This has happened to me a few times now since the obligatory chip and pin after x payments feature came in.
I leave a place only to realise I wasn’t charged because monzo declined the payment and the vendor didn’t notice. I try and correct it while I can but if I’m far away I feel bad that I have effectively conned the vendor.
Does this appear differently to them than a regular declined transaction as they don’t seem to notice it?
EDIT: I clearly need to clarify as everyone has just assumed that I tapped my card and ran out. I always wait for the cashier to tell me it was approved. In the case above the cashier tapped my card for me (paying a tab in a pub). The cashier always thinks this has been approved when it hasn’t. I don’t know why it’s less clear than a regular declined card but it seems to not register the same. This has happened to me in multiple different stores now, and I don’t always have my phone out nor want to have to look at my phone everytime I pay for something.
I didn’t realise it was so common to wave the card and walk away before it says approved. I wouldn’t dream of moving away from the till until I’ve seen the card reader say the payment was complete.
The seller did think it was approved. Have had this multiple times. In the case above the seller took the card, tapped it themselves and handed it back thinking it was approved.
My issue is that its clearly less noticeable for some reason to vendors as its being missed too often.
It happens a lot where I work. Tap and walk out. The terminal takes time to check and by the time I realise the customer has gone.
It’s not specific to Monzo though.
If it’s just declined, it will say “Declined” on the till.
If it’s a chip and PIN check scenario, it says “Insert Card” so I can tell the difference and let the customer know it’s their bank requesting they use their PIN.
What I will say though is there is a notable higher frequency of Monzo cards initially declining but then immediately after trying again going through. A tiny sample, of course, but it’s something I and other colleagues have noticed.
This topic is revalatory to me. I never would’ve thought ‘assume all’s fine and walk away’ would be such a widespread mindset.
As a customer, I wouldn’t dream of walking away until I get confirmation that the transaction has completed - usually the ding on my phone (especially at self-service) but also getting the ‘clear off’ signal from the person serving me (usually after the ding; I dawdle still if no ding yet).
As someone who takes card payments at work several times a week; if you tap to pay, I’m not letting you leave until the machine processes the transaction and I will call you back if you start to walk off. 99% of the time it will approve, but there’s always the 1% where it could decline (because of SCA, or another reason), or could be Void due to our machine losing its signal.
It just seems a mixture of politeness and common-sense to me. Does it really save that much time walking straight away? Also, if paying by cash, would you throw the exact change down and walk away before it’s all been counted?
When I worked in retail I used to hate it when you held your hand out to take their money and they pushed it to one side to place each coin onto the counter.
They then stand back and watch while you awkwardly try and pick each one up.
In my experience the machine will say ‘Declined’ or ‘Please insert card’.
What it won’t do is show anything that could be mistaken for a successful transaction. So I’d call your situation user error by the person who served you because they haven’t waited, they just assumed the transaction will complete.
As the customer, I’ve had lots of shop staff say “thankyou” to me as soon as they hear the beep and then get ready for the next customer or otherwise faff around not looking at whether the transaction is OK or not - I always wait for the terminal to say “Approved” before nodding and retreating with my lunch/goods.
I think quite a lot of retail staff are unaware that contactless can fail?
And sadly yes, Monzo will at the moment have a higher percentage from IIRC implementing these max-consecutive-spend contactless directives earliest. So are we gonna get back to shops having “No Monzo” signs?
I would hope shops take this as an incentive to improve staff training rather than banning Monzo. Not least because it’s not strictly a Monzo or even an SCA problem - any card transaction could be rejected or otherwise fail for a number of reasons.
