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Home Depot Quietly Drops Apple Pay, But Service Continues to Work at Many Stores

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Apr 12, 2001
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While not an official partner for Apple Pay, the presence of NFC terminals at many Home Depot locations across the country has enabled the contactless payment service to work as normal at select stores in the home improvement chain. Today, however, a user on Reddit received a response from Home Depot customer care that suggests the company may soon begin quietly phasing out support for Apple Pay completely at its brick-and-mortar stores, with PayPal highlighted as an alternative solution for customers.

apple-pay-terminal.jpg
"We currently do not accept Apple Pay in our local stores or online. We do have the option of using PayPal, in store or online. We may offer this feature in the future, but we currently do not have a time frame for this and if we are going to accept Apple Pay. We truly apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you Andrew."
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The company's response leaves an open door for the re-activation of Apple Pay in its stores in the future, but doesn't commit to confirming that Apple's NFC-based payment service will ever be seen at their checkout counters again. Apple recently updated a support document on its website confirming that Home Depot "might not be currently set up to accept contactless payments, including Apple Pay" at this current time.

Although no direct reason is given, the company's mention of supporting PayPal online and in-store is a pretty good piece of evidence that Home Depot may simply be siding with a different electronic payments solution. It's also worth pointing out that a few responses on the original Reddit thread have had no trouble with using Apple Pay in their own local stores, so either the company is keeping quiet support of the service or it's taking a slow rollout to dismantling support for Apple Pay.

Article Link: Home Depot Quietly Drops Apple Pay, But Service Continues to Work at Many Stores
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/05/05/home-depot-quietly-drops-apple-pay/
It never worked at my local one, and in fact from just about day one has been explicitly mentioned in an Apple support document as not working: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201469

Some stores might have this symbol on their card readers and point of sale terminals, but they might not be currently set up to accept contactless payments, including Apple Pay. At the current time, this includes 7-Eleven, Home Depot, Jack in the Box, Rite Aid, and CVS
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if it were my company i would accept as many methods as possible money is money and i would want to make it as easy for the consumer to give it to me as possible but I'm not genius
 
Given how many credit card numbers were stolen from Home Depot last summer, I can't imagine how disabling a more secure payment system makes any business sense.
 
i have used apple pay at Home depot many times over the last few months. went there this past sunday and it didn't work..I was preplexed figured maybe since I was issued new cards but have not activated them yet the old one was disabled...now makes sence. not thrilled about this
 
k1121j said:
if it were my company i would accept as many methods as possible money is money and i would want to make it as easy for the consumer to give it to me as possible but I'm not genius
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I know right? Apparently making things as hard as possible is the way to run a business these days, who knew!
 
Not taking safer #ApplePay, demonstrates tech incompetence, base greed and lack of customer orientation. Bravo @HomeDepot is now @Walmart !
 
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The Home Depot that's nearest my house has been Apple Pay capable since the first time I tried it. I'm trying not to sound like a fanboy here, but if they disable it we're done doing business. And here is why:

It's particularly galling to me that a store/company that was supporting a particular technology up until Apple Pay made its debut would go out of their way to remove said technology. It was fine to take and support NFC payments before, but then Apple brought about the Apple Pay ecosystem, which, while a great self-contained ecosystem in that it's secure, convenient and protects consumer privacy, does not require merchants who were supporting NFC payments before to change anything. All they have to do to leave things in place is NOTHING. And just leaving things lie would allow not only Apple Pay users to benefit, but also users of Google Wallet and the upcoming Samsung Pay.

Now that Apple Pay, and the ensuing press and buzz around it is here they go out of their way to remove the functionality. Why? It doesn't cost them any more. Surely they are not against better security. And they wouldn't publicly proclaim that user convenience is their enemy. There's only one thing that Apple Pay brings to the game that scares the likes of Home Depot: User privacy. If they allow Apple Pay to work Home Depot is giving up the ability to track me. And that is a purely self-serving motivation at the expense of my interest.

So, Home Depot, if you are going to go out of your way to take away my convenience, security and privacy I will go out of my way to shop at a competitor. And this will be my reaction every time a merchant takes this approach.
 
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Sometimes you just have to wonder who these morons are running things.

The day after the Apple Watch launch my wife paid for some things at Home Depot with her Apple Watch.

We've both used Apple Pay a ton of times in that store. Now they want to go backwards and start peddling the out dated plastic card with VHS tape glued to them?

It's one thing if a company doesn't yet have the infrastructure to accept modern payment methods; in the US we are a good decade behind the rest of the world who have contactless and chip and PIN, but in this case they already have the technology, like CVS, but are choosing to block it for greed based reasons.

Poorly played Home Depot. Very disappointed.
 
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Robert.Walter said:
Not taking safer #ApplePay, demonstrates tech incompetence, base greed and lack of customer orientation. Bravo @HomeDepot is now @Walmart !
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@HomeDepot is new @Walmart: by the way, #PayPal instead of #ApplePay, really? Almost as LoL as #MCX #CurrentC lunacy.
 
ZCT said:
Sometimes you just have to wonder who these morons are running things.

The day after the Apple Watch launch my wife paid for some things at Home Depot with her Apple Watch.

We've both used Apple Pay a ton of times in that store. Now they want to go backwards and start peddling the out dated plastic card with VHS tape glued to them?

It's one thing if a company doesn't yet have the infrastructure to accept modern payment methods; in the US we are a good decade behind the rest of the world who have contactless and chip and PIN, but in this case they already have the technology, like CVS, but are choosing to block it for greed based reasons.

Poorly played Home Depot. Very disappointed.
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I wonder if the kickbacks Home Depot will get from PayPal or the loss of customer good will make up for the CurrentC income. I almost wonder if Robert Nardelli is back in the CEO chair making stupid decisions again.
 
This explains something....

I noticed that the Home Depot located in a 'Lower-Income' area near my work, does not have functional Apple Pay, and an employee looked at me like I was crazy when I was expecting it to work, particularly when I mentioned that I have used Apple Pay multiple times at other Home Depot locations closer to my home.

At my local Kohl's, the girl at the register had no clue what Apple Pay was.

At my local Publix supermarket, while there were some guys installing brand new (NFC capable) checkout terminals, I asked them if these were going to be able to take Apple Pay finally. They responded: "Only if Publix wants to activate it. But activating it will cost them ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to do so." Which, perhaps the CC MERCHANT might have to cough up. That I can almost believe, but every single retailer wanting to offer Apple Pay needing to shell out $100 million just to be able to offer Appel Pay as a payment option to customers.

Apple simply states that all a retailer needs to do is contact their CC merchant and request to activate the NFC function for Apple Pay:

"Apple Pay is easy to set up and gives your customers a simple and secure way to pay with the devices they use every day. If you already accept credit and debit cards, simply contact your payment provider to start accepting Apple Pay."
 
k1121j said:
if it were my company i would accept as many methods as possible money is money and i would want to make it as easy for the consumer to give it to me as possible but I'm not genius
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They're probably getting paid for the exclusivity. Apple Pay is not enough of a draw right now for them to forego the cash just to keep payment options open.
 
Remove an already functioning feature, then going to Paypal? Really? Some idiots that have to be really greedy for our private info, or whatever Paypal will pay them to partner up, are making decisions at HD. Bye, bye, HD.

I believe Lowe's is an MCX member. But they could also "pull a Best Buy", and leave also support NFC payments once the exclusivity agreement expires.
 
Maflagulator said:
I asked them if these were going to be able to take Apple Pay finally. They responded: "Only if Publix wants to activate it. But activating it will cost them ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to do so."
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No offense, but if your job involves plugging in a credit card terminals, you may not be privy to detailed information about how large corporations process transactions or what it costs them to do so.
 
blacka4 said:
btw anyone know if Lowes accepts apple pay? i will just go there if they do
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I shop exclusively there and they don't yet. But it would not surprise me if they did over the next year. Lowes seems to have a preference for Apple since they use iPads and iPods and before that they had iPhones for scanning product, whereas last time I went to HD, the workers were using Android devices but at one point, I knew they were packing iPhones.
 
Robert.Walter said:
I wonder if the kickbacks Home Depot will get from PayPal or the loss of customer good will make up for the CurrentC income. I almost wonder if Robert Nardelli is back in the CEO chair making stupid decisions again.
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Apart from anything else, PayPal is nothing like Apple Pay. With Apple Pay I can choose which credit or debit card I wish to use. PayPal basically is a pre-paid debit card, that can draw from another account if it is empty.

If I'm making major purchases at Home Depot, I want to make my airline miles or hotel points from my co-branded credit cards. What the heck is using PayPal going to do for me?

My credit cards also give me extended warranties, additional consumer rights, and the option to pay over time. All things PayPal does not do.
 
Eh. Home Depot is like the Walmart of the home improvement stores.

Yeah they have everything you need, but the stores are disorganized and messy.

Every time, every single damn time, I'm in a Home Depot, I get frustrated and say "F it, I'm going down the street to Lowe's."

I'll deal with using plastic to avoid that mess of a store.
 
Home Depot has to be one of the worst managed 'home improvement' companies on the planet.

They are, or they aren't. Meijer's is supporting Apple Pay, and they were a signatory of that 'other payment processor'.

They could do a lot of good will to their customers by not trying to force people to use their self checkout lanes too... It's an absolutely stunning waste of time using them, and there has to be an 'attendant' standing there anyway, why not just trash the whole idea. Nothing is more frustrating than standing there with some obscure plumbing part, waiting for the 'attendant' to come over and help ring it up. Stupid. Lowes doesn't use them, at least in the local one here.
 
While I'm sure Apple Pay appreciates their most loyal fans and customers grabbing their torches and pitch forks, I wonder if the numbers are too small and the fight is being made on the wrong front.

It seems like a lot of Apple fans want to make this issue about their right to use Apple Pay wherever they want. The bigger issue should be all the NFC customers working together to push for a broader acceptable of the NFC standard.

And rather than it being desired as a cool feature (look, I just paid with my fancy new Apple Watch), the real issue should be the security features that protect the customer and the merchant. Credit card companies backed Apple pay mostly because it reduces their potential fraud costs. Merchants should support it because it limits their liability exposure for data breeches.

I think the whole thing is a mess. Apple Pay had potential, but I bet the overwhelming majority of Iphone 6/+ users don't even bother with it anymore. 8 months later it's failed to gain any type of momentum, let alone critical mass.

As someone posted earlier, you'd think merchants would want to encourage every type of payment possible....but that's not the case.
 
josh995 said:
Eh. Home Depot is like the Walmart of the home improvement stores.

Yeah they have everything you need, but the stores are disorganized and messy.

Every time, every single damn time, I'm in a Home Depot, I get frustrated and say "F it, I'm going down the street to Lowe's."

I'll deal with using plastic to avoid that mess of a store.
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At our local Home Despot, I was looking for grass seed and bird seed. All of the grass seed was past their 'Sell By' date, and several of the bird seed bags were disgustingly infested with something looking like fungus. Yeah, I want that **** anywhere near my house, and the birds will just eat that crap up too.

Home Despot seems to be going the way of Sears. Their stores are like going into a wake. It's depressing...
 
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