Apple has enjoyed a generally smooth launch of its Apple Pay mobile payment service, but that track record changed today in the face of reports from CNN and Bloomberg that some Bank of America customers found the service was charging them twice for certain transactions. Considering that the service relies on a delicate balance between technology, banks, retailers, and credit companies, it's actually rather surprising that we haven't heard many more horror stories besides this.
It's a nightmare that shouldn't last long. Bank of America claimed in a statement to Re/code this afternoon that the problems stems from an issue "between the bank and at least one payment network," and that around 1,000 customers were affected. Bank of America has already agreed to refund all the affected purchases, and a fix for the glitch should go live sometime this afternoon. Notably, Apple apparently wasn't to blame.
But the ordeal caused no small amount of pain for customers affected by the glitch, leading them to express their grievances on venues like Reddit. CNN reporter Sam Burke was one of the people affected, and his story hints at some of the dangers of a service like Apple Pay in relation to the Cupertino company's celebrated privacy policies.
"Bank of America transferred me to Apple Pay customer support," Burke wrote. "The only problem: Apple’s representative reminded me that for security's sake — as promised — Apple keeps no records of names or amounts for any of the transactions. That meant there’s nothing Apple could do, the representative told me. So Apple told me to call Bank of America. It was every consumer’s worst nightmare: customer service for two companies telling you to call the other."
Other issues associated with the service are comparatively minor, such as Chase and Citibank credit cards that show the wrong designs in Facebook (via 9to5Mac). As Business Insider reports, customers have also faced transitional issues at the participating retail establishments, where clerks didn't know the service existed. Out of the 11 establishments surveyed, only employees at McDonald's, Whole Foods, and American Eagle Outfitters knew how to use the service, and even then, American Eagle Outfitters only figured out how to grant a refund with the service "after a period of trial-and-error."
Apple's Eddy Cue, the company's senior vice president of Internet software and services, seemed to expect such hurdles in the days before Apple Pay's launch in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
"We’re trying to do something that I think is a game changer and it requires a lot of people to play together,” Cue said. “There’s a lot to do here and we have a lot of work to do, but it should be huge."
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