Card payment disruptions continue: Aldi and Edeka are also affected

Created: 05/27/2022, 14:56

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

In many cases, customers have not been able to pay with the card nationwide in supermarkets, gas stations, bakeries or other retailers since Tuesday.

© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa

There have been problems with card payments in retail since Tuesday.

The nationwide disruptions continued on Friday.

Now the provider is also expressing itself.

Update from May 27, 2:53 p.m .:

In German retail, customers must continue to expect restrictions when making cashless payments.

The disruption in Verifone H5000 payment terminals, which affects all network operators, is ongoing, the payment service provider Concardis announced on Friday in Eschborn.

The manufacturer Verifone is working flat out on a solution.

The retailers Aldi-Nord and Edeka also confirmed that the problem caused by a software error on Tuesday evening persists.

Massive disruptions to card payments - provider dampens hope for a quick solution: "It will take time"

First report from May 27, 8:52 a.m.:

The sometimes massive disruptions in payment transactions by EC or credit card could apparently not yet be resolved (as of Friday, 9:00 a.m.).

In many cases, customers have not been able to pay with the card nationwide in supermarkets, gas stations, bakeries or other retailers since Tuesday.

Card payment disruption: Certain card readers affected – update announced

According to current knowledge, the fault originates from the Verifone H5000 card payment terminal.

The US company first commented on the problems on Thursday and announced a solution.

"We will shortly provide a software update for our customers to fix the problem and will inform our customers as soon as this is available," said a spokesman for Verifone Germany.

According to the information, the terminal type H5000 is mainly used in Germany.

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issue with the highest priority.

According to the payment service provider Payone, the cause of the disruption is a certificate error within certain versions of the software provided by Verifone.

The payment service provider does not expect that the announced software update can be implemented quickly because - according to previous information - manual intervention at the terminals is necessary.

"This complex process can therefore not be carried out ad hoc in the area, but will take a long time," it said.

We want to support our customers with this.

A spokesman for the financial service provider Concardis made a similar statement: “We are trying to support the retailers affected as much as possible, for example by exchanging terminals where possible”.

also read

Suspension of the Hartz IV sanctions decided in the Bundestag: "Those who work hard will be stupid in the future"

Disruptions in card payments continue – masses of terminals are failing nationwide

Our free business newsletter provides you with all relevant business news on a regular basis.

Click here for registration. 

Card payment disruption: These supermarkets are affected

In some retail stores, card payment is currently not an option due to the bug.

The discounter Aldi Nord, for example, announced on Wednesday that card payments were not possible in some branches or elsewhere in retail due to the disruption.

"Our provider is still working flat out on a solution," it said on Thursday about the current status.

The drugstore chain Rossmann and Edeka also reported problems on Wednesday.

According to their own statement, Aldi Süd, Lidl and the Rewe Group, i.e. the markets of Rewe, Penny and the Toom Baumarkt, are not affected.

The German Retail Association (HDE) had emphasized that companies depend on the smooth running of the payment processes.

The Federal Association of Electronic Cash Network Operators (BECN) pointed out that the cause of the disruption was not one of the network operators or the cards used, but only affected the specific terminal type.

"The cause of the malfunction has now been identified by the manufacturer.

The terminal manufacturer is currently working on being able to initiate measures to rectify the error," said the association's website.

The Federal Association of German Banks, representing the German banking industry, made it clear that the terminals in question are completely unavailable for all payment types, but that the corresponding type only accounts for a small proportion of all devices used in Germany.

"Network operators and technical service providers are working intensively on troubleshooting," it said.