In Uruguay, everything was OK.
In Argentina, usually the storekeepers use some “ La Pose ” terminals for card payments (or a similar name, widely used in Buenos Aires). It failed in 90% of my attempts with my Revolut VISA card. I had to use my Premier VISA card instead (succeeded in 90% of my attempts).
When the storekeeper tries inserting the VISA card to use CHIP & PIN, a message appears: “ Please use the magnetic band ”. So then the storekeeper swipes the card and tries again to reinsert the card. Another message appears: “ Please enter the last 4 digits of the card ”. After that, a request is sent and for a few seconds “ Processing ” & “ Sending ” show up on the screen. Finally, the transaction is denied in 90% of my attempts. It’s quite erratic actually.
On my app, a few minutes later, I can see the following notification: “ Please use chip and PIN whenever they are available ”. It doesn’t make muche sense for an end-user. For the record, all the different kinds of payments + location-based security have been enabled.
Did anybody experience this same issue in Argentina?
I would turn off location based security as some merchants report themselves to be in different places, such as Poundland in the UK and a McDonald’s in Japan that I can’t remember the location of (I think it may have been Osaka)
I was going to suggest that maybe magstripe was turned off, but I suppose it wasn’t or you wouldn’t have had the message to use Chip and Pin?
If a payment is declined due to location based security, the app notification says so. Doesn’t hurt to try, but my guess is your experience it is not related to this feature.
An instruction to use the magnetic stripe is common when the card type is not accepted by the merchant. For example, I get this in the UK when paying with American Express or Diners Club at merchants that don’t accept them. Failure by merchants to accept the card type sounds similar to these problems in Brazil, specifically affecting Visa prepaid cards:
The trouble experienced in that case look quite similar.
So we can add “La Pose” terminals as a problem for Revolut Visa card holders in Argentina (and La Pose terminals are used everywhere in Buenos Aires)
“So we can add “La Pose” terminals as a problem for Revolut Visa card holders in Argentina (and La Pose terminals are used everywhere in Buenos Aires)”
@anon33247966 do you think it could be useful to give this information to your product team colleagues?
I’m in Buenos Aires. The clothing shops I’ve been in say that visa debit from an international source has to be treated the same as a credit card. So they have a credit card price and a cash price only applicable to cash or Argentine debit cards. I am only here a few days but i was expecting to be able to use Revolut in same way as a cash payment. That does not work here and same rip offs applied to credit cards are applied to Revolut. I don’t know whether this issue is an Argentine government issue or if it is the local shops ripping us off. In the restaurants and cafes they accept Revolut without additional Charges. I also bought a book in a bookshop without any additional charges. Why would clothes shopping in downtown Buenos Aires be subject to surcharges when using Revolut when a book purchase does not have same issues?
Most of my other time away from uk is in Uruguay and Revolut works really well there.
I’ve decided to buy a second physical card (Mastercard this time) to get more flexibility in my future trips around the globe. I’ve also bought a second virtual card (Mastercard too) to use with Google Pay (VISA is not supported yet).