Using Monzo everywhere: improving merchant acceptance

I flew on Norwegian Airlines yesterday and my card would not work via mag stripe but did work if he keyed in the number. On my return flight today it again failed in mag stripe but she wouldn’t key it, she said Monzo cards (which they see often) are always having problems. I am not sure if it is my card as the strip looks a bit worn but not too bad.

ISTR you have to enable mag stripe transactions in app before they will work, and that doing so only lasts for 24 hours.

That is for Mag Stripe ATM transactions specifically. Not POS transactions.

2 Likes

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the clarification.

There was actually a discussion around this and @Louis.cox first said that some offline payments might need magstripe enabled but he clarified this later…

@Acdeag you might wanna send a DM to @Louis.cox or report on chat.

1 Like

Hey everyone!

VERY pleased to announce that Thames Water’s data validation partners have (finally) fixed the issue! :tada:

I want to apologise for how long this has taken - many customers have been unable to set up a Direct Debit for well over a year. Work-arounds like blocking JavaScript, although impressive, shouldn’t be necessary. I am sorry this has taken so long to resolve.

I would also like to apologise for the radio silence on the forum - we have been super busy in the payments team over the past few months - scaling operations and joining new schemes!

In terms of Merchant Acceptance, we are still tracking and investigating issues, but we have let the updates slip :disappointed:

Please keep reporting issues you come across to customer support in the app, and send through as much evidence as you can - it really helps!

Thanks :hot_coral_heart:

22 Likes

Great news! :tada: Thanks for the update.

In related news…

… new schemes, you say? :thinking:

Tell us more! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: (If you can and are able, obvs!)

2 Likes

PayPoint counts as a new scheme - but we’re off topic now! :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes

My Monzo wouldn’t work when trying to buy a PAYG phone from Vodafone, I can’t remember the error but it was definitely something generic like ‘something went wrong’ I tried amending everything but eventually it went through when using a different card.

1 Like

In-store or online? I recently topped up a Vodafone Pay and Go online with Starling Bank (so not even 3D-Secure so worse compared to Monzo from Voda’s perspective) and it was perfectly fine.

This was online for a PAYG phone with a £10 top-up in one transaction.

ShopDirect (Very and Littlewoods) still don’t recognise the Monzo sort code as being a current account so refuse it on the grounds of it being a savings account :weary:

5 Likes

Last time I checked, Vodafone still doesn’t like Monzo’s cards when signing up to any of their plans.

I couldn’t use my Monzo card on admiral.com to buy car insurance recently. Their website just refused to accept the card with no message in the Monzo app

1 Like

So, unsure if this is the right topic but got a new contract with EE a couple days ago.

They wanted my card number for a credit check & bank details for a DD to be setup. Bank details were OK for the DD and that’s been setup in my app, however, on the phone the woman said the system didn’t like the Monzo card and was rejecting it. She asked me if I had another card (which I did - Nationwide) and that worked flawlessly.

When she said the system was rejecting the Monzo card, I had a notification in my app for an auth charge from EE, so really unsure what that was about. Anyone had similar?

I don’t understand how this long after Monzo’s been a full current account that companies still aren’t accepting it. Shows BACS have no real power or deterrent to make them update their systems

1 Like

The weird credit check or whatever they’re doing is outside of BACS’ scope. In fact I’m not even sure what they’re trying to achieve with that - clearly it doesn’t even prove the card is linked to the account used for Direct Debits as @tbowditch used his NW card to “verify” a direct debit on his Monzo account.

3 Likes

I set up a contract with EE a couple of weeks ago and all went through fine! I did do it online though.

1 Like

Correct - this is the bit I didn’t really understand! What’s the point even asking for my Monzo card then if you’re going to allow me to setup a DD elsewhere?

Interesting - maybe different systems? This was all over the phone for about 15-20 mins and her mostly exact words were “the system is not letting my proceed because of a ‘card error’, let me put you on hold a second” … “ok, let me verify your card details. (they were fine, still didnt work” … “do you have a different card you could use?” … “that worked!”

1 Like

I think the card check is a check by itself and doesn’t have to match the DD

https://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk/help/faqs#panel_faq_12