Arris

Hi Niz,

The shops didn't accept my 'switch' card & hubby had to put in his PIN no. for credit cards.

Enjoy yourself in Toronto

The TWs

Some of these responses surprise me - maybe its area specific - but I had chip & pin on my bank accounts in BC in the late 80's/early 90's. Have they stopped using it?

Daedra

I agree with this to some extent... any bank card I had including those accounts with overdrafts associated I paid for by Direct Debit/Interac (which is like the Canadian version of Chip &Pin I always thought).. stand alone credit cards not associated to a bank account with money in it was always 'sign for' with me and I would have to put in the number of the card, and often times also the last 3 digits of the 'security code' on the back of the credit cards... though I am going back 3 years ago.
Maestro is alongside most Visa accepted signs in Canada so worst case, you can extract money at an ATM although will have to pay high fees to do so.
Most banks in Canada charge per use at their ATM's unless you withdraw from you own bank card's company machines & have a package agreement with your bank, otherwise the charges per use can run between $0.50 to $2.00 Canadian... I used to do lump sum withdrawls for whatever I needed to buy during the week, cut down the cost by paying by 'Interac' (bank account card at the machines at the tellers, for which you are asked to enter PIN numbers) which were cheaper to use with my bank (RBC - Royal Bank of Canada).
Hope some of the above helps you, good luck!

dingbat

Canada has not got much Chip and Pin technology, this was only introduced on a trial basis in Canada in 2003 and has not been picked up nationally yet, banking here is so far into the dark ages. Interac is not the same either, if that is what you were thinking of.

http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=10532

The TWs

That's a little harsh!

At least they're miles ahead of the UK in terms of customer service! When I arrived in London it took almost 6 weeks to get my bank account up and running (over a week finding a bank which would take me as a new arrival, 1 week+ to process the paperwork, 14 days to get my bank card, 10 more days to get my pin!) In Canada we walked into the branch and were out in 35 mins with 2 accounts, bank cards & pins!!!

dingbat

Not harsh at all. Banks here are utterly archaic in their lending policies and are light years behind Europe in terms of product choice. Customer service sucks btw...wait until you have to live with it.

The TWs

I agree there can be less choice - but when I was in Canada before I always found what I needed. I also think it depends on where you are in the country and who you bank with! Perhaps we have it easier as I'm already Canadian - albeit an absent one?

dingbat

Ahhh..yes maybe. After eleven years in BC of utterly abysmal service, sexist treatment, blatant discrimination and rip-off charges, I was so relieved to deal with a bank in the UK that actually knew how to handle FX transactions and gave me equal status as a woman..despite the issues with re-establishing residency after all that time.

The TWs

Hahahaha That is my exact experience here in the UK! Guess banks can be stupid wherever you are!

Souvenir

Chip & PIN is on its way to Canada. One day. I'm fairly sure there was a poster on here quite a while back who had come to Canada to work on such a project.

It's high time. Card security here is risible. There is little point in signing the back of credit cards.

printer

I still don't understand this chip and pin thing.
We were regularly being told it would be introduced last February and we all had to get used to it and you wouldn't be able to use the old signature method after a short "running in" period blah blah blah, yet now over a year later there are still quite a few outlets that do not have the technology and ask you to sign.

Souvenir

Quite.

I was in the UK a few months before the system was 'mandatory'. I asked a chap at the ticket office in Brighton station what people like me would have to do in future (ie people with foreign credit cards). He informed me that we'd have to pay cash. That was clearly bollox. I've made several trips since and have had no problems whatsoever using my chipless/PINless Canadian credit card or UK-issued Amex. Not even at Brighton station.

Steve_P

Interesting that you would say that Souv.

Article on the front page of the business section of today's Calgary Herald states:

"Credit Cards - Visa Canada, over the next three years, will introduce credit cards with built-in chips that will require users to enter PIN numbers but not signatures."

Balance of article here: Visa to use PINs, not signatures

There was also a piece on the TV news the other night saying that Visa and Master Card were going to introduce these cards by 2008.

Cheers
Steve

Biiiiink

Me three, never a problem with Canadian cards in the UK. The merchant is insured for a pin-less transaction that turns out to be fraudulent if you could not have used a pin in the first place. It's only pin cards with signed transactions that are at their own risk. I expected to have to explain that the card was foreign, but I didn't. They all swiped and had me sign without batting an eyelid.

What technology was it France introduced a few years back - was that chip and pin too? I remember getting a laminated wallet card from my card issuer with the phrase in French saying "my card is not fraudulent, it's foreign and we don't have xyz technology so please call and get a manual authorisation instead. Merci".

Madmac

Customer service last week at Banko Ripoffee Nova Scotia:

Me: "Hi, I'd like to deposit this cheque into my landlord's account here at this branch."

Customer Service Twat (CST):"Oh, we only allow you to deposit a bankers draft or a certified cheque."

Me: "What? You won't allow me to put money INTO one of your customers accounts?"

CST:" No and I'd advise you to get a bankers draft as it's cheaper than a certified cheque otherwise if we accept your cheque it'll take 5 days to clear."

Me: "Not a problem. My landlord doesn't need the money for several weeks. This is for next months rent so 5 days is fine."

CST: " I'm afraid I don't feel comfortable with doing that so I won't be accepting your cheque."

Me (incredulous and staring wildly at this point):" So you won't allow me to deposit the money even with a 5 day clearing period. I'd need to pay $10 for a certified cheque or $7.50 for a bankers draft?."

CST: "Yes, that's all I can do."

I should have taken it further but thought WTF, the CST was a cock-eyed old cow who couldn't spell cheque properly so she had enough problems in her life without me setting her manager on her.

So yes, great customer service encountered.