Shopped at WalMart? Check your credit card account.
 

For a change, the self-checkout lines were operating this morning at 27/441 WalMart so Mrs Fox and I sallied forth. All went smoothly until, once Mrs Fox had entered her PIN, the "Authorising" circle just kept on spinning. Other check-outs soon joined us and the place was in chaos, with no assistants to be found. Finally one turned up, told us the system had crashed and that we could re-scan our items on the one machine that was still up and running, without fear of being charged twice. I verified this fact with the Customer Service desk and Mrs Fox triple-checked with "Destiny" on the way out. I think you can guess the rest.

I wonder why the Walmart supercenter does not have the tap capability..

Even our tiny community run village shop has tap and go here in UK.
Can't think of anywhere here that does not have it.
I use my cell for nearly all payments. I only need card for payment over £100.

Regarding self check out, my wife and I avoid it like the plague.
Nothing but trouble 75% of the time.

Always Check Your Statements
 

I make it a habit to always check my statements. I have been double charged two times at different restaurants, which would have cost $150 had I not checked.

In another instance, I discovered a charge for a car wash that was dated the same day that a hurricane hit TV. I had been to the car wash a few weeks prior, guess someone there got bored and decided to make a little extra money.

Bottom line is that errors and fraud are common, and simply checking you statement can save you some significant costs. It's been worth the effort for me.

I think WalMart has also had problems with skimmers being put on the self-checkout machines. They are meant to be quite noticeable (in terms of additional size) but how many of us check or would know what to look for? Not having to enter your PIN would certainly help.

I also wonder why the largest retailer in the country doesn't offer the latest and most secure method to pay by credit card, the "tap to pay" system. And, why do restaurants still take your credit card into another room to process a payment? Why don't the banks require merchants to use safer payment systems?

You can download an app for every credit card you use that will alert you whenever a charge is made on your card...

The way of future. Electronic failures.

In our experience, WalMart's self-checkouts have gone through three phases:

1) totally unusable, needing assistance every time;
2) actually quite good, and useful for avoiding the lines; and now
3) closed or breaking down more often than they are working.

Walmart has their own banking. Probably they don’t want let others in? Just guessing?

That why I never give my CC to waiter that go behind closed door (out of site) after all waiters not making 6 figures so sometimes temptation worth getting caught. Maybe you check, but next 9 maybe not?

Walmart partners with banks to provide banking services, but Walmart is not a bank. I don't understand how they would benefit by allowing less secure transactions at their stores.

Walton family owns Arvest Bank. Not less but preferred. Just like citizens around here.

So, how does Walmart benefit by not allowing "tap to pay"?

Perhaps...
- the use of Walmart-wallet/Walmart-pay is somehow advantageous to Walmart
- Apple-pay has a fee over and above the attached credit card fee

I'm not sure that either of those are true but they sound right.

Walmart has their own mobile pay. As I understand it, you establish a Walmart account, you scan each item as you place it in your cart and it is debited from your Walmart account… not for me. Although it means I must carry a physical card not just my phone as I do with other retail purchases.

I certainly understand your frustration, but why are you entering a PIN? I hope you are not using a debit card, which is not safe at all.

Because they want to push people to use Walmart Pay through their phone app. I use it and I like it especially when buying gas. You also don't have to worry about losing a receipt.

But I can understand why some prefer the tap which every other retailer has.

That's great. I only thought Sam's club had Scan and Go.
"https://www.walmart.com/cp/scan-go/9679980"

Tap to pay
 

Yes of course Walmart has “tap to pay” option.

I use it every time I go shopping at Walmart and I always use the self checkout Think the system works great

Not all Walmarts have tap to pay.

A lot of retailers do not have tap to pay.

Yes, you are correct. My bad.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Oh boy doesn’t sound good!

Strangely, although Mrs Fox received two "usage" notifications from her credit card provider, only one charge has actually gone through the account to date, so maybe AI has caught the duplication.

WalMart customer service has advised that if she goes back to the store they can scan her credit card and see all of her WalMart purchases, then credit her if there is a duplication. Of course, they may just slip through a triplication instead...

Ohiobuckeye
 

Don’t understand why don’t Walmart just disable that self check out or pull the plug, instead letting customers waste time messing around? It just seems like Walmart is too lazy to dismantle it out or take 30 sec. out & put a sign on it saying, “Out of Order”!

They don’t pay you to check out yourself, all about labor costs, but they should….IMO of course :0000000000luvmyhors

Don't disagree with any of the comments, however, how many of us also consider the multiple aspects of these types of situations. The theft in Walmarts is so obvious. I do always report it when I observe it, but I am sure it's an overwhelming challenge for retailers. Then there are the people who hold items over the scanner at the self check-out with a piece of paper on their finger (from home) they bring with them with a lower price. The self checkout invited even more "inventive" theft; but it was a double edged sword. People were tired of long lines and few open check outs. Then Covid came along and it was impossible to get more help, so that accelerated the trend to self checkouts. It's a complicated situation in my view point, and personally I don't think the wide spread acceptance of A.I. is going to ameliorate the situation in the future ! All we can do is check every receipt and subsequent statement !

Every time I go to leave Sam's I am stopped by a person who selects a few items at random from my cart and checks that they are on my receipt. Not perfect, but I'm sure they catch (or dissuade) a lot of theft with this one simple check.

Ohiobuckeye
 

That’s a good way of putting it, good answer!

We have been using credit cards for years and years. Recent years receiving cash back for using them. Just a couple of times there were charges not ours for one reason or another but never lost a dime as my card made it good. I
can’t figure why people get all “stressed out” over such things. Just to note - we use our cards for everything possible and pay them off each month. When we take our rewards for using their money for a month it’s like going to Dairy Queen for a free blizzard only better. Oh, as far as Walmart never had an issue.