Sainsbury’s makes me angry as they still don’t accept contactless at all!
As for over £30 if you get a receipt for a contactless transaction a clue is there. If the receipt says something like “Verified by consumer device” it will take Apple Pay over £30, if it says “No cardholder verification” then it thinks it’s a physical contactless card and enforces the limit.
My local pub, restaurant and dentist (all independent retailers) have machines that are updated to take any amount of payment but the staff didn’t know. I had to be insistent to let me try it.
If I go to a new pub I normally buy a round on Apple Pay and get a receipt to see if they take payments over £30. If they do then I know I can buy meals, etc there without worrying about going over the limits.
I’ve also paid a £300 hotel bill using Apple Pay at a Hilton. Some Hilton’s have contactless support, others don’t.
If in doubt just ask if you can try paying for anything over £30 with Apple Pay. In my experience more places than ever are taking it but the staff don’t know.
Places that don’t take over £30 seem to be a lot of the larger retailers with custom EPOS setups. For example bars that have card readers mounted on the bar (Nicholson’s, Wetherspoons, Fullers) don’t seem to support over £30 but I don’t know if that’s the case with all of them.
