Contactless cards what is the maximum which can be charged when abroad?

Fortyfoot

I know that the max in the UK is £30 but would like to know what is the max when abroad? Earlier this year while using my contactless Clarity card in Spain I was charged 3 times for the same transaction, overcharged by £130.

The shop was a tobacco and booze shop called Amber in Peurto de la Cruz, so avoid them if you go there.

Halifax did get my money back.

I have now cancelled my contactless card and this morning received my new chip and pin card.

Fortyfoot

chattychappy

Must be more than 50p, cos that's what I paid to access a Czech toliet last Monday.

eddddy

Fortyfoot wrote: »

Earlier this year while using my contactless Clarity card in Spain I was charged 3 times for the same transaction, overcharged by £130.

...

I have now cancelled my contactless card and this morning received my new chip and pin card.

How did the contactless feature cause you to be charged 3 times?

Did the retailer take the card from you, and do something with it out of your sight?

eDicky

As above, how is the contactless function related to your being overcharged, and was it accidental or fraudulent or what?

Different countries have various limits for contactless transaction, I don't know what it is for Spain, and sometimes apparently the card issuer imposes the UK limit (Tandem).

Fortyfoot

eddddy wrote: »

Did the retailer take the card from you, and do something with it out of your sight?

Yes. he went to the back of the shop.

I am sure it was fraudulent.

Fortyfoot

Wellard_Mann

From memory, the contactless limit in Spain is generally €20. It's been a while since I visited though so perhaps it has increased. I personally wouldn't let anyone take the card from me, or even handle the card, when doing a contactless payment but no doubt there were good reasons for this.

sausage_time

To the original question on the subject line, the answer is - it depends. In Croatia in the summer, I used contactless all the time. Above some threshold I was prompted to enter my PIN (but still contactless). It was very fast and convenient. I can only assume all the terminals I used were on-line (to do the PIN authentication off-chip if needed).

Terry_Towelling

Something we used to tell all cardholders with disputes in the days before technology was, 'Never let the card out of your sight - EVER'. This advice became less of an issue when mobile terminals and CHIP & PIN came along (although some people are still negligent by entering their PIN unshielded) and then some idiot invented 'contactless' to bring it back to the fore.

Ben8282

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Something we used to tell all cardholders with disputes in the days before technology was, 'Never let the card out of your sight - EVER'. This advice became less of an issue when mobile terminals and CHIP & PIN came along (although some people are still negligent by entering their PIN unshielded) and then some idiot invented 'contactless' to bring it back to the fore.

In the 'days before technology' you had very little choice but to allow the card to be taken away, for example in restaurants, for the card to be put through the imprinter. I cannot recall a single instance in manual charge form days of the imprinter being brought to the table.

Nasqueron

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Something we used to tell all cardholders with disputes in the days before technology was, 'Never let the card out of your sight - EVER'. This advice became less of an issue when mobile terminals and CHIP & PIN came along (although some people are still negligent by entering their PIN unshielded) and then some idiot invented 'contactless' to bring it back to the fore.

Contactless means your card is never out of your sight, it can even be in your wallet and no-one can see your PIN. The cap on use stops widespread fraud as it's not worth the effort of a thief to go around loads of shops spending a few quid here and there