Overseas travel issues

Irish Steve

Just spent longer than should have been required to update some travel arrangement information online, to try and avoid the sort of hassles that a colleague has had this week, where his card was being declined in Turkey.

The delay was that for some reason, your programmers are incapable of processing the "standard" presentation of phone numbers

So, +353 87 123 4567 should be totally acceptable as this is the "preferred" way of showing or presenting a phone number. That didn't work

I changed it, to get rid of the +353, and put a 0 in front of it,  (087 12234567)and that still failed, so I then had to revert to putting it as a complete string with no spacing, (0871234567) or any other characters in it, which eventually validated.

It really should not be a problem to accept international format numbers in the way that they are presented on just about any other medium.

And yes, in passing, it would also be useful if the system actually mentioned that the same procedure is also applicable for Debit cards, as they're not mentioned at all, how long is it since Laser (not usable outside of Ireland)  went out and were replaced by Visa Debit (usable worldwide in theory) as the standard card.

Irish Steve

It gets more annoying, I need a direct dial number that does not require a load of selections to speak to an operator to avoid hassles with my debit card, as your registration system doesn't apparently work for debit cards, and I'm already abroad.

The (large corporate) phone system here is Ethernet based, and does not transmit DTMF signalling to the external line, so there's no way to answer the questions on the "normal" number that's used to route calls.


Calling via a mobile with the queuing times and costs of international calls is NOT an option.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Irish Steve, I've merged your two threads here. 

Bank of Ireland: Sarah

Hi Irish Steve,

Thank you for contacting us on Boards. 

We would always advise to give travel notice prior to going abroad to ensure the continued use of your card when abroad.

When giving travel notice for your Credit Card online, instead of entering +353, please enter 00353871234567. We will however pass on your feedback to our Online team with regards to the phone number input.

As you mention calling our International number is not an option, you can also send your travel notice by sending a query on the Online Service Desk and by choosing the Ask a Question option. Please include the dates you will be abroad for and countries you will be travelling to. Our colleagues will then note this on your account. 

We hope you have a safe trip. 

Thanks,
Sarah