So, Ticketmaster STILL doesnt work. My question is..what is the current story..looks like the visa and debit vendor fees are the issue here. NOT the card.

Visa rejects the debit card on the visa system..because they cannot legally use that channel??

WOW..we are caught in a visa debit tug of war...awesome..innovative..however..where is the resulting end story??

This is now January..the card launched in November...i booked a hotel with it in December..and i cant use it anywhere..online OR on the phone..so...taps nails on desk...

Jeez,it sounds like CIBC are indeed bunch of asswipes. I read the comments and my assessment look quite grim. I am not sure about advantage debit visa, definitely people here had been shafted. And to be honest with you guys, it's not funny.
But I have seen a glimpse of it, at the local convenience store when my one time childhood friend Joe used it buy 42 litres of gasoline and some groceries a moment before.

My prepaid Link MasterCard is hell more reliable. Given a choice I would stick with either a prepaid credit card or a regular credit card. and stick with old debit card rather than something fancy that would bite off chunks from my butt cheeks

tried purchasing legos online and it said invalid card #....also placed an order with toys r us before christmas and the order didn't go through but they took my money--TRS said CIBC had the money and CIBC said TRS had it...after fighting and threating them for a week the money was returned to my account 10 business days after the transaction...don't know how they could take the money if the order didn't go through??? my statement said TRU had the money....not impressed with this useless card....

our credit or debit card has been declined for this transaction; PayPal could not validate the card

in The Walmart super store(shawnessy) in calgary I used the cibc visa/debit card and came across a problem where my purchase was declined saying debit not available. but the amount of the purchase came out of my cibc account anyways $192.84 and right now no one will take responsability for the money. Walmart says the purchase ammount was voided and never went through but the transaction in my CIBC account shows the transaction going through from them. CIBC is starting an investigation and it may take two weeks and there is no guarentee I will get my money back.. it sure hurts the family espically when you only have so much money to spend in the first place We were buying food and only had 325.00 in the account. we had to keep putting back food items until it finally accepted a purchase of 122.18
transactions tried

1.) ammount 192.24 - message - debit not available - but money came out leaving us 132.16
2.) ammount 192.24 - message - transaction not approved
3.) ammount 160.32 - message - transaction not approved
4.) ammount 144.60 - message - transaction not approved
5.) it finally accepted 122.18 - leaving us with about 10.00 to survive until mid january

i think it was a Clerk error at walmart she hit the wrong button.

Thanks

Just to help some people out. My card was finally accepted by paypal a few days ago as a credit card.

so far I've been denied at AVON (name on the card spiel), Chapters, West Jet, Air Canada, Victoria Secret, Sephora, and many more butttttttttttt drum roll please.

It works to buy apps in blackberry app world. I set it up to see since I've been testing almost everything to find out if its EVER accepted and tada!!!

of course they also accept pay pal... sooo not a big deal to anyone but me who finally received a green light.

YAY

You can add Sirius Radio Canada to your list of merchants that do not accept the CIBC Advantage Card, either by phone or online.

Just started using the Advantage trying to book a short trip while I'm living in Canada(I'm from Australia)

Previously I of course had no luck with Rogers which isn't surprising since they won't even accept my Australian Visa or Amex.

VIA Rail is also a no go at the moment.

I have however had success with priceline.com.

Are you sure you guys have money in your account. I used the card on Amazon.ca, iTunes and Landsend. com and it worked fine :)

When I first heard about this card I was pretty impressed, however after reading about what it did I thought it was really useless. Most businesses in the world take regular debit transactions and if they don't most take visa, mastercard or Amex. Majority of the people out there have a credit card and when you take cash and a regular bank card with you to travel it makes the advantage card useless. As for onine purchases, it isn't hard for most to add your bank account to your file so they can automatically debit from your bank account. For the people who have bad credit, why not take the time to rebuild your credit rating and learn to spend your money wisely. The fee's for using the advantage card is also insane. Most people who have bad credit also don't have a lot of money to spend, so how can they pay for the fee's for using the card online and outside of Canada.

I've been researching about Visa Debit in Canada, and I'd like to share more insights with others.

First of all, Visa Canada website now clarifies that, "Use of a Canadian issued Visa Debit card in Canada is limited to participating online merchants. Acceptance is expected to become more widespread in the coming months" (Source: http://visa.ca/en/personal/visa-debit-card/index.jsp). Moreover, CIBC Advantage Card website clarifies that, "At the moment, online card acceptance through Canadian retailers is limited to participating retailers, but will become more widespread in the upcoming months." However, "the card is accepted by most U.S. and international online, telephone and mail order retailers that accept Visa cards." (Source: http://cibc.com/ca/features/cibc-advantage-card.html?WT.mc_id=IntLINKADVCARD-E11).

Therefore, the card works fine at US and international merchants, both online and in-person. But, online Canadian merchants do not all accept the card yet. (Note that in-person use in Canada is not an issue, since it uses Interac, not Visa Debit.)

You must be wondering about the reason behind the difference in acceptance of the card by Canadian merchants and the ones in the US and overseas. This is because, in Canada, unlike other countries, even if a merchant accepts Visa credit, they don't have to accept Visa debit. This is a rule introduced in early 2010 by the Finance Minister of Canada at the request of the merchant lobbyists. This rule is the 4th point in the "Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry": http://www.fin.gc.ca/n10/data/10-049_1-eng.asp.

This rule requires Visa to convince each online Canadian merchant INDIVIDUALLY to start accepting Visa Debit cards. Therefore, if you come across any online merchants who decline the card, you should request them to start accepting Visa Debit cards.

Finally, the CIBC Advantage Card is now confirmed to work with iTunes, Paypal, Amazon and Apple. Moreover, I successfully used the the card to buy shoes at an online US retailer, AlternativeOutfitters.com .

merchants have to explicitly agree to accept Visa Debit (CIBC Advantage Card) as per the Payment Code of Conduct. Only those merchants who do are able to process.

I came back here after posting a complaint, to see that some people have had success on iTunes and paypal. Those were my main reasons for getting this card and sure enough, they worked now! I used the paypal on eBay already and the instant transaction worked. Thanks cibc. Hopefully more retailers work this out

Has anyone attempted to rent a car or stay at a hotel (outside Canada) ie. within the US? For me, this is literally the only attractive feature of the Advantage card.
I am certain Air Canada or West Jet will ultimately accept the charge on Visa on their websites but I am solely concerned about rentals and hotels within the US.

Furthermore, I am assuming within Canada, this is NOT available. Can anyone confirm this?

Looks like the beginning of a positive trend.

Last night I was successful using my CIBC Advantage Debit VISA card at:
-Paypal
-iTunes

However, tonight I tried e-bay ... refused

I think we're going to see more and more success stories as time goes on.
At this time of year, it's certainly in CIBC's best interest to make the card work on at least some websites.

I just e-mailed CIBC asking if they would be kind enough to post a list of websites where they can confirm the card works. I also called them to ask for the same.
Basically what I heard was "the technology behind the card works fine, it's the merchants' technology that is not sufficiently up-to-date to accept the card". Whatever. CIBC clearly has not taken the time to work with merchants to ensure the card worked before the roll-out.

Anyway here's a list of websites where the rep confirmed the card is currently NOT working:
(a lot of major merchants!)

Westjet, Air Canada, Chapters/Indigo, Best Buy, Blue Mountain, Cineplex, Loco Shoes, Future Shop, La Senza, McDonalds, Rona, Roots, Second Cup, Staples, Swiss Chalet, Telus Mobility, Home Depot, The Source, Toronto Life, Via Rail, Victoria Secret

We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, the rep suggested switching to a per transaction no-fee savings account until the problems are resolved. That is, if you cannot find a website that will take the card!

works with itunes again.

thanks CIBC :)

Blacks Photography online ordering no go, when i called thier 1-800 customer support number they said it was because my name did not appear on the card........ whatever.

Blacks Photography online ordering.

When I tried to order something a few weeks back, I got an email within minutes telling me the card was refused. I made another order today, and it's been 30 minutes now without any email. It MAY be working now...Stay tuned...

Bunch of lazy douchebags who work at cibc. They should of made sure that the payment system worked from day one. As one of the commented entry on this blog says, the banks are elitist,selfish,pompous and arrogant.They don't care unless they make vast profits at the expense of the general public. But it appears that some of the complaints have done the trick,as some of the major merchants are taking the card.

A grand move on the bank's part as it is the holiday season. I hope that more places will eventually honour this card as a form of payment- however that remains to be seen

It doesn't work with Newegg as of Dec 2, which was the main reason I needed one.

Like others have said, its completely FALSE advertising to say it works everywhere...

CIBC and VISA should have paid the necessary arrangements and done the testing to make sure it works 99% of the time.

CIBC and VISA are elite bankster scum.

I just added it to iTunes and to Paypal and both accepted it!!!!! Fuck finally

After doing some research on pre-paid crecit cards, I somehow stumbled upon the CIBC Advantage card and was excited to here a visa/debit card was finally available in Canada ... as it's been in Europe and the US for awhile now. After taking the time to actually open an account, I have only been able to make one transaction with a company in the US a few days later. However, two days after that, the same company was unable to process another payment! And, the only answer from telephone banking is that they are aware of the problem and don't know how long it will take to correct. Basically, the card cannot be used at any Canadian merchants and CIBC's excuse is simply that it's new technology and the systems are not yet compatible to accept it. So, WHY roll out a new product? Did anyone actually TEST it? It's not too difficult to pilot a potential new product by using it online with various Canadian merchants. Were the test samples a bunch of lab rats? I thought I would try another merchant just to be sure ... and sure enough was contacted advising me that despite trying to manually key, it still was not working! And, the merchant even contact Chase Paymentech support to see if anything could be done. The response, the card was needed to be swiped. So in the end, all my frustrations and disappointment could only be noted on file and now it's just a waiting game as to when and if it will ever work! For me, nothing in a month then I am saying goodbye CIBC ... definitely not a good way to start off a relationship with a new customer!

After a brief discussion with the customer service rep who gave me the run around and had zero authority anyway, I spoke with a supervisor. She was actually very polite and understanding about their useless (DIS)ADVANTAGE Card. I mentioned GuyBravo's post from December 6th, 2010 who managed to get $16 from CIBC (4 months worth of fees for their Everyday Chequing Account - you need some kind of CIBC account to use the card). Ten transactions per month - which would meet my debit Visa needs adequately - which is why I chose it.

She wouldn't match that, but I did manage to get $8 (two months worth of fees). She said they are trying their best to fix the problems. Then she told me not to expect to get more credits. If the card still isn't working come February 2011, she said I will have to make a decision as to whether I want to keep the card and the account that goes with it. I certainly don't plan to give up that easy. If the problems continue, I plan on speaking with another supervisor and ending the call with more credits! As long as I'm not paying for a product that doesn't work, it certainly doesn't hurt to keep it, especially with no competition for this card yet, and you can be sure the other banks are going to wait until the technology works correctly before rolling out their own cards. So the bottom line is, never give up! Ask the supervisor to put him/herself in your shoes (the pissed off consumer) and be polite, and you have a good chance of getting the credits you deserve. As long as the card does not work, I don't intend to pay them a penny in fees and neither should anyone else. Eventually, they're going to fix this!

She did give me one piece of useful advice: she mentioned if the card's not working at a certain website, you can try calling the merchant and they may be able to put it through manually. Definitely a hassle, but it beats accruing interest on a credit card. That's why I got the debit Visa and I expect most of us feel the same.

I've been with CIBC for years, but recently just happened to misplace my debit card. I was excited to be getting a VISA debit to replace it as I often purchase on line and would rather not use my "Visa Visa". Only to discover the new card is actually pretty useless for that purpose. Does Morgan Freeman know he's telling lies in his voice-over commercial spots for this card? I am hoping that with time this will get sorted out, but meanwhile, they really should pull back a bit on the promises they are making.

got this card to shop online... won't work anywhere ! very disappointing it won't even work with paypal

Someone should print and mail a copy of this blog to CIBC customer service. I think they might be interested in knowing how crappy their product is.

Just like everyone else, I was excited to be able to pay directly from my bank accounts to shop online - who needs a VISA if you can do that? I made a purchase with Air Canada over the phone successfully. I have not been able to use it at any online retailers (e.g. Amazon.ca, Chapters), nor can I pay for reoccurring charges such as with my web hosting company. CIBC advised me by secure message online that I should get in touch with the retailers to rectify the problem. First of all, if CIBC advertises that the card will be accepted anywhere VISA or VISA Debit cards are accepted (online and instore), then they should have made arrangements with all locations where VISA is accepted in order to ensure the accuracy of this statement. I got this card specifically because I just moved to a remote location where I will have to be shipped a lot of items. It is extremely frustrating to see that none of the CSRs working on the phones or responding by email have been notified that they should be treating these complaints seriously. Perhaps CIBC should prepare a statement to go on their website - I haven't seen one yet!

im just wondering if anyone has used the card outside of canada and experience any problems? im leaving on a trip to the US soon and im planning to use the card to make purchases.

This is the information included in your message to the CRTC.

Reference Number: 509391
Industry of interest/concern:
Type of message: Television

Your message:
The CIBC Visa Advantage Debit card Commercial is misleading This card is just a glorified Interac card. Almost no online vendors will take it as a VISA Debit. About 99.9% of online vendors will decline this card. Aside all the media hype and fluff, this bank has misled the public concerning this product. How dare VISA and CIBC advertise this product without testing the card and make sure that it is a viable payment option for those who cannot get a "real" credit card. CIBC is bound to lose customers over this, and I am one of them.

Your Files:

This credit card has been denied by the bank that issued your credit card. For details on why your card was denied, please contact your credit card issuer's customer service department. Or, you may want to try adding a different credit card.

Totally useless waste of time. Very rude and arrogant financial company. Wasted my breath speaking to them regarding my concern with the card being declined everywhere. Very deceptive and misleading advertising with this product. Will be closing out account. I'll go back to using my titanium visa card. It seems everybody takes it.

I cannot believe I switched banks in order to sign up for CIBC's VISA Debit Advantage card.

When I first got the card, I was able to use it at most vendors. There were a couple of instances where it didn't go through, but CIBC assured me that the problems would be resolved quickly.

Over the next month or so though, vendors that had initially been able to process my card, such as ITUNES, HEMISPHERES WINE CLUB, UNITED WAY, EASYPARK / PARKING CORPORATION OF CANADA, and EBAY (among others... these are just ones that occured within the past few days) are no longer able to do so. Not only is this terribly embarrassing, but a huge inconvenience. The only reason I switched from TD to CIBC was to enjoy the use of this card.

I have called CIBC multiple times about this matter, and their only advice to me is to "find another form of payment" for all of these rejected charges. Frankly, that's irresponsible and unacceptable. I am shocked that not only has the matter gotten worse, but that CIBC has no forseable plans to fix it. When I spoke with a manager at CIBC, I was told that it was highly unlikely that this would ever be resolved.

The card works for me as an INTERAC card in a retail store but it DOES NOT WORK when trying to make an online purchase. CIBC and VISA better get their shit together.

I've tried my Advantage card at multiple locations to no avail. Out of the 10 transactions I've attempted, it's worked once. I tried Netflix several times thinking I had incorrectly entered information and was charged 3 times, as well as another merchant that same night before I realized by looking at my account online, and it took several weeks for CIBC to refund the money, and I got the run-around in the process.

Not impressed.

I called CIBC and told them that the ONLY reason I went with this card was for the visa debit product. I shouldn't have to pay $4.00/month for a service they do not deliver. I asked that my issue be escalated and the put me in touch with a supervisor. I said that these issues won't be resolved until more people ask that their concerns be escalated. The supervisor agreed and he credited me with 4 months of service fees so about $16.00 to cover up to 4 months of fees. I mentioned that I realize I'm small potatos but I have an account elsewhere and I'm considering bringing my other account over. He said he appreciated my business and hoped that what he could provide helped me to sway me from closing my account and waiting until the visa is actually going to work. I said that yes, he's bought my loyalty for today lol I also said that if more people complain and receive credits like this, the bank will take notice because as we all know, banks don't like to lose money LOL Anyways, I encourage you all to give CIBC a shout and tell them you shouldn't have to pay for a service they aren't providing and MAKE SURE YOU SPEAK WITH A SUPERVISOR and ask that your comment be escalated. They will take you seriously! 1 800 465 CIBC

I have the CIBC Divivdend ACCOUNT with Visa Debit....it will not work online anywhere......i am thinking of a class action lawsuit for CIBC

I have filed a complaint with the better business bureau regarding the cibc and their misleading advertising regarding this card

my card will not work on Ebay, Well.ca, The Shopping Channel, Amazon, Im so FUCKING ANNOYED I want my old card back

Instead of trying to pay with the new CIBC Advantage Card like it is a VISA card, try funding your PayPal account directly from your bank account with an EFT. You should register your Bank Account first and that takes about a week.

this is ridiculous!! i need to buy my medication online yet my debit visa will not go through! this is useless...

No dice with Wind Mobile top up as well.

I tried to buy the Mega64 soundtrack which goes through PayPal and everytime it says "Your credit or debit card has been declined for this transaction; PayPal could not validate the card. Please verify that the information you entered is correct, or try a different credit or debit card." or "We were unable to verify this credit card. Please check if the information you entered is correct. Please also make sure your credit card billing address matches your PayPal street address." all my info is correct but I see this is happening to others. I serously thought that this would solve my Buying stuff online problem, but apparently its not.

My mother used the card at The Ellen Shop (http://www.ellenshop.com) and it worked. Go figure!

Tried to use Amazon.ca, does not work. I will be calling CIBC tomorrow and demanding they refund my monthly service charge. I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of switching banks if they hadn't lied about the product.

I have used this at point of sale in the United States. An American cashier normally asks "Debit or Credit?". If you say "Debit", it gets declined everytime. But wait, just try it again as "Credit" and it works. You then sign for it. It's stupid.

I've also been unable to use it on all the above mentioned plus Govt Ontario online services :-(

I tried to use my Advantage card online at Starbucks.com. It didn't work, but then the funds were still deducted from my CIBC account (multiple times, actually). It took a month to sort out, with Starbucks saying the transaction did not go through and CIBC saying it did, but CIBC eventually gave me back the funds as a "customer service gesture".

Doesn't work with Mobilicity as well. QA testing is a lost art ..

I successfully added this card to my google checkout account but sadly almost noone uses google

I only opened an account with cibc so I could get this card. I'm 17 so I can't have a real credit card yet and paypal bank transfers take long, so this seemed like the perfect solution. Until iTunes, eBay, paypal, and Netflix all declined it.

please contact netflix so i can actually put this card to some use.

I obtained this card the first day it premiered on the Canadian market. Everything worked with it, and I was using it to for PayPal/Rogers/iTunes/other online stores daily.

However, ever since November 11th, the Visa system has started to reject everything I attempt to do with the card. Seems like I'm not the only one with the issue. :)

I've grown a dependence on this thing, and I want it to work again!

I opened an account with CIBC when I moved to BC Canada recently, only because where I came from London England I had a bank account with Santandar one of Europe's larges banks, that offered the same Visa Debit for the last 4 or more years. I 've been using my UK Visa debit card here in Canada, USA, Greece, France and many other countries, plus ordered many things online. So I was impressed to see that CIBC advertising a card that can do the same, only to find out that it doesn't work.

The conflicting stores I've heard is that its down to the retailers not accepting Visa Debit and its up to them to sort out, but from my prospective i don't think it is, when the online or shop retailer can't process my CIBC card as a Visa, I have to use my UK Visa debit (Which is not a Credit card, it is a Visa Debit bank card) and it works just fine...

I can't see what the issue is here, all I seem to get is that my security (3 digit number on the back of my CIBC Card) is invalid which can only be a CIBC or Visa issue.

The Visa Debit card was a major step forward for bank account holders and the internet in the UK and US, it gave a huge amount of people that couldn't get credit cards or loans for what ever reason the ability to purchase things with their own money online and in other countries that held the visa sign. This would explain the severe lack of anything available on Amazon.ca compared to the UK or US version... lack of customers...

Please fix this soon!

Even chuck norris is having problems with this card...so somethings screwed with cibc...(he's gettin angry...haha)

Won't work on netflix either....how could they not have tested this?? SO annoyed!

Mine has been unsuccessful with:
VIA Rail- cannot purchase tickets online
Spirit Spa (who entered my numbers- wouldn't work)
My Deals (like groupon). It worked the first time and is no longer working now (although yes, my card is working and my acccount)

Nobody in Canada accepts the Advantage Card as a Visa, and 90% of U.S. online retailers don't accept it, either. I feel like I have been misled by the glitzy TV advertising put out by CIBC and have told them I'm considering a CRTC complaint. I currently have a paypal e-check pending and, the second it clears, I'm going to close my CIBC account and cut the card in half.

The only place I seem to be able to use this card is in a bank machine... Whenever I try to use interac I get an 'invalid pin' error. Every store owner I talk to says that they have problems with all of the CIBC Advantage cards. My wife has the same issues with hers. I can't use it online either. I have tried Amazon.ca, PayPal, Ebay and Fido and get rejected every time. I am going into the bank today to get my old debit card back...

I got specifically opened an acct at CIBC for this card in order to pay my cell bill. Every single time I've tried to do so Rogers doesn't recognize it as a Visa technological card apparently or there is issues with CIBCs end of the bargain. Either way I'm unimpressed n irritated by the whole load of BS. Doesnt this cross a line of false advertising on the banks part?

It seems nobody will take this card. It is not recognized on or off line. Forget using it on pay pal or ebay or anywhere else.

I tried it on Hotels.ca and it came back with invalid card number as well, but it worked on priceline.com. I tried to use it to do an advance online checkin at disney but it was declined the same way, i was hoping to use it for a trip but i'm afraid it won't really work??! anyone use it in the States as a visa card yet?

CIBC said they were working on it, but geesh did they not test it?

I picked up one of thse cards not too long ago, and none of my online purchases have gone through. I was so excited to go home and be able to shop without a credit card, but of course this problem comes up. They shouldn't have released it if it wasn't ready Paypal, Amazon, Ebay and all other sites... nothing. I'm VERY upset.

I've been rejected when I was trying to make a purchase from the internet so I hope they fix it cuz it's pointless having it.

I got my card, was so excited to use it, and it wont work on ebay! It says the credit card number isnt valid, i tried about 100 times, still a no go! :(

Although Apple Canada says it accepts VISA and Credit/Debit cards, it will refuse to process your VISA Debit card. The CIBC has no idea what's wrong, but I suspect the first four digits of the card are not being verified by the seller's shopping cart systems.

I got the new Advantage card, to use online. I tried to checkout on my paypal account through ebay, would not work!! I'm so dissapointed.
I SO hope it gets fixed soon because it's holding me back quite a bit!!