dieharder
Ottawa, ON
Senior Member
Joined: 09/10/2009
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Offline
|
Griping over a few minutes at the pump is pretty silly. Expecting a company to spend money to enhance their system to accomodate a minority of their customers, from another country nonetheless, makes no sense. Would you think that, if Petro Canada had a system that expected 6 characters in a postal code, that they would spend money so visitors from the US could just punch in their 5 character zip code? It just wouldn't happen.
Most stops go over a few minutes anyway because, while one is pumping gas, someone else in the store shopping to their hearts content. Whenever I've successfully been able to pay at the pump, I've had to sit and wait for DW and DD to come on out anyway.
1999 Itasca Sunrise
|
Center Pin
Fort Langley, BC
Senior Member
Joined: 04/15/2009
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
RBC will add a secondary shipping address to your credit card. I added the parcel service I use in Blaine WA. If using my Canadian credit card (I also have a US one) all I have to do is enter the zip of my secondary address.
Trailer: 07 Tango 299BHS w/ 225/70R15 LT Load Range D
TV: 2004.5 Dodge 610 CTD 3500 QC 48RE 2wd Laramie SRW, FP Gauge, FASS 95/95, Rhino Lining, Hensley Arrow, Air Bags & Compressor, Canopy, Custom Boat Rack.
Been running B100 home brew June 2008!
|
Lorne&Lorraine
Ottawa, ON
Senior Member
Joined: 04/14/2003
View Profile
|
kemo 1 wrote:Get an RBC acct, then get RBC U.S. acct. The US acct is a visa c/c rbc debit card. No problem with zip codes or any thing else.
ken
Yes, the RBC USA debit (check) card with PIN will work everywhere at the pump (and there is no user fee like CDN banks charge for using CDN debit cards in the US).
Even though it has a Visa symbol on it, this debit/check card is NOT a credit card. Funds come out of your checking account.
The separate RBC USA Visa credit card will work SOMETIMES with some of the "work-arounds" noted earlier (ie the three numbers in the postal code followed by two zeros etc) but will only work ALL the time if the ZIP you enter at the pump EXACTLY matches the ZIP in your address on file with RBC Bank USA (the numerical equivalent of your postal code will not work). My CDN BMO (US$) card also worked all the time when I put my US address on file.
Some of the noted "work-arounds" work sometimes because not all stations have implemented or fully implemented the computerized address verification system (AVS).
You can easily open a RBC USA account through one of the CDN RBC branches and I've found RBC's on-line exchange rates are usually better than the other banks.
Lorne Ross
2003 Pleasure-Way Ford Excel TD
Camped the lower 48 states and 9 provinces
Most multiple times and now on the repeat!
|
Lorne&Lorraine
Ottawa, ON
Senior Member
Joined: 04/14/2003
View Profile
|
Center Pin wrote:RBC will add a secondary shipping address to your credit card. I added the parcel service I use in Blaine WA. If using my Canadian credit card (I also have a US one) all I have to do is enter the zip of my secondary address.
In the past, I did the secondary address thing with a CIBC (US$) card and it didn't work. Haven't tried with a CDN RBC (CDN$) card. It seems the different bank cards do yield different results. Last winter someone tried placing a US primary address on their TDbank card, but unlike with my BMO Card, it didn't work for him.
It's a similar situation for CDN debit cards. Some can be used in the US and some can't.
|
dieharder
Ottawa, ON
Senior Member
Joined: 09/10/2009
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Lorne&Lorraine wrote:It's a similar situation for CDN debit cards. Some can be used in the US and some can't.
I found that, if it doesn't have a Visa or MC symbol on it, the retailers I visit won't even try it. I've visited Wal-Marts and plenty of grocery stores where I've had to pay with my credit card and then log into my account online when I get back to the MH and pay it right away. It's a slight PITA, but I take it as a small cost of travelling in another country.
|
|
|
Lorne&Lorraine
Ottawa, ON
Senior Member
Joined: 04/14/2003
View Profile
|
You can see which CDN debit cards will work where here:
CDN Debit cards in US
Again not all CDN debit cards will work in the US and those that do will not work everywhere, albeit they are accepted at a good number of places. CDN banks usually charge a fee of $1-$2 per transaction each time their debit cards are used in the US for a retail purchase.
The participating NYCE retailers should accept a CDN debit card issued by a participating CDN bank but I can see where a clerk could be so conditioned to seeing a Visa or Mastercard symbol on a debit card, that a CDN card might give them pause. Unlike in Canada, Visa and Mastercard operate the US' check clearing system. I presume this is why the Visa/Mastercard symbols appear on US check (debit) cards. Also because of this, and unlike in Canada, I understand that a US check card can be processed in the same manner as a credit card transaction (ie signature instead of PIN. Select credit instead of debit) but it's still a debit transaction since the funds come out of your checking account.
I prefer to use a credit card for paying for fuel at the pump but have used my US bank issued debit card (with PIN) which has no transaction fee. Last winter was the first of our many extended trips to the US in recent times when I didn't have to stand in the cigarette/slurpee line even once.
|
