Almost all card terminals in Norway were down on Monday afternoon. It should now be possible to shop as normal in most stores.
Just updated
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It was around 12 o’clock that major problems with card terminals across the country were reported.
At Vinmonopolet and at grocery chains all over the country, people stood in long queues while they tried to shop for the national day celebration on Tuesday. Some Vinmonopol have not yet managed to get the terminals up and running again.
The payment problem is due to an internal error in the system of Danske Nets, one of the largest suppliers of bank terminals in this country.
– The error was corrected at 13.40, says press officer Peter Glüsing in Nets to VG.
– What was the reason for the error?
– It is an internal IT matter at Nets that we still can not explain 100 percent, but we are looking at it, says Glüsing.
– Can it be repeated?
– The Fortunately, operational disruptions occur very rarely in Nets, but when we are dealing with systems and people, things obviously happen and we apologize, says Glüsing.
– It’s Norway’s national day tomorrow. I know that there are many Norwegians who intended to shop today and that it has been boring for them, and we apologize.
Queue at the pole
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.
Despite the fact that the problems will now be solved, there are still some Vinmonopol that are in trouble with the terminals, he says just after 2.30 pm.
– The vast majority are up and running, and some are working to restart the systems. There are some who are still struggling a bit, he says.
Norway’s largest bank DNB has also reported that they are aware of the problem, but that the fault does not lie with them.
– I have worked here in this industry for 15 years, it is the first time I experience something similar, said Pål Andre Fredriksen, CEO of Verifone, which makes payment solutions for VG when the first reports of payment trouble began to flow in.
– It is clear that this is definitely a wrong day to go down on, Fredriksen said then, and referred to the May 17 celebration on Tuesday.
– We are talking about maybe 120,000 to 130,000 terminals. Then we are talking in practice all the terminals throughout Norway.
While VG had him on the line, Fredriksen’s phone rang 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.
–He can not say for sure about the cause of the problem because it was with Nets, but denied that it could be due to hacking of the system.
– 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, Fredriksen told VG.
Even though the problem should have been solved by Nets at 13.40, according to Fredriksen, it may take some time before the system is completely up and running again.
– 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.
Half an hour in line
Several reported long queues in grocery stores, and that it was 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.
Steinsland also stated that it is possible to shop in stores that have backup solutions in place.
– It is very wise to have that backup solution turned on, she said, and pointed out that about half of Norway’s stores have chosen to do this.
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