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The contactless NFC payment for € 5 in toy shop Dracik was very straightforward
Dracik toy store
More confident now, I next went into Dracik, a toy shop with an impressive selection of Lego.
My purchase came to about € 5, so again the payment took a matter of seconds and required minimal effort on my part. Both cashiers knew what to do, instructing me with confidence when to place the device on the reader. Another NFC success story.
Having mastered the PIN-less, sub- € 20 method, I decided it was time to make a more extravagant purchase, all in the name of fully testing the application, of course. Following the list Visa had provided me with, I tried luxury cosmetics store L’ Occitane.
I took several pricey soaps and a soap dish to the counter and the cashier looked slightly sceptical when I motioned I would be paying with my Galaxy S III. I was also concerned – she spent several minutes wrapping my purchases in tissue paper, so if my payment failed it would be embarrassing, and I didn’ t know the Slovak for‘ sorry’.
DECLINED
My fears were confirmed: my payment for € 21 was declined. After two attempts, and making sure I was typing in the correct PIN, I decided to give up and walked out bashfully.
I then tried to top up my summer wardrobe with a blouse from clothing retailer Koton, also on Visa’ s list.
The transaction came to € 22 so I unlocked my phone, accessed the app, typed in my PIN number and waited for the cashier to give me the nod to place the device on the terminal. She did, but after several seconds of holding my phone to the terminal, my payment was declined.
Confusingly, the payment showed up on the app under a list of‘ recent transactions’, with no indication that it had been declined, so I worried I had been charged – Visa later told me I hadn’ t.
CASH AND CARD ONLY
Eager to successfully complete a transaction for more than € 20, I headed over to Gant, a shop which was on Visa’ s list that specialises in luxury towels, dressing gowns and pillowcases.
Having selected a particularly fancy pillowcase costing € 25, I headed to the counter only to be told the retailer does not accept contactless payments.
After a promising start, it became very hard to find a shop which would accept mobile payments for more than € 20.
“ After a promising start, it became very hard to find a shop which would process payments of over € 20”
30 Stores where NFC payments accepted in shopping centre
2 Stores where NFC payments were unsuccessful
2 Stores where NFC payments were successful
An Apple iPhone 5 with an i-card enabling it to be used at a contactless terminal
I made a final purchase – some treats for the office from chocolate shop Delikatess – before heading back to the hotel to write up my findings.
The store was on Visa’ s list and my payment of € 11 went smoothly enough, with the first attempt failing because I placed the device on the terminal too soon – users have to wait for the green light – but the second attempt was a success.
The trial was over for now, and I had made three successful purchases, had two payments declined and been turned away by one retailer.
Try, try again
Thankfully, I had been live-blogging the whole time on the Mobile News website – something Visa was only too aware of.
Clearly worried about what I was writing, I was contacted by a member of the Visa team who was keen to find out why I was having problems.
I was called back to Eurovea to meet three members of the Visa team and together we visited L’ Occitane and Koton – the two shops where my payments were declined.
Our attempt to purchase a top for € 35 in Koton failed, making me very unpopular with store staff and the sneering customers behind. So Visa tried a sub- € 20 transaction, which immediately worked. The company said this probably meant the terminal was not
Bratislava shopping centre Eurovea has 30 NFC-accepting stores, according to Visa Europe. Inset, the Mobile News live blog a Tatra banka one but belonged to a rival bank which didn’ t offer unlimited contactless payments.
Concerns
Unfortunately, there is no way for a customer – or cashiers – to tell which terminals are compatible with the Tatra banka / O2 SIM, which can make shopping a bit of a guessing game.
The Visa team accompanied me to L’ Occitane so we could test their theory. While payments of over € 20 were declined, the app worked perfectly when purchasing a cheaper item. If only there was a way of knowing which terminals are Tatra banka ones, customers and store staff could be spared this‘ trial and error’ method of payment. Not knowing where I could spend the money, and how much I could spend, was a turn-off.
Conclusion
Visa Europe raised my expectations by describing Slovakia as its“ showcase market”, which is why I was so disappointed by the limited number of shops where I could make full use of the application.
This is nothing to do with the technology – which, as far as I could tell, is flawless – or the application, which was very easy to use.
It goes back to what Tatra banka said about more banks embracing NFC, which will mean more contactless terminals. Only around 30 shops inside Eurovea were capable of taking contactless payments according to the literature from Visa, and of those only 10 had Tatra terminals and so could accept mobile payments of above € 20.
This wouldn’ t necessarily have been a problem if all the shops which offered contactless payments had advertised the fact. Instead, as a shopper I had to ask staff whether they accepted NFC, or linger next to the counter and try to get a look at the terminal to see if it had the contactless symbol.
Once NFC takes off in the UK and my favourite retailers have compatible terminals – and Apple launches an NFC-enabled iPhone – I will start using it. Paying for lunch would be so much quicker, and I am a huge fan of the fact you can view your most recent transactions on the app and keep track of your spending.
But this is still a long way off, and even“ hero market” Slovakia isn’ t there yet.
MN 2013-0730 NFC Bratislava. indd 34 24 / 07 / 2013 17:01