People who don’t carry their bank cards with them

[Auburngal]

I was in Sainsbury’s this morning and systems are down. No contactless, chip n pin taking ages to go through. Unable to buy gift cards, mobile top up vouchers.

Systems going down like this happen not very often but when they do it’s awful.

On the self scan next to me a woman screamed at the manager on why she can’t pay on her mobile.

Why do many people don’t carry their bank cards anymore? The cards don’t weigh much. Plus if the contactless payment system goes down, hopefully their card will go through via chip n pin. Also they won’t look like idiots either. No sympathy for these.

Regarding contactless payments- sometimes your bank, NOT the retailer etc asks you to do a CnP payment as part of security. “I dunno my PIN”. You can change your PIN to any number you want (not 1234, 1111) at any ATM under PIN services.

Ummm cos the contract is for the minutes/data. Same as those of us who buy a SIM free phone if choice and pay about that a month, rolling basis, to actually have it, you know, on a network....?

I don’t take my purse into the supermarket, just my phone, but my purse is in the car, so if I do need my debit card, I can go back and get it from my car.

Like you, I don’t yet feel comfortable not having access to my debit card. If my phone battery dies then I’m screwed.

And I always cash and change in my bag.

I really don't want a substitute yak in my online shop. Wtf would I do with it?!

You have to know what your PIN is first to be able to change it 🤷🏼‍♀️
I have my card if I take a bag out with me, otherwise just my phone for contactless. I wouldn't fill up a trolley if there were signs up saying contactless wasn't an option and I didn't have a card with me. And I certainly wouldn't shout at staff about it.

Or perhaps not drive such an expensive car, or walk occasionally.

Popping in for food and alcohol is hardly spending your weekend in Sainsbury's!

I wouldn't mind one tbf. Large garden and although the rabbit's a pretty good lawnmower he can only do a little bit at a time.

Also.... if you get asked to insert your card into the card reader (for whatever reason, sometimes it's a security measure by your bank) - you need to know your PIN. The number of people who have no idea astonishes me.
I had one woman stand there and make four phone calls to various members of her family (100% true), trying to get hold of her partner, to find out her PIN while there was an irate queue building behind her.
On another occasion l had two older ladies at my checkout late on a Sunday afternoon.
The first lady's card wouldn't work contactless, so I asked her to put her card into the card reader and type in her PIN. She had no idea what l was talking about. Said she 'didn't have a number'.

Her friend, who was unloading her shopping, asked what was wrong. I explained.
"Oh! Can l use mine instead?"
So l'm thinking, she's going to pay with her card, and they'll sort the money out later.
No. She genuinely thought she could use her PIN for her friend's card.
Fortunately the first lady had sufficient cash on her to pay for her shopping.
If l hadn't witnessed it myself l wouldn't have believed it. It worries me sometimes, I wonder if they're more at risk carrying cash, or being preyed on by someone unscrupulous because they're utterly unaware of how something as basic as a debit card works.

I always have phone, cards and a small amount of cash with me. I pretty much always use a contactless card to pay.

On one occasion when using Google Pay I was asked to insert my card, fortunately I had it with me.

A few years ago- the internet went down about a third of the town I live, including the shops. It was down for 3 days. No contactless, no payment for gift cards, no payments from gift cards, no cash back, no phone top up vouchers for customers.

Staff - not able to check stock levels/status/next delivery, print price tickets, print off reduction labels. The latter had to be done manually. Ie write a price on the sticker. Plus the cashier had to manually reduce the product as no reduction barcode!

I must be in the minority. Don't have a smartphone, so always use debit card or cash to pay for things! 😊

I know where to send it if I get one then! 🤣 🐃

All the people on the thread who put their cash and card in their phone case would also be screwed.

If DH is in the car and I can leave my bag then I don’t even take my phone, as I have Apple Pay on my watch.

As standard though, I usually carry cash in my purse, as like PP have said, card is no good anyway if banking is down - I couldn’t use my card with chip and pin in Sainsbury’s today, so used cash.

Thanks

This is annoying. Why can’t people have a PIN which they can remember? You don’t have to use the PIN allocated to you by your bank. You can change it fairly easily by going to any ATM our card in and selected PIN services. Change it to something you remember - birthday of your gran, childhood phone number etc.

The worst thing I have seen is a sticker on the card with a four digit number on it. 99.99999999% it’s their PIN. That’s as bad as leaving your front door unlocked

It’s the bank that decides when to request a chip n pin payment. It’s a combination of number of transactions and amount in money.

Screen protector 🤯

That happened locally today. All the cash points in our area were empty post midday.

I believe today Sainsbury's was 'off line' so contactless wouldn't work.

Chip and pin would work for some because your chip has a credit limit set for you, if the amount is under the limit it doesn't need to check your balance first and you can pay.

If the payment is over your chip's credit limit then it does need to check and as Sainsbury’s was off line it couldn't do that so for those people the chip and pin failed.

But I could have this totally wrong 🤯

Auburngal I've had people standing at my checkout with bits of paper with their PIN written on it. Which is bad enough, but when they're a couple, and one of them is reading it out, and the other one's repeating it while they put the number in....

And what if your cash and cards were stolen too?

That's not relevant here, the poater said their phone was so old they and they paid £10 a month for it, nothing to do with airtime contacts as that wouldnt affect the ability to use pay by phone.

You didnt think I was unaware of SIM on ly contracts did you, I have one myself (for less than £10 as it happens) , my phone is relatively new and fully functional

Ours went down for the whole village last year.
The eejit dredging the river went through the cable .....
Several days to sort that one out

Several cards. Several pins. Good security practice. Add in code locks for 3 gates and 3 doors, all different. What's the chance you remember 9 different four digit numbers on a daily basis.

That's just me....

I have just realised that I had no idea what the pin was on my most recent card. So I went on the app and checked. It was the number I would have changed it to anyway.