A Bloomberg report on Tuesday claims two-thirds of Apple Pay users are experiencing issues with the system at checkout. The report uses data from a survey published this week by Phoenix Marketing International.
The survey of about 3,000 people, obtained by Bloomberg, noted that 66 percent of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners — the only ones who can use Apple Pay at retail, until the Apple Watch ships on April 24 — have signed up for the service so far. Almost half of that group, however, is said to have visited a store listed as an Apple Pay partner but discovered that the location wasn’t accepting the platform, at least at the time.
Of the group that said they had experienced issues, 48 percent said it took too long to process a transaction, while 43 percent said the cashier wasn’t familiar with the technology. Others complained of transaction being incorrect, or having been run twice.
Bloomberg reports that a separate survey performed by Citi Research showed similar numbers.
Most of these issues appear to be merchant-related. While merchants are required to upgrade their terminals to support NFC payments, (the technology used by Apple Pay), and EMV chip technology by October, only one-third had done so by the end of 2014. Bloomberg projects that only one half of them will have converted by the end of 2015.
Other issues look to be training related, with merchants not properly preparing their employees for Apple Pay, and perhaps also caused by customers’ lack of experience with Apple Pay.
Still, Apple Pay users are proving eager to use their iPhones to pay for goods and services. Bank of America Corp. reports more than 800,000 of their customers have loaded 1.1 million cards into Apple Pay, while JP Morgan Chase & Co. reports “good growth” in the number of its cards that have been loaded, particularly among its younger, higher income clientele.
Visa Inc. says that 43 of its member banks, responsible for 75 percent of the volume on its U.S. network, have enrolled in the system.
“People are seeking out places to use Apple Pay,” said Bill Gajda, head of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa, at an investor conference. “We like the uptake particularly given the acceptance gap.”
I’ve used Apple Pay a number of times at local merchants, and haven’t experienced any issues as mentioned in the above reports, other than that of Apple Pay simply not being available at many retailers. How about you? Have you had any issues using Apple Pay? If so, please share your experiences in the comments section below.
