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Spot on. I remember trying to get petrol in Belgium at night sometime in the late 90s. The country had its own smart debit card programme (very leading edge) an

Spot on. I remember trying to get petrol in Belgium at night sometime in the late 90s. The country had its own smart debit card programme (very leading edge) and garages there had unattended pumps that would accept these cards to cater for out-of-hours customers. But, being a UK tourist without a local payment card, I was stuffed. Stopped at every garage along the way, getting increasingly concerned, before coasting in on fumes to one that was actually open all night and would accept my Visa or MC.

gambiting 6y ago
I've had that last summer driving through Germany - stopped to charge my car, only to discover that all charging stations at that particular Auobahn station will only accept a German-issued[0] debit or credit cards. As a tourist....tough luck I guess? [0]I knew it because of course you had to use an app to start charging, and the app had a pre-filled and unchangable country set to Germany for billing details.
- jfk13 6y ago
  I had that problem with rail tickets in Germany, too... stations with machines that would only accept the local kind of bank card, not my Visa card. Weirdly, at the main station in Bochum (for example), there were some machines that would accept a Visa card - but even the staff in the in-person ticket office seemed to be completely ignorant of this. (And no, they wouldn't accept my card there, either. But eventually - no thanks to DB's staff - I found a machine I could use.) Let's just say I wasn't impressed.
  - henrikschroder 6y ago
    I've run into a similar problem in Sweden with parking. Many places have app-controlled parking, I have the biggest apps, but some parking places have other solutions. One place had removed the on-site machines that took card payments, and only had a phone number. I called the number from my Swedish phone number, entered my Swedish personal ID number, and then the automated service informed me that they couldn't process me because I wasn't a Swedish resident... So there was no way for me to pay for my parking. Non-swedes would be even more shit out of luck than I was, they wouldn't even be able to navigate the phone service. So weird.
flanbiscuit 6y ago
This happened to me driving from Germany to the Netherlands on a Sunday. We needed petrol but could not stop in Belgium because all of the stations were closed and the machines only accepted a Belgian bank card. Luckily we were close enough to Luxembourg to get petrol there. This was around 2004/05. I wonder if it's still this way now

gambiting 6y ago

I've had that last summer driving through Germany - stopped to charge my car, only to discover that all charging stations at that particular Auobahn station will only accept a German-issued[0] debit or credit cards. As a tourist....tough luck I guess? [0]I knew it because of course you had to use an app to start charging, and the app had a pre-filled and unchangable country set to Germany for billing details.

jfk13 6y ago
I had that problem with rail tickets in Germany, too... stations with machines that would only accept the local kind of bank card, not my Visa card. Weirdly, at the main station in Bochum (for example), there were some machines that would accept a Visa card - but even the staff in the in-person ticket office seemed to be completely ignorant of this. (And no, they wouldn't accept my card there, either. But eventually - no thanks to DB's staff - I found a machine I could use.) Let's just say I wasn't impressed.
- henrikschroder 6y ago
  I've run into a similar problem in Sweden with parking. Many places have app-controlled parking, I have the biggest apps, but some parking places have other solutions. One place had removed the on-site machines that took card payments, and only had a phone number. I called the number from my Swedish phone number, entered my Swedish personal ID number, and then the automated service informed me that they couldn't process me because I wasn't a Swedish resident... So there was no way for me to pay for my parking. Non-swedes would be even more shit out of luck than I was, they wouldn't even be able to navigate the phone service. So weird.

flanbiscuit 6y ago

This happened to me driving from Germany to the Netherlands on a Sunday. We needed petrol but could not stop in Belgium because all of the stations were closed and the machines only accepted a Belgian bank card. Luckily we were close enough to Luxembourg to get petrol there. This was around 2004/05. I wonder if it's still this way now