On Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:47:00 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:

On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 09:36:05AM -0700, Ianigsy wrote:

Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world.

Uhh, the only card I've ever had that didn't have 16 digits was ... a
visa credit card (Barclays, 13 digits), many years ago.

My first Barclaycard did as well, had it in the late 90s.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 06:24:24 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T
wrote:

I really can't see what was wrong with using a UK Visa card there -
was it a debit or credit card? I certainly can't recalls Carrefour
being one of these retailers that only accepts debit cards (and not
credit cards), nor do I think they impose a credit card surcharge.

I have never had problems paying with a credit card at the Carrefour
not far from the Calais ferry terminal.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On 1 Apr, 20:04, (Neil Williams) wrote:
On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 06:24:24 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T
wrote:

I really can't see what was wrong with using a UK Visa card there -
was it a debit or credit card? I certainly can't recalls Carrefour
being one of these retailers that only accepts debit cards (and not
credit cards), nor do I think they impose a credit card surcharge.

I have never had problems paying with a credit card at the Carrefour
not far from the Calais ferry terminal.

Neil


Which if you've got any sense is as far as you ever need to venture
into Frogland... fill up on booze and cheese and get outta there...

Mizter T wrote

I strongly suspect he is referring to UK Switch (now branded Maestro)
cards which until very recently were issued with (I think) a 19 digit
principal number. UK issued Maestro cards are now being switched over
to the 16 digit standard.

I got my replacement (NatWest) Switch/Maestro with chip&pin and 16
digits in December 2005 so hardly "very recently".

Did anyone get a chip&pin card with other than 16 digits ?

--
Mike D

On 2 Apr, 00:39, "Michael R N Dolbear" wrote:

Mizter T wrote

I strongly suspect he is referring to UK Switch (now branded Maestro)
cards which until very recently were issued with (I think) a 19 digit
principal number. UK issued Maestro cards are now being switched over
to the 16 digit standard.

I got my replacement (NatWest) Switch/Maestro with chip&pin and 16
digits in December 2005 so hardly "very recently".

OK, well "pretty recently" then. Depends upon what one regards as
"very recent" as well.


Did anyone get a chip&pin card with other than 16 digits ?

Michael R N Dolbear ("Michael R N Dolbear" ) gurgled
happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Did anyone get a chip&pin card with other than 16 digits ?

waves

FD Maestro, expires late 2010. Issued last year, IIRC.

In message
, at
11:31:02 on Fri, 28 Mar 2008, Mizter T remarked:
I would be astonished to discover that there wasn't a standard ecommerce
plug-in that identified the kind of card (along with the one that
everyone uses to ensure the checksum is OK). Even if the seller doesn't
deploy one, their merchant services must, so they can tell who to send
the charge to.

One would think that likely for big ecommerce companies, but perhaps
not elsewhere.

It wasn't the size of the e-commerce company, but the size of the
organisation producing the e-commerce module. To take an extreme
example, someone can be a really small company selling on eBay, but you
get the benefit of Paypal's card processing. I wouldn't expect any small
company to be writing their own card processing software, any more then
they write their own spell checker.
--
Roland Perry

In message
, at
07:11:32 on Tue, 1 Apr 2008, Mizter T remarked:
[...] We got the third degree in a Carrefour trying to use a UK Visa
card over Easter... And don't even go near French automated petrol
pumps... groan

I'd have been a bit stuffed in a similar situation - I don't normally
carry around any specific ID documentation (driving licence, passport)
on my person.

If you were in France I believe it's compulsory to carry ID.
--
Roland Perry

On 2 Apr, 08:44, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
07:11:32 on Tue, 1 Apr 2008, Mizter T remarked:

[...] We got the third degree in a Carrefour trying to use a UK Visa
card over Easter... And don't even go near French automated petrol
pumps... groan

I'd have been a bit stuffed in a similar situation - I don't normally
carry around any specific ID documentation (driving licence, passport)
on my person.

If you were in France I believe it's compulsory to carry ID.


I don't think it is actually, either for French citizens/residents or
for visiting foreigners.

In message , Roland Perry
writes

If you were in France I believe it's compulsory to carry ID.

Not since 1955.
--
Paul Terry