Originally Posted by
reclusive46
Good news for any chip and signature or magstripe users that go to the UK, some retailers are now turning off signature support on their self service machines and processing any signature transaction as No cardholder verification. I used an Amex gift card (That is swipe and sign) that I got for my birthday today and I didn't have to sign at Waitrose, Sainsburys, Tesco or Boots self service machines, they all processed as NO CVM. This has changed recently as a few months ago I had a temporary swipe and sign card and had to sign at atleast two of those locations.
I wonder if the Boots, Waitrose and Tesco change is because they all just started taking Discover/Diners Club and 99% of them are swipe cards.
Question about UK self checkouts, I've noticed that they're the same NCR self checkout machines most retailers use here in the United States- with the exception of the PIN pad.
On UK self checkouts there is a magnetic stripe reader both on the PIN pad and on the side of the screen itself. Which MSR are you supposed to use when using a magnetic stripe card? Here in the US, the only MSR, is the one on the PIN pad.
Why would there be two MSRs to begin with? One would think even gift and loyalty would go through the PIN pad MSR, like they do here in the US. In the US, you enter your loyalty information on the credit card terminal, even if you were paying cash. Is it different in the UK?
On a side note, why are card machines so ugly in other countries while in the U.S., they seem to have beautiful color LCDs with a number of flashing lights? Is this because our equipment is newer as we are just getting EMV? Take even Walmart in the US, and Asda-Walmart in UK, here in the US, there's generally either an MX860, or MX915 that look like small iPads, while in the UK, a wimpy two line monochrome LCD on an old Ingenico.