Can a shop refuse to take a chip & sig card?

Mankysteve

marleyboy wrote: »

One of my biggest bugbears with the introduction of Chip n Pin, was the replacement of a unique signature to a four digit number, which is much easier to compromise.

As well as you have correctly pointed out, Chip n Pin has already been cracked, with a device that will accept any random number as authentic, now being sold for as little as £20 on the black market, which is pretty scary stuff when you think about it.

Aside the issues with hacking problem, which some smart computer guy will be working on a update.

A signature is written on the back of your card, most shop assistants and even bank staff have accepted my signature when it quite poor compared to what's been on the card. If you loose a signature card then your authentication is written on the back of said card making it very easy for someone to copy it.

With a chip and pin someone has to figure out what your number is then steal your card which is much more difficult.

Forwandert

Quite a major scam at the minute, card is damaged by scratching the chip so it doesnt actually get authorisation but on most till systems will revert to asking for a signature, signature is given then at a later date the purchase is charged back as no authorisation code for the transaction is given, last time it happened in my store it was for 2 laptops since then the till system has been changed nationwide to decline any transactions and request another means of payment the instant the chip can't be read.

Helix

Forwandert wrote: »

Quite a major scam at the minute, card is damaged by scratching the chip so it doesnt actually get authorisation but on most till systems will revert to asking for a signature, signature is given then at a later date the purchase is charged back as no authorisation code for the transaction is given, last time it happened in my store it was for 2 laptops since then the till system has been changed nationwide to decline any transactions and request another means of payment the instant the chip can't be read.

Yes I was warned about this when I worked in retail. The cards just wouldn't be read though rather than convert to a chip and signature card and we were told not to swipe a card under any circumstances if it had a chip. The most common thing was with giftcards.

This could be the reason the OPs mother was rejected, if the sales assistant had been warned of that scam but didn't fully understand it they might have been reluctant to let the transaction go through.

bcl999

Jakg wrote: »

A lot of merchant agreements say that the card company provide protection in the event of a dodgy card IF the pin is used... if it's a signature the merchant bears the cost - thus why some shops (rightly or wrongly) are reluctant to take them.

However, legally they can refuse any payment they like, and refuse to serve anyone they like. The only exception is the settlement of debt (i.e. a restaurant, where you eat the meal "on credit" and then pay at the end), where they must take cash (but only have to accept a certain number of each denomination of coins).

I remember this transfer of responsibility being discussed when CHIP & PIN was introduced and the fact that retailers would just refuse non-PIN cards.

gordikin

The bottom line is the retailer can legally refuse to accept chip & sig. ....end of.

welshbookworm

I work in a shop and while we can do 'chip and pin' cards we have nothing to be able to do 'chip and sig' cards, or non-chip cards with.
I have to refuse them and ask the customer to use a cash point.

molerat

How do you accept any cards then, the terminal should just print a slip for signature for you to retain ?

molerat

Interesting article on the subject re DDA.

http://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/8416936.Chip_and_sign_warning_to_firms/

and

Sandra Quinn, of the UK Cards Association, said: “All shops and restaurants that accept chip and PIN must accept chip and signature cards.”

teabelly

The complaint letter has been sent to the shop's head office. The bank also said the assistant was wrong to refuse the card and in their experience it's just poor training. The same shop has accepted that card before in fact so it's just the assistant that particular day that was the problem.

welshbookworm

Molerat, the machine we have has nothing to input to get a slip with a space for a signature (nothing in the instruction manual either - I've read it). If you don't put a pin in it does nothing.
I will ask my boss if this is available though.