Using American Credit Cards In Argentina

[MorganF]

Hey Everyone,

Credit card question. I have an American credit card, and an Argentina credit card. Whenever I use my Argentine credit card, it works fine (well, except for the times when the store/restaurant says their machine is out of order, which is too much - those situations aside, it works perfectly). However, whenever I use my American cc, it only works about half the time.

I never understood why. Until I was at a restaurant the other day, and the very friendly owner showed me the machine, and we fiddled around together, and clicked some buttons, and we got it to work! It was an option that entailed us typing in the number manually - but hey, it wasn't rejected! I have no what we clicked, though.

So....! Here's my question for everyone. When a store/restaurant says that a foreign credit card doesn't work, is there something we can tell them ("Hey, if you click option X, and then Y, you can then input the number and it will work!") so they know what to fiddle with to get it to work?

Thank you!!!
morgan

 

[sergio]

TEll them too bad that you have no cash. Then they may get it to work.

 

[MorganF]

Hahahaha! Now that is an Argentine response hahaha.....

....and I may actually try it!

 

[Girino]

I am getting issues with my foreign credit cards, as well.
I have a VISA electron that simply doesn't work at YPF and in some stores. I have another card that I use in the supermarkets - with some they simply swipe the card at the cashier's counter, with others they need a special POS that is shared among the cashiers. The two scenarios happen in the same supermarket, depending on the cashier.
Almost always I am also asked a PIN code for credit card purchases, but there seem to be an inconsistent behaviour of my card depending on the country, the store, the cashier.

 

[MorganF]

Serafina,

If the problem happens with some cashiers but not others in the same supermarket, that means that there is an option to select on the device, that some cashiers know about but others don't. The question is, what is that option......

morgan

 

[Girino]

Serafina,

If the problem happens with some cashiers but not others in the same supermarket, that means that there is an option to select on the device, that some cashiers know about but others don't. The question is, what is that option......

morgan

Will.

 

[Silvie]

I had the same issues and have the same doubts.

 

[another]

Most foreign cards require a PIN, which is a feature locals are not yet so familiar with, when their machine asks for the PIN they mostly just press the 'yes' button and the card gets rejected. When you tell them to watch for it they will catch it and ask you to enter a PIN, that does work fine. Happened to me in a few places. They will still ask you to sign it - which if they were to understand the purpose of the PIN should have been bypassed, but alas, we are still a bit in the medieval times here technology comprehension wise...In one place I was explicitly told that they only accept local cards due to the agreements they supposedly have with local companies to pay lower or no fees...

 

[Rich One]

I am getting issues with my foreign credit cards, as well.
I have a VISA electron that simply doesn't work at YPF and in some stores. I have another card that I use in the supermarkets - with some they simply swipe the card at the cashier's counter, with others they need a special POS that is shared among the cashiers. The two scenarios happen in the same supermarket, depending on the cashier.
Almost always I am also asked a PIN code for credit card purchases, but there seem to be an inconsistent behaviour of my card depending on the country, the store, the cashier.

Foreign cards at Coto require use of Posnet. Credit cards are swiped, debit cards are inserted from the front. If they can handle the cards with chips.

 

[ben]

In one place I was explicitly told that they only accept local cards due to the agreements they supposedly have with local companies to pay lower or no fees...

There is at least some truth in this. I have heard from a couple of people here - both of whom have stores and take credit cards - that if a local credit card holder contests the charges, they can fight it at least somehow. If a US card gets swiped and the charges are contested, the shop loses the money no questions asked. And I've also heard of higher charges for foreign cards.

Not sure if this is true of bigger institutions or just mom-and-pop shops, but definitely not all cards are equal.