Crazy. Personally I think it should be an option everywhere, but if I was launching it in 2 countries I would have picked D and NL rather than D and A! When I used to bank in Switzerland I donāt think Credit Suisse ever offered me a MƦstro card.
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Maybe I expressed myself a bit unclear, sorry for that. I meant that N26 is not in Switzerland at all. So no products are offered at the moment.
Sorry for the off topic. Maybe we should go back to the Netherlands discussion 
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Hi guys / @alexs
After a painful conversation with the Dutch card payments NGO āpin.nlā I finally received a clear answer on that this card acceptance is an issue; Iāve received the following assurance from MasterCard EU >
āThank you for clarifying your question. The Netherlands has been a Maestro debit market, with close to 100% acceptance for many years. As you note in other markets we have ensured the acceptance of Debit Mastercard along side that of Maestro, and this is the plan for The Netherlands (and Belgium) to bring consistency to the global acceptance of our cards. We are working with our partner banks who issue cards, and acquirers who enable retailers to accept payments, to make this change as quickly as possible. We thank you for your patience while we get there.ā
Fingers crossed this will smooth out the issues in due course (have asked them for a timeline)
Cheers
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Just to correct my own statementā¦ N26 issued me a Maestro on request and has 100% solved my NL issues.
In fact my earlier less than stellar review of N26 has changed and I am finding them superbā¦ Onboarding, ease of new card, etc was greatā¦ What I initially thought of as bad merchant data may be down to bad merchants (I had a lot of toll road messyness from portugal and Spain) which I dont know if Monzo would have handled betterā¦ Basically I now split my EUR and GBP earning / spending between the 2.
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The fact bunq and N26 can provide these is a plus ( l wouldnāt say big plus, but a plus none the less )
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In Holland its a huge plusā¦ My Monzo / Revolut / Etc cards were rejected so often I had to always have cash on hand, which then feeds into the ATM use charge issue, etc etcā¦ Supermarkets, pay at pump, even toll roads failing.
Since getting the Maestro I am back to being almost cashless and one ATM pull of emergency funds has lasted months.
Not a Monzo thing, its a Dutch thing, but who ever it is, the end result is the same.
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interestingly, trying to use Monzo contactless in the turnstiles to go to the loo in service stations seems to crash the turnstile completely, not just in the Netherlands, but also Belgium.
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Just got back from a trip to Amsterdam, not sure if we got lucky because itās a major tourist city but we hardly encountered any issues using Monzo while there 
Didnāt try any self service checkouts at Albert Heijn but was always able to use my card to pay at the manned checkout, and some places seem to not accept cash at all anymore, so MasterCard acceptance was a breeze. The only place we couldnāt use them was, as expected, on the ticket machines for train tickets at Centraal Station, but we were able to pay with our Monzo at the manned desk (and the machines to buy tickets to get from Schipol to Centraal which are at baggage reclaim accepted my card with no issues)! I was concerned that I would need to withdraw a lot of cash just to get by on my trip, but I actually didnāt have to visit an ATM once 
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NS Machines at both Eindhoven and Utrecht worked perfectly with my Monzo and Starling last month, no extra fees, went through straight away. Station toilets at Breda also didnāt crash.
Earlier in the year in Breda we were unable to use Monzo in the AH there. None of our other cards worked and the store was cash free. Fortunately a lady behind us in the queue helped us by using her card to pay and we gave her cash. Not had a problem using the card in any other country. The Netherlands really needs to get itās act together.
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Holland is really a strange country in many modern waysā¦ No Amazon.nlā¦ card use issues in lots of placesā¦ Dutch people, even younger ones, expressing surprise at my desire to be cashless or close to cashless.
I ended up getting a maestro card from N26 (bunq also issue them) and consider them essential if trying to be a mostly cashless person ??
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Been in Rotterdam this week for work.
Must admit I did not even bother trying to use my card at Albert Heijn based on the posts here (and there was a sign at the checkout saying no Credit Cards, and didnāt want the hassle of it not working!), but I havenāt has a problem anywhere else so far.
Card worked at the NS ticket machines at Amsterdam Schiphol and Rotterdam Blaak, as well as the Amsterdam metro machines, and all of the restaurants that took card that I visited.
Just been to Albert heijn card would not work not a major problem could not try contactless as over ā¬30.no probs at cash machine, was in Spain last Xmas card worked everywhere.
Was in Amsterdam a couple weeks back and used monzo card in Albert Heijn - no issues. 
Interesting - I visited Maastricht in May 2017 and Albert Heijn wouldnāt take non-local cards. I found it near impossible to use Monzo in the Netherlands.
I used it at a variety of shops when I was in Amsterdam from department stores to small pop up stores in the Christmas market. Didnāt have any issues.
Amsterdam and the tourist demographic means mastercard is taken at a far higher rateā¦ Outside amsterdam, even other major cities, its still not a given.
I am continually surprised by how behind holland is for cashless or electronic paymentsā¦ I have workers over there and issue them all a payroll mastercard, yet very often I have to pay thier accommodation costs by bank transfer because holiday parks, booking rooms, dont even take cards !!!
In the Netherlands contactless payments without PIN are up to 25ā¬ and for any amount above that you can still use contactless. You just need to insert the PIN in the terminal when prompted
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How were you able to get a Maestro card from N26? They only issue them for Dutch and German accounts. What did you do for them to issue you one?
In Portugal for tolls, only Multibanco cards are accepted. No Maestro/MC/Visa. Most people have Via Verde so they dont stop at tolls to pay