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Checkout Problems Hindering Growth in Apple Pay Usage

I think part of the problem is when some people try to use NON-Apple Pay NFC methods (out of jealousy), and really slow things down.

Many stores also make you do additional, unnecessary steps, like signing your name.
 
Two "bad" experiences:

-Toys R Us: the cashier asked to see the actual credit card that I had used. I explained to her I didn't have the actual card with me (a white lie) so she requested my ID. I said, "Well, it's already paid for", grabbed my bag and left as she looked at her register in bewilderment. She was still experiencing stunned silence trying to figure out if I had just robbed her or not as I walked out the door.

-Walgreens: Terminal just didn't trigger my phone at all. Cashier tried to tell me I was "doing it wrong" and that I had to hold my thumb on the home button to get it to pop up. No. Got annoyed, swiped card instead.

Probably about 100 perfectly good transactions though. I will continue to use it whenever possible.
 
Piggie said:
Oh yes, let's change from one system, that everyone uses across the entire country and every member of the population can use quickly and simply, and have a few places that may or may not work with Apple pay.

The solution looking for a problem
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There are plenty of problems with magnetic stripe technology. It's laughably insecure, leaves a trail of your transactions tied to you for retailers to examine, and has issues with reliability as cards sometimes fail or the strip gets degaussed. Apple Pay or not, payment systems need to be upgraded. The rest of the first-world has largely moved on to pin-and-chip tech which is better, and many places also use contactless payments, which is basically what Apple Pay is, although it is more flexible, secure, and convenient (at times) to use the phone.

Not everywhere in Canada (where I live) supports contactless payments yet (usually merchants have a NFC-enabled terminal but it's not configured to function), but I regularly shop at quite a few places that do. Everywhere *does*, support chip-and-pin. They essentially have to. But for places that support contactless payments, it is my understanding that Apple Pay will just work.

I thought Canada was a laggard on this. When I went to Norway in 2009 retailers thought it was bizarre that my credit card wasn't chipped as everyone had been using that for years already. The US in particular is so far behind on this stuff that it's scary. Hopefully Apple Pay will help improve the status quo for everyone.
 
The problems seem similar to the early days of the Starbucks pay-with-app checkout. Baristas/clerks weren't ready for it, so using it actually took longer than a credit card. Now that they're used to it and more people are using it, it's very convenient.

Unfortunately, 9/10 of the times I've used it, the clerk has to run it through again because they didn't hit the right button or weren't ready. So it's too fast.

The other problem – it's not abundantly clear where it works and where it doesn't. At Home Depot, for example, a supposed launch partner, I've had clerks tell me "we don't have that feature working yet." Uhh. What?

This is a new way to do something people use every day... so it's not going to change overnight.
 
dearfriendx said:
I haven't had an issue with it yet and I've probably used it around 45-60 times.
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I've attempted to use it at every opportunity since I got my iPhone 6 a few months ago. Thus far, I've only been able to use it three times. There just aren't that many retailers that support it yet.

Of those three attempts, only one worked flawlessly, and that was at an Apple store. The second time, I had to take my phone out of the case to get it to work, and then I had to sign to complete the transaction. The third time, the transaction was rejected and I had to use my credit card (the same one that is associated with Apple Pay).

So far, I'm very disappointed with Apple Pay.
 
In my experience, this is definitely having some growing pains. The funny thing is that it has been 100% reliable in crappy NYC taxis, but at Wegmans, Whole Foods, and yes even Apple Stores it has really been hit-or-miss.
 
Take Flight said:
I've always still had to enter a pin or sign, so that aspect of it makes it sort of pointless.
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No, even if you sign, it's still a safer transaction. The retailer never gets your CC#, so at least that remains safe for when their servers are hacked.

But yeah, it's an unnecessary step.
 
works flawlessly at staples....

Mc Donalds on the other hand its a pain the cashier has to practically hand the entire terminal out the drive through window its a bit embarrassing and cubbersom for the drive thru
 
I've used Apple Pay >10 times in the past few months (I don't purchase a lot of things in person). Every time was flawless (Walgreens, Toys R Us, McDonald's). Issues arise not on Apple's end (for the most part); it's the retailers/workers who cause the problems. All these bumps will be smoothed out over time.
 
One of my family members has an iPhone 6 and has tried to use ApplePay at a lot of establishments that say they have it only to be looked at bewildered when they try to pay. The employees just don't know how to use it.

This should clear up over time, but it sure is frustrating when you can't use something the merchants are set up for because of lack of training.
 
ApplePay works flawlessly for me for retailers who support NFC as intended. As mentioned the issue is either retailers who do not yet (I sure hope the October 2015 deadline forces alot of hands), and worse those that NFC capability turned off due to cartel contracts (CurrentC), fear of losing juicy customer datamining (Target), or merchants using inconsistent readers (like Whataburger in Texas).
 
I don't have an iPhone, but I do have contactless Mastercard and American Express cards. The failure rates on these things are insanely high. Albertson's, for example, takes a few taps to work, if it will work at all - and they just installed contactless. It's a software issue. Some places won't take Amex contactless, and others won't take Mastercard, etc.
 
I use mine almost daily since implementation. I have only had issues twice and it was the terminal not seeing the phone. Overall, it has been great.
 
If my credit union will stop pretending that Apple Pay is "coming soon" and adopt it already, I'd love to find out how great it really is.
 
JuryDuty said:
This should clear up over time, but it sure is frustrating when you can't use something the merchants are set up for because of lack of training.
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This was the same problem people had with debit terminals, credit card readers, etc. These sort of rollouts to retail are always unbelievably hard. I remember back in the old days when people were fumbling with the credit card impression machine.
 
AllieNeko said:
I don't have an iPhone, but I do have contactless Mastercard and American Express cards. The failure rates on these things are insanely high. Albertson's, for example, takes a few taps to work, if it will work at all - and they just installed contactless. It's a software issue. Some places won't take Amex contactless, and others won't take Mastercard, etc.
Click to expand...

Instead of tapping, hold it close to the terminal for a few seconds. Yes, they say tap, but it's trying to wirelessly send data, it doesn't send it by having contact. I think this could be why a lot of people have failures, they don't hold it to the terminal, they just tap it and pull it away.
 
Mixed bag

I've had a mixed bag.

Most places it seems to work fine. The biggest headache was at a Whole Foods. It kept asking for a PIN (which didn't accept my debit PIN), then kept failing when trying to run as credit. Ended up using the real card.

My bank was also a pain to get activated. Had to wait on hold with a teller to get the card activated, where some other cards, were activated through an app or automated teller.

Still needs work, but it's getting better.

Lastly, I wish I could select a "default" card, it's annoying to swipe through cards. (Two cards are using the same bank, and they have the same background)
 
I've used AP quite a bit. Pretty much flawless. Never had to sign. But then there is Panera Bread. Three registers and the only one staffed is without the NFC.....
 
thewebb said:
I try to use it whenever I can because I have had my credit card info stolen before and Apply Pay is much more secure than the old magnetic stripe. It works great when I use it.
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has happened to me too....and anyone who cannot figure out how to use Apple Pay must not even know how to use their phone. Its EASY. Speaking of which, I need to verify a card today...
 
Philsy said:
I can't see any benefit over a standard chip and pin card. Maybe it'll catch on in the U.S. where they still use old fashioned cards but I suspect not elsewhere.
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some of us don't carry a card. Even if we do its got NFC contactless payment built into the card. You don't need to enter a chip and pin. You just tap your card (under a certain amount) but as most people have their iPhones out in a cue these days it makes more sense to just tap their iPhones.

I've seen people using mobile devices doing this already so once apple gets to the party the uptake will be more because apple users like to do this type of thing.

The benefit is you just hold your iPhone over the contactless point with your finger on touch ID, as opposed to putting in your card, waiting then entering a pin.
 
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