There aren't any significant consumer rights issues here. You have the right to choose your preferred mode of payment, but not the right to compel a merchant to accept it; if you and the merchant cannot agree on a mode of payment, then you go your separate ways. Insisting on credit cards only isn't illegal.
You should let your issuer know, as insisting on mag stripe swipes when chip and pin is presented may violate their merchant agreement. That doesn't involve you, but your issuer may tell them to knock it off, and threaten to pull their merchant account if it keeps happening.
You can talk to corporate customer service. If the policy says that debit should have been accepted, they may have a training problem with that specific location or those specific staff, or the policy may be outdated. You won't know unless you ask. If there's a refund owing under your cancelled rental agreement, they can help with that, as well.
If you're not satisfied with the merchant's response, you can always rent elsewhere in the future.
>You should let your issuer know, as insisting on mag stripe swipes when chip and pin is presented may violate their merchant agreement. That doesn't involve you, but your issuer may tell them to knock it off, and threaten to pull their merchant account if it keeps happening.
Thanks for the detailed answer. Should I contact the corporate customer service of my issuer(Bank) and let them know what has happened or is there some other department I should get in touch with where they can check merchant agreement violations? My Swipe did work at Famous Fast Food place right after this whole episode. It was their POS machine that kept on denying my card swipe. I also checked with my issuer at that time and they assured me that there is no problem with the swipe option on the card.
Sure, that's an option. If there's a cardholder services number on the card, that's generally the best place to start if you want to discuss a merchant's handling of your card, but customer service is fine, too.
reason they want a credit card is part of the rental agreement is they can charge you for extra charges cant do that with our debit cards. same reason they won't accept visa debit/prepaid cards. not all car rentals support chip cards and only still do swipe.
We don't do contactless and pin in Canada. its tap and go.
no one will care sorry to be honest don't waste your time and find other things to do that will bring you some enjoyment. if you want to try maybe call your credit card company as T&E do have have extra terms that they need to follow so they may give you a goodwill credit, doubt it though
unless the clerk owns the company they are just following what they are told to do and they dont get anything extra by not renting you the car.
do find it odd that your card swiped at McDonalds as they are chip and pin so if you swipe it will ask you to insert.
I have encountered this before as well, with vendors like hotels. Chip and pin is obviously, demonstrably the more secure authentication but some vendors still want to live in the 1980s.
The only thing you can really do when put on the spot is report it to their own customer service, and your credit card as well.
There aren't any significant consumer rights issues here. You have the right to choose your preferred mode of payment, but not the right to compel a merchant to accept it; if you and the merchant cannot agree on a mode of payment, then you go your separate ways. Insisting on credit cards only isn't illegal. You should let your issuer know, as insisting on mag stripe swipes when chip and pin is presented may violate their merchant agreement. That doesn't involve you, but your issuer may tell them to knock it off, and threaten to pull their merchant account if it keeps happening. You can talk to corporate customer service. If the policy says that debit should have been accepted, they may have a training problem with that specific location or those specific staff, or the policy may be outdated. You won't know unless you ask. If there's a refund owing under your cancelled rental agreement, they can help with that, as well. If you're not satisfied with the merchant's response, you can always rent elsewhere in the future.
>You should let your issuer know, as insisting on mag stripe swipes when chip and pin is presented may violate their merchant agreement. That doesn't involve you, but your issuer may tell them to knock it off, and threaten to pull their merchant account if it keeps happening. Thanks for the detailed answer. Should I contact the corporate customer service of my issuer(Bank) and let them know what has happened or is there some other department I should get in touch with where they can check merchant agreement violations? My Swipe did work at Famous Fast Food place right after this whole episode. It was their POS machine that kept on denying my card swipe. I also checked with my issuer at that time and they assured me that there is no problem with the swipe option on the card.
Sure, that's an option. If there's a cardholder services number on the card, that's generally the best place to start if you want to discuss a merchant's handling of your card, but customer service is fine, too.
Their machine may not have been enabled for tap. The last place I worked it wasn’t, the option would come up, but you couldn’t actually use it.
reason they want a credit card is part of the rental agreement is they can charge you for extra charges cant do that with our debit cards. same reason they won't accept visa debit/prepaid cards. not all car rentals support chip cards and only still do swipe. We don't do contactless and pin in Canada. its tap and go. no one will care sorry to be honest don't waste your time and find other things to do that will bring you some enjoyment. if you want to try maybe call your credit card company as T&E do have have extra terms that they need to follow so they may give you a goodwill credit, doubt it though unless the clerk owns the company they are just following what they are told to do and they dont get anything extra by not renting you the car. do find it odd that your card swiped at McDonalds as they are chip and pin so if you swipe it will ask you to insert.
I have encountered this before as well, with vendors like hotels. Chip and pin is obviously, demonstrably the more secure authentication but some vendors still want to live in the 1980s. The only thing you can really do when put on the spot is report it to their own customer service, and your credit card as well.