Carphone Warehouse, the retail chain that, along with Apple and O2 stores, are sole providers of the iPhone in the UK, experienced some embarrassing payment problems last night during the handset's launch. As in the US, retailers had been told to accept card purchases only, rather than cash, so as to avoid speculators buying multiple iPhones and reselling them on eBay; however, many consumers are reporting that for the first hour at least the Chip & PIN retail system that handles credit and debit card purchases went offline.
"I got to Carphone Warehouse in Maidenhead at 5:57pm. I was fifth in line. After serving one customer, their chip and pin system crashed. They got another few customers served over the next 20 mins or so and then I stuck around for another 30 mins whilst they tried to serve me.. I eventually gave up at 6:50pm. So, I walked around the corner to the O2 store which was full of staff but no customers and bought my iPhone which took all of 2 minutes" Matthew Dunn, UK iPhone buyer
Technical staff later told the retail frontline that it was alright for them to accept cash. Apparently confirming that the problem was experienced across all their stores, Carphone Warehouse refused to comment further; Apple have been similarly tight-lipped. But the fact that customers were able to walk to other stores with little or no problem with regards queueing must be both a relief and a frustration.
Did you buy an iPhone in the UK last night? Is it top of your shopping list this weekend? Let us know your first-impressions in the comments (and don't forget to tell us what you're upgrading from)...
We bought some iPhones last night at Carphone Warehouse in Bracknell. We were first in the queue and got hit by the problems processing Chip & PIN cards. We eventually paid cash after about an hour. The O2 store down nearby appeared to be processing transactions OK but there was some comment about people having to come back the next day because of payment issues.
I was in the Tooting Carphonewarehouse branch and was around 10th in line. As soon as the doors were opened and the first customers tried purchasing an iPhone, problems struck all of the tills using Chip & PIN. For around 10 minutes, none of the tills seemed to be working, however, one employee managed to get his cashier working and we were the second people to make a transaction. As far as i knew, this was the only cashier out of around 5-6 that was functioning correctly.
2 people in the Scunthorpe CPW – plus local press – at 6:02. Chip & Pin didn’t work – messages came up on screen with alternative instructions – these didn’t work either. After 25 minutes waiting went to O2 and paid for one and left within 5 minutes.