Thomas Cook card is the same it is accepted almost everywhere except unmanned 24hr petrol stations (that said my Barclaycard wasn't accepted at them in Italy last year)
I recently returned from a trip to France & took a post Office pre-loaded travel card, this worked well for cafes/bars & manned fuel stops. but was rejected by toll peages, & unmanned 24 hr petrol stations, can anyone recommend a similar style card that works, I am doing the Route Napoleon in a few weeks time & don't want a debit or credit card ?
I recently returned from a trip to France & took a post Office pre-loaded travel card, this worked well for cafes/bars & manned fuel stops. but was rejected by toll peages, & unmanned 24 hr petrol stations, can anyone recommend a similar style card that works, I am doing the Route Napoleon in a few weeks time & don't want a debit or credit card ?
......& don't want a debit or credit card ?
I kinda feel more secure with a pre-loaded card, i know if it goes tits up, i.e I lose it or its used in some fraudulent way. there is less of a risk to me and less faff, as I mentioned the post office card is great but I cannot use it a the cheaper automatic petrol outlets.And there's your problem.
As Wessie's post explains, pre-charged cash cards - where you load money onto a piece of plastic before you spend it - are great but have their faults, as you've discovered.
To fill the gap you need an alternative which could be:
(A) More pre-charged cash cards, so that you can rotate them on a daily basis
(B) Cash, itself.
(C) A debit card, for instance your regular bank card that you'd use in the UK
(D) A credit card, that you'd use in the UK - preferably one that doesn't charge you for non-sterling transactions
As regards the charges:
(i) These are never going to run into hundreds of pounds.
(ii) Some cards that appear to be charge free do levy a charge which they hide in a slightly disadvantageous exchange rate.
(iii) Your PO pre-loaded charge card is charge free when you use it to purchase goods or services. But it levies a charge when you withdraw cash out of an ATM. A Caxton card (which is broadly the same thing) doesn't.
Why are you opposed to a credit card? The only difference between it and a pre-charged card is that you load it up (ie pay it off) after the event, rather than before. The money spent will be the same, either way.
If you put 'credit card peage' into the weeny search box at the top of the page above, you get a gazillion results, one of which is this,,
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...ne-Used-Using-One?highlight=credit+card+peage
I use a SAGA credit card. Works all the time.
Pocket discipline is your friend here ! the same things go in the same pockets every trip and it becomes second nature.Do you lose it regularly in the UK? If no, why are you suddenly going to start in France?
No, never lose one, mislay one, yes almost hourly, with so many pockets in my bike gear. I hear what you are saying & you are probably right, but as I am going for 3 weeks. if I lose a card in the UK I know its much simpler to cancel & get a replacement etc. May have to bite the bullet & just do as everyone else appears to do.
Pocket discipline is your friend here ! the same things go in the same pockets every trip and it becomes second nature.
This popped up this morning via money saving expert....................... Looks as though further investigation is warranted, it might be another tool in the armoury for foreign travels
https://supercard.io/?c=MSE_Newsletter_ios&pid=MSE
After you posted that I checked into it, and it is a great deal according to the MSE website. Apparently they are only going to issue 25k cards and have been struggling all day to meet demand...as at 504 pm they'd issued 10k odd...I'm only telling you this as I got one, but you should apply ASAP. Check out Money Saving Expert and see what Martin Lewis says.