POST OFFICE prepaid travel card??????????? (1 Viewer)

[GWAYGWAY]

Here we are now at the Spanish Gibraltar border parked up in the marina aire.
HOWEVER I am not a happy bunny. EVERY time Ihave proffered my P.O. card for payment of fuel or tolls, in fact every time Iwanted to use it. IT WAS REFUSED and would not even trip the MasterCard system. This was very embarrassing to say the least. IT was properly validated and I have the PIN number but it never got tha far most times just rejected.
I tried to use the app on my phone to find out more, but it was locked out, it said too many attempts to access it. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I LOOKED AT IT.
A telephone number is then given along with a warning that CHARGES will be incurred. I dialled the number an the computer voice said I needed a six number access code sent to me by post at the time I got it???????????
I could not get into their system because of that.
IF I ASK FOR MY MONEY BACK, Iwillonly get the euro sell back price a somewhat less than the £500 I loaded it with.
I will make a fuss over this matter and will not accept any less than ALL my money plus the extra charges that using other cards has brought in.
DO NOT CONTEMPLATE USING A POST OFFICE CARD
I know others on here will now start saying how wonderful their prepaid card is but I do not care about that it is my unusable money I worry about. Luckily I do have enough assets with me to get home OK.

 

[Puddleduck]

We had similar many years ago with Post Office Travelers' Cheques. No one would take them or cash them.

After a lot of fuss and letters we did get our money back from the post office but it was a struggle. At one point we were told to pay the cheques into our own bank account but I pointed out the bank had refused them - National Girobank owned by ...... The Post Office!!!

 

[Jaws]

And yet we ALWAYS use a Post Office credit card... no charges on purchases any where in Europe

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[Puddleduck]

And yet we ALWAYS use a Post Office credit card... no charges on purchases any where in Europe

I think it is the prepaid cards that cause problems.

 

[Jaws]

I think it is the prepaid cards that cause problems.

Yesssss.. which is why we use a credit card... Bill gets paid every month so it costs nowt

 

[jollyrodger]

Years back ,and if it's the same prepaid card mentioned here big adverts pushing it and I thought why not,asked the guy behind the PO counter for info and got given a leaflet with not a lot on it ,talked into it on his advice put up £50 just to get it started then given an envelope with a lot more gumph in it ,Q behind so off I goes .
Sat in the cafe over a cuppa decides to read through t&c'c read the bit about auto pay points fuel stn and tolls (which is why I wanted it) not accepting card and thought not what I want at all ,silly begger getting it !
I had been told if no good can get money back no probs within ? days,so back in the queue at the PO .Cashback ? Not from PO but from contacting Clydesdale Bank who run the scam and takes a month or six weeks for that.
Clarity card now and never had a problem since.

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[Clarky]

Don't understand why one needs to use a pre paid card.
Just use a credit card with no extra charges.
We have been using a Santander Zero card (MasterCard) for the last few years and have never had a problem. We pay just about everything with the card, fuel, shopping, tolls etc, only using cash for small bits and pieces like my morning croissants.

Richard.

 

[cookie]

Here goes then....... we've got 1 loaded with euros .had it 3 or 4 years only had couple of times and places where it wasn't accepted.
When euro was 1.40 ish to the pound chucked a few grands worth on it.
Wouldn't say it's the best but its done what we've wanted.

 

[Enword]

Last time we went to Assen our Visa card would not work for Fuel, Funny thing was, brother had some obscure debit card that neither Mrs D or I had ever heard of & it worked every where

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[Lenny HB]

All the prepaid cards, Caxton, PO, Revolut etc., don't normally work in fuel stations and toll booths.

 

[Anne Marie O Hagan]

I have the post office card and have used it during 15 weeks in France and Spain this year. Have to admit there were a couple of filling stations that it didn't work but in general, had no problems on tolls, shops, restaurants etc. I like it as there are no fees and I can load it up as and when I need. Pity the pound is so weak though. Also did quickly realise, there's a charge with one bank , think Sabatell was the name, when using their atms.

 

[maxi77]

Just to point out this is not a general prepaid problem as we have used FairFX for over ten years with very few problems and find their funds transfer system excellent for paying bigger bills. In Portugal part of the banking system has problems with non Portuguese bank cards but all the cash machines work fine and were our main source of money fir everything just about when we lived here

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[donnkim]

We had the same problem gwaygway. As posted earlier pretty paid cards do not work at fuel stations. I will use a credit card this year.

 

[Kelsae2]

Used the Post Office pre paid cards for the past 2 years in France with almost no problems, fuel stations were the main problem ones.

 

[SuperMike]

Pre paid cards will work fine at petrol stations provided you don’t use the pay at pump types. Just fill up at an ordinary pump and then present card to the cashier. They even let me properly fill up, unlike over here where you are often limited to 100L, without paying.

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[ceejayt]

Have had the original cards and now the new multi-currency card. Practically never had a problem. Was brilliant for our US and Canada trip and when we have been in Europe. Can't fault it.

 

[klaatu]

My pre-paid card (Monzo) works fine at Pay-at-pump, and at most automatic toll booths. Didn’t work recently at toll booths in Portugal.

 

[EX51SSS]

Here goes then....... we've got 1 loaded with euros .had it 3 or 4 years only had couple of times and places where it wasn't accepted.
When euro was 1.40 ish to the pound chucked a few grands worth on it.
Wouldn't say it's the best but its done what we've wanted.

The thing is, you did well putting thousands when it was €1.40 but how would you have felt if it then went to €1.60 or €1.80? Yes, a few years ago I bought some Euros at €1.42 but they were spent over a year or so.
We can only decide its a great deal in hindsight

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[cookie]

The thing is, you did well putting thousands when it was €1.40 but how would you have felt if it then went to €1.60 or €1.80? Yes, a few years ago I bought some Euros at €1.42 but they were spent over a year or so.
We can only decide its a great deal in hindsight

Depends what the individual is happy with. If hindsight determined good deals no one would buy anything. A person has to make some decisions on current information .1.40 to the pound is a good deal at any time although 1.80 would be more than welcome and that would have made me cry . I doubt any of us will ever get that rate now

 

[mitzimad]

All the prepaid cards, Caxton, PO, Revolut etc., don't normally work in fuel stations and toll booths.

Then you need the weswap card which has worked flawlessly for us in several countries on tolls and petrol

 

[mitzimad]

Don't understand why one needs to use a pre paid card.
Just use a credit card with no extra charges.
We have been using a Santander Zero card (MasterCard) for the last few years and have never had a problem. We pay just about everything with the card, fuel, shopping, tolls etc, only using cash for small bits and pieces like my morning croissants.

Richard.

What exchange rate o you get though?

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[EX51SSS]

Depends what the individual is happy with. If hindsight determined good deals no one would buy anything. A person has to make some decisions on current information .1.40 to the pound is a good deal at any time although 1.80 would be more than welcome and that would have made me cry . I doubt any of us will ever get that rate now

Only time will tell. If we could predict the future, we'd either buy loads now or wait..

 

[chaser]

The answer to all this is, just try a Halifax clarity credit card, won't cost you anything to get one or even to use it here or anywhere, once you have seen the benifit I don't think you will want to use anything else, if you don't like it , it won't have cost you anything just cut it up.
No need to keep on about it , just try it for free.

 

[Lenny HB]

The thing is, you did well putting thousands when it was €1.40 but how would you have felt if it then went to €1.60 or €1.80? Yes, a few years ago I bought some Euros at €1.42 but they were spent over a year or so.
We can only decide its a great deal in hindsight

Hindsight would be wonderful. 2002 we bought a Hobby caravan in Germany rate went from 1.60 to 1.50 between ordering and delivery cost us an extra £400. First Hymer 1.45 down to 1.25 cost us an extra 7 grand but still over 10k cheaper than UK prices. Last Hymer 1.18 to 1.26 saved 2 grand, current Hymer didn't make much difference as we traded the last one.

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[duffs]

We use the Revolut card, only for shopping, eating out and petrol from booths. We load it before we go and you can choose which currency you want as you go along whichever has the best exchange rate. Your limited to £200 cash withdrawal a month or get charged a small fee. We also have cash with us too. Just suits us, we do not want credit cards too easy to spend too much as we are rubbish with money

Any money left just use it here or transfer it back into your account.

We use a tag for tolls so much easier than arguing at the booths, OH has to do it, he takes ages, drops money ,can't get card in etc etc etc lol.

 

[Clarky]

What exchange rate o you get though?

From Santander website-
Foreign usage:
Payment scheme exchange rate - Rates can be found at mastercard.com or visaeurope.com.

One or more of the following may apply:

Non-sterling transaction fee - 0% of transaction

Cash transactions - 0%

Richard.

 

[Lenny HB]

R

We use the Revolut card, only for shopping, eating out and petrol from booths. We load it before we go and you can choose which currency you want as you go along whichever has the best exchange rate. Your limited to £200 cash withdrawal a month or get charged a small fee. We also have cash with us too. Just suits us, we do not want credit cards too easy to spend too much as we are rubbish with money

Any money left just use it here or transfer it back into your account.

We use a tag for tolls so much easier than arguing at the booths, OH has to do it, he takes ages, drops money ,can't get card in etc etc etc lol.

The Revolut Card is defiantly the best of the pre-paid cards so much more flexible than all the other, we also carry a Metro Bank Debit Card, excellent exchange rate and no charges in Europe & a Nationwide Select Credit Card agin excellent rates and no charges in Europe. In France hardly use cash as you can pay for nearly everything by card.

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[ctc]

We use the Santander Mastercard, not always accepted at automatic fuel pumps. Apart from that we have been refused in supermarkets, Visa is better.

 

[buttons]

Here we are now at the Spanish Gibraltar border parked up in the marina aire.
HOWEVER I am not a happy bunny. EVERY time Ihave proffered my P.O. card for payment of fuel or tolls, in fact every time Iwanted to use it. IT WAS REFUSED and would not even trip the MasterCard system. This was very embarrassing to say the least. IT was properly validated and I have the PIN number but it never got tha far most times just rejected.
I tried to use the app on my phone to find out more, but it was locked out, it said too many attempts to access it. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I LOOKED AT IT.
A telephone number is then given along with a warning that CHARGES will be incurred. I dialled the number an the computer voice said I needed a six number access code sent to me by post at the time I got it???????????
I could not get into their system because of that.
IF I ASK FOR MY MONEY BACK, Iwillonly get the euro sell back price a somewhat less than the £500 I loaded it with.
I will make a fuss over this matter and will not accept any less than ALL my money plus the extra charges that using other cards has brought in.
DO NOT CONTEMPLATE USING A POST OFFICE CARD
I know others on here will now start saying how wonderful their prepaid card is but I do not care about that it is my unusable money I worry about. Luckily I do have enough assets with me to get home OK.

I have no idea what a prepaid PO card is...what is it.

 

[Lenny HB]

I have no idea what a prepaid PO card is...what is it.

Like a Caxton card.

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