Anyone successfully use their Visa card that has the embedded chip ?
I recently got issued one and it is practically useless, as most of the retail places I've been to in Ontario cannot seem to process the card. The pin pad machines that are normally used for Interac and credit card swiping don't seem to work with the Chip cards. The only recent luck I had was at the LCBO, but that was only after I had to enter my PIN directly onto the cashier's terminal (and not the hand held PIN pad device).
Spheric I don't understand why it would be a problem, it should work like this:
1. If you have a card with a chip then you have to use the pin in a “chip & pin” enabled store.
2. If the store is not “chip & pin” enabled then you just swipe and sign as normal.
3. If like me you get a card from the bank that has a chip in it that hasn’t been activated properly, and you live in a town that is all “chip & pin”, then you can’t use it anywhere. Because if they are enabled and you have a card with a chip they are not allowed to swipe it as it defeats the purpose. One quick call to the bank solved it, they enabled it over the phone.
Try calling your bank and checking that not only is the new card activated, but that they have also activated the chip, then you should have no problems.
Chip & Pin is good, it greatly reduces fraud. I should know having just spent over 3 years managing Credit Risk at Bank of America.