JackTheLad

I was just trying to order some software on the internet using my UK credit cards. I entered all the usual info, name, address, expiry date all that. But they kept getting rejected. Now, I had this problem last time I was in Oz. My banks in the UK spotted lots of transactions in australia, and disabled my cards.

So my immediate reaction was to ring them and see if they had decided to cancel all my cards again. But, no, they said they hadn't even received any attempts at withdrawal. So, methinks, the website I'm using is trying to be smart and notices that I'm giving a UK address, but my IP is obviously australian.

So the solution... I changed the country to Australia, but left all other details the same, i.e. UK address, postcode etc. This keeps the smartarsed website software happy (my country matches my IP address), and keeps my credit card company happy (my address and postcode match their checks).

Might be useful to others, cos for the first few months you can't get an australian credit card until you've got a few paychecks and a credit history, so using your UK credit card is sometimes the only option,

Cheers,
JTL

Pollyana

Interesting post - I have had problems with Qantas booking through their website using a UK card - both from the UK (their explanation was you can't book Oz Domestic from over there via the web) and from here. I guess its for the same reason. I now use the same idea as you - tell the site I'm in theUK, and with a UK billing address theres no problem.
Smart-a**ed websites

Innyjim

I have had similar experiences. Imagine my surprise when I bowl into Retravision, ordering consumer good with gay abandon, only to find that my UK credit card is refused for a pultry $3000. After a call to the NatWest in the UK, they said in their defence, ".....we weren't sure where you were......"

Pollyana

My mate cancelled his Barlcaycard in disgust after getting a letter stating that even though his limit was £XX, XXX and he has a fairly large steady income, he had to notify Barclaycard every time he left the UK intending to use his card abroad, or the transaction would be declined.......very security conscious, but they didn't allow for the fact he is an airline pilot and often spends 5 nights a week outside the UK.....

migrantoz

Jack, I dont understand this bit. Please can you explain, I have only had 4 hours sleep, so could be because I'm tired.
The bit that confuses me is you changed the country to Australia yet you put your UK address down. How can a UK address be in Australia?

JackTheLad

I left every bit of my address the same, apart from the country.

They normally give you a list of countries to choose from. So I changed it to australia instead of UK, but I left every other part of my address the same i.e. my old UK address.

Hope that clears it up, now get some sleep


Cheers,
JTL

PhilShila

You can certainly book Virgin Blue domestic flights online from the UK with a UK credit card, and even print out your boarding card and take it to Oz with you !!- wonder why Qantas don't allow it?

Pollyana

No idea, and this was a couple of years ago so they may have changed now. Drove us mad one night when I was trying to book domestic flights - The Bloke had to text me his Aussie credit card number so I could book them from the UK!

Siren & Brian

Typically, whenever you make an internet purchase, or even a telephone purchase with your credit card, the company in question will check your information against the information on your card and often they will only send the product to the address in the credit card database.

For this reason, when I came to Australia, I called visa and made the address change to my current one in Oz so as to avoid having things sent to Canada by accident.

They were very helpful and even offered to call my bank in Cananda and change the info there to match. Now I receive my bank statements AND my visa statements here in Oz (Three weeks later than usual as they come from Canada...lol)

No worries!

Siren

saraliz

They do allow it now (just booked our qantas tickets via the 'net 2 days ago).