Since Tuesday morning there has been a widespread disruption in the processing of card payments throughout Germany. A few supermarkets, discounters and retailers throughout Germany are affected. Even today, further problems with payments are expected.
As several retailers report on social networks, customers can currently not paying with EC or bank cards in many places. Also credit cards are affected.
According to information from our editorial team, branches of net brand discount, Edeka and isolated Rewe branches affected. But also at Aldi north, Rossman and dm there are occasional problems with card payments.
CHIP advises:
- If you don’t have any cash with you and want to shop, clarify in advance at the checkout whether card payments are possible or not. You save yourself long queues and trouble.
- Be sure to pay attention to notices at the entrance, to announcements and information signs in the supermarket. Petrol stations also attach stickers to the dispensers in the event of device failures.
- If card payment is not possible and you do not have cash with you, you must leave the purchases where they are. Identity cards, driver’s licenses and health insurance cards are retained as a deposit at the petrol stations. In some cases, even the police get involved.
No card payment possible
The problem first appeared on Tuesday morning. The retail chain Konsum from Dresden writes on Facebook “Attention, an important note for you! Due to a Germany-wide disruption, card payment is currently not possible in our stores.”
It is unclear how long the disruption will last. Apparently only certain card readers are affected, which can read the payment data but cannot forward it.
On Tuesday, the “Alle disturbances.de” page from the card provider Visa and various banks also reported an increased number of fault reports. These come from numerous places in Germany.
The messages are mainly given when paying, users seem to be able to withdraw money from machines. This means that affected customers would at least not be completely cut off from access to money.
Manufacturers confirm failure
“Like other network operators, we are currently experiencing significant nationwide restrictions on the processing of transactions with H5000 card payment terminals from the manufacturer Verifone,” explained the payment service provider Payone. According to the first findings, the cause is a malfunction within certain versions of the software provided by the US manufacturer.
The Federal Association of German Banks, representing the German banking industry, made it clear that the terminals in question are completely unavailable for all payment types, but that the corresponding type only accounts for a small proportion of all devices used in Germany. “Network operators and technical service providers are working intensively on troubleshooting,” it said.
The financial service provider Concardis also confirmed the problem with the terminal type. However, a company spokesman made it clear that affected dealers should not restart the devices themselves. The devices should also remain connected to the power supply and network. This is the only way the manufacturer can solve the problem. Payone and Concardis also stated that they were in contact with Verifone and were working on solving the problem.
The article also appeared on Focus Online.