servers going down?

jackieb

Not sure where to post this.

Last week the internet was down twice in a matter of days for several hours at a time. It wasn't our line - apparently it was down over quite a few parts of the country - something to do with something in Edinburgh?

On Monday I went to put petrol in and my card was declined twice.:o I have an RBS Visa Debit card. I had money in the account. In all my years of paying with Switch/Maestro/Visa I have never hard a card declined. The assistant looked under the counter, called someone else in and they apparently pressed a reset button or something - anyhow, my card worked fine after that. They said they'd been having a few problems with the server going down.

Today I used my card in Sainsbury's and it was fine. About half an hour later I tried in another shop and it was declined 3 times. Fortunately I had just enough money in my purse to pay. I then went to an ATM and got money out no problem. I've now taken out enough money to hopefully last me a week as i'm scared this will happen again. I know for definite there's money in my account - and as I said, this has never happened before.

Is anyone heard of anything similar happening? Could it be because of what happened last week in Edinburgh?

dispossessed

The problem in Edinburgh was at an ISP's "Server Farm" - the network used by ATM /POS card machines is seperate.

There was a time when customers were issued new cards on an annual basis. Nowadays, for reasons best known to themselves (but probably driven by hard economics) it is usually 3 years between renewals.

As cards are used the surface can become coated with micro particles or even begin to wear in places all of which can affect its "readability".

If you are at all concerned then just order a new card.

Trevor

jackieb

Thanks. The cards only a couple of months old - it might be crocked due to overuse.

The men in the garage both said they had been having trouble though - and they reset something under the counter. Could just be the card mind you. It's very embarrassing when your card is declined!

dispossessed

Last week my Amex Card would not work on one till in Homebase but worked perfectly on the one next to it.

I would not read to much into the experience but I agree about the embarrasment factor.

Trevor

jackieb

It was just strange to have happened twice in a matter of days when it has never happened before - coupled with the goings on in Edinburgh. I don't know about these things, that's why I wondered if they were maybe connected.

asc99c

I've seen the problem occasionally. I don't think it's something to be embarrassed about and I think it's happened to most people at some point. My current bank card when new got declined a few times one day and I called up the bank, they suggested it was static electricity - often when you try to clean it you're just building up more static and making it worse. The problem just disappeared a couple days later and I've been using it for two years without trouble.

dispossessed

Actually 'asc99c', thinking about it, static electricity could certainly be a culprit. Perhaps a wipe with one of those @anti-static' wipes on sale for PC's / laptops would provide a solution.

Trevor

mr_fishbulb

You need to determine if the card is being declined or just unable to be read.

Call your bank and explain what happened. They will tell you if the transaction was declined, or if not then ask them for a new card as your current one may have a problem being read.