Hi,
I've been having ongoing problems with the Renfe website. When I attempt to use my credit card, the transaction fails and has done so repeatedly for the past 4-5 days. I'm purchasing tickets within the 62.5 day window (sept 13). I've notified my credit card company that I am making these purchases, and they assure me that everything is set up correctly to make purchases in Spain from the USA at this time (a Capital One Visa). I get a rejection from Renfe telling me that "El titular de la tarjeta no ha sido autenticado correctament...Pongase en contacto con la entidad emisora de su tarjeta." My Spanish is pretty good, and I read this to mean that "the cardholder has not been authenticated" and that I should get in touch with Capital One. When I call Capital One, they have no evidence of any failed transaction from anyone, much less anyone in Spain. Then they tell me to call Renfe. Any help out there?
Posted by
OP
Las Vegas, NM, USA
24 posts
Thanks, Steve. I looked all over their website for something like this, but couldn't find it. I can also see that other users on this site have had the same problem.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
If you have been trying to make the transactions during the evening hours in LV, you may be trying when the RENFE server is down as they update the fares. This seems to happen daily in the early morning hours, Spain time....which would be 8 hours ahead of you (mountain time?)
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, United States
36 posts
I believe Norm is right - I had the same issues last year with the Renfe website after trying repeatedly every evening for several days. I finally tried in the morning CST during the week and had no issues.
I feel your pain - frustrating to say the least - but try in the morning and it should go smoothly!
Posted by
OP
Las Vegas, NM, USA
24 posts
Norm and Jessica, thanks for the suggestions, but I just tried again a moment ago with no luck. At the moment, I have a crazy theory that I am registered in their site twice with the same credit card number. I registered last year, and it worked OK. This year, I couldn't find my old user ID on their site, so I re-registered. I'm wondering if there is a glitch in their system because two different user IDs have the same credit card number. I've got a request for help submitted to the Renfe website, but I am not confident that they'll have any solution for me. Later today, I'll try again with my wife's credit card.
Posted by
OP
Las Vegas, NM, USA
24 posts
As followup, we just successfully bought our tix using my wife's card. Her card didn't work at first until we notified her credit card company. I think more and more that Capital One is the problem.