Popped into Austin Reed at Sheffield Meadowhall on Friday evening for a spot of retail therapy and tried to buy a Gant designer polo shirt reduced from £60.00 to just £25.00.
My kind of price -Ed.
Unfortunately for me, the assistant - a nice lady who who was from Newcastle in Australia - told me the shirt had been stickered wrongly, after I queried why 60 quid had come up on on the Chip & PIN terminal.
After a bit of discussion, I decided against making the purchase and removed the card from the terminal, only to be amazed when the manager showed me the transaction had gone through on my debit card.
"Sorry about that. We've been a bit busy in the sales and I think head office has lowered the limit for which transactions have to be verified with a PIN," he said.
So there you have it folks - Chip & PIN, but without the need for a PIN. It seems that transactions can go through without the need for a silly old PIN.
Or signature.
Anyway, the manager - who was very helpful - gave me a refund to my card, and I've really no beef against him or his assistant (they were very pleasant throughout the whole event).
As I've said before: Chip and PIN SUCKS.
I can now confirm that sentiment in spades...
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