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

It's about time this story got picked up. Maybe those idiots at Home Depot can see the error of their ways. I've been using apple pay at Home Depot at least twice a week since it launched. It's a very convenient way to pay over there. Not the mention secure!!!! And let's face it. Home Depot doesn't have the best track record with securing our payment methods.

People, please take the time to email Home Depot CEO. Let's get them to turn apple pay back on. After all, who in the hell wants to use PayPal? They are evil!!!!
 
It's not like I'm going to leave my wallet at home and only carry my phone. So what's the point really. No state issues digital driver's licenses (nor does the USG issue digital passports) and I wouldn't want one, especially if it was dependent upon a device with finite battery life. I'm not going to stand around waiting for my battery to charge while detained by the police during a routine stop and frisk "papers please" action nor would I want to do the same waiting to pay for screws at Home Depot or wherever.

Practicality still trumps novelty.

Maybe the solution is a Government ID + Debit Card issued as a part of a public / private partnership between Apple and DHS / IRS that can be virtualized in a solar / fuel-cell powered iPhone (for those that can afford it).
 
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In other words: we are making way too much money selling your CC info that we cannot justify allowing the use of secure payment methods.
 
This is getting pretty ridiculous. Seems like the best solution is going to be the chip cards that are being required by law in October. At least everyone is on the same page with that.

CurrentC? PayPal? Apple Pay? No ones knows which stores accept what.
 
I wish I had enough freetime to shun a store because I can't tap my phone to pay.

Oh the horror, I can't save a few seconds using my phone. Never shopping there again.
 
mantan said:
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.
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I just started using it, and I love it. I'll use it more as I see more of the stores that I frequent using it. (And Discover FINALLY supports it)

As far as the 'merchants'? That's a laugh. Given their haphazard performance in the past. How many MONTHS did the malware on the Home Despot systems sit siphoning credit card data? The Three Stooges could run most of the 'merchants' IT systems a lot better.

I worked at Circuit City over a few Christmases and was horrified at their antiquated IT setup. Well, and their 'home office management'. They were destined to fly into the ground.
 
Forget home depot, lowes is a better store anyway. Things are easier to find and they have better customer service.
 
b0nd18t said:
This is getting pretty ridiculous. Seems like the best solution is going to be the chip cards that are being required by law in October. At least everyone is on the same page with that.

CurrentC? PayPal? Apple Pay? No ones knows which stores accept what.
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But it would be harder for Apple to brand every machine that uses Apple Pay.

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ke-iron said:
Forget home depot, lowes is a better store anyway. Things are easier to find and they have better customer service.
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YMMV...

I once waited over 20 minutes for help at the paint department. 'They are on lunch'. Oh, and no one can work the paint shaker unless they are here? PISSED!:mad:
 
Home Depot was never an official supporter of Apple Pay so their employees would be on the record that they do not support it (and may not know any better that it works unofficially). This is bad reporting.
 
Damn, that's a bummer. My local Home Depot took NFC, and I used Google Wallet there once when I managed to go shopping without my wallet (I was juggling a grumpy toddler and a shopping list and somehow wandered out the door without my wallet).

In fact, the convenience of tap n pay is what makes me choose certain stores...I won't skip out on Home Depot because they're far more convenient than Lowes, but I hope this changes.
 
chrf097 said:
I wish I had enough freetime to shun a store because I can't tap my phone to pay.

Oh the horror, I can't save a few seconds using my phone. Never shopping there again.
Click to expand...

I think you are missing the point. Credit cards have basically no security. Apple pay protects you from theft and not having to get a new card number. I had to get a new card after the Home Depot breach, and then again after Target.
 
Maflagulator said:
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."
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The POS tech was obviously wrong about the 100M$.

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chrf097 said:
I wish I had enough freetime to shun a store because I can't tap my phone to pay.

Oh the horror, I can't save a few seconds using my phone. Never shopping there again.
Click to expand...

>implies one has to tap a phone to pay.
>demonstrates complete ignorance of the details.
 
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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Fees can be a determining factor
 
As I posted over at 9to5...weird question…since Home Depot never actually supported Apple Pay and now turned off any way of using it, how would they handle returns of a purchase made by it? Since HD has a standard 90 return policy, a bunch of my Apple Pay purchases are still valid for return. This could pose a problem if my local store has no viable equipment to issue a return.
 
I use apple pay at my local home depot as well. Never an issue. I have also used it at small auto shop that does oil changes and inspections. This shop has only two stores which I find interesting Apple pay works there. Maybe more of a setting on the reader than anything else who knows

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JayLenochiniMac said:
Home Depot was never an official supporter of Apple Pay so their employees would be on the record that they do not support it (and may not know any better that it works unofficially). This is bad reporting.
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I had used Apple pay at my Home Depot location one weekend. When going back in self pay line worker asked me how to use it. She was amazed it worked so well. She stated another person in the store earlier was unable to use, but didnt know how to help her. Now she knows
 
I shop at Home Depot a lot. I spent thousands there this spring on a renovation. I used apple pay for every transaction. After their security issues I felt it was necessary to use apple pay so that Home Depot never got my credit card #. If this is true I will stop shopping there. I have a lowes just as close. Blocking services that work already and don't interfere with other services is bad business and I won't support anyone who does it. I wouldn't support them blocking android pay or Samsung pay either.
 
chrf097 said:
I wish I had enough freetime to shun a store because I can't tap my phone to pay.

Oh the horror, I can't save a few seconds using my phone. Never shopping there again.
Click to expand...

You know what's just as frustrating as merchants that disable Apple Pay at their checkout terminals? It's users/people that think they understand the technology behind something, when in fact, they know little. Then, in their contempt, they make uninformed comments to other people that only serve to confuse other people that have no clue about the technology.

Here's the issue:

By losing dozens of millions of credit card numbers to hackers, Home Depot has shown that their web security has issues.

Apple Pay offers much better security for purchases.

Home Depot doesn't care about the need to keep their customer's data and credit card information secure, so they disabled the ability to use Apple Pay for purchases, even though they had no problems supporting it in the past.

End of issue

The issue is not about convenience by "saving a few seconds by using my phone" as your unimformed comment would suggest. Stop posting on subjects that you clearly don't understand.
 
I love using Apple Pay. However, I don't use it too often because not every store accepts it. So out of habit, I typically have my credit card out and swiped before I might realize the store even has an NFC terminal. When I see it in time, I get excited and use it! I wish it was to the point where I could count on using it everywhere and then I'd leave my cards at home.
 
I wonder if PayPal is worrying about their business. I can't blame them if they are. After what happened to Blackberry, Apple must feel like a monster who could at any moment choose to swoop down and put you out of business.
 
BlendedFrog said:
As I posted over at 9to5...weird question…since Home Depot never actually supported Apple Pay and now turned off any way of using it, how would they handle returns of a purchase made by it? Since HD has a standard 90 return policy, a bunch of my Apple Pay purchases are still valid for return. This could pose a problem if my local store has no viable equipment to issue a return.
Click to expand...

When Home Depot turned off Apple Pay, they didn't turn of their sales system that manages all past purchases. The only thing the checkout terminal does it determine the acceptable payment methods and determine the validity of payment. Accepting Apple Pay one day, but rejecting it another, won't have any bearing on you making returns.
 
Well. As much as like I like shopping at Home Depot and it's one located literally a few blocks from me. I will not be going there again.

Thanks, Home Depot. You lost yourself a costumer. I hope Lowes accepts :apple: Pay soon.
 
So now it all makes sense why my purchase last week didn't accept Apple Pay, when in lots of previous trips it did work. This is definitely disappointing, shame on you home depot. I might as well just go to Lowe's all the time now and use their card so I always get 5% off.
 
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