Card terminal problems should be solved soon – VG

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– It takes some time before everything is up as normal, but I would say that now everything will soon be up and running, says Pål Andre Fredriksen, CEO of Verifone, which makes payment solutions.

– If you go to the store now, you should have a fairly ordinary experience. Everything should be back to normal within half an hour-hour time, he says to VG.

It was around 12 o’clock that major problems with card terminals across the country were reported. There were long queues at Vinmonopolet and at grocery chains all over the country.

– Have they now found the error?

– Yes, but you will probably never be told what it was for security reasons, Fredriksen says to VG now.

– Is it hacking?

– No, I’m pretty sure it is not. I will exclude that 100 percent.

– Do you have any other suspicions?

– No, nothing but that it boils over. That kind of thing happens sometimes.

VG had Fredriksen on the line earlier Monday when the first messages about the payment trouble began to flow in.

– I have worked here in this industry for 15 years, it is the first time I experience something similar. It is clear that this is definitely a wrong day to go down on, Fredriksen said then, and aimed at the May 17 celebration on Tuesday.

The reason is probably a common error in the reception of the payment machines, according to Fredriksen.

– We are talking about maybe 120,000 to 130,000 terminals. Then we are talking in practice all the terminals throughout Norway, he said.

While VG has him on the line, Fredriksen’s phone went hot.

– Now I got confirmation that all the terminals are affected, he says, and adds that the infrastructure in Norway is good compared to many other countries.

– It’s a bit of our job, we should not be front page ads. But you now notice how dependent people are on the payment system. And that really means that pretty much everything works very well.

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Several who went to Vinmonopolet to shop for National Day had to go home empty-handed on Monday afternoon.

– It seems that it is something more central, more pharmacies and grocery chains are experiencing the same thing, said press officer at Vinmonopolet Halvor Bing Lorentzen to VG.

– We operate and work with the technical now, and have no answer as to what it could be, he said.

Danske Nets is one of the largest suppliers of bank terminals in this country. On status pages to Nets it says that there is an ongoing problem with payment online and in terminals throughout Norway.

They have had operational disruptions which they “are working hard to rectify. We apologize to customers “, confirms press officer Peter Glüsing to E24.

Norway’s largest bank DNB has reported that they are aware of the problem, but that the fault does not lie with them.

Half an hour in line

Several reported long queues in grocery stores, and that it is only possible to pay with cash.

Sara Zameri was to buy lunch at Rema 1000 in Bjørndal in Oslo when the error occurred.

– I stood in line for half an hour, she told VG.

Without cash, she did not get the goods out of the store, as neither Vipps nor bank cards worked.

“I had to register my goods, and will be called back when it works,” she said.

At Kiwi, which implemented a reserve payment solution, trading went as usual, albeit somewhat slower, according to communications manager Kristine Aakvaag Arvin.

– It should flow quite well, she told VG.

– This is a big shopping day. We would rather not have a queue at the checkout at all, but I have not received any feedback that there is chaos in the shops.

– Absolutely cruel on this day

BankAxept, the national card payment system in Norway, has also received several reports of problems.

– It is absolutely cruel on this day, said communications manager Hege Steinsland in BankID BankAxept to VG earlier Monday.

The day before the big National Day celebration, all cards associated with BankAxept experience payment problems, according to Steinsland.

– There are seven million cards in Norway, she said.

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