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Unable to order tickets at the Vatican Museums and Borghese Gallery

Posted by on

I went on the websites for both the Vatican Museums and Borghese Gallery to order tickets for our upcoming stay in Rome.

I selected the day and time that we wanted plus the number of tickets and then put in our VISA credit card information. The sites started to process the order and then displayed a screen that said something like "operation denied". On both sites I tried using a different VISA card but had the same result.

I tried placing the order the next day, thinking that maybe the sites were doing some maintenance but I get the same message. There is no phone number for the Vatican Museums so I can't call in the order. I called the number on one of the VISA cards and they felt it was a website problem since the message occurred with more than one card.

What can I do?

Posted by
34146 posts

You did notify both card issuers that you would be making purchases in Italy? And have set up Verified by Visa for both cards?

Posted by
16895 posts

Lack of Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode on sites that require "3D security" can indeed result in that non-specific message. If your card has the feature, then an additional screen pops up to input an additional password. Without the feature, there's usually no visible next step.

Posted by
7249 posts

Once, when buying tickets for an overseas location, I had to notify the CC company before it would approve the charge. Once I did that, the charge was approved right away.

Posted by
372 posts

If you have contacted your credit card company and that part is ok, then you should call to see what happened. Are you using the correct website? museivaticini.va? there is a link for contact and the phone and email address is right there.

Posted by
4152 posts

You don't need to make these reservations by phone.

You need to contact your credit card companies and have them enact the "verified by visa" protocol. The Vatican switched to this about 3 months ago and it looks like most businesses in Italy are doing the same thing. Once the protocol is enacted there shouldn't be any issues.

While on the phone be sure to inform the credit card company of your travel dates and locations.

Donna

Posted by
17572 posts

Or try American Express if you have that card.

Posted by
11 posts

It's some sort of issue with the Visa verification system they use - I had the same problem across three different VISA cards. I switched to my Mastercard and it worked instantly. If you only have VISA available you may need to call your card provider so they can push through the charge - it's likely catching in the fraud area.

Posted by
213 posts

The Orange SIM card I bought in Paris this past August at the start of our Rick Steves 14 day Best of Europe worked in France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Germany, Italy, and probably the little piece of Austria we crossed while in the bus.

Posted by
213 posts

We (and other people on our tour) had the same problem this past August. As someone above said, it wasn't until we used our Visa that is hooked up with Verified by Visa, that we were able to buy tickets. It took use many attempts to figure this out. Our Charles Schwab Visa with no transaction fees did not work. Our local credit union Visa, which has Verified by Visa (and transaction fees) did work.

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