[NewsPoster]

A legal firm out of San Francisco is soliciting consumer stories and testimony as part of its investigation into the sudden decision by drugstore chains Rite Aid and CVS to deliberately disable Apple Pay (and other NFC-based payment systems) less than a week after the technologies' rollout -- even though the chains have previously accepted those and other e-wallets. The firm says it is considering a potential class-action to restore Apple Pay and other competitors to the stores.

The two chains have been forced to disable all forms of contactless payments, including Google Wallet and PayPass Mastercard, in order to comply with the terms of their agreement with MCX. The agreement bars retailers from taking any other form of mobile payment, and requires consumers to set up an account for the CurrentC program as well as download and manually launch an app each time they want to pay for something using the e-wallet system.

The sudden change brought on a storm of consumer backlash, both from those who had planned to use Apple Pay at the affected drugstores, and from those who wanted to use other NFC-based cards or credit cards, which the CurrentC program doesn't yet accept. Investigations into CurrentC show it to be rather awkward and considerably less secure than Apple Pay, which verifies purchases and devices using Apple's Touch ID fingerprint reader. The CurrentC program is also designed with an emphasis on gathering and pooling consumer purchasing and financial data in the cloud, rather than use the token-based Apple Pay system, which imparts no such data to the merchants involved.

The law firm of Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe LLP is investigating the agreement exclusivity and the decision to disable competing systems, which may raise antitrust flags. It is encouraging consumers to send in information about attempts to use Apple Pay at CVS and Rite Aid with a view to starting a class-action lawsuit over the actions by the MCX partners.

[msuper69]

Lawyers not required. Let the free market (consumers) decide with their wallet.

[aardman]

@msuper69 People keep making the mistake of confusing unregulated markets with competitive markets. One doesn't guarantee the other.

[MitchIves]

Bottom line... they want to harvest your personal info and the MCX system does that. ApplePay and some of the others are 21st Century solutions that protect your privacy and your information. Once again, this is about money, not what's best for the consumer. I'd boycott CVS, but I already have. They threw in early on Obamacare, hiring untrained people to steer you into it. Then they banned cigarettes because they are your new nanny. I shop at Walgreens... I just want a company that sells things, not one that wants to control my life and tell me what I need to do...

[besson3c]

aardman: exactly.

MithcIves: apparently the MCX system is only asking for personal info like your SSN pre-public launch. I have no problems with MCX as long as it doesn't require personal info. Eventually it looks like MCX will work with credit cards too.

I don't think customers will be crazy about the QR code dependency, but it might be a necessary evil until there is 100% availability of NFC.

[Malcolm Owen]

I wish NFC payments would make its way over to the UK. Sure, we have contactless payments with cards, but the nearest thing to paying by smartphone we really have is Barclaycard providing a contactless payment sticker you can stick to the back of a phone.
(And yes, NatWest has been testing what it calls TouchPay for a while, but that system uses a custom iPhone cover and app combo, and won't work with NFC directly. Maybe one day, it with be more useful...)

[elroth]

besson: what do you consider personal information? MCX will keep track of everything you buy, and where you buy it. It will also keep your debit card and bank acount numbers on file. Seems pretty personal to me.