This is No Ordinary Contactless Card Reader…. this is an M&S Contactless Card Reader!

Good old Marks and Spencer, Marks and Sparks, M&S.  It has been around since 1884, and is now probably the most trusted retail brand in the UK; as British as the rose, as reliable as death and taxes.  They are known for their ethical trading values, and run a  'shwopping' scheme to encourage customers to recycle their old clothes and raise money for Oxfam.

Recent TV advertising campaigns have featured such British icons as Joanna Lumley, Twiggy, Nicola Adams, D’Arcy Bussell, Dame Helen Mirren and Tracey Emin. Hang on a minute: Twiggy, Joanna Lumley and Dame Helen Mirren, and even Nicola Adams, the Olympic boxer, I can understand, but Tracey Emin? Really? M&S, what were you thinking? Much as I admire Turner Prize winning artist Tracey, I’m not sure she is ideal M&S marketing material.  Surely she is more unmade bed than good quality, robust control pants.

But I digress. This posting is supposed to be about contactless card security issues. Home of the no-questions-asked-money back guarantee, 'Your M&S' wouldn’t take payments off their loyal customers’ cards without permission, would they? Hard to believe, I know, but in recent months I have read reports of exactly that happening.  Two irate customers reported to Radio 4’s MoneyBox  programme that their contactless cards were debited as they stood at the till preparing to make a traditional style chip&PIN payment with a normal debit or credit card.  The contactless cards were apparently debited even though they remained in the customers’ wallet and were more than a foot away from the contactless readers.

Both customer and shop assistant were confused.  I am a bit confused too.  Surely, once the contactless card had been debited, that would be the end of the transaction: but apparently in some cases, the customers actually paid twice. Could there be more customers out there who have unwittingly paid double?

According to a Marks and Spencer spokesman each reported case has been investigated and where double payments have been made, customers have been refunded.  Apparently M&S is the leading user of the contactless payment system in the UK, with the contactless card readers now installed in all 644 of its UK stores, and with nearly a quarter of a million contactless transactions taking place per week.

Hmm, I wonder how many of those transactions were unintentional! Thank God my bank has not yet issued me with a contactless debit card, as I am a frequent visitor to my local M&S, and a big fan of their control pants.