Ulster bank Debit Card not working in Irish Rail ticket machines, just me?

djmarkus

I've tried my Ulster bank visa debit card at Coolmine train station, in the morning several times now, to buy a weekly ticket, but it has failed to work, giving me an "Authorization failed, try using another machine".

It's really pissing me off, so do any other UB customers have this problem?

foggy_lad

some of those ticket machines are just faulty, saturday afternoon a saw two girls in newbridge trying to buy tickets in the machine and it took one €20 note but would not take a 2nd one no matter what way it was presented, she got change at the booking office and completed the transaction then her friend tried to buy her ticket but it would not accept €50.

my advice to people is not to use these machines as they will start to take your money and not give anything back and staff will probably be unable to deal with it if the machines are serviced/checked by an outside company!

goingnowhere

Ulster bank issue visa debit cards, not laser or normal visa

They don't work everywhere as a result

djmarkus

Well,

The thing is, I was a Halifax customer, and their visa debit card worked every time!

Ham'nd'egger

Ulster Bank are the Bank who like to say NO:D

etchyed

djmarkus wrote: »

Well,

The thing is, I was a Halifax customer, and their visa debit card worked every time!

There were some problems with Ulster Bank Visa Debit Cards not being recognised when they were first issued, particularly online (Paypal and Amazon.co.uk). It was discussed on boards in this thread.

Maybe you could try asking there if anyone else has had problems at Irish Rail ticket machines.

mrsdewinter

I found my UB laser card wouldn't work when I went to pick up railway tickets at a major station last week. Very annoying

djmarkus

Was it def. a laser card, or a Visa Debit card?

Davexirl

I just tried to buy a ticket with my UB visa debit and had the same problem, I just recently changed to UB from PTSB and never had a problem buying a rail ticket with them.

wicklowwonder

i use my UB Visa Debit every week in a ticket machine and never had an issue at all!

mydiscworld

I had an issue once collecting a pre booked ticket where it didn't read my card properly.

Luckily I had noted my booking number & just used that instead. Very handy that you have both options.

sonyair

You may need a new card as the chip gets faulty from use and also the magnetic strip can be damaged,

I go through at least 3 of these cards a year and I am with Ulster Bank using visa debit card. It stops or can't connect at terminals with me and thats when I know when a new one is needed.

parsi

I wish providers could settle on machines and how they operate.

In Berlin in January the DB machines didn't accept Laser/Maestro cards but the BVG ones did. The most annoying machine I found (in November) was outside Tegel - for a 28euro fare it wouldn't accept a 50, it wouldn't accept 2 x 20 - it accepted 1 x 20 and 1 x10 - being closely watched by a hobo didn't help matters either.

markpb

sonyair wrote: »

You may need a new card as the chip gets faulty from use and also the magnetic strip can be damaged,

I go through at least 3 of these cards a year and I am with Ulster Bank using visa debit card. It stops or can't connect at terminals with me and thats when I know when a new one is needed.

I didn't know it was possible to use chip cards wrong but you seem to have found a way! :-D

Seriously though, those cards are meant to (and do) last years. If you're going through three of them a year, you're storing them with something that is damaging the contacts.

Victor

Davexirl wrote: »

I just tried to buy a ticket with my UB visa debit and had the same problem, I just recently changed to UB from PTSB and never had a problem buying a rail ticket with them.

With some cards, you need to use them in an ATM first to activate them.

Was the problem (a) on the website (b) collecting a ticket bought on-line (c) buying a ticket at the station?

sonyair wrote: »

You may need a new card as the chip gets faulty from use and also the magnetic strip can be damaged,

I go through at least 3 of these cards a year and I am with Ulster Bank using visa debit card. It stops or can't connect at terminals with me and thats when I know when a new one is needed.

I strongly suspect you are doing something wrong.

I had to replace my card card recently because it expired (yeah they have an expiry date), not because of damage.

parsi wrote: »

In Berlin in January the DB machines didn't accept Laser/Maestro cards but the BVG ones did.

Probably down to whatever agreement they have with their banks. Here, I get the impression that Visa and Mastercard are accepted by a lot more vendors than American Express and Diner Club are.

The most annoying machine I found (in November) was outside Tegel - for a 28euro fare it wouldn't accept a 50, it wouldn't accept 2 x 20 - it accepted 1 x 20 and 1 x10 - being closely watched by a hobo didn't help matters either.

I may have been short on coins for change. Some machines don't give notes in change - in Ireland the only ones I've seen give notes are Dunnes and Tesco.

Irish Rail machines will only give a certain amount of change - you generally can't buy a €2 fare with a €50 note.