Pub refused to make contactless payment

grumbler

What happened to this thread? Why was it butched?

geerex

grumbler wrote: »

What happened to this thread? Why was it butched?

Too much honesty in thread, presumably questioning the "leanings" of those who embarrass themselves by paying for a £2.30 coffee with a card... I mean, it's ok if you're not a real person, but really, the whole world rolls their collective eyes.

grumbler

You failed to answer the question, and what you say makes no sense to me. Sorry.

geerex

grumbler wrote: »

You failed to answer the question, and what you say makes no sense to me. Sorry.

You failed to quote me, yet I presume you wish to communicate in my direction.

You asked why the thread was "butched". I provided an answer. Whether you understand that answer or not is a moot point. I'm not here to hold your hand.

Gromitt

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

But I see what you and Herbalus mean now. I'm not sure why, if it's contactless, they don't just hand you the machine anyway and let you do the card-waving.

I'd say the problem is that there's no near-by card reader to wave your card at, so you order the drinks and then offer the card to the till assistant, who then grabs the machine and waves the card at it for you.

Unlike McDonalds which have a card reader at every till, at the local pubs it appears that they share 1 or 2 wireless devices between all the tills.

ricky_v

gik wrote: »

I saw someone in ASDA paying for a newspaper and a tube of polo mints by credit card! There really should be limits!

I always pay with a credit card in supermarkets, even if it's £1, simply for the 4% cashback, and I'm sure many others do too.

Hominu

ricky_v wrote: »

I always pay with a credit card in supermarkets, even if it's £1, simply for the 4% cashback, and I'm sure many others do too.

Awaiting the whinge from various people stating that you are causing higher prices for everyone else to pay for you use of your card....

Archi_Bald

Hominu wrote: »

Awaiting the whinge from various people stating that you are causing higher prices for everyone else to pay for you use of your card....

To take the wind out of their sails: Handling cash is way, way more costly than handling plastic. If everyone stopped using cash, we might see lower prices, or - much more likely - higher profits.

Mids_Costcutter

katejo wrote: »

I have only used mine in cafes like Costa Coffee though I often still pay in cash. Last week I saw a notice by the till in my local Costa which said that they preferred use of the card over cash to reduce the queue more quickly.

Good point! I always thought that the main benefit of contactless cards is that they were quicker to use than cash and therefore more convenient for customers, especially for smaller purchases like a newspaper or chocolate bar. I'm not sure that chip and pin is usually quicker than cash though.

On the subject of minimum spend, I recently tried to buy a newspaper (less than £1) at a WH Smith and was told the minimum spend is £1. At this seems to defeat the point of contactless cards I raised this with Visa Europe and received the following response:

"Visa has certain regulations that all merchants accepting Visa cards must follow. One of those rules is that Visa merchants are not permitted to establish minimum transaction amounts, even on sale items.

If you run into a problem like this with a merchant, please notify your Visa card-issuing financial institution. Visa Member financial institutions have access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations. They also have access to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms that should be used by the financial institution to document and file this type of complaint."

My card-issuing financial institution (MBNA) didn't seem interested though and suggested taking it up with the merchant (WH Smith).

Hmmmm..