This was, what, my 9th trip to France I think, and my 2nd trip on my own. No
problems on any of my prior trips using my standard US-issued non-smart-chip
Visa card.

That was before I visited Tarbes, near the Pyrenees.

Over the course of 5 days in that region, I had probably a 75% chance that
restaraunts couldn't or wouldn't take my card. Couldn't deal with a card
that had to be "swiped" instead of just plugged into their machine to have
the chip read. The machines all had card swipe readers, by the way. The
fancy bluetooth-technology jobs, with the slot on the front for smart-chip
enabled cards, and a side-swipe for the rest.

Yes, I know (now, didn't know before) that virtually zero Americans visit
Tarbes.

I should also mention that I had a problem with a bakery on the outskirts of
Pau as well (surprising since Pau is more likely to see widespread tourism);
one of their customers even tried to explain to the woman at the counter how
her machine worked with my card. But to no avail.

I've been all over the Alps, Paris regions, Bordeaux, Dax, Lyon, Cognac, and
many other parts of the Pyrenees (including for example Lourdes, Bagnes
d'Bigorre etc) and not once had an issue. Did I truly visit the one place in
France nobody from the US would ever stay?

Thanks-

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

"Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email protected]> wrote:

>fancy bluetooth-technology jobs, with the slot on the front for smart-chip
>enabled cards, and a side-swipe for the rest.

Even if there is a slot and a side-swipe it isn't shure, that the
side-swipe will work. I have here (Germany) a terminal with pin-pad.
The terminal has a slot and a side-swipe and both are not working,
only the slot in the pin pad is working - for both types of cards.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

Oh and you did miss your local Denny's in Tarbes, eh ?

"Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message de
news:[email protected]...
> This was, what, my 9th trip to France I think, and my 2nd trip on my own.
> No problems on any of my prior trips using my standard US-issued
> non-smart-chip Visa card.
>
> That was before I visited Tarbes, near the Pyrenees.
>
> Over the course of 5 days in that region, I had probably a 75% chance that
> restaraunts couldn't or wouldn't take my card. Couldn't deal with a card
> that had to be "swiped" instead of just plugged into their machine to have
> the chip read. The machines all had card swipe readers, by the way. The
> fancy bluetooth-technology jobs, with the slot on the front for smart-chip
> enabled cards, and a side-swipe for the rest.
>
> Yes, I know (now, didn't know before) that virtually zero Americans visit
> Tarbes.
>
> I should also mention that I had a problem with a bakery on the outskirts
> of Pau as well (surprising since Pau is more likely to see widespread
> tourism); one of their customers even tried to explain to the woman at the
> counter how her machine worked with my card. But to no avail.
>
> I've been all over the Alps, Paris regions, Bordeaux, Dax, Lyon, Cognac,
> and many other parts of the Pyrenees (including for example Lourdes,
> Bagnes d'Bigorre etc) and not once had an issue. Did I truly visit the one
> place in France nobody from the US would ever stay?
>
> Thanks-
>
> --Mike Jacoubowsky
> Chain Reaction Bicycles
> www.ChainReaction.com
> Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
>

> Oh and you did miss your local Denny's in Tarbes, eh ?

Not at all. They had a "Buffalo Grill" across the street from our ETap.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


"Runge3" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Oh and you did miss your local Denny's in Tarbes, eh ?
>
> "Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message de
> news:[email protected]...
>> This was, what, my 9th trip to France I think, and my 2nd trip on my own.
>> No problems on any of my prior trips using my standard US-issued
>> non-smart-chip Visa card.
>>
>> That was before I visited Tarbes, near the Pyrenees.
>>
>> Over the course of 5 days in that region, I had probably a 75% chance
>> that restaraunts couldn't or wouldn't take my card. Couldn't deal with a
>> card that had to be "swiped" instead of just plugged into their machine
>> to have the chip read. The machines all had card swipe readers, by the
>> way. The fancy bluetooth-technology jobs, with the slot on the front for
>> smart-chip enabled cards, and a side-swipe for the rest.
>>
>> Yes, I know (now, didn't know before) that virtually zero Americans visit
>> Tarbes.
>>
>> I should also mention that I had a problem with a bakery on the outskirts
>> of Pau as well (surprising since Pau is more likely to see widespread
>> tourism); one of their customers even tried to explain to the woman at
>> the counter how her machine worked with my card. But to no avail.
>>
>> I've been all over the Alps, Paris regions, Bordeaux, Dax, Lyon, Cognac,
>> and many other parts of the Pyrenees (including for example Lourdes,
>> Bagnes d'Bigorre etc) and not once had an issue. Did I truly visit the
>> one place in France nobody from the US would ever stay?
>>
>> Thanks-
>>
>> --Mike Jacoubowsky
>> Chain Reaction Bicycles
>> www.ChainReaction.com
>> Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
>>
>

On 8/5/2007 1:33 AM Runge3 wrote:

> Oh

You need to suffer and die.