Barclaycard Arrival MC chip & pin useless in Italy
 

If you are looking for an international chip and pin credit card don't waste your time on the Barclaycard Arrival As it did not work anywhere in Italy when we were there in October. This card was rated as one of the best international chip and pin credit cards with no transaction fees. None of the hotels or vendors machines would accept it. We contacted Barclay customer service and they had no explaination for why it would not work in Italy. As the saying goes it was Priceless!

I don't know why you are assuming that since YOUR card did not work, that all such cards do not work. You seem to also see Barclay customer service's lack of explanation as somehow a negative. I see it as saying to you, 'it should work' That would lead me to ask myself, 'then why is MY card not working?'

Did the card work in other countries? Have you used the card in other countries? Where and how did it not work? ie. were you trying to use it at an ATM?

When you say a hotel machine did not accept it, what actually happened when you checked in? Did they get a 'refused' message?

Did you advise Barclaycard before you travelled? Sometimes a card will be blocked if they see 'unusual activity'. This often means you need to notify them before travelling to avoid that.

Bottom line, you have not provided enough information for anyone to look at and form an opinion as to whether there is a real problem with the card in general or whether this problem was only specific to YOUR card.

The reviews do not back up your experience jwhellrung.

http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credi...ercard-review/

Note this user's experience in Glasgow.
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2014/...lus-nkotb.html

Which led to this explanation from a Barclay's site.
https://www.barclaycardus.com/servic...gacy=true#faqs

Everything indicates that the problem was with YOUR card, not with ALL such cards.

To Sojourntravelor - from your comments it appears you must work for Barclay. Not sure what you don't understand about the card not working in Italy. My comments related to Italy only and only to Barclaycard Arrival + MC. Please read the review. To answer your questions yes Barclay was advised of our travel plans prior to leaving US for Italy. We did use it in US without issue prior to leaving to insure we had no problems traveling in Italy. Some examples - a purchase at Venice Glass Factory (Arti Veneziane Alla Giudecca)a very large tourist destination used six (6) different bank machines all of which rejected the transaction. Insight Travel our touring company attempted with no success to use the card. A men's store in Rome refused transaction. Does that do it for you Sojourntravelor

Your comment about the reviews not backing up my experience also does not hold water. None of them listed relate to experience using card in Italy. What more do you need to know.

Well first of all I do not work for Barclays or any other bank for that matter. I do however have a great deal of travel experience and have used various bank debit and credit cards all over the world. ALL my cards are Chip and PIN but none of them are US issued cards.

YOUR card did not work in several locations in Italy, that's fine and I accept that quite readily. However, to suggest that everyone else's Barclay Arrival card will also not work is an ASSUMPTION and I could find NO evidence online to suggest that that was the case. I have found one link where the card DID work in Italy.
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Cred...y/td-p/3370023

Interestingly, I did find this advice from Barclays being quoted on one thread on Flyertalk (most of the thread is about miles so I haven't bothered linking it).

"Keep in mind, when you first use your card abroad while traveling, you must make a purchase at a merchant with an attendant using the Chip & Signature feature. This will activate the PIN number, so that you may use the Chip & PIN feature at an unattended kiosks."

That is supposedly a direct quote from Barclay and seems to indicate that if you don't make that first purchase as a chip and signature purchase, the PIN feature is not activated. It also hints that the PIN feauture only works at unattended kiosks!

So I decided to do a bit more research online (as you culd have considered doing before posting). What I have found is that the card is actually a 'Chip and Signature with PIN' card and not a true Chip and Pin card. As such, it defaults to Chip and Signature and only goes to PIN at a non-attended kiosk. My guess is that the merchants where you tried to use your card have their card reader set to Chip and PIN ONLY and so your card got rejected as it is Chip and Signature. That is up to the individual merchant to decide and if they have decided they accept Chip and PIN only your card will be refused every time.

Really, it now seems to me that this is a question of the card owner (you) actually understanding how it works and when it will and will not work.

So I would now say that anyone will encounter the same issues you did in some cases whether in Italy or elsewhere depending on how the merchant has set up their card reader. Barclays and Mastercard have no control over that at all.

Bottom line, yet again the US cards have serious limitations in the rest of the world. Reading this link of someone using their card in Canada, it seems clear that that automatic defaulting to Chip and Signature happens over and over. IF the merchant will not accept Chip and Signature then the card will be rejected. This is a serious flaw in the 'Chip and Signature with PIN' setup.
http://mjontravel.boardingarea.com/2...v-credit-card/

So there you have it jwhellrung, in simple terms you do not have a true Chip and PIN card and THAT is the problem. Some merchants will accept Chip and Signature and some won't which means it may or may not be accepted every time in ANY country, it is not specific to Italy.

The problem is that the American consumer (you) do not understand EMV cards well enough to know their limitations and for some reason (no doubt related to money) US card issuers do not want to go to true Chip and PIN cards. As long as you the consumer don't know enough to insist your banks and other credit card issuers adopt true chip and PIN, Americans are going to have problems when travelling.

I'm glad I have Canadian and UK cards that are all true chip and PIN cards.

Just to clarify and simplify, here is what your title should have read to be accurate.

Barclaycard Arrival MC Chip and signature with PIN card is useless at any merchant anywhere in the world who will not accept chip and signature.

So Sojourntraveller I think you just validated my case. The frickin card doesn't work in Italy nor will any US issued Barclay Arrival + card work in Italy or for that matter (according to your post) anywhere else outside the US. In US I don't need to worry about whether it is a chip and pin or a chip and signature with Pin. In the US I hand the card to the merchant and it works as it should. Should not have to worry about what flavor the card is. FYI, I had absolutely no issues with American Express card in Italy other than the transaction fees they charged. American Express is a Chip and Signature card and was used for the same transaction that Barclaycard Arrival + MC rejected so I question your analysis about the issue of Chip and Pin versus Chip and Signature with Pin. Regardless the Barclaycard Arrival + MC card is useless outside the US and as such my fellow Americans need to know the issue.

bkmkg

Thanks for the warning.

Look, jwhellrung, I have no vested interest in whether a card works or doesn't work but I do NOT accept statements without an explanation or evidence to support that statement and that is EXACTLY what you did in your OP.

The only FACT you gave was that YOUR card did not work. You gave no explanation or evidence to support your contention that NO such card would work. Yet you expected people to just take your word for it that it would not. Are you in the habit of believing everything some stranger tells you? I'm not.

If you wanted to warn your fellow Americans, then you should have provided the explanation/evidence to support your statement. Yes, I have validated your case, YOU didn't validate it.

But you also still seem to miss a very important point. Because a card was issued by your provider in the USA does NOT mean it should work anywhere in the world. Change your viewpoint. YOUR provider is providing a card that does NOT work anywhere in the world whereas providers everywhere else in the world ARE providing cards that work worldwide.

You write, " In the US I hand the card to the merchant and it works as it should. Should not have to worry about what flavor the card is." and that is true but where does the fault lie? Answer, with your card provider. If Americans do not insist on cards that work worldwide, who should they blame other than themselves?

If you want to warn your fellow Americans, warn them that their US issued cards including your Amex card are useless where Chip and PIN is required and that is only going to become more and more of an issue.

Do you realize that your signature cards are not as secure as a Chip and PIN card? It is not to your advantage to use a signature card. I and the rest of the world consider it unacceptable to have a card that is not as secure as it can be. If a provider offered me a Chip and Signature card I would refuse it as archaic in terms of security. I ahve had Chip and PIN cards for at least 15 years!

Americans really need to wake up. As a result of their lagging behind, America is now the number one country for identity fraud. When it is hard to do elsewhere in the world, the crooks head for where it is easy to do, that's the USA.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/leoking/...-chip-and-pin/

What you and other Americans reading this thread should get from it is that a Chip and PIN with Signature card is pretty much as useless (other than at unattended kiosks) for travel as any other Chip and Signature card. Writers of articles such as the following link obviously don't realize that.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/leoking/...-chip-and-pin/

There is where you should also be posting your experiences and explaining WHY they don't work.

Interesting thread. My Barclay's card was the only one that DID work in Venice last year. And I purchased items at the same Venice glass factory..with my old fashioned Barclay's card.

Barclaycard were not chip and pin last year were they?

I just got the new one a few months ago and probably won't activate it.

Your old card was accepted Diane but the problem is the new cards default to chip and signature and if the merchant's card reader only accepts chip and pin, the transaction is refused.

What does 'not activate' it mean mlgb? It will work fine for you in the USA, it just isn't much good for travel.

It would give you an advantage over other US cards however at unattended kiosk that only accept Chip and PIN. Apparently, they do work in those cases.

My (Penfed Visa) card defaults to chip and signature, but operates as chip and PIN in unattended kiosks. I am finishing up a ten week trip including Romania, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, France and currently Portugal. The card has never been refused and never failed to work. While I agree that the US needs to wake up and join the rest of the world, there is no need to be overly alarmist about the current situation.

It means I can continue to use my old card although apparently it will only work until Jan 6 of next year.

Then I will either have to activate it, or not pay the annual renewal fee and let it expire. I have more than one credit card.

I signed up for the barclay card world elite for the purpose of having the ability to use chip and pin in unattended kiosks. Prior to our trip to Italy, I read everything I could about the chip and signature and chip and pin. I chose a pin before going and when we arrived made sure that both my husband and I used our card with chip and signature right away. the card worked fine for chip and signature everywhere we went in Italy, however, we tried repeatedly to use the card for parking machines, vending machines and metro tickets and we not able to use it. in fact, the unattended machines did not recognize the chip and we were never once asked for the pin. I know the pin only works for unattended machines and these were clearly unattended machines. I called Barclay while we were on a trip and they told me my card was activated, my pin was correct and that they didn't decline any attempts or purchases. in the end, we were disappointed because they only reason we got the card was to be able to use chip and pin in these specific situations. we didn't even dare try to use it for the tollway out of fear of being stuck and used cash instead. does anyone know if this was just bad luck and that the card will work for other countries? i have read the other posts where other people have said it worked for them. did we do something wrong because I can't think of what else we could have done. I mean you stick the chip in and just wait to be prompted for pin right? when i did that it just kept saying insert card.

"If you chose to keep the original PIN that was mailed to you (this PIN is also your cash advance PIN as well) it is 'active' and can be used at terminals in the US or Europe (or other EMV terminals)."

http://www.barclaycardtravel.com/t5/...t/false/page/3

It's my understanding that almost NO card in the US is true chip and PIN, despite what the banks are telling us. I know my USAA card is, because it works in Germany and the UK, and I know my government issued travel card is (for the same reason), but none of my other cards are. I was told Barclay's is - but it would appear that it's not.

I'm married to a Brit, where they've had chip and PIN for at least ten years as a rule (I never had problems over there until then, so while C&P may have been around, it went nuclear around 2005; I can remember that clearly because of another life event that occurred in conjunction with that trip). It's ridiculous. I don't understand why it's not law here (US); it cuts down on fraud of all sorts and only makes it easier on everyone.

I'm thinking with the changes to banking law forcing the merchants to become responsible for fraud might be a case of the banks cutting off their nose to spite their face: making the merchants responsible will only tick them off when fraud continues to happen (because it will), and eventually my guess is the merchants themselves will push for true chip and PIN as it's the only (almost) foolproof way to stop fraud before it happens.

Wanted to add it's like the American banks see "chip and PIN" as two separate features (chip required for signature, PIN to be used at kiosks) whereas Europe embraces them as a package and a single entity (chip and PIN per transaction).