canadians ordering at vons

[jakoky]

Hi, thought i would post this in case it helps any other travelling canadians ...We are travelling with another family and last night we sat down to do our vons order...I went first and upon trying to pay, it would not allow me...I was using mastercard. My friend tried, and was also not able to complete her order, using visa.

This morning i placed a call, and was told it was due to the fact that the zipcode did not match our credit cards, and unfortunately canadians couldnt order at this point unless we had a US card, assuming with a US address to match our card...

Well, i decided to give another go, and pulled out our american express we rarely use...and it worked ...I was even able to pay for my friends order on her account with my card....

If anyone else runs into this, american express works... This will save us time when we arrive on saturday

 

[monkey30]

Good to know! DH and I were looking at this for our trip in September since we will not have a vehicle and want to keep costs down.

 

[canadian_ehngel]

That really sucks for those of us who don't have an American Express card. Ugh!

 

[monkey30]

That really sucks for those of us who don't have an American Express card. Ugh!

I wonder if a prepaid US card would work? Not sure where to really get them, unless you know someone who goes down to the states that could bring one back, but a thought at any rate.

 

[Huff]

So what exactly is the issue MC or Visa has? I live in the US but have used both cards all over the world without issue.

 

[lizabu]

I wonder if a prepaid US card would work? Not sure where to really get them, unless you know someone who goes down to the states that could bring one back, but a thought at any rate.

They sell Vanilla Mastercard at Shoppers, Petro Canada and various other places.I've heard of people using them to set up a US iTunes account because the US iTunes has content we can't get on the Canadian one. They come with a US zip code. Maybe that would work.

 

[dadofnicholas]

Good info - I didn't know!

Hope I get my card in time for my trip!

 

[maggieb9975]

Hi, thought i would post this in case it helps any other travelling canadians ...We are travelling with another family and last night we sat down to do our vons order...I went first and upon trying to pay, it would not allow me...I was using mastercard. My friend tried, and was also not able to complete her order, using visa.

This morning i placed a call, and was told it was due to the fact that the zipcode did not match our credit cards, and unfortunately canadians couldnt order at this point unless we had a US card, assuming with a US address to match our card...

Well, i decided to give another go, and pulled out our american express we rarely use...and it worked ...I was even able to pay for my friends order on her account with my card....

If anyone else runs into this, american express works... This will save us time when we arrive on saturday

I am so confused! Anyone ordering for Disneyland would have a zipcode that doesnt match because they are having their groceries delivered to hotel and are using that zipcode! This is very dissappointing

 

[jakoky]

I am so confused! Anyone ordering for Disneyland would have a zipcode that doesnt match because they are having their groceries delivered to hotel and are using that zipcode! This is very dissappointing

I think the problem wasnt the address and zip from the hotel when i signed up, it was on the page where i paid and they wanted the security code from my card and the zip code that matched the card i was using..and of course being canadian card it wouldnt work! It was definately something to do with security, just got lucky that the american express worked, which is odd, as it isnt as widely accepted as mastercard and visa!

 

[maggieb9975]

I think the problem wasnt the address and zip from the hotel when i signed up, it was on the page where i paid and they wanted the security code from my card and the zip code that matched the card i was using..and of course being canadian card it wouldnt work! It was definately something to do with security, just got lucky that the american express worked, which is odd, as it isnt as widely accepted as mastercard and visa!

Wish I still had my Amex! Oh well, I guess I will have to go to grocery store.

Thanks for info. At least I know about it now.

 

[lwilkison]

Hi, thought i would post this in case it helps any other travelling canadians ...We are travelling with another family and last night we sat down to do our vons order...I went first and upon trying to pay, it would not allow me...I was using mastercard. My friend tried, and was also not able to complete her order, using visa.

This morning i placed a call, and was told it was due to the fact that the zipcode did not match our credit cards, and unfortunately canadians couldnt order at this point unless we had a US card, assuming with a US address to match our card...

Well, i decided to give another go, and pulled out our american express we rarely use...and it worked ...I was even able to pay for my friends order on her account with my card....

If anyone else runs into this, american express works... This will save us time when we arrive on saturday

That is great! thanks for info! We have a canadian "US TD" visa...so got here from our TD but we were told it would work as well! wahoo!

 

[jilld11]

Had my clients order from Von's and they had not trouble with their visa. It was a RBC Visa, but no worries. I'm going in Sep. and do not have an amex and was told not to worry. But since I have been sending clients to Anaheim for years, this is the first I've heard it was a problem. However, I did have a problem for some clients in many different cities with one certain bank, but don't know if that's the case here. Anyway, I'd double check since my clients definitley orderder and definitly had no problem. We are from Alberta.
Cheers

 

[Paulakoala]

Had my clients order from Von's and they had not trouble with their visa. It was a RBC Visa, but no worries. I'm going in Sep. and do not have an amex and was told not to worry. But since I have been sending clients to Anaheim for years, this is the first I've heard it was a problem. However, I did have a problem for some clients in many different cities with one certain bank, but don't know if that's the case here. Anyway, I'd double check since my clients definitley orderder and definitly had no problem. We are from Alberta.
Cheers

That's interesting...I'm in Alberta too. A few months ago I emailed Safeway/Vons directly to ask about using our Visa and was told absolutely NOT, since we have a Canadian address attached to the card. Grrr.

 

[jilld11]

My clients had RBC Visa, not sure if that makes a difference, but they said they had no troubles. This was last September incase their policy has changed, but they worked it out. She did say she had to apply cc by phone though. I will check with my client again to make sure this is what actually happened and will keep you posted, in case their was something special they did.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

I am so confused! Anyone ordering for Disneyland would have a zipcode that doesnt match because they are having their groceries delivered to hotel and are using that zipcode! This is very dissappointing

The issue tends to be in the Billing address, not the shipping address. Many websites want a US billing address that matches the card's billing address. Five-digit numeric ZIP codes vs. six-digit alphanumeric postal codes is where it all goes wrong most often. I believe Vons, like U.S. BestBuy.com, tells Canadians to use a specific ZIP code to get around this issue. But the OP found that since the billing address's ZIP code does not match the actual code for her card, it was rejected. Sometimes calling the place you can get a person who knows how to get the card through, sometimes you don't.

Huff, Canadian Visa and MC are fine to use all over the world just like a US one--when you are there in person to sign your name or punch in your PIN. The issue is all online. Some websites actually don't want to bother with international customers, some are just not set up to accommodate the differences in addresses.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences so we know more about what to expect!

 

[grandmah]

I find this very frustrating. After spending some time going aisle by aisle on line trying to organize a shopping list for ourselves, children and grandchildren also found it would not accept our Visa or MC. I understand the security thing but if it accepts our Safeway # why can't they have their system accept postal codes? I called the corporate office and was told I would have to call our bank and change our address to US so we could order. I'm not prepared to do that and we don't have Amex either. Quite disappointing!!!!

 

[squirrel]

I wonder if the Amex CC will work for other websites-Amazon.com

I've had my Amex card since my first WDW trip in 1999. I can't remember the last time I used it. At least with it, us Canadians could get the Disney deals as it was the CC for Disney.

 

[sweethannah]

The first post said that the order couldn't be completed because it wasn't a US card assuming because there wasn't a US zipcode... but is that for sure the case?

I ask because BMO offers a US credit card and I recently got one, maybe this card would work?

I'm not sure how I could test that theory without actually ordering something.


Edit: did a search and I found these two threads. They offer solutions to the postal code/zipcode issue.

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/nina-dobrev-met-ball-2012-2.jpg
and
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2651760

Apparently the currency of the card doesn't matter but the postal code for the home address of the card holder is definitely the culprit. Fake it and you might be ok

I'm really interested in giving Vons a try but I'm not sure how my hotel would appreciate or deal with the grocery order.

 

[engo]

We ordered from Vons last year using BMO USD mastercard with no issue.

To get around the billing address/zip code issue, I called BMO M/C and told them that I'd like to add a secondary address (in US).

Good to know about the zipcode trick on AMEX! One thing that I don't like using AMEX in US is their 2.5%(?) foreign exchange charge (on top of regular foreign exchange). Not sure how much Mastercard/Visa charge for foreign exchange fee so it may be worth looking into.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

I wonder if the Amex CC will work for other websites-Amazon.com.

Squirrel, I have used a Cdn credit card at Amazon.com for a decade with no problems! Full Canadian address and everything. Amazon, Snapfish, Shutterfly, and Gymboree are notable/well-known sites that do allow this.
Have you tried recently?

Grandmah, I feel your frustration. Thanks again for letting us know what problems can pop up. You've helped my family prepare for our trip (which will include a physical trip to a grocery store).