Before the pandemic, the limit here for contactless payment was 40 CHF, which was quickly raised to 80 CHF. This is not just our credit and debit cards - it’s actually the maximum permitted in Switzerland.
Not quite the same but I was doing a large shop at Fry’s/Krogers. The cashier had completed, the almost 300.00 charge seemed correct and I swiped my card. The system froze. Someone had to be called to unfreeze the system and the cashier asked me to swipe again.
Hubs noticed the double charge and I called to learn that despite their system causing the mistake, I was going to be out that extra 300 bucks for 6 weeks. They never did actually refund the money, we filed a dispute with our bank and they got it back for us.
I hate having to shop there, but it’s the closest real grocery store within an hour drive. We do know that if the system freezes up again to not put our card back in until we check our bank balance. Which will happen in line to force the poor cashier to call management to deal with the problem.
The story is fishy. Everything I can find about PayWave in Australia says the limit is $200, up from $100 due to the pandemic.
Most likely some bullshit made up for the clicks.
The entire “tap” aspect is really incidental, anyway. He would’ve been overcharged regardless of whether he tapped or swiped or inserted or paid in wampum.
But then again, I reiterate my bafflement that “Grocery store accidentally overcharges man, then fixes it when he notices”, where the only cited source is a Facebook post, is worthy of being international news. It’s a very “DOG BITES MAN” headline even by tabloid standards, as if a reporter needed 300 words on a slow news day and decided to make an article out of something he saw on his feed that morning.
Well if he tapped it couldn’t have happened. And if it wasn’t a tap, why does it say it was? Because it’s not true is my guess. But I don’t mean to threadshit. I realise the story is just a jumping point for similar stories from us. Carry on.
your supposed to be able just to wave it by the sensor … the commercials that were shown here were you’re just supposed to be able to walk by it and it will pay what due and your not supposed to have to stop on your way to get what you bought
Now if that happens like its supposed to I don’t know because I’m not supposed to get one until next year
Of course, the source for the claim that he tapped is a Facebook post written by someone who didn’t actually witness the incident. The reporter doesn’t appear to have done anything beyond reiterate what the wife posted, and I don’t see any indication that he interviewed her or her husband or got a comment from the store, which he doesn’t even name, let alone give a date for the incident. For all we know she assumed her husband tapped the card. It’s hardly the clumsiest thing about the article.
In any event, the store I work at doesn’t even take tap cards, and I don’t think I’ve seen many stores that do - it’s always seemed like a dead-end technology to me and a lot less secure than chip cards. The fast food chain I worked at before this store installed tap readers in its drive-thrus with much hoopla about 15 years ago, but I don’t recall a single customer ever using it and they removed them a few years after I left.
That’d be a lotta wampum
I’ll admit it’s been a while since I checked the wampum-to-AUD exchange rate.
It’s everywhere in Australia and New Zealand. It’s quite rare to find a shop that doesn’t take tap cards, normally only very small shops like corner stores and even they will more often than not have tap n go systems.
Indeed cash is becoming an anachronism here.
Am I the only one mildly irked by the poorly-disguised misandry in the DM article? “Wife” is a smart shopper, “husband” is dumb shopper. Husband was “sent to the shop” and did dumb things, implying he knows nothing about shopping. It would be like a headline that said, “Wife was told to add oil to car engine, and added olive oil instead of motor oil.” Women would be upset by such a headline, and rightly so.
yeah but it’s one of those things that are true enough …my stepdad was clueless in a grocery store … now if it was a liquor store …
While in general women are the “savvy shoppers” in our society (I’m defining “our society” rather broadly here, of course) due to cultural influences I regularly encounter men who are very good at it, fully utilizing all coupons/specials/discounts/etc, knowing how to find things, etc. It’s like every other generalization about human behavior - it may be true more often than not but there are so many exceptions that it’s clear this is due more to social norms than inherent abilities.
It’s just a shell game anyways.
Again, anecdotally, there’s a ring of truth to this. Any time I have a male customer who’s paying with WIC, there’s a 9/10 chance his wife sent him and he has no idea how WIC works or what products he’s allowed to get. And any time I have a male customer ask me a question about spices, seasonings, or sauces, it’s the same - his wife told him to get it, but he has no idea what it is or what it’s used for because she’s the one who does all the cooking.
Meh, you’re right of course, but let 'em have their fun, I say
I was more struck by the “budget savvy” bit, as though it’s only those few people who have a true handle on their finances who would notice a $725 charge rather than any old moron who can be arsed glancing at the payment terminal.
Sounds like non-US countries have “tap” limits. I don’t think they exist in the US. I’ve definitely put many hundreds on my card by tapping.
The U.S. has much better protection for the customer in the case of unauthorized credit card transactions. At least in Switzerland, there is much more pressure on the customer to report stolen or lost credit cards, and the customer can be liable for the entire amount.
This also means that the Swiss customer tends to have a lower credit card limit. I even know some people who have blocked contactless paying on their credit card - they always use their pin.