We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Chip and Pin delays

Hi all,

First post so please be gentle! I've noticed recently that when I'm out and about using my card that from the point of punching in my pin and pressing enter there's quite a significant delay before it prints the receipt. The shop owner said its due to the amount of people shopping for Christmas, is this right and is anyone else experiencing the same? Just worried my card is on the blink.

Merry Christmas by the way. :)
«1

Comments

  • Use firefox!

    Have you tried turning it off and on again?

    Maybe the batteries need replacing?

    :cool:


    Merry Christmas to you too!

    :xmassign:

    Just think, not long til you break up now, and you can spend even more time here :j
  • Not really the reply I was looking for but thanks for the contribution. :T
  • bsms1147
    bsms1147 Posts: 2,277 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Keep using your card as normal, to be honest it doesn't sound like the problem is with it.
  • Thanks for the response. I would be interested I hear if anyone else has experienced the same and whether the "busy at Christmas" thing has any truth, I suppose it all connects a very busy network.
  • dzug1
    dzug1 Posts: 13,535 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    OhReally wrote: »
    Use firefox!

    Have you tried turning it off and on again?

    Maybe the batteries need replacing?

    :cool:


    Merry Christmas to you too!

    :xmassign:

    Just think, not long til you break up now, and you can spend even more time here :j


    OP is in a shop - not online at home
  • bsms1147
    bsms1147 Posts: 2,277 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    It's not unbelievable there are delays with the system if more people are using it, but I really wouldn't let it worry you.

    And, OhReally, I think the assumption the OP was/is a troll seems uncalled for.
  • Well, bsms1147, I know the outragous allegation and resultant slur on my good character in you assuming I was in any way making any assumption about the OP being a troll is definitely uncalled for.
  • I used to work for a company that ran the data centre for a very large retail organisation. Incoming credit/debit transactions got written to a data queue and then the processing of them was done (on several threads) in a FIFO basis. The link to the financial organisation (I think it was Streamline) was of limited bandwidth and so a busy times the data queue grew large enough that a significant delay would be introduced between the transaction being queued and it being approved. So the Christmas suggestion is probably right on the mark.
  • Hedgehog99
    Hedgehog99 Posts: 1,425 Forumite
    I've noticed a delay when paying using my PIN, but contactless transactions seem just as quick as usual.

    Maybe the answer is to keep your Xmas presents transactions below £20 and use contactless.
  • Armorica
    Armorica Posts: 869 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Yeah; it's the Christmas affect lol

    As others say, contactless doesn't require online authorisation so will always be quick

    Some authorisation of low risk transactions may also be skipped/done later in peak periods like Christmas

    But certain customers/retailers/values etc. will almost always take longer.

    And the speed of the connection can be down to the retailer's own infrastructure/connection i.e. some retailers will be slow all year!
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.2K Spending & Discounts
  • 245.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.4K Life & Family
  • 258.9K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.