Chase Sapphire Visa requires you call 800 654 9214 from the US in the US to book on Italian websites that have Visa Verification, i.e., the Vatican. Visa Verification on Chase is only Valid for 24 or 72 hours. If in Italy call local operator and call 1-480-902-7910 if you have a large charge that will not go through. This explains small charges that will not go through. Do not let those who have no experience at Chase Customer Service or Security tell you any other way! You can elect to have the $95 annual fee returned by cash! Glad to share my afternoon with the readers!
Posted by
Loveland, CO
117 posts
Sorry that things did not go smoothly for you. I have used both my Chase Sapphire Signature and Chase Sapphire Reserve throughout Europe without any problems whatsoever. All I did in advance was notify of Chase of my travel plans by going here: https://cards.chase.com/CustService/TravelNotification.aspx
Posted by
NYC
380 posts
I have a Chase Sapphire card, and I called them a few days before my trip and they took down exactly where I'd be and for how long. My transactions were fine.
Posted by
Chicago
8162 posts
you are blowing this out of proportion for nothing;
you tried to charge something out of your norm and they thought it was fraud. thats all
just remember to put travel warnings in with the bank before you go;
Posted by
43 posts
Our Chase Visa was probably "skimmed" someplace--here in the US or in Greece. We used it at the Acropolis site and the Acropolis Museum in Athens, went on a cruise leaving from Pireaus, and the second week of the cruise I received an email about possible fraud on the account. I called the International number from a port we were in and there were some charges made in Mass. Chase declined the second and next charges and notified us. I had notified Chase that we would be in Greece, Spain, and England and which days. We always notify them when we leave our home city and certainly when we leave the country. So the Visa card was cancelled. It made it much easier to deal with fraud sooner rather than later.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
The Vatican has been requiring the "verified by visa" protocol for a while now. This is nothing new. You're blowing this issue way out of proportion. If you wish to make a foreign purchase the first thing you should always do is notify your credit card company about the purchase. This will allow the purchase to go through and not be flagged as fraud. For the Vatican website you need to call and ask for the "verified by visa" representative. Have them enact the protocol before attempting the purchase. If you do this everything will work out fine.
Donna
Posted by
OP
Salt Lake City, UT (Previous Seattle, WA)
315 posts
Use of Chase Sapphire for two years with European transaction with no problem following notification of use in designated areas. Chase Sapphire Visa does not have automatic Visa Verification security that a merchant such as the Vatican utilizes. Visa Verification is a secondary level of security that a merchant can choose to utilize. There are Visa cards that market they have secondary Visa Verification, ie., Wells Fargo. The suggestion is if you have difficulty with a charge at the Vatican's website try 800 654 9214 in the US. Many have had difficulty. The number is for Visa Verification for the trade name Visa, not Chase. I do believe 4 calls and 3 hours of my time has tested my patience, including 2 calls requesting Visa Verification department. The post is for those who need the trick to get through Visa Verification.