Citi Select PIN not working in US or UK

[Duffa]

Just had three weeks combined in both countries.
Had card refused in Washington and London in automated machines that can't get a signature.
Almost had transaction in UK bottle shop refused by manager because they don't normally accept signatures - luckily I was with a local who was such a regular that they vouched for my bona fides.
In none of the 60+ transactions was a PIN requested.
What's going on Citi?

p.s. In case you think it was a card issue, the PIN didn't work for Mrs D either (the latter should have been obvious since I mentioned "60+ transactions" earlier in my post!!!!)

 

[markis10]

Is it chipped, I thought many countries require a chip for the pin to work?

 

[Duffa]

Is it chipped, I thought many countries require a chip for the pin to work?

Chipped, and Paywave too! No idea why it won't work

 

[DeKa]

I am not sure if this is a Citi issue or a general "foreign issued" card issue.
I have seen huge variability with PIN acceptance on ING Direct Everyday Orange, 28 Degrees, CBA Debit Mastercard (back in the day before I discovered 28 Degrees) and Citi Plus and Citi Signature Visa. Often, the terminal would ask for a PIN, but then print a signature required slip anyway.

 

[moa999]

Have also previously had issues with chipped Amex Credit cards.

I think it is a general "foreign issued" card where depending on how the terminal is programmed it doesn't recognise the card number and defaults to signature, which particularly in the UK where the banks have marketed heavily signatures=bad, can cause some problems.

 

[rweir]

pretty much everyone in the UK seemed to require signatures for chip'd Australian cards - even Starbucks!

 

[cove]

Duffa we use an Amex premier rewards card in the US that is US issued and it has worked better than Citi Select for the US.
It is quite annoying to have cards not work well on trips.

 

[drron]

It's also sign only in the US for Amex.
Though the Hilton NRT asked for my pin.

 

[gregff]

AFAIK there seem to be two different implementations of PINs with chip cards. One (currently used by Amex in Australia - I do not know about other issuers) is a PIN that is encrypted on the chip itself (if you change the PIN online, the PIN gets encoded in the CHIP after a few transactions when you use the most up-to-date PIN pads, such as those at Woolies and Coles - you can tell that you have this sort of PIN implementation when you use the card in some terminals in a transaction, when the message "PIN OK" occurs almost instantaneouly after entering the correct PIN and before authorisation from the issuer). The second type of implementation does not seem to record the PIN on the chip (Citibank for example use this implementation) and during a transaction the PIN is verified electronically by the issuer (ususally PIN OK does not appear on the terminal). Perhaps only the PIN "on" the chip method works with some O/s retailers. Maybe this is the explanation?