Debit cards and train tickets ........ What is going on?

[whole diary]

[Henry]

  

[ChrisB]

Not much it seems! :-)

[Super Guard]

relex is correct - A card activated for off-line use can still decline if the max number of offline transactions has been reached and needs to be used online before it can be used offline again.

Example:  Someone bought a ticket off me - chip + pin accepted.  Same passenger then asked for another ticket for the next day, same card, but declined.

Re: Natwest blue card - this is the full auth card, so this was issued incorrectly to MookieMoo, as the purple one is(was) the one for chq guarantee.

White HSBC cards with the red world map on decline and the silver ones without the chq guarantee on always do too.

I would love to know how much it would really cost to have a sim card connection to dial out for cards requiring authorisation Versus revenue lost/later declined.

[LiskeardRich]

Was there not a bloke (may of been a woman) who was using a prepay credit card thing to pay for train travel, and had not "prepaid" but it was being ok'd on the trains. Read this person got away with it for months, receiving 100s or 1000s in unpaid travel, as there was no funds in her prepay card!

[ellendune]

Was travelling North this week on Cross Country.  Somewhere North of Derby the girl opposite was asked for her ticket. However she did not have her railcard with her.

The ticket inspector then politely asked her to pay back the discount she had received.  She agreed and proffered a debit card which was refused. The ticket inspector explained this was because of his machine and did she have any other means of payment.  When she said she did not he said he could phone for authorisation.  He did this without actually speaking on his phone so I do not know how it was done, but the payment was taken.  He also gave her a form to claim it back.

He was a model of politeness.

[Ollie]

When phoning for authorisation it's sometimes just an automated process, but occasionally will get transferred to an actual person.

[readytostart]

Was travelling North this week on Cross Country.  Somewhere North of Derby the girl opposite was asked for her ticket. However she did not have her railcard with her.

The ticket inspector then politely asked her to pay back the discount she had received.  She agreed and proffered a debit card which was refused. The ticket inspector explained this was because of his machine and did she have any other means of payment.  When she said she did not he said he could phone for authorisation.  He did this without actually speaking on his phone so I do not know how it was done, but the payment was taken.  He also gave her a form to claim it back.

He was a model of politeness.

The authorisation centres we use at XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are simply a push button service, for small amounts it is a lot easier to swipe the transaction and then call it through at the end of the carriage than to stand in the aisle and do it. You get to know which cards have a habit of 'innocently' declining and when there's something more dodgy going on.