SNCF web site
Has anyone tried to book train tickets for travel within France and encountered any difficulties with your card not being accepted? apparently, they changed to a new system on the web site and we believe the site won't accept a card without a chip. Not certain though.
Any advice, or guidance?
Eli
Mme Eli
Always dreaming of Europe.. 10/15/12
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Call your credit card company. I called mine and they said "Hey! Somebody in France is trying to buy train tickets with your credit card!" After I set them straight, it went through the next time I tried.
When was that? Recently?
We called the CC and they said charge didn't even go through. The site is blocking purchase and we don't understand why. It's all in French.
I guess we could try Raileurope, but aren't they more expensive?
We need to go from Paris to Quimper on December 21st.
Never had a problem before! This is how we do it every December the last four years.
Hmm. Can't book on SNCF; better try RailEurope.
SNCF is the majority owner of RailEurope. Maybe that's why they are blocking purchases from the US; to send business to their higher priced subsidiary.
By the way, for an Internet purchase, chip n pin shouldn't matter.
Those purchases were made July 24. Try a different card? You can "read" the french if you use google translate on your web browser.
It may involve the 3D secure payment system described here:
http://help.tgv-europe.com/en/payment/payment-3d-secure%20?rfrr=WW%3AAideFaq%3Arubrique-FAQ%3Aundefined_body_2thesecureauthenticatedpayment
I'd work on it a while. You can get them from raileurope for a 7% commission.
I think there's a language-icon strip at the top of the webpage, choose the British flag and it should translate for you.
www.tgv-europe.com is another SNCF website and operates in English. Choose any country except the US or Australia as your location (it doesn't matter for ticket retrieval) to avoid bumping to RailEurope.
How can an Internet vendor know if your credit card carries a chip? As others suggest, the problem is more likely with your cc company's security.
Less logically, the whole SNCF Internet operation seems to have a temperament, and sometimes the best cure is simply to wait a day for it to calm down and try again. That doesn't make sense, but it often works, and the result is more important than the reason.
The CC is through CHASE so not sure if that's where the problem lies.
Someone I know said her husband got through with a Chase card though, but her Capitol One wasn't accepted. This is so bizarre.
I have checked the links added on this thread. Thanks everyone for your input.
Will try again with another card.
I see that raileueope has a deal where four people travel for a certain price, and you can make three long trips? Not sure if that's a good deal.
As previously mentioned, my last transaction was in July and I used CapitalOne. Just a call to the fraud department cleared it up.
Will try their card, but it never went through to Chase to begin with. We will call ahead and see if that makes a bean of a difference.
On reading about this same thing happening to others on Fodor's, some mention there was a limit per week of how much you could spend on the TGV site. Our return tickets for four would be 800€.
You might try using the "contact" function on the TGV-Europe website to see if this is the case. Some times there nothing to do but pick up the phone.
I used that TGV website last spring to book train tickets in France. At first I identified myself as from the US, got bumped into RailEurope and could not get the super discounts I was trying for. Then someone on the Travelers Helpline gave the advice already given here about country of origin. That kept me in English and made it possible for me to get the best fares. I had no problems using my CC and printed out my tickets online. TGV now sends me English emails of their specials. Cool, eh?
Lo, that's amazing. VISA went through, almost, then the CC company blocked it thinking it was a fraudulent transaction!!! Argghhh. This after I called FIRST to let them know!
May try again tonight. Have read that you shouldn't try under 24 hours from last attempt, and that should not go over 350€ per week. So
We won't try to buy return tickets at the same
Time.
Victory!
No victory. Alas it was not meant to be. Visa did not block the transaction this time, but the French website!! Have no idea why. They responded to email on English but did not address our questions as to why they would not accept VISA, Capitol One or MasterCard.
Ugh!!! Now to write in French using google translator and see what happens.
FINALLY, my VISA card worked. For anyone attempting this, you must wait 24 hours before next attempt, and good idea to change computers I did, site seems to keep that info and must be a bug or something, it seriously blocks the transaction!
I bought 308€ worth of tickets to Quimper. Another thing I found out is that you can't go over 350€ in one day. Bizarre! Will attempt to book return tickets tomorrow. Fingers and toes crossed.
Also, Visa had a verification during transaction, and if your card does not, you may encounter problems like we did with Capitol One and MasterCard.
Success...at least for part of journey :-)
Hope this helps someone. Thanks for input and suggestions.