I have attempted at least FIVE times to purchase my tickets using my brand new Capital One card, and every single time it has rejected the transaction saying that my bank has not accepted the transaction. I have spoken with Capital One three times now...and they absolutely have guaranteed me that there is nothing wrong with the card, no block on it for using on this site, and they can see only the first transaction that I tried the first attempt they do attribute to their fraud alert)...none of the subsequent ones are showing up. Is is possible that the SCNF site has someone blocked my card after the first failed attempt? Is there anyway I can do this transaction over the phone? I could not locate a phone number on the site. I can%26#39;t believe this....I got this card expressly for this trip...and now I can%26#39;t even use it in my own home. Grrrrr.....
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If Capital One admits that your first attempt resulted in a fraud alert, I%26#39;m guessing you should have phoned Capital One to advise them that you would be conducting this transaction prior to trying to use your card to do it.
Have you tried again since speaking to Capital One?
Before booking our tickets, I had read that others had problems like yours (with various cards, not just Capital One), so phoned Capital One first and the transaction went through just fine.
I%26#39;d recommend phoning Capital One and asking for a supervisor in the fraud department, because to my recollection, those reporting back advised that the problem was with their credit card company and not SNCF. Someone actually reported that her credit card company told her ALL of her attempts had been approved (which turned out not to be true).
According to my notes, English number for SNCF from the US is 011-33-8-92-35-35-35.
But, I haven%26#39;t tried it myself.
Good luck!
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Yes - I said that I have spoken with them three separate times. The first call was after the first try, obviously. Tried it twice again, AFTER they said they took care of it, and still not working. Called again...they said it was fine and should work. No problems. Advised me to try again. Still...same problem, and this time the lady stayed on the line with me. The thing is though, they expected to see each subsequent transaction come through, or attempt to, just like the first. And nothing is showing up on their side. So that%26#39;s why I was wondering if SNCF somehow is blocking the card. Anyway...I googled %26quot;Capital One%26quot; and %26quot;SNCF%26quot;...and it appears that many MANY people have this problem with this card. I don%26#39;t get it. Anyway...I needed to get this taken care of...so I used a different Mastercard - even though I know I will get hit with a 3% fee. And it went right though....as smooth as silk. How weird is that?
Now I am nervous about taking this card at all. Has anyone else experienced any problems with a Cap One cc?
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We have used Capital One (both Visa and Mastercard) all over Europe since the late 90s, most recently last October in Ireland and London. Before we leave we always call and notify them, but I do not do so when I book online to a different country. Only once, buying tickets for %26quot;Wicked%26quot; in London (from my home phone in California) was there a problem, which was handled with a phone call. Just booked several activities and overnights in New Zealand and Australia with no problems.
But we always take a different credit card with us, just in case, that we%26#39;ve never had to use.
Oh there was one other funny incident--I was in Florida attending a wedding, and my husband had gone to Home Depot that morning (in CA), no problem. That afternoon, 300 miles away, my daughter tried to pick up her wedding dress with the credit card we gave her for wedding purposes (same acct) and her card was rejected. She was embarrassed and upset when she called me, and then I wondered if I would be able to use the card to pay for the round of drinks I had just ordered! LOL. A call to fraud cleared it up--they had been suspicious of charges in three different locations thousands of miles apart within hours. The wedding dress was subsequently purchased (tho interestingly, the wedding never took place!)
But in more than ten years, that%26#39;s it.
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We have had a Cap 1 card for a few years now. I%26#39;ve never used it overseas, but plan to on our upcoming trip.
One thing about Cap 1 is their fraud department is hyper alert. We get calls from them every couple of months to verify that we had made purchases. One thing that triggers it is if you go on an online shopping spree. I am not a big spender, but sometimes will sit at the computer and make a few necessary purchases from various online stores. Also, any purchases out of your area raise a red flag. Even a trip to a neighboring state can have them put on a fraud alert. It can be very frustrating. The best thing is to be proactive and always let them know when you will be traveling or making out of the ordinary purchases.
On the upside, the Capital 1 rewards are fantastic. We were reimbursed for the total cost of one of our roundtrip tickets to London, plus all of our Rome to London plane tickets. I hear their customer service is pretty bad, but we have had good luck. The only problem is the constant fraud alerts.
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I agree their fraud department is hyper-alert. They have locked me out several times and called at other times. Once it took a few days to get the account cleared up - but I had changed addresses a few times and then used it overseas in rapid succession. After that I always bring at least an ATM and the credit card, usually 2 backups.
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Has worked okay for me with SNCF as recently as June 14 (and without any advance notice to CapitalOne.)
I do have a history with CapitalOne of using my card for online purchases in France and for travel in France so perhaps my account is so annotated.
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Hmmm...well I will be sending a complaint their way, in order to make sure that they have reviewed my account and ensure that it is %26quot;unblocked%26quot;. I certianly will take another card, had planned to anyway. But this was going to be my main card since they charge no transaction fees. I almost feel like I need to try another transaction somewhere...an overseas one...just to doublecheck before I leave (a month from now). What would you guys do?
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So long as you notify Capital One ahead of your travel dates, you should have no problem using your card once there.
I think the problem with SNCF is that each transaction after the first also appeared to be be a duplicate transaction. Since your other card when through without a problem the first time, it must have been a problem with Capital One and not SNCF.
If you have a debit card, you may want to check whether that has a currency conversion or transaction fee for purchases. Mine does not.
I always take the Capital One, my debit card, an ATM-only card, and another credit card (but have never had to use it). But, I only carry one or two cards while out and about (with the others in the room safe).
Make sure you have the numbers for each card you can use from Europe, in case of a problem. Those 800 numbers will not work.
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Hello O2,
It is possible that it is not the fault of Capital One but of SCNF - when I booked my tickets for our trip in August SCNF did not charge my credit card and won%26#39;t charge it until I pick up my tickets. In short, I reserved the tickets but haven%26#39;t actually purchased them.
Did you follow Morgan B%26#39;s instructions for booking tickets with SCNF?
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I have spent a fair amount of time researching this problem as it has become very difficult for those without microchip credit cards to purchase tickets online.
The fault really lies with the bank and not necessarily SNCF. SNCF does not ask for information sufficient for a bank to accept the charge without a great deal of follow up information. Specifically, the SNCF website does not ask about the card holders address or other pertinent data that many banks require be correlated with their customer account databases in order to approve charges. Without this information, most banks just deny the charge and consider authorization requests from SNCF high risk and fraud prone.
From SNCF%26#39;s perspective, the on line credit card charges are not particularly high risk because tickets are not issued until someone (1) physically presents to an SNCF agent the credit card used for the original transaction along with the original transaction locater number or (2) enters his card and supplies his pin into a ticket issuing kiosk.
When I called my bank and asked that the SNCF transaction be approved, the bank requested the exact amount (in dollars) of the transaction I was making. Of course the ticket purchase was made in euros - the %26quot;exact%26quot; dollar amount is subject to ever changing currency conversion markets and there is simply no way to accurately provide my card issuing bank an exact transaction figure (maybe within a few dollars or less but not exact).
I was ultimately able to purchase tickets but not without a great deal of time spent on the telephone.
At present, there appears to easy solution for online SNCF ticket purchases.
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