BoI inconsistent message on using contactless debit card

coylemj

Had intermittent problems tapping my BoI VISA debit card in November. I mainly use it in coffee shops and when making small (<€30) purchases in Dunnes and Lidl. It worked as contactless in some places, didn't work in others so I had to insert it in the machine.

Phoned the call centre a couple of weeks ago, told the guy that the card might be broken and would they send me a new one as the current card expires in 01/20 anyway. He said that there was a monetary limit on the sequence of contactless transactions (which cost 1c) before I was required to put the card into the machine (which costs 10c). So he suggested that I had spent up to the limit using contactless and to reset the clock, I had to do my next transaction by inserting the card into the machine.

I then used the card in a machine somewhere, it worked ok but it failed the next time I tried to do contactless so I rang them again and they had a different excuse this time....

Today, the guy in the call centre said that since Sept. 14th there is a limit of five consecutive contactless transactions (regardless of the aggregate monetary value) before you have to insert the card into the machine. I brought up my statement on the screen and was able to show him that I had 10 consecutive contactless transactions (with nothing in between) in November - the transactions are prefixed with 'POSC' where the 'C' indicates contactless.

He was stumped with this so I then pointed out that when I phoned a fortnight earlier, his colleague never mentioned a limit of five contactess transactions and in any event, the evidence (my account) was on the screen in front of him which showed that there was no such rule. He ordered me a new card.

dartboardio

coylemj wrote: »

Had intermittent problems tapping my BoI VISA debit card in November. I mainly use it in coffee shops and when making small (<€30) purchases in Dunnes and Lidl. It worked as contactless in some places, didn't work in others so I had to insert it in the machine.

Phoned the call centre a couple of weeks ago, told the guy that the card might be broken and would they send me a new one as the current card expires in 01/20 anyway. He said that there was a monetary limit on the sequence of contactless transactions (which cost 1c) before I was required to put the card into the machine (which costs 10c). So he suggested that I had spent up to the limit using contactless and to reset the clock, I had to do my next transaction by inserting the card into the machine.

I then used the card in a machine somewhere, it worked ok but it failed the next time I tried to do contactless so I rang them again and they had a different excuse this time....

Today, the guy in the call centre said that since Sept. 14th there is a limit of five consecutive contactless transactions (regardless of the aggregate monetary value) before you have to insert the card into the machine. I brought up my statement on the screen and was able to show him that I had 10 consecutive contactless transactions (with nothing in between) in November - the transactions are prefixed with 'POSC' where the 'C' indicates contactless.

He was stumped with this so I then pointed out that when I phoned a fortnight earlier, his colleague never mentioned a limit of five contactess transactions and in any event, the evidence (my account) was on the screen in front of him which showed that there was no such rule. He ordered me a new card.

This is a matter for BOI customer service complaints.

Delta2113

Move to EBS Money Manager and Revolut and take back control with FREE fees.

coylemj

Delta2113 wrote: »

Move to EBS Money Manager and Revolut and take back control with FREE fees.

I have an EBS money manager account, they're finally going contactless next June. I need to keep the BoI current account for reasons I won't discuss here so I use their contactless Visa card as it's only 1c in fees per tap. If the transaction is >€30 I use the EBS card in the machine to avoid the 10c BoI charge.

Phoebas

coylemj wrote: »

Today, the guy in the call centre said that since Sept. 14th there is a limit of five consecutive contactless transactions (regardless of the aggregate monetary value) before you have to insert the card into the machine. I brought up my statement on the screen and was able to show him that I had 10 consecutive contactless transactions (with nothing in between) in November - the transactions are prefixed with 'POSC' where the 'C' indicates contactless.

I think that was brought in with PSD2, although given BoI's IT infrastructure, it's no surprise if it's not being applied correctly.

coylemj

Phoebas wrote: »

I think that was brought in with PSD2, although given BoI's IT infrastructure, it's no surprise if it's not being applied correctly.

+1 Below is from Elavon on PSD2, they provide payment services and POS machines to lots of Irish retailers, chances are that you've tapped your card on one of their machines recently ........

Contactless transactions

The convenience of contactless ‘tap and go’ transactions will continue, however the new regulations place upper limits on the amount of taps or cumulative transaction amounts that can occur before the cardholder’s bank is required to challenge and authenticate the cardholder.

Cardholders can continue to make contactless purchases under €50 until they make either 5 consecutive contactless transactions without providing authentication or the total value of unauthenticated transactions exceeds €150. These are the upper limits set by the regulators. Banks can choose to implement stricter controls if they consider the transaction a high risk or your national regulator might enforce lower limits.

https://www.elavon.ie/perspectives/psd2-guide1.html