Retail trade Problems with digital payments in Italy on Black Friday

On Black Friday of all days, Italy experienced serious problems with electronic payment systems, which are continuing. Millions of people were affected by disruptions to digital payments, which have been ongoing since Thursday.

Technical problems were reported on the network of the French payment service provider Worldline. Since Thursday, users have been unable to carry out electronic transactions, withdrawals, operations via home banking and apps as well as payments via Pos, as criticized by the consumer protection association Codacons.

"The problems with the digital payment systems caused enormous damage, on Black Friday of all days," complained the consumer protection association. Many Italians had lost the opportunity to benefit from the discounts on "Black Friday", which is important for boosting stagnating consumption in Italy, due to the disruptions.

For this reason, Codacons is considering the possibility of taking legal action on behalf of all those who have suffered damage as a result of Worldline's technical problems. The Confcommercio trade association is threatening a class action lawsuit.

It was not possible to pay with the credit cards of the largest banks and money could not be withdrawn. The situation only seemed to ease a little on Friday evening. The Italian central bank announced on Friday evening that most of the problems had been resolved, with the exception of some types of credit card payments. Work is continuing to restore full operations.

SDA