Samsung Pay - Disable MST? Chip Card Problems

[Jeff Allen1]

Are you all saying that you don't believe Kevin? Are you all saying you don't believe ME when I say my Samsung Pay (via Gear S3 or Galaxy S8+) gets rejected more than half the time? Do you not believe us when we say the failure rate is increasing whenever a store upgrades to newer terminals?

On top of all that, cashiers frequently say ... OUT LOUD ... that my card was declined. Forget for a minute the effect these failures and embarassments have on existing users who vow never to try Samsung Pay ever again. Think about the handful of people watching this all unfold only to say, "pffft ... technology fails again". What are the chances they will embrace Samsung Pay?

It really angers me to see people bragging about how their stuff works while we suffer with issues. To those of you for whom this all works, you are amazing and you were born with a gift. Unfortunately, that gift is not appreciated in my Target or the new Dunkin Donuts.

Kevin is right, Samsung Pay is the best idea in the world becasue it was designed to work anywhere without requiring upgrades to terminals. Apple Pay and Android Pay are nightmares for small business owners who are forced to spend thousands to upgrade their payment systems just so they can support Android and Apply Pay.

So then, does Samsung possibly have a God Complex? Do they think this thing is so wonderful that they can just put it on cruise control and the world will come calling? If so, Samsung is underestimating the fact that Android Wear and Apple Pay are competing for the same market and, with only 28% of the market share, Samsung Pay is outnumbered more than 2 to 1.

When negociating with payment terminal maufacturers, I am sure that Apple Pay and Android Pay are doing everything they can behind the scenes to thwart each other but especially Samsung Pay. If Samsung Pay is allowed to succeed, they will win for sure.

To win, Samsung needs to do 3 things:

(1) make this tech available on other platforms and hardware (for a price of course) to minimize competitors attempts to kill it.

(2) set up Samsung Pay so that it has the ability to collect relevant failure data. There should be a button I press where I can either take a picture of the payment terminal model number or enter it in myself. Samsung can then email us later as to why that terinal failed and/or how to instruct us (or the cashier) to make it work.

(3) set up a place we can go where our complaints will be believed and responded to.

 

[TLPayne78]

I tried using Samsung Pay today. Had the same issue. I used a Discover Card that has a chip. Didn't have my card so I thought let me try this new pay with my phone thing. Big flop, but I intend on finding out how this works.

 

[auntpie]

I was an early adopter of Samsung Pay, but its reliability has gradually decreased to the point that it works maybe half the time. I am perplexed, because it obviously works fine for many users on their devices. Am I holding it wrong? Is it a problem with my device (a Galaxy S6)? I don't know, but ideas are appreciated.

 

[dturano547]

I have actually had the same problem as the first post. CVS I hold my phone far right to go mst and the cashier was amazed, I read CVS was blocking certain mobile wallets but mst worked. After reading peoples posts can I disable NFC to force Samsung pay to mst only? I have had multiple issues at NFC apple Android Samsung pay terminal, not old ones the new ones get jammed up and don't display declined they display need chip insert card.

 

[dturano547]

I have every Google phone ever..... I always used Google wallet, wallet card, Android pay. Didn't get mst when I got my s8+ but when it works it's impressive, wish Google would almost act like a parent and sit Samsung down and say u get to have your own versions of everything stock Android and we don't care (I was actually huge anti Samsung and love pure Nexus and pixel) but now u need to cut out Samsung pay and let's merge with Android pay and fix the little issues to put apple pay to shame

 

[sharpcyrcle]

So Samsung Pay seems great in theory, but in practice is more of a nightmare.

The issues: Chip cards and Chip card readers.

Scenario 1: Store doesn't accept NFC payments, but accepts Chip Cards -> Samsung Pay is 100% unuseable. MST swipe tells the reader that you have a chip card, reader tells you to insert chip card - game over.

Scenario 2: Store accepts NFC Payments, Swipes, and Chip Cards -> Same problem as above, but it is a crap shoot as to whether the NFC part of Samsung Pay will register first or the MST part of Samsung Pay will register first. It's not fun to constantly retry the payment when you feel that you have no control over the success or not.

Is it possible to disable the MST part of Samsung Pay and make it purely NFC? If not, any tricks for avoiding the MST triggers? My phone was a decent distance away from the actual swipe portion of the terminal and still registered.

Samsung pay doesn't actually charge the card you enter it charges a digital card Samsung issues you, that card is not registered as a chip card. This is also why it shows the last 4 digits for a card that doesn't correlate with your own. It charges Samsung who charges your card themselves then if approved processes the transaction at the terminal. I have earned over 20,000 Samsung reward points in rural south Carolina around the country as I have never found a place it doesn't work except gas pumps and arms because you have to physically insert your card in those scenarios. It is an amazing tech.That said it sucks that they dropped mst on the new galaxy watch which now will only work at about 30-50% of the places on my day to day. It was a big mistake. but he fact is most people rarely leave their at home and most don't have a data plan for their watch like me so those people will be able to pay with their phones still. So 90%+ of the time real world users won't be affected but it really sucks for me. I love leaving everything at home sometimes.

 

[FarStrider2001]

Just started using it since they added STACK MasterCard & are giving away a S9.
1st try was with a nfc/chip capable terminal that sadly didnt angle it enough the 1st time but it work. Normally I use the td(canada) app(which like all other canadian bank apps uses suretaps api based on gsma secure element) which honestly Ive rarely had any issues with aside from rims backend being overloaded during the holidays.
Its sad that samsung pretty much ended looper especially now that lg has decided to do the same thing. Also in canada currently theres no gift card support(something that suretap wallet had) aside from 1's earned from samsung pay promos

 

[dj9281]

I have a galaxy S9 and have had lots of problems with Samsung pay. I also had lots of problems on my S7. Target is a crap shoot. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Safeway was a crap shoot. Then it worked flawlessly for about 6 months. Now it never works. I get a 'chip error' message every time I use Samsung pay there now, no matter what card I use or what Safeway checkout terminal I use. Someone today said she has no problems with her Samsung pay there.

So, clearly there are lots of problems with Samsung pay. I've done everything Samsung support has asked including clearing data, uninstalling, reinstalling and reinstalling all of my cards. (That is a major pain in the butt because I have to call my card providers every time to get verbal authorization because the automatic approval system never works for some reason with Samsung pay. My girlfriend's apple pay works fine automatically with our shared credit cards. So, that problem also is exclusive to Samsung pay in my experience.)

If someone can help all of the users on this forum who are having problems that would be awesome. Posting how you never have problems does not help, but I'm honestly happy for you all.