Customer demands to charge her phone at supermarket

[Jdot]

She came into the supermarket wanted to pay for her shopping on Apple Pay but her phone is dead. I saw her talking on the phone in the store.

Supermarkets and other places that people pay for products and services - restaurants, retailers, leisure places etc are NOT responsible for people’s mobile batteries and them not carrying their physical cards on them.

No personal chargers can be used for many workplaces, including offices. Though some charge their phones and other devices that are charged with a cable such as wireless headphones on USB ports on the computers.

Along with the shopping she’ll be paying for once she has enough charge on her phone from said power bank?

Not hard to see that logic.

For the people feeling sorry for this woman and that the shop are somehow responsible.

it should be remembered here that a phone is not the only way to pay for shopping. If she can’t pay for her shopping on her phone then she should pay on her physical cards. Except clearly she’s left the house without a useable phone and without her cards, so she is being completely irresponsible, and others are expected to pick that up?

She wasn’t in a mess because of a flat phone, she couldn’t pay for the shopping because she chose not have full means to do so.

She had presumably multiple ways to pay, phone plus cards, and neither were available to her. She and she alone is responsible for that.

I think that the store charging the phone for her, briefly, is probably the best resolution to the problem.

Until some scamster turns up with a "flat" phone. The store plugs it in ( because no one seems to have considered the various possibilities here) and the customer then says "you've blown my phone. I want £1,000 to replace it". And starts a social media campaign that attracts clicks and causes the store to launch a rearguard action to defence "phonegate" before it gets onto breakfast TV,

Much better to say no.

For the people feeling sorry for this woman and that the shop are somehow responsible.

The 50%.

That's a fair point, although its a bit of a stretch to think that it would actually happen. Maybe it would be worth pointing out that it would be at her own risk and so on?

How was she rude, you haven't mentioned that

This is yet another reason why I'm simply not prepared to go out "card-less". I use Apple Pay occasionally, but I'd much rather just stick to using my card.

You really have a rosy view of people.

Are you in the bridge market ? I have a lovely selection for you.

Not much use if their system goes down ....

You wouldn't cancel your cards? So you've set a PIN for your SIM then?

I'm guessing you're round 40 years old and mobile phones have always existed in your lifetime so you can't conceive of women being able to navigate life without one? I promise you, we can. Have more faith in your resourcefulness.

Depends whether you’re looking at the pole or the thread. Because they have vastly different views.

The pole shows that most agree.

The thread is full of people saying that the shop should have charged the phone.

This is the problem with AIBU, the actual vote is rarely reflective of the opinions voiced on the thread.

Then the customer needs to pay a hefty fine. Running out of battery is not a valid excuse.

The wireless charger still needs PAT testing though, if it’s in a work / public space

The title of OP's thread is that this woman 'demanded' to charge her phone in-store. I suspect OP's ire is due to the entitled, 'demanding' attitude of the woman, rather than her needing to charge her phone per se. I think if this woman's attitude had been more "I know I'm an idiot but my phone's just died and I have no other way to pay, is there any chance I could plug my phone into a socket for five minutes please?" then OP probably wouldn't have even started this thread.

As a matter of course these days I leave my house with only my phone and no cards. Maybe I should not, but I do. Whilst there is never a call to be rude to anyone working in a shop, I would have found it enormously helpful if someone could have helped me out by charing my phone for 5 mins so I could complete my shopping.

Why would you cancel the cards if you lost / had your phone stolen? Don’t you use face / fingerprint / password protection on your phone? I rather assumed everyone did…. There are no card details stored on the SIM btw.

Erm.... what have I just read?
Hilarious!

She’s not eating her food before paying for it, though, is she? But you think she should be allowed to open up a power bank product and plug in without paying?

Plus, you know, not all supermarkets sell power banks. But they will have a plug socket somewhere.

Oh god this happened to me once in Aldi. My phone was on 20% then suddenly ran out of battery as I was about to pay. I would have of asked to charge it, even though I had my charged in my bag. The staff were moaning at me

Why are people defending such rudeness? The op has already stated the woman was very rude. I am fed up with people and their rudeness. My dd works in retail and the customers are so demanding, there is absolutely no need for it.

My elderly mum was recently rushed in to A&E and with the long wait my phone started dying. I kindly asked one of the staff if I could charge my phone from their work station, I asked nicely and even said that I would understand if it was not possible. He was more than happy to help but as soon as I did this two more people just stood up and automatically plugged in their phones without even asking or acknowledging the guy at the desk. So bloody rude and entitled.

I think you will find you are supposed to notify your bank if your phone is stolen

I think if a person goes to a shop and intends to pay with their phone, it is common sense for them to check that they have enough battery on it. Their responsibility, nobody else's.

If someone came to me and said "I'm so sorry but I've foolishly left the house only with my phone and the battery's just died. Is there any way I can plug my phone in for 5 minutes just to get it back to life so I can pay please?" or "can I leave my trolley here for 5-10 minutes? My phone's just died and I need to pop back to the car to plug it in and charge it so I can pay" then I'd be willing to be more accommodating.

If, however, they came up and said "My phone's dead - I need you to charge it." and were rude and/or unpleasant about it, kicking off, when they're the one that left the house without enough charge on their phone and proceeded to use their phone in the shop and not preserve their battery, I would be less willing to help.

That said - a google search says "If iOS isn't in use because iPhone needs to be charged, there may still be enough power in the battery to support Express Card transactions."