enjoying the beauty of these museums! Thanks again!