At CVS today I bought some stuff (frozen pizza and coke cause it's homework time tonight), and as usual, I used my Visa check card to pay. Now even though this isn't an "actual" credit card, I earn rewards if I run it as credit instead of debit (no idea why, but I like rewards).
So as usual, I swiped the card and punched "Credit" to start the process, and then got the annoying "Enter your PIN" prompt. But I don't have to enter my PIN... because I want to run it as credit. The (secret) method to continue running the card as credit is to hit cancel or clear on this screen... and the cancel or clear button is someplace different in every store. Plus, how horrible is it to force the user to mentally re-map the cancel button to "Move forward in the process please?"
So my question is, is there some kind of credit card with a pin that I'm just ignorant of? Or is this just an oversight by the manufacturers of these terminals, who are not updating the task flow to accomodate users with cards like mine?
Going back to edit in this final note: I've seen less experienced card terminal users become absolutely flustered when this screen comes up. For a novice user that may have trouble adapting to unexpected steps in the task flow, this interruption is catastrophic -- especially when the instructions on how to complete the intended operation are unclear.
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4 years ago
3 comments:
If there is a credit card that requires a pin, I definitely don't know about it.
Thanks for the (secret) tip about how to proceed using the credit card without giving the system a pin. I didn't know that at all and probably would have asked a cashier for help. I would rather have someone that (hopefully) knows how to work the system find the cancel for me or instruct the sytem to continue then waste my time looking for it.
An update - this week I was at a Staples whose terminal had the "enter your pin" screen... so I hit "Cancel" as usual and the system took me back to the main screen!
It turns out this number pad had a "Credit" button that I'd looked right past, since all the other terminals had trained me to find "Cancel" or "Clear"... =)
That sucks...not your fault though.
At Walgreens they give you three options: 1. credit 2. something else that's not debit 3. DBT
DBT is not debit..it's like..food stamps or something but I've pressed that probably 4 times just because I'm in a hurry, and because I'm very cocky about deciphering user interfaces. I lose again.
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