People that pay by phone and don’t have cards on them.
- Thread starter cheesefest
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I thought they were long gone. Until Feb 2020 when I was flying EDI-BHX with flybe (a week or two before their demise) and I bought a beer. Their contactless, chip n pin, and even just swiping my card wasn't working. I had zero cash on me, probably much to the OPs disgust. They served my drink, came back a few minutes later with a click-clack machine. Said transaction did appear on my bank statement a few days later - so I guess, yes, back in 2020 at least, the click-clack machine was still a thing.Are they still allowed to use these? It’s basically cloning your card isn’t it
Soldato
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The can’t sell you anything. A neighbour was at the local hairdresse’s when Orange (used for almost all the EPOS back haul down here) fell over and the owner was simply writing down who owed what and asking them to drop the money in when they had it. I’d imagine this wouldn’t work for a business whose clientele weren’t all regulars and locals that she‘d known for years.
Caporegime
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Just have a ridge wallet type thing with my cards in it. I always need my driving cards so just end up taking it everywhere with me as force of habit.
Only cash I have is an old pound coin in the clip that I use for supermarket trollies.
Only cash I have is an old pound coin in the clip that I use for supermarket trollies.
Caporegime
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In that situation you would just nip round the corner and find an ATM. Not sure if ATM's have backup power supply though.
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Whose fault is it when contactless is down and people only have cards on their phone?
It’s NOT:
. The shop’s
. The cashier’s
It IS:
. The person themselves
If people have lost their physical card, using their card on phone isn’t a good idea. Actually when had problems with a bank card, as I had card on Apple Pay, Santander were able to change card details on Apple Pay straight away. Though had to wait 3-4 days for card to go through. Able to use card on Apple Pay in shops. Couldn’t do any online shopping as didn’t have the 3 numbers
Then a few years ago we had a bad storm and that knocked out the ATMs.
Some ATMs may have a back up power supply. These ones didn’t
It’s NOT:
. The shop’s
. The cashier’s
It IS:
. The person themselves
If people have lost their physical card, using their card on phone isn’t a good idea. Actually when had problems with a bank card, as I had card on Apple Pay, Santander were able to change card details on Apple Pay straight away. Though had to wait 3-4 days for card to go through. Able to use card on Apple Pay in shops. Couldn’t do any online shopping as didn’t have the 3 numbers
They don’t. Worked for a bank and had a power cut (strong winds). ATM was down too.
Then a few years ago we had a bad storm and that knocked out the ATMs.
Some ATMs may have a back up power supply. These ones didn’t
How is it the customer's fault when contactless goes down?! It's the provider's fault.
I had this yesterday morning. I'd been to the gym and thought I'd pop into Sainsbury's as I needed a leaving card and Gift Card. I hardly ever have my wallet on me these days as everywhere supports contactless. As we now know, there was a bit issue across maybe all of Sainsbury's perhaps and no-one could pay contactless. I left my items and walked home.
Is it my fault a service Sainsbury's offer wasn't working? No.
Is it my fault I didn't have a different way of paying? Yes.
Should I need to carry varying ways of paying in case a shop has problems? No.
Could I carry varying ways of paying in case a shop has problems? Yes.
Will I carry varying ways of paying in case a shop has problems? No.
To blame the customer when your service fails is a very odd thing to do...
**EDIT** I would point out, I didn't 'moan' at Sainsbury's or the cashier. I always thought it odd when a customer would do that to me. I would usually just agree with them and join in. "I can't believe your contactless system is not working!", "I know, it's not great in this day and age is it? It's such a pain"... "Oh yes... erm"
**EDIT2** Out of interest @cheesefest do you always have enough cash to cover everything you buy? Even when spending hundreds on a TV or something? As that is what you're suggesting. Entire Credit Card systems can go down. We shouldn't be looking to cover all these eventualities, these systems need to simply work. A month back I was coming out of a shopping centre in Norfolk and the only way to pay for parking was with cash. Cash!! Wth?! What year is it? There were 5 of us and we just managed to scrape together the £3 needed.
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I think the Abacus was a new fangled thing compared to what they used
For the youngsters amongst us, a click clack machine AKA imprint machine ran a roller over the top of your debit/credit card so the raised print pushed against some sheets with carbon copy paper stuff in them, copying the details on the card and making a distinct "click clack" as the roller went from one side to the other.
I'm not even going to try and describe what carbon copy paper was...
*waves cane at clouds*
Pretty sure they won't work anymore as most new cards are not embossed
The shop closes ofc.
Wait... you didnt really think the cashiers at your local supermarket are going to know the prices for every single item in the store, and then sit there with a calculator adding up your bill (taking into account special offers), and making a note of everything bought so they can update the stock database when things come back online?
It might be possible in little independent shops where everything is individually priced, but there's no way a supermarket is going to be able to operate without power.
That's ignoring the whole health and safety aspect of having a bunch of people wandering around a pitch black warehouse full of sharp shelf corners and objects to trip over/walk into
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I meant it’s the person’s fault for stupidly having just card payments on their phones, not having any physical cards on them.
I was in a shop a few weeks ago and their contactless was down. A woman in her early 20s kicked off with the cashier big style, as she only had her phone on her. I said to her, if you carried your actual card on you, there would be no problem and wouldn’t be shouting at the poor cashier.
The woman couldn’t think of anything to say.
I was in a shop a few weeks ago and their contactless was down. A woman in her early 20s kicked off with the cashier big style, as she only had her phone on her. I said to her, if you carried your actual card on you, there would be no problem and wouldn’t be shouting at the poor cashier.
The woman couldn’t think of anything to say.
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If contactless and swipe goes down, such as a phone line failure or similar, how are you supposed to process a new debit card? You cant use those embossing machines as the new cards do not have raised numbers.
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Also get people when contactless is down or their bank selects that payment to be chip n pin. The latter is a security feature. They moan about not knowing their PIN. This isn’t the shop’s fault, again it’s you.
You don’t need to keep to the PIN your bank randomly generated when you got the card. Can change it to any rememberable number - childhood phone number, eldest two children’s birthdays in the month. Please don’t do 1234, the last 4 numbers of card or same number 4 times (3333). Go to any ATM and change PIN under PIN services.
Don’t write PIN on card with a Sharpie. As found cards at work with 4 numbers written onto card.
You don’t need to keep to the PIN your bank randomly generated when you got the card. Can change it to any rememberable number - childhood phone number, eldest two children’s birthdays in the month. Please don’t do 1234, the last 4 numbers of card or same number 4 times (3333). Go to any ATM and change PIN under PIN services.
Don’t write PIN on card with a Sharpie. As found cards at work with 4 numbers written onto card.
Probably have to write the number down along with name and exp date!
You don't need to have enough to pay for everything with cash, but certainly it's always a good idea to have a backup payment method, especially if you're dealing with things like parking meters as in my experience it's not uncommon for them to have issues, which shouldn't really be too surprising given where they are usually located and the conditions and abuse they face. It's one of the reasons I still keep coins in my centre console under the likes of the notepad/pen/phone charger/usb stick with the music my brother doesn't object to
Yes these these should just work, but at the same time they're incredibly complex interconnected systems that rely on hundreds/thousands of systems to work flawlessly. and some of those bits are subject to all sorts of abuse. Given the likes of the card/cash inputs on a self service machine inside a store can fail it's no wonder the likes of the ones in parking meters might fail or why they may still be cash only (for example the meter might be in an area that had spotty coverage for a mobile connection when fitted). The fact that no one could pay contactless in your example at Sainsbury's suggests that may have been an issue with their payment processor not the store itself, in which case the only way to avoid that would have been for them to have had a second one as backup which isn't realistic.
IIRC there have been times when banks have been unable to deal with their customers payments, and I vaguely remember one of the main multibank payment systems having a funny five minutes a few years ago (was it mastercard or visa?) so it affected loads of banks.
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Do shops even have those these days? I don't recall seeing them for a very long time. I've not worked in retail since the 90's so cant say for sure.
Actually, now you’ve mentioned this, I do too. It was a weekend we were away for a Donnie Do, I was trying to buy something from Boots and the system was just failing. My Apple Pay didn’t work, the contactless didn’t work, chip and pin worked and then the next shop I went into, all card payments were down. Cash machines weren’t working either.
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We do. They have been used once in my 14.5 years at my work. It happened when I was off sick recovering from eye surgery.
I know these things fail, it's part of my job at the moment to kind of monitor them. Payments go through about five different companies to happen. If any one of them have an issue, the payment isn't going to happen.
My point is, it's not a customers fault if this failure happens and I would suggest it's not realistic to expect people to always cover these situations that are generally 1 in 200, maybe 300 or more situations.
I would suggest it's also not acceptable for a shopping mall carpark, busy money making place, to have cash only in 2022.
My point is, it's not a customers fault if this failure happens and I would suggest it's not realistic to expect people to always cover these situations that are generally 1 in 200, maybe 300 or more situations.
I would suggest it's also not acceptable for a shopping mall carpark, busy money making place, to have cash only in 2022.
Pre-christmas whinge that starts on Boxing Day in cheesefests's case
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A hospital here has coin only pay n display ticket machines. Yet there's an ATM and change machine in the entrance. If I know I have an appt there, I make sure I have enough coins to cover. Just get something from work paying with a note.
What about if places don't have contactless option to pay? When I had MOT done at garage around the corner from me, there's no contactless available.
It's the awful Christmas music my colleagues have to endure. Even customers hate it. No other time of the year are so few songs played to death.
Customers are in an hour a week - me, 35 hours! I try to block it out but when a customer mentions the music, I can hear it! Even plays at night. Night shift take turns to put their phones on to the tannoy mike on a streaming app.
Just want to play something like Anarchy in the UK to see the customers' reactions
