Our credit card was declined every time we tried using it directly at the pump at unmanned gas stations in France. No problems using it to pay if there was an attendant. Were we doing something wrong or is it a problem with North American cards? Any solutions?
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5850 posts
I suspect that the pumps had readers that only took "Chip and PIN" cards. Most European credit cards have an embedded chip in the card. When you insert the card, you then enter a PIN number and the PIN number is validated against the PIN stored in the chip on the card. The European banks have done this to prevent fraud.
Unfortunately, some of the unmanned readers don't take cards that are not chip and PIN. When there is a person, they are able to tell that it is a foreign card without a chip.
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Laura's right. That's why it's easier to buy on the Autoroute (but more expensive). I tried to fill up before the weekend.
Posted by
gaston, oregon, usa
842 posts
When we were in Portugal this past XMass we had a similar problem. When we tried to enter our credit card it kept asking for a "pin". (ie like it was debit card)
Luckliy when I went to a station with an attentdent, he showed me how to get around the problem. When it asked for the pin number you just hit "enter" twice. This would then void the "pin number" system, and then allow our US credit card to be used.
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
70 posts
Unmanned gas stations at supermarkets or "hypermarkets" in France generally only take French issued Credit cards. Other European cards with chip are also rejected. My Danish card with chip is always rejected as well.