Customers who yell at shop staff because contactless card requires a chip n pin payment

[Gdn1]

Obviously don't read the T'snC's about their card. As the banks randomly decide on when a CnP payment is required. Some banks is totally random and some banks are when you done £x or certain number of transactions, whatever comes first.

It's the bank, NOT the shop/cafe/wherever that decides this. Please don't yell at the staff who are powerless, have no ability to lift the restriction up. Also if customers found they have the cash or pay with another card, the first card will need a chip n pin payment before you can use contactless.

People need to understand that they don't have to keep the random generated PIN that their bank issued to them. People can go to any ATM and change their PIN to something they will remember under PIN services. Some banks refuse customers to change their PINs to 1234, 1111 etc

Have friends who work(ed) in retail and had customers shouted at them because payment required a PIN as they don't know their PIN is. Plus asked to leave by security or a manager. I do wonder how they deal with transactions which are over £100, though some are once a year, every few years or one off payments.

For those who say that they never heard customers shout at staff members. Remember you are in shops for no more than a couple of hours a week. Whereas the staff deal with customers 20-30 hours a week.

I think anyone who shouts at retail staff should get recorded and they are forced to play back to them. If they do not flinch, act ashamed etc, they are nasty people full stop.

I volunteer in a charity shop twice a week and this happens at least once a shift when i'm on the till. Nobody's ever yelled at me, I think most people understand it's fairly random.

Ugh....I feel for anyone in retail..... I got out!!

Customers can be vile. I've never known anything like it

Well if you've never seen it then it can’t possibly have happened then, can it!?

🙄 Just because you haven't witnessed something doesn't mean it hasn't happened

It’s not the shop though, it’s your bank. Talk about missing the point!

I am perfectly well aware thanks. The bank's message was rude. I did not get cross as I stated.

I agree with this. Cashiers barely look you in the eye any more. I also wonder about recruitment policies.

I was in my nearby local Sainsbury’s Local today. As I was about to leave the woman manning the self-checkouts started pointing and gesticulating towards my empty basket, what she was trying to tell me was that I was about to walk away leaving my glasses behind in the bottom of the basket. Which was very lovely and kind of her, but she didn’t speak enough English to explain what she was pointing at, not even the word “glasses”. I was really bemused how she can work effectively on the shop floor.

Never been shouted at re:chip and pin but a colleague was sworn at recently as the customer kept inputting her pin incorrectly. Machine kept telling her 'incorrect pin' but apparently it was our machine/staff member that was at fault. She swore at colleague, stomped out the shop and sent her husband in to pay.

Also a couple of weeks ago had a woman in who had a new card but hadn't had the pin yet. You need the pin to activate a new card. She'd already been told this the day before when she tried to use it. So she comes in the second day, fills her basket, tried to use her card with no pin. Doesn't work. So gets the hump with me and stands looking at me as if to say 'so what are you going to do about it'. 🤷‍♀️

They sound rather simple. A full tank for many cars will often cost over £100 - especially if people grab snacks/drinks/the random stuff like holdalls, driving gloves and tyre inflators that they always seem to be hawking near the till as well - so it can't be a new or unusual experience for them?!

Not to derail, but when they go to the effort of having an actual bank branch there, but then decide that they won't accept cash - which is one of the very few banking things that you absolutely cannot do online - THEY (well, their high-up bosses) are the stupid ones.

It's the equivalent of going into a greengrocer's shop and them looking at you shocked and incredulous when you want to buy apples or carrots!

Did you misread “where is this happening” for “I don't believe it happens”?

Do your eyeglasses need a clean ?

When the self serve machines go down mid-transaction so the money has been taken out of the customer's bank but the goods haven't been paid for (as the transaction has collapsed mid way through so the money is in limbo) and the customer has to pay again while the original sum can take several days to go back into the account...that makes almost every customer get a bit sweary with us staff.

And I can quite see their point. From their side they are having to pay twice for the same things. WE, the supermarket, don't have their money, the bank has it still although it's in some nebulous cloud somewhere, so customers always think they are being ripped off. It is entirely down to the banks who sometimes can take a week to pay that money back into the account. But we are the ones who get shouted at.

I just need to remember to make sure the transaction has gone through before walking off. I know if I do a big spend, I can usually get away with a very small spend before being asked again.

DH has Google wallet and he was asked for a pin /one time code last night, it didn't actually happen as he faffed, it timed out and ds just used his card to pay.

Do the people who apparently don't understand that PINs are 'a thing' never stop to wonder what that slot at the bottom of the bulky card payment pad is for, and all the numbers and buttons on the thing itself?

Do they never spend over £100 on any transaction; and/or do they just assume they're for people who just happen to like a few seconds of extra needless work when they pay for something?

I've actually heard of some thieves deliberately doing this with contactless.

Walking out of a shop with goods that you've shown no inclination at all of paying for is obviously going to expose you as a shoplifter; but being seen (and on the CCTV) holding up your card to a contactless reader - albeit one that you personally know has expired, has no available balance or otherwise will not work - looks a lot less criminal-minded, and it's much easier to feign ignorance and/or innocence if you are later apprehended.

The machine doesn’t belong to the bank though. It belongs to the shop. The machine decides how to word the message, not the bank. It’s the same for all banks.

The machine decides! FFS.

I just can’t fathom why this would wind anyone up. It’s at best an incredibly minor inconvenience - it takes about 30 seconds, at most, to insert the card and punch in the number. If they yell because of this, what do they do when a real problem arises? There seems to be a big problem with people having absolutely no resilience whatsoever.

I regularly pop out on my lunch break with just my phone. I use Apple Pay all the time. The other day in M&S the card machine asked for my card and I had to explain “oh I’m sorry I only have my phone, I’ll have to put that back and I’ll order later online”. The lady said you try again and that time it worked fine. I wouldn’t shout at her but I can see it’s annoying. It’s like expecting a card holder to also carry cash incase the card doesn’t work. You just wouldn’t.

I am in my mid forties

i have been “going in to shops” every day almost without exception…. and a huge variety of shops for… decades

As I have mentioned in a pp that you are only in shops for 2-3 hours a week. Retail staff work 10-15 times as long as this. They witness the extremes lovely customers who they wish everyone acting like this to those who almost strangle them for not having their cigs in.

I don't like it when the machine says "Card declined" - it's not been declined. It just needs the PIN

There should be no fuss about it. No judgement about having no funds in there. It's just a perfectly normal random check to keep you safe.

If of course you do then put your PIN in and it's declined, then you have a problem.

It belongs to the merchant provider who is providing the card services.

No wording can be decided.