Halifax contactless payments through Google Pay not guaranteed

WiltshireDruid

Me and my wife have had a number of contactless payments declined recently all at the same dental practice. My wife is a second card holder on my Halifax credit card account. I raised this with Halifax to try and understand why this was happening, this eventually being raised as a formal complaint.
We are nowhere near the card limit and Google Pay contactless payments work fine everywhere else. All the declined payments went through using Google Pay and a Tesco credit card without a problem.
After several conversations with Halifax and various suggestions proposed, initially blaming Google Pay. Halifax have advised me that Google Pay contactless payments will not always work and I should also carry my card with me. They have advised that their systems will from time to time decline transactions due to an accumulated spend on the card. However they will not disclose how this is applied or what the limit might be. Basically Halifax are saying that the electronic wallet should not be relied on and always carry a physical card. 
It was my understanding, and seems to be the way the world is going, that many people are now just carrying a phone and no cards. On Halifax's Credit Card page, promoting reasons to take out a Halifax Card, it says that if the card is added to an electronic wallet, you don't need to carry your card with you. When I drew this to Halifax's attention they claimed it was an error and that the Halifax card shouldn't have been on marketed in that way. Elsewhere on their site relating to Google Pay it does indeed say you need to carry a physical card. I don't know if this is true for other cards and have never before had an issue with Google Pay previously.
Any Halifax credit card holders should be aware not to rely solely on a Google Pay wallet and also carry a card with them - Halifax's advice!

northwalesd

I always carry a physical card with me (at least one), I've had issues with cards from providers other than Halifax in the past and am uncomfortable relying on just having Google Wallet as a means of payment.

surreysaver

My Halifax credit card seems not to be accepted by some retailers. Sky and Stagecoach buses don't. I think its something dodgy Halifax's end rather than Google or anyone else.

Olenna

It's a Halifax issue. 

I've never had an issue with Google Wallet, it's easier than the physical card with fingerprint verification and no fixed limit.

wiseonesomeofthetime

I had that issue once with my Santander credit card, however, that was because I had never used the physical card and just used it from Google Wallet. Using the physical card just once with chip and PIN resolved that.

Never had an issue with my halifax credit ir debit cards through Google Wallet.

(Now expecting it to crash, having tempted fate!)

booneruk

I had the same with a Lloyds credit card at my dentist lately. It happened to be the first contactless-google pay transaction I attempted after getting the card. I switched Google Pay to my Natwest card and the transaction went through fine.

I chased up with Lloyds later, they said it was declined due to it being a suspicious transaction! all use of Google pay with my Lloyds card has since has been fine, including at the very same dentist on a follow-up visit.

400ixl

Never had an issue with my Halifax Clarity credit card being declined when used through Google Pay. Probably into thousands of transactions now.

Sounds like an issue with whoever your dental practice is using as their card processor.