EXCLUSIVE: ITS working proactively to resolve card payment issues

EPoS firm IT Retail Systems (ITS) has pledged to resolve issues preventing retailers from processing mobile card transactions by the end of October.

Several store owners across England reported the problems to Better Retailing, which they claimed had been ongoing since the beginning of September. They added customers with Apple Pay, Natwest, Monzo Sterling Bank and Halifax accounts were unable to pay for goods in-store using a smartphone or smartwatch.

One retailer, who asked not to be named, said: “There are customers who are no longer coming into store and the problems meant we have lost £500-£600 in transactions.

“When the customer has tried to pay, the chip and PIN machine says the card has been declined. We get on error message on our EPoS screen. The customer ends up feeling embarrassed as they haven’t had any issues when paying in other stores on the same day. They’ve definitely got the money in their accounts. In other instances, customers have gotten annoyed with us.”

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Another store owner told Better Retailing they were allowing trusted customers to pay either through a direct transfer into their bank account, or on a subsequent visit. They added: “We’re paying a number of service fees to be with ITS. A lot of customers are so used to paying with mobile devices nowadays, especially those who are nearby residents. They tend not to carry physical cards with them.

“I’ve been able to minimise any potential damage by arranging alternative payments with the customers I trust.”

ITS managing director Tanveer Mirza told Better Retailing the problem was affecting those adding credit and debit cards issued this year to iPhones and Apple Watches, following a software update released last month.

When asked what ITS was doing to ensure retailers could process transactions, Mirza said it was working proactively to visit affected retailers and had resolved the majority of issues.

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He added: “It’s not affecting every customer. For example, we’ve found some Monzo account holders have been able to pay, whereas others haven’t. There are 600 retailers using an ITS EPoS and 37 of them have reported the issues to us.

“We’re currently going around to impacted stores to update the PIN pad software so they can process transactions again. It takes about an hour to do each time. As an extra precaution, we’ve bought 75 PIN pads which we can send straight to retailers in case the update fails.

“We’ll hopefully have the issues fixed over the next couple of weeks. It’s also up to the retailer and whether they can fit us in so we can resolve the problems. Those customers can still use their physical card.”