Customers are risking robbery or fraud at a Hawke's Bay service station's 24-hour booth because staff ask them to read out their eftpos pin numbers, a Havelock North man says.
David Jarvis said he went to buy cigarettes in the early hours of the morning from a 24-hour window at Havelock
North Auto Court, an independent Mobil service station.
Mr Jarvis said he presented his eftpos card and was asked for his account details and pin number in front of another group of people waiting to be served.
When he declined to supply the details and offered to enter the number himself, the attendant refused to sell Mr Jarvis the cigarettes.
Mr Jarvis said he wanted to remind people of "the utmost importance of keeping their banking personal identification numbers secret".
A manager at the service station, who declined to give a name, said he appreciated customers were concerned about their card's security, but there was no option but to complete eftpos transactions inside at night.
"We have in the past tried installing a pad on the wall outside. That was ripped off the wall by some drunken yobs. Then we tried an extension cord for the pad inside, to pass out through the security drawer. Sure enough, one night that got ripped off too."
The manager said the station's doors were locked for staff safety, which took precedence over any inconvenience for customers.
A check of other service stations in Hawke's Bay revealed most rely on the extension cord method to get the keypad through the security drawer, letting customers enter their own pin numbers.
Susan Taylor, acting Banking Ombudsman, said customers signed an agreement with the bank when they received their cards, and the service station was effectively asking customers to break that contract by divulging their pin numbers.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
