When we were in Europe 27 years ago my farmer found he couldn’t use his Mastercard in several places which were happy to accept my Visa.
Our daughter and the friend travelling with us found the same problem with Mastercard in Argentina last month.
Another New Zealander we met there said she found she couldn’t use her Mastercard for electronic transactions either and when she’d queried it with her bank had been told she could still use it for manual transactions.
Try explaining that in a shop, petrol station or cafe when neither you nor the people serving you speak the same language.
A card which can’t be used for electronic transactions when and where you need it, isn’t worth having.
January 8, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Before my wife and I travelled through the UK and Europe in 2004 our travel agent warned us that we might have difficulties with Mastercard in some places and recommended that we get a Visa Card as well. While we didn’t have any majors it was handy to have the two options.