I don't think it's worth your fight to try to change the store. Personally, I never use the debit card unless absolutely needed like at the ATM machine. I don't want anyone wiping out my bank account. We've had our credit card numbers hijacked at least three or four times. Getting a credit card replacement after that is hassle enough even though the cc company is easy to work with.

We have some stores that haven't installed the chip reader yet and we have to slide our credit card instead of insert it into the chip reader.

Do the new debit cards also have a chip? I thought it was just CC's?? Every place I go have the new machines but Food Lion is the only place I've run into this problem.

Before I leave, just wanted to add that I am willing to modify my behavior if it's just me being touchy about the whole grocery store thing. Or is this something the manager should be speaking with the company about getting it resolved? If so, I will continue to ask her to override the system.

If it's me, I can accept that. :)

I understand how irritating this process is getting for you so no you are not a PITA. But I agree with the others that if this is a technology based glitch, maybe your bank can help.

My bank of America debit/VISA card has a chip but my TD bank does not so I think the technology is changing now and is not across the board yet.

The only reason I would not get angry at the store is that they don't have a choice probably. However, rude employees would make me mad. By manually inputting your info, the store is making sure that it is a real card and not just a strip of false information.

Do a google search on skimming machines and watch some videos. It is very eye opening and will make you not want to use the swipe machines anymore.

Get a chip. In a nice way- you're being a stubborn luddite ;-)

Contact the manager's manger. This horrible service shouldn't go unreported.

If you're on Twitter, give an opinion about #foodlion.

adellabedella, it is easy to request an ATM only card, instead of the Debit/ATM the banks usually send. Debit cards do not have the protections of a credit card, so I don't want to carry one in my wallet.

moonie, if you don't have a card with a chip yet, I agree with the suggestion to request one be sent. Personally, to save the aggravation, after the first time I'd just have started paying cash until the chipped card came.

Moonie, here's the thing with technology - if you do the same thing repeatedly, you're going to get the same result or outcome each time. If on Monday the system rejects your card, it will do the same thing on Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. You've experienced the same thing over and over - if you want a different result, you need to do something different.

Get a different card from your bank, write a check, use a credit card, pay in cash - take your choice.

And yes, it would seem you are looking for things to grouse about for this store.

(PS - chips in cards, without PIN numbers as are being issued in the US for credit but not debit cards, protect the issuing bank ONLY from counterfeited mag strips. They provide no extra protection for the cardholder)

My Bank of America debit card has a chip. At first, i thought it was a pain to use, but now i've gotten used to it.

You're not being a pain. If the manager has to override it, and pretty soon all cards, credit and debit, will be chipped, it's a process they'll have to figure out how to have the system handle it, not have a manager override every transaction. That opens the door for huge errors like giving things away. Unintentionally.

My bigger gripe is, my grocery store now requires me to use it as debit. NO! I am not entering my number for all the world to see. Further, I want my signature on it, so if anything goes wrong, I can compare the signature. I sign it distinctively, and signed any other way makes it stand out. I'm just going to take out the cash from the machine until they make it compliant, which is likely to take months. I'll complain tomorrow and see what they say. I only found out in line last night that chip decides how your card will be used.

We use to use our credit card and had our information stolen at a major grocery store, Safeway. Also happened at Target, so we now pay cash for everything. They had a story on the news about several local ATMs having a skimmer that stole everyone's information, so we now go inside to get cash. It is getting crazy scary out there.

So much for "Safe"!

I use the credit card for the cash back benefits. (And the convenience of not having to carry enough cash to anticipate all purchases at all times - including auto repair and medical bills costing hundreds of dollars). But if skimmers at checkouts inside stores are becoming common then it will hardly be worth the risk for the small percentage of cash returned on purchases. Most of the merchants I use here still do not have the chip reading set up yet.

Skimmers on gas pumps are a multi-million dollar industry now. Thieves install those by showing up at 2AM or parking an SUV so it blocks the cashier's view. So I never swipe at gas pumps. If they won't let me pay inside using the card after I pump I pay cash instead.

You do have to wonder how the thieves were able to get them installed at the Safeway and Target registers without being seen. Vendors should set up cameras that are pointed at registers so identity thieves will be filmed when installing skimmers.

Ironically the credit card chips make it possible for onlookers and passers by to scan and steal credit card information, using scanners hidden in purses and bags.

Like biological parasites, thieves are everywhere - and will exploit every available niche that presents itself. Things aren't getting crazy, they always were.

You're not overreacting, the store manager isn't trying hard enough to solve your problem.

Something similar happened to me a few years ago but with my checks. Safeway's machine wouldn't clear them - and Safeway is one of those stores where you have a customer discount account card that is run through each time of purchase. Countless overrides, but with many apologies, and of course me holding up the line of customers. One of the checkers even went so far as to tell me he considered me 'family', and he was so sorry for my inconvenience. Hardly family, it was my second choice of stores and I only shopped there for the specials of those few items Haggen stores didn't stock ;0)

I asked for the corporate number where my issue could be addressed and called them myself. The problem was solved immediately and never happened again.

What I fail to grasp with this entire experience is...why didn't the store manager simply explain to you, Moonie, what all our nice KT members have put into words. That's what would annoy me. It wouldn't have taken much of her time to simply, nicely, explain that you needed a new bank card with a chip inside. Sigh. But...apparently she was too busy to be nice and to be a laudable representative of her employer. Too bad the store has a monopoly in your area.

>apparently she was too busy to be nice<

Probably overworked - or thinks she is. It's common to chain a manager to a store, who has to put in 60 hours a week to keep on top of it, and have most everything else done by a revolving cast of underpaid subordinates - who don't know and don't care ("A clerk is a jerk - talk to a manager" - David Horowitz).

At one branch store I worked at during the 1980s, when the boys from the home office would show up they pretty much talked only to the manager. And they set it up so the store alarm system was able to send alerts to the manager's house, some miles away. The front doors would move in the wind during storms and at other times ground-feeding songbirds would slip underneath them. Each time this happened it would set the alarm off and the manager would have to drive to the store and deal with it. So he was effectively on call 24/7.

1) The store manager is a jerk.

2) You are a luddite.

3) Pay in cash.

One of the checkers even went so far as to tell me he considered me 'family', and he was so sorry for my inconvenience. Hardly family, it was my second choice of stores and I only shopped there for the specials of those few items Haggen stores didn't stock ;0)

I asked for the corporate number where my issue could be addressed and called them myself. The problem was solved immediately and never happened again.

*****

That's like "my" Safeway! The people are SO nice, but there are far better choices in terms of newer, larger stores with better selection (esp. produce).

When we moved to our neighborhood, I shopped there almost exclusively, and they just gave me a VIP-like card with the manager's # to contact anytime I needed anything.

Personally, it's having to wait for a card-user who has these kinds of issues, and the time it takes to get them solved that seems to slow the progress of the check-out line these days due to the new chip readers. The worst is at Sam's Club where they have to do everything twice to complete a transaction with a card.

Cash works every time I try it at the grocery store, and any other store for that matter, therefore I use cash for all my purchases.

And yes, the manager is a jerk, and you have been more than benevolent and patient with their nasty attitude.

I'm not clear on what info you are being asked to enter manually. Is it requiring you to manually enter the CC number that is on the card? Or something else. I fail to see how manually requiring the CC card to be entered provides any additional measure of security. I guess it would guard against a re-programmed card with a skimmed number, where the thief didn't bother to write down the skimmed number.

Also I think the problem at Target wasn't that skimmers were installed at their stores, I think hackers somehow broke into Target's computer systems and remotely downloaded hacked code to all of Target's card scanners, this hacked code made the card scanners act like skimmers, but the thieves never had to enter any of the stores.

Anybody not willing and able to carry around thousands of dollars in cash has to use plastic (or checks etc.) for purchases in those amounts. This includes business people such as contractors who routinely act as banks for their customers, underwriting at least part of the cost of material for projects in progress.

>We use to use our credit card and had our information stolen at a major
grocery store, Safeway. Also happened at Target, so we now pay cash for
everything<

I read this as the poster saying that they had their own card skimmed at a Target register.

The US card system is having change pains as mag strips are dropped and a more secure but an inferior form of chip cards that the rest of the world has been using for the last 15 + years take their place. Retail jobs (including the supervisorial ones) are low paying and aren't staffed by any community's best and brightest, so that adds to the commotion. It'll settle down.

Cash payments? Well, everyone can have a preference. The worst for me is being in line behind someone who pays with singles instead of 10s or 5s, dimes instead of quarters and pennies instead of dimes and nickles. That's nothing if not inconsiderate and rude. A card payer's delay is caused by the store, different story.

I pay for everything with two credit cards, the bills are paid online once a month and all the details of my spending get downloaded into Quicken automatically. Nothing easier than that.

Embothrium, as for your suggestion that Target install cameras on their registers, try looking up in Target sometime. There's cameras over EACH register, and a lot of other places. This has been in place for a long, long time. You're over-reacting to rumors.

There are places that don't take cash so the assumption that cash is everything is simply not true. Example: Sam's Club gas. You cannot pay with cash there. Nor can you use checks, Travelers Checks, gold doubloons, diamonds, etc. People have this misconception that "cash" is the ideal payment and there's never a problem. Sadly, people don't realize there's counterfeiting going on all the time. That's why many places only take credit cards. To go back into business, I'd seriously consider it.

People that get all worked up should really try being in retail sometime. Go spend 8-12 hours a day listening to "The CUSTOMER is ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!" This business of go over the managers head, s/he's a jerk, etc. Fine, go over their head. Believe it or not, THEY DON'T CARE! And they shouldn't have to. They are there to do a job and enforce the COMPANY'S policies. Yelling at them get's you nowhere but on the example list that retail folks talk about at the bar later on. Hey, you should have been there for the jerk *I* had to deal with today!

Moonie, I too would like to know what the problem was, what you had to enter. I'm not going to say they're in the wrong nor will I say you're overreacting. There's frustration daily. I'd check with your bank as see if they could shed some light on the issue. Have you checked to see if others are using the same type of card and NOT having the issues you've experienced? I'd check on that too. It could be an issue with your card, it could be a store issue, it could be the way the moons line up on the third Thursday of the month. Wishing you luck with solving the problem.

Safeway, Target and (I forgot) Home Depot was hacked into and our cc information was stolen. We had to get new cards each time. PITA! No skimmers involved, though our bank did get some installed on their outside ATMs. Luckily we didn't use them that day.

It took awhile getting use to paying cash for everything except major bills. Now I always make sure I have enough cash before shopping and just stop at the bank if I don't. One big plus is we have really reduced our spending. It is so easy to charge things, but I think twice before paying with cash.

I'll be back later to respond to some questions you all posed, but wanted to say that I had no problem at the other Food Lion store, with the exact same equipment. The asst. manager told me it was the cashiers fault. Don't know if that's true or not.

The info I had to enter was CC#, exp, and the csc.

Thanks

Ok, What I really don't understand is why you have to manually input anything. I have cards with chips and without, have never run into a problem either way AND no one has ever ever had to input my info manually. The fact that you went to another store and had no issues raises even more concern. Theft in grocery stores is becoming really rampant and who's to say that specific store doesn't have a problem.

Call me paranoid but 2 years ago on a Saturday morning, I logged in online to pay some bills and do a routine account check. Not only was our checking account over drawn by 275.00, but our over draft protection was completely cleaned out as well. Within a matter of a few minutes the theives did 8-10 cash transactions of several hundred each at a liquor store in Detroit and cleaned us out of our account balance, my husband's paycheck, and the overdraft protection! The bank finally caught it but by that time it was too late. They used my ATM card to do it, which was still in my purse. We no longer use self serve check out as a result of a news report that was similar to the article below.

http://time.com/money/4151206/safeway-credit-debit-card-fraud-skimming/

That sounds like an awful experience, lukki.

When the dust settled, how much was your financial loss?

Both our debit and credit cards have had chips for years. I haven't had to swipe a card in, forever.

Whether the card is swiped, or has a chip, all we have to do is choose what account we want the money to be debited (chequing or savings) and then enter the PIN.

What do you mean you had to enter the information manually? What are they asking for?

One thing I did do, was when they introduced tap-and-go on our cards (both cc and debit) I went to the bank and disabled that feature. Just last week a friend of mine had lost her wallet and immediately she had purchases showing at liquor stores and convenience stores because she has the tap-and-go feature.

We just got notified by our local bank that they are going to chip cards as soon as our old cards expire. My daughter works at a restaurant and says they are the worst things, always have problems scanning them. She's not looking forward to using hers.

I just recently got a chipped debit card. At the last three stores I went to, I had to swipe my card because the chip reader was out of order. Pffffft Three different stores!

While I agree with the need for a new chipped card, my current card will expire in September. If I were to request another card now, it would still have the same expiration date leaving me to have to update all my information twice in a short period of time. However, before they send me a new card, I need to find out if the new Visa debit card would be chipped.

I don't want to use cash. The convenience of using a card is important to me. Nor do I want to be writing checks. Checks are no longer free with my bank and I'm happy to be done with check writing.

While on my way to the next town over today I thought how ridiculous it was to allow myself to get in such a huff over something so simple. It takes all of maybe 30 seconds to enter the information. And, usually I begin to plan my grocery shopping on Wednesday, loading store coupons onto my MVP card and making out my shopping list. Wednesdays are when I begin getting in a mood. Unhealthy, to say the least!

So, I was all ready to let it go. But, oh no... not a single problem using my card and I just had to bring the situation to the attention of the manager at the other store. Sounds like they need to be train the manager AND the cashiers at my local store!

Thank you, everyone. I need to start doing some meditation. :)

I agree with Lukki, that is highly suspicious to be manually entering all the credit card information. I would not do it. Think I have read that is a symptom of cc theft operations.

Snidley, we were very very lucky. We've banked at the same Credit Union since 2005 and we couldn't have asked for a better outcome. Not only did they treat us with the utmost care, but they had 100% of all the funds returned to our acct in less than 2 business days. They did ask us to file a police report though which we did immediately after leaving the branch. We were told with many banks it can take much longer. Needless to say, we love our Credit Union!

ETA: I've now got our account set up so that when the auto deposits go in, a bulk of the sum is immediately transfered to a sub account which isn't connected to the checking account at all. If it ever happens again, at least the thieves won't get very much.

That's a happy outcome, it's great that they responded so quickly. Don't give your credit union too much of a pat on the back, though, because federal law limits customer liability in such situations. In practice, most all financial institutions provide even better protection than the law requires.

This link to an FTC webpage summarizes the upper limits of risk

Credit and debit card loss limits

Here's some more information

Debit and credit card risk