Visa payment disruption hits UK & Europe

**Hugh** · 01-06-2018, 16:54

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44335804

Quote:

Visa said some card payments are currently failing across the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

The company said it is investigating the cause of the disruption.

Thank heavens for Amex...

Mr K · 01-06-2018, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44335804

Thank heavens for Amex...

Probably the Russians..... They are winning the cyber war.

jb66 · 01-06-2018, 17:16

Asda near me is cash only!!!

heero_yuy · 01-06-2018, 17:26

No problem with my Visa debit card in Sainsbury's this afternoon.

Mr K · 01-06-2018, 17:40

Coming to think about it, it might explain the massive queue and stressed punters at the petrol station I've just been to .

denphone · 01-06-2018, 17:57

We were fine earlier today doing some food shopping

adzii_nufc · 01-06-2018, 18:04

I've had three failed so far. Two multiple attempts at one and a separate at another. But a fourth separate that went through fine. The latter isn't showing as a pending payment either though.

Carth · 01-06-2018, 19:37

Nothing to worry about, it's simply a test run by the Illuminati to see how near they are to total domination of the financial sectors

Taf · 01-06-2018, 19:48

Lidl, Home Bargains and Aldi were having problems this afternoon, and they were running out of change.

**Paul** · 01-06-2018, 21:55

No issue in Spain

**Damien** · 02-06-2018, 10:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44335804

Thank heavens for Amex...

Things like this are why it's a good idea to have a second card, of a different type, from a different bank!

1andrew1 · 02-06-2018, 10:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien

Things like this are why it's a good idea to have a second card, of a different type, from a different bank!

Totally. My Visa debit card failed at Pizza Express last night but my trusty Mastercard from another bank worked.
A good idea to have cards from separate organisations in case of cyber crime these days. Also travelling in the 90s, some cards were accepted in some countries whilst others were declined despite having the right logos etc on.

Chloé Palmas · 02-06-2018, 12:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44335804

Thank heavens for Amex...

Good grief, that was dreadful. Lightning and storms for the previous 4 days and I was pissed as I needed to use the time to get some stuff for our daughter's overseas trip coming up soon. Was the only day available.

So as a back story my hubby loathes anywhere that does not take Amex. he uses it as his daily driver all the way - whenever and wherever he can. So for her (daughter's) school stuff it was all cheap(ish) throw away stuff that is easily available in rather low end stores. She'll only use it once, on this trip and that is it.

So...we go into a few stores and one (in particular) which had a bunch of rather disposable stuff to use as a one off (Shoezone). We spend like 40 minutes trying stuff on and my daughter finally settles on 3 items (needed for one week lol) and we go to pay and the ladies at the till say "sorry the card reader is out" which is totally wrong. I could have paid in cash but he was so pissed off he basically said to them "it is not the reader it is your issue as a store". He had no clue, either way.

Then the ladies behind the counter started saying stuff like "there is a cash point / ATM outside" and that really started pissing everyone off so rather than argue it out with them he basically just said "we'll use somewhere else". They looked smug like it was going to trip us up for the rest of the day and he checked every place we went to and we only went in if the place took Amex. All of them worked fine. Shoezone closed at like 5 30 but if it didn't he would have gone back in and said to them "had y'all taken Amex we would have bought stuff from your store as it would have worked".

So anyway, we got back home and he turns on the TV, it is on the news network and headlines read that Visa screwed up and he is like "see, Amex really would have fixed this, ha ha ha ha". Smug jerk. His basic approach to life is "if they can't afford to take Amex as a payment method then they are not worth shopping at". Sadly, yesterday validated all of that for him.

Chloé Palmas · 02-06-2018, 12:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien

Things like this are why it's a good idea to have a second card, of a different type, from a different bank!

So true though half the problem was with retailers putting carte blanche signs saying that it was "cash only". I don't think they even considered allowing customers to try other (non visa) based credit or debit cards.

It is disappointing and rather sad that so many people (businesses) decided to just assume that it was the reader...if folks tried using other credit cards with a payment processor like Mastercard or Amex / Diners / JCB (though granted those 3 are nowhere near as widely accepted) or a different debit card PP like Maestro etc (though again not as frequently used) then the chaos that ensued yesterday would not have been so bad.

Your advice though, is very good and if there is some silver lining it is that people will try to dilute their concentration on just one card / issuer / PP and bank. There is way too much of that in the UK.

Kabaal · 02-06-2018, 13:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chloé Palmas

So true though half the problem was with retailers putting carte blanche signs saying that it was "cash only". I don't think they even considered allowing customers to try other (non visa) based credit or debit cards.

Visa provide the processing system for some retailers which was also down meaning no card types were working in some places.