Taxi driver - Inputted CC details into his phone

rpg

I got a taxi on Saturday night. Total came to €22.05 according to receipt, and he charged me €24 as I had to pay by credit card - although after reviewing the receipt, his supposed 4% surcharge turned out to be closer to 10%. However, that's not what I'm complaining about.

When I handed him my card, he proceeded to input the number manually into some app on his smartphone. The numbers were asterisked out as he entered them, and then he input both the expiry date and CCV. He then seemed to 'submit details' or something along those lines.

Whole thing felt very shady, and I just had to ask for a receipt to keep some trace of the trip/transaction.

Woeful driver too, and car was in an absolute state. Add a K to the end of the company name and it's 100% apt.

Anyone familiar with this payment 'method' in taxis? Will go out of my way to go to an ATM in future if it's commonplace.

Kensington

If you're in a Hailo area and want to use a card to pay for your taxi, I'd just use Hailo. No handover of CC details, you set your card up on Hailo and it's all done by them.

markpb

If he's a Hailo driver, he can use the app to process your credit card payment without a normal POS and without you being a Hailo customer. There's another app which works in the same way but I can't remember the name right now. Basically it's a cheaper way for drivers to take card payments because normal card terminals attract a monthly rental fee. More than likely it was perfectly legit.

regress

Could you not just have enough cash with you to pay the taxi. Had to wait for five mins earlier while woman in front of me was paying €12 purchase by card. Just go to an ATM occasionally, get some money out and use it for things like paying for taxis. Don't assume all taxi drivers are technologically literate enough to deal with your refusal to use cash.

Mezcita

regress wrote: »

Could you not just have enough cash with you to pay the taxi. Had to wait for five mins earlier while woman in front of me was paying €12 purchase by card. Just go to an ATM occasionally, get some money out and use it for things like paying for taxis. Don't assume all taxi drivers are technologically literate enough to deal with your refusal to use cash.

Feck that. It's the 21st century so if people want to pay by card it's totally up to them. People are also liable for ATM fees for withdrawing cash these days.

markpb

regress wrote: »

Could you not just have enough cash with you to pay the taxi. Had to wait for five mins earlier while woman in front of me was paying €12 purchase by card. Just go to an ATM occasionally, get some money out and use it for things like paying for taxis.

Five minutes? You're not exaggerating by any chance, are you? People can be equally slow paying by cash when they have to fish through their wallet to find money, count out change, wait for change, etc.

mikemac1

+1 for Hailo

No messing with cash and waiting while the driver takes aaaaaaaages to get your change in the hope you'll say keep it.

Just register your card with them and it's done

regress

markpb wrote: »

Five minutes? You're not exaggerating by any chance, , etc.

Not exaggerating. She took ages to get it in the right way, then couldn't remember correct pin for card she was using. Then had to use a different card because she was locked out for using incorrect pin three times so had to use a different credit card. Long queue by the time she was done. All for €12

I know some people that no longer carry cash and find it annoying sometimes. I had a guy who wanted to pay me €20 he owed me by card a few weeks ago.

For ****s sake. Carry a few euros with you. We ate not yet a cashless society.

Does Hailo mean you don't have to tip?

markpb

Nope, Hailo still allows you to tip if you want to.

As for cashless, the only places left that I pay by cash are in bars on busy nights. Absolutely everything else gets paid by card. Taxis used to be the other exception but Hailo fixed that.

The example you gave just shows that slow people are slow, it had nothing to do with her paying by card.

bk

Yup Hailo is the best thing since sliced pan and is fantastic for quickly paying, even much faster then paying by cash. When a taxi arrives at the destination, I don't have to go routing for cash and wait for change, I just say thanks to the driver and jump out and it is all paid for *, brilliant.

* The driver enters the fare amount in the Hailo driver app and it automatically charges me and I get a receipt on my phone within a few seconds, but I don't wait for the driver to do this, I just assume they are honest about it and check the receipt afterwards.

I wish more bars and shops would introduce those contactless card reader machines, so I could go totally cashless.

coylemj

And with Hailo, the e-mail receipt includes a trip reference number so if you left something in the taxi, you are far more likely to get it back because there is a log of your journey and you can report lost property direct from the app.

SteM

regress wrote: »

Not exaggerating. She took ages to get it in the right way, then couldn't remember correct pin for card she was using. Then had to use a different card because she was locked out for using incorrect pin three times so had to use a different credit card. Long queue by the time she was done. All for €12

The person stuck behind her at the ATM would have had the exact same problem you had. You're just moving the issue of a slow person away from you

cson

The likes of Hailo and contact less t/a's are the way forward imo. Cashless society ftw! :pac:

dowlingm

cson wrote: »

The likes of Hailo and contact less t/a's are the way forward imo. Cashless society ftw! :pac:

Society might get more cashless, with fewer incentives for theft of wallets etc, if it wasn't for the incredibly stupid and regressive tax on credit/debit cards.

Patrick2010

Mezcita wrote: »

Feck that. It's the 21st century so if people want to pay by card it's totally up to them. People are also liable for ATM fees for withdrawing cash these days.

As opposed to the 4% charge they apparently have to pay for taxi if paying by card?.

Would you buy a newspaper, packet of chewing gum etc with a card?.

Whats wrong with carrying some cash, its a pain getting stuck behind someone who has only a couple of items and wants to use a card.

Card usually gets taken out only when items are rung through, cue fish in wallet/purse for card, put in pin and wait for the machine to think about it.
Then the interminable wait before card is safely packed away.

markpb

Patrick2010 wrote: »

As opposed to the 4% charge they apparently have to pay for taxi if paying by card?

If you're talking about Hailo, the driver pays the charge, not the customer.

Would you buy a newspaper, packet of chewing gum etc with a card?

With a contactless, pin-less debit card, yep. Why not? I've bought a litre of milk by card before.

Whats wrong with carrying some cash, its a pain getting stuck behind someone who has only a couple of items and wants to use a card.

I don't want to because it makes me more likely to buy discretionary items and it makes it harder for me to track my spending. Also if i want to buy something, I don't have to find an ATM first. A person paying by contactless debit card is likely to be just as quick as someone either fishing out change or waiting for a cashier to get change. Slow people are slow people, whether they're paying by cash or card.

bk

Patrick2010 wrote: »

Would you buy a newspaper, packet of chewing gum etc with a card?.

Yes, that is the whole purpose of the new contactless debit cards. They allow for contactless payments without the need to enter a pin for transactions up to €15

It is very convenient and fast. Certainly faster then routing for change and waiting for it to be counted and change given.

Losty Dublin

bk wrote: »

Yes, that is the whole purpose of the new contactless debit cards. They allow for contactless payments without the need to enter a pin for transactions up to €15

It is very convenient and fast. Certainly faster then routing for change and waiting for it to be counted and change given.

OT point but I wish that more retailers would accept contactless cards. They are so handy.

Del2005

Patrick2010 wrote: »

As opposed to the 4% charge they apparently have to pay for taxi if paying by card?.

Would you buy a newspaper, packet of chewing gum etc with a card?.

Whats wrong with carrying some cash, its a pain getting stuck behind someone who has only a couple of items and wants to use a card.

Card usually gets taken out only when items are rung through, cue fish in wallet/purse for card, put in pin and wait for the machine to think about it.
Then the interminable wait before card is safely packed away.

You mean like the people who while giving out to the bus driver that they've been waiting xx minutes at the bus stop saying "where the ^£*$ where you" and then act all surprised when asked for €2.80* for the fare and only then start looking in their wallet, then purse, then pockets, then socks, then find some coppers in their jacket have another look in their purse to eventually count in out in 1c or 2c coins.

Technology isn't the issue it's people. If you make something idiot proof, somone will just make a better idiot.


* I've no idea what DB cash fares are.

GreeBo

regress wrote: »

For ****s sake. Carry a few euros with you. We ate not yet a cashless society.

Probably because people like you still pay for things in cash?

Patrick2010

Interesting thread, I genuinely wasn't aware of contactless cards when I posted. So these can be used anywhere?

markpb

Not yet, they're only being issued by the major banks (except Ulster Bank) now. Most people will have them by the end of the summer but only a handful of shops can accept them right now. They're getting there though.

AIB have a short description here if you want to read more.

Spook_ie

Re contactless payments...

Don't you have to pay charges for them, no one normally charges for cash in a shop

What are the charges for Contactless?
A: The account transaction fee of 0.20c is being waived for all Contactless transactions from launch until 29/11/2013. However, for non-euro Contactless transactions the Point of Sale Currency Conversion Fee of 1.75% of euro value Min EUR0.45 - Max EUR11.00 applies.

from aib faq

markpb wrote: »

I<snipped>

With a contactless, pin-less debit card, yep. Why not? I've bought a litre of milk by card before.



I don't want to because it makes me more likely to buy discretionary items and it makes it harder for me to track my spending. Also if i want to buy something, I don't have to find an ATM first. A person paying by contactless debit card is likely to be just as quick as someone either fishing out change or waiting for a cashier to get change. Slow people are slow people, whether they're paying by cash or card.

So some people would rather pay an extra 20c on a litre of milk rather than carry a €1 coin... no wonder the economy is ****ed up

GreeBo wrote: »

Probably because people like you still pay for things in cash?

Until someone comes up with a better way to spend your own money without paying for the privilege then long may he continue to do so!

TheChrisD

Spook_ie wrote: »

So some people would rather pay an extra 20c on a litre of milk rather than carry a €1 coin... no wonder the economy is ****ed up

You can buy a litre of milk for €1? :eek:

Spook_ie

TheChrisD wrote: »

You can buy a litre of milk for €1? :eek:

No actually I pay around 79c in Supavalu, however you get the gist of it....paying circa 25% over the odds just to be "cool" and use a card, the old saying of a fool and his money comes to mind

AlekSmart

Spook_ie wrote: »

No actually I pay around 79c in Supavalu, however you get the gist of it....paying circa 25% over the odds just to be "cool" and use a card, the old saying of a fool and his money comes to mind

Have to agree with Spookie here....I've just about had it with the deference which this State is treating various banking institutions which have now been proven to be essentially Criminally inclined in how they conducted their business.

IF the State and the Banking Institutions want people to move to cashless transactions,then NO charges...at all...EVER...none of this introductory offer nonsense....we know that going electronic means substantial direct savings for the Banks,but also yet another very accurate means of tracking our lifestyle choices for marketing use....If I'm agreeing to this then that 20c per transaction charge is what I am levying on THEM.....capice ?