Update: Home Depot says it plans to accept Apple Pay in the near future.
Home Depot appears to have quietly stopped accepting Apple Pay. Although never officially named as a partner, the company has supported contactless payment and Apple Pay used to work in at least some of its stores. An Apple support document updated last week lists Home Depot as one of the stores that “might not currently be set up” to accept Apple Pay.
The change appears to be related to Home Depot’s deal to accept PayPal as a payment method both in store and online …
The company highlighted PayPal in a response to an Apple Pay user who queried the change.
We currently do not accept Apple Pay in our local stores or online. We do have the option of using PayPal, in store or online.
The response said that Home Depot could not say if or when it might (once more) accept Apple Pay. It’s not yet clear whether the company has dropped support for Apple Pay specifically or disabled all forms of contactless payment.
Home Depot customers might have more desire than most for the security of Apple Pay: the company last year suffered one of the biggest ever data breaches of any retail chain, with 53 million customer email addresses and 56 million credit cards compromised.
Apple is continuing its U.S. rollout of the service with both retailers and banks, Best Buy coming on board for in-app purchases last month, with retail stores due to follow in the fall. Discover will also join the other big card companies in accepting Apple Pay from the fall.
Photo: Reuters
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So stupid… I have used Apple Pay at Home Depot many times and never had an issue. Can’t stand how companies just drop services. I wont be shopping there anymore. Lowes it is.
So we have people point blank refusing to shop at Home Depot because they don’t do Apple Pay while the rest of the world, who have absolutely no idea when or even if ApplePay will ever come to their country, look on with bemused eyes.
ApplePay is not the Holy Grail it is made out to be. It deserves to be successful, but there is a long way to go before it usurps other payment methods methinks, if it ever does (which as times goes on is highly unlikely).
Well, I see what you mean, but I like the convenience of Apple Pay. I was out shopping for hardware with a friend and only after I found what I needed realized I had forgotten my wallet (something I rarely do). I bought it at Home Depot because I could use Apple Pay and I knew that Lowe’s didn’t take it.
I don’t think many expect or want it to “usurp other payment methods,” – because, actually, it’s simply the same payment method as using your credit card – rather, users of ApplePay want it to become accepted in more and more places in tandem with other payment methods. Especially places that accepted it at one time.
Side-note: Mild wrinkle in this plan to go to Lowes instead – Lowes is a partner in MCX’s CurrentC system. So they may not be accepting ApplePay either.
No, not the Holy Grail. It has more to do with these companies taking an anti-competitive stance. They can take Apple Pay, no additional cost or burden to them. They choose to spend time and money to actively block it. All because they are working with a different partner.
Actually Apple Pay IS the Holy Grail of transaction security being the most secure payment service out there. Any security issues that have existed have been at the hands of the banks and credit card companies not keeping up their end of the bargain, as always.
I don’t care if they offer other options like PayPal but don’t deny Apple Pay. That’s just lame. Home Depot is now on my “do not patron” list. I wanna pay the way I wanna pay with the safest and most convenient system that does not involve giving out my credit card number
There is room for all not just one.
I’m with Gregory…why not accept all? They accept American Express as easy as they accept Visa or Discover. No, I’m not going to avoid Home Depot because of this; just perplexed in why it’s “Us vs Them”.
The real question is do really think people will switch to using PayPal or go back to their credit cards instead? My guess is the latter.
if my memory is correct Home Depot had a POS breach that was related to paypal transaction. Anyway what many have said it has really nothing to do with Apple as much as it has to do with consumer choice. it this this is a vitally important issue in a day where customers are frequently turning into the product without much awareness that this is happening.
Totally LEGITIMATE you troll.
@Brian:
I’m looking down this post and there is not a single thing anyone has said which could be construed as trolling. Apart from yours.
Please ask mammy next time you’re allowed to use the internet. There’s a good lad.
Home Depot does accept PayPal. I downloaded the PayPal app and set it up. It’s a complete mess. You have to open the app, find your merchant (Home Depot) in a long list of local merchants, “sign in” by swiping the little PayPal icon, then enter your mobile number and PayPal mobile PIN. The pinnacle of convenience! Much easier than Pay! NOT!!!!!!
http://i.imgur.com/vA3lgWb.jpg
I vote with my Apple Pay wallet. If a retailer has a competitor that accepts Apple Pay, I shop at the competitor. If a store originally accepted Apple Pay, but then later reject it (i.e. CVS, Home Depot), I’ll make sure to shop at their competitors even if they don’t plan to use Apple Pay, because at least they’re up front about it.
100% on the same page. For instance, my local grocery store. No NFC payments of any type accepted, they don’t have the technology yet. Fine by me, I still ship there.
CVS? Transferred my “preferred pharmacy” with my doctors to walgreens (and they are right across the street from CVS, so not an issue of convenience). Looks like I’ll be going to Lowes for my home improvement needs.
Also, I emailed HD through their web form, but also directly to their CEO.
Will be interesting to see the response.
I’ve done the same things. I also encouraged my wife and friends to use CVS’ competitors whenever possible- even if it’s more inconvenient to do so. I haven’t shopped at CVS since October, and don’t even plan to again. These days, it seems hard to enact any real change, but I’ll do what I can.
I’m with you. I was recently banking with Alliance Credit Union. After pestering them with inquiries about their support for Apple Pay, they wrote back and told me that not only was Apple Pay not secure or safe, but that their decision to support QR Reader technology was better because it safer than Apple Pay and will serve more of their customers. The response left me bewildered and angry. I swiftly moved all of my money to a neighboring credit union in the area that does support Apple Pay and I yanked my car loan with Alliance as well. Don’t support Apple Pay – that’s fine. Don’t support any NFC payment options – that’s fine too. Just don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining, as Judge Judy once said.
You guys are all phonies. Who cares what service a store uses. I have a debit card and a credit card in my wallet. I’m shopping where I get the best value.
yeah and the best value will be great when their system is breached and you get loads of charges showing up on your cards and you’ll have no clue why or how because the companies like to hide breaches. have fun taking to your CC company to deny the charges and waiting a week for your new card. I’m sure it will be worth the hassle. And yes Home Depot was breached and had to get 2 new cards because of it.
I fully agree. If a business provides me excellent value and a good shopping experience then I will gladly go there again. All places take a debit/credit card and/or cash.
Just like the Apple Store, Home Depot is exercising its right with who and how to do business.
Yes and customers who refuse to shop there are also exercising their rights.
Yes, but that would be an insignificant number of Apple fanatics that have iPhone 6 who refuse to buy there because of that. lol
The reality is that most people buy where is closer and have good prices. Sliding a credit card is fast enough.
” Sliding a credit card is fast enough.” if you think this is just about sliding a card fast enough you are WAY off. When you use apple pay the store/bank only get a token. that token can only be used once for one particular transaction. no credit card data is transmitted. So even if the store gets hacked, the hackers hake a bunch of useless transaction numbers, Get it??
That’s not the point. The point is that Apple does not try to control stores in what payment methods they offer. Never has Apple told any store “you can’t take X if you offer Apple Pay”. But Paypal and CurrentC ARE doing that. That makes them anti-consumer and manipulative and the store going into a deal with them are doing so are being anti-consumer.
It’s not convenience that is at stake. It is security. Apple pay is the most secure system, if Home Depot doesn’t support it they deserve to be at fault when they lose all their customer’s data again.
Home Depot has accepted PayPal at the store and online for years. Nothing is new at all about their partnership.
Apple should have bought PayPal from eBay, period.
I won’t boycott a business that has never excepted Apple Pay (like my local grocery store or Target) but places that accepted contactless payments but turned off the functionality just to not support Apple Pay? You bet I’ll boycott those places. So stupid.
I feel the exact same way. If they don’t take it, fine. If they did accept it and disable it to further their own agenda then I’m moving on. With Home Depot it will be tough because I go there often and it’s less than a mile from my house. Guess Lowes is getting my big summer garden supply purchase this weekend. It’s ridiculous to limit customer’s choices.
Yeah, no… I don’t think PayPal can win this fight with Apple Pay. There is not a single reason to choose PayPal over Apple Pay. So sooner or later Home Depot will come back around.
Many-many years ago, when I was still in college, I used PayPal for my everyday purchases. Although I had a checking account with one of the major banks in the States, I never actually had any money on that account. I asked my parents (who lived in Europe) to send me money via PayPal and whether work I did, that money also came in there. I had a PayPal debit card and it worked perfectly.
I’m not sure whether using PayPal was more expensive or not, but it felt cool and innovative. Like I used a bank 2.0. There weren’t any actual bank buildings to go to or anything. It was all done online and back then it was a big deal.
Now, 8-10 years later, very little has changed with PayPal. I think even the website looks the same once I’m overviewing my account. They stopped innovating. They should have invented TransferWise and really fight with the major old school banks, but they didn’t. And now it seems that they just want to jump on that payment train without really changing their business.
Unless they can come up with something entirely new and better than Apple Pay, I don’t think they will be very successful. But I guess time will show. I’m sticking with Apple Pay.
Why do you think Paypal can’t win the fight with Apple Pay? PayPal is available WORLDWIDE on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and god knows what else.
Apple Pay is available in the US only and can be used at a relatively handful of stores. It can only be used on an iPhone 6 or 6 +, or a 5 or 5S if you invest $300 in an Apple Watch.
It is RUMOURED to be launching in Canada in October. There is not a single mention of when and if it will ever be able to be used in other countries.
It is YEARS off becoming a viable part of Apple’s business – if it ever does.
Why can’t both be accepted??? Does Apple force stores to not accept other forms of payment in favor of Apple Pay? NOPE, never happened. Paypal and CurrentC are the bad guys here, forcing stores to limit customer options in their own best interests while Apple just wants you to buy an iPhone and enjoy using Apple Pay or whatever other means. Sure they make a tiny cut for Apple Pay, but it’s no revenue driver for Apple. Apple Pay doesn’t restrict any store from accepting any other form of payment, but Paypal and CurrentC seem to be playing like that, which makes them the anti-consumer assholes.
jrox16 – I totally agree – they should both be accepted. It makes no sense why they aren’t to be fair but hey, we are the consumers not the retailers.
Apple Pay was introduced less than 6 months ago, so that’s why it is only available in the US and can be used at a handful of stores. Wait another 6 months or why not 2 years. It will grow very quickly! That’s what Apple does.
It’s the same story with their Watch. How many smartwatches has Samsung already made? I know there is the Galaxy Gear, Galaxy Gear 2, Galaxy Gear 2 Neo, Gear Live, Gear Fit, Gear S… maybe I’m missing a few. They have been making smartwatches since 2013 and I have only met one guy who had one. And he hated it more than his ex-wife. So I can assume they were all crap. But then Apple finally came out with their Watch and BOOM. They sold like a million of them within the first 24 hours or something. In other words, Apple outsold all Android Wear devices ever and did so with only 24 hours.
Sure, PayPal could technically be available worldwide, but… do you seriously think that you can actually pay with PayPal in some store in Slovenia or Thailand? I live in a rather small European country. This is the country where Skype was invented. We had the first ever electronic voting and then years later the first mobile voting. Some call this country the silicon valley of Europe. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t really care… but it’s a very tech savy country. But you can’t pay with PayPal in any of our stores. Many people have PayPal accounts (mostly because they needed them to pay for items on eBay), but few actually use them. There isn’t much you can do with it in your everyday life here.
I’ll bet you the next iPhone that Apple Pay will arrive to Estonia before PayPal. Mostly because I think PayPal will never make it here.
And why would you bring up the fact that Apple Pay only works with 6, 6+ or 5/5S if you have the Watch? Who cares? In a few years no-one will be using 5/5S anymore. How many people do you know who still have a 3GS or even the iPhone 4? They are an insignificant minority. And just like with people not knowing how to type on a keyboard… death would eventually take care of this problem too. Apple Pay was created with the future in mind, not today. In 10 years time no-one will be even using the 6+, so ultimately it doesn’t matter.
And I am getting quite tired of hearing all this negativity and doubtful thoughts. The iPod was never going to make it. The iTunes was never going to make it. The iPhone was never going to make it. The iPad was never going to make it. The Watch was never going to make it. And now the Apple Pay will never going to make it. C’mon guys, stop embarrassing yourselves. :) :) :)
I’m sorry to see this move by Home Depot. I have used Apple Pay many times in the past at the Home Depot store in Lacey, WA, (even for one purchase over $1,000 for which Wells Fargo immediately called me to verify, lol). It was always convenient and more secure. I noticed that they always required my PIN (possibly because my account is tied to a debit card?), but that minor inconvenience was tolerable if not superfluous. I hope all Apple Pay users will frown upon companies like Home Depot, CVS, and Rite Aid who elect to disable Apple Pay in order to cripple our choices of settlement.
Apple does a lot of “tie-in” advertising with banks and charge card vendors (e.g. AmEx) to promote Apple Pay. I wish they might start supporting key retailers with the same promotions. What is needed is more RETAILERS (both brick and mortar and online) accepting Apple Pay now that they have most banks and credit unions seemingly signed up. Where are all the grocery stores like Costco and Safeway???
I randomly ask other iPhone 6 owners, if they have ever used Apple Pay and 99% of those I run into say that they have not. (I would ask fellow Apple Watch owners as well, but I have yet to see any other Apple Watches “in the wild” thus far, lol.)
Everyone go to http://www.homedepot.com/c/Contact_Us and select Credit Card and request that they keep Apple Pay
That’s annoying. Now we can use PayPal? No way that’s as convenient as ApplePay has been for me. I was using ApplePay once or twice a week at Home Depot over the last 6 months. It’s such a let-down that a company would remove a method of pay that was working so smoothly.
If I have time today, I may stop by a Home Depot in my area and tell the manager how much I liked how they formerly took Apple Pay, and how I’m now inclined to head elsewhere for what I need, unless it’s something that only Home Depot has and I can’t avoid them. Maybe he or she will express to corporate that people really liked using ApplePay and they’ll eventually accept it again.
These tangled corporate threads get really annoying for the customer. Ever read about what it’s taking to get Spider-Man in an ‘Avengers’ film? And yes, I’m aware that Apple has tied a few of these same sort of threads for others, elsewhere. But dang, man… ApplePay was working sooo well over at the CVS and the Home Depot. Bad experience for their customers to remove it.
PayPal is an alternative form of payment – an account where you hold funds. Apple Pay is just an interaction to your credit card. Not the same thing. Apple and PayPal can in fact work together to have PayPal as a supported funding source for their interaction – something that’s rumored to have been in the works before Apple Pay’s launch.
Absolutely. Technologically, they could work in harmony. They have for many months already. To shut out ApplePay (essentially just an extension of your credit card) is like saying to customers “We only accept credit cards if you swipe them with your right hand. We will not accept payment if you try to swipe with your left hand.”
The option to stop accepting it has nothing to do with secure payment. Only their partnership with PayPal.
Paypal and CurrentC are the bad guys because they are forcing stores to NOT accept other forms of electronic payment. Apple does not do this with Apple Pay in any way.
Apple pay will never rule all. Get use to it.
I think you misunderstand the issue. All people want is for it to work like it did last week – running along side other forms of payment.
Why can’t they accept all forms?? Apple pay doesn’t have to rule. Seems Paypal and CurrentC want to rule and force these companies into contract deals that prevent them from offering other forms of electronic payment. Right? So who is the asshole? Not Apple… in no case has Apple made deals with stores to not accept any other form of electronic payment besides Apple Pay.
That sucks for sure. I bought a new house a few months ago, and ApplePay at Home Depot was fast, safe and efficient. I would go out of my way to shop there because of ApplePay. I’ll be heading to the closer, and frankly nicer, Lowes now!
Unfortunately, I think Lowes is still carrying the flag for CurrentC, and likely doesn’t accept ApplePay either.
I think the only way to really communicate this to Home Depot would be to NEVER use PayPal, but yet ask the cashier why they don’t accept ApplePay any longer.
That’s not the point. I know Lowe’s is supporting CurrenC, which is fine- they’re upfront about it. The problem is that Home Depot is disabling the ability to use Apple Pay even though they had no issues in accepting it before. Not only that, if Home Depot cared about the security of its customers after they lost dozens of millions of their credit card numbers, they’d give their customers every secure option to pay as possible. By disabling Apple Pay, Home Depot effectively shows not only that they are not sorry about losing their customer’s data and credit card info, but that they don’t care if it happens in the future either.
I cant even believe this. they where hacked last year and I needed to get my CC replaced because of this. Now they turn off the safest way to pay (other than cash) are they bozo’s or what. Well at least i have a lowes close by…
were*
Really? I just used Apple Pay at Home Depot last week. And our local Home Depot is still using Windows XP for the POS.
You’re right, it is a POS. LOL
Weird question…since Home Depot never actually supported Apple Pay and now turned off any way of using it, how would they handle returns of a purchase made by it? Since HD has a standard 90 return policy, a bunch of my Apple Pay purchases are still valid for return. This could pose a problem if my local store has no viable equipment to issue a return.
As noted above, isnt Apple Pay just a way to provide quick checkout that charges your charge card that is tied to AP? Surely you have a receipt from the transaction, (their email receipt option, FTW!), just return item with that receipt and the credit would go back to your card, I think.
I was there over the weekend, the cashier decline my payment with ApplePay said they could not accept.
I had to use my card which was scary because i had to replace it because of them.
Haha just go try to buy a bunch of stuff and when Apple Pay doesn’t work just tell them never mind you don’t want it and walk out :)
That’s awesome!
Paypal? LOL
Okay, guess in protest I’m not shopping at Home Depot any more.
There’s lots more reasons not to shop there. Like the crummy ‘wet’ lumber, the low grade, consumable grade fixtures/faucets/etc. The employees that really don’t know anything about the department they’re in. I’ve taken to returning to the specialty stores that charge a bit more but know what they’re selling, and can provide me with info to get the job done. I’ll swing by Home Depot on the weekends when I know what I need and can’t get in to the specialty stores because they’re only open during the week. I’ve started using the HD app, because when you ask someone where to find something, that’s all they use, although they don’t know what an air gap for a dish washer installation is so you have to explain it and eventually just use the same app they’re using, yourself. It’s awesome.
Home Depot has fixtures/faucets that we can eat ?
Here’s my email to Home Depot customer service (credit card category):
To whom it may concern,
My family and I will no longer be shopping at Home Depot due to the recent acknowledgement that Apple Pay will no longer be accepted. This is an anti-consumer decision and it is for that reason we will not support Home Depot. I don’t care if other forms of electronic payment are offered, but to block our preferred method is anti-consumer and anti-choice. Home Depot is doing this out of self interest based upon some ill-advised dealings with anti-consumer companies Paypal and/or CurrentC. Apple does not force retailers to block other forms of payment, but Paypal and/or CurrentC do. Apple Pay is just a much more secure method of using my credit card, which Home Depot still accepts, so to block my preferred method of using my credit card, be it swipe with left hand or right hand, or scan from iPhone, is unacceptable. You have all been hacked, Paypal, CurrentC, and Home Depot, and because of that, I will not shop at Home Depot if I cannot use a far more secure method of payment such as Apple Pay.
Regards,
J
Good email. Do you have proof though that Paypal is telling Home Depot not to use Apply Pay? The reason I ask is this – Home Depot, like Apple, is a business. They are going to use whichever method gives them the most money/benefit surely?
No proof but I believe it because why would they stop accepting Apple Pay if they weren’t forced into it by a competing service? We already know CurrentC has done this, so I am highly suspect of Paypal now as well. Sure, business does what’s good for business, but a good business balances that with consumer needs and desires. Fact is, Apple has never forced any retailer to stop accepting anything if they accept Apple Pay, but CurrentC and as I suspect Paypal, are doing this. What does Home Depot care how I swipe my card, be it by hand or NFC?? It’s bullshit anti-consumer behavior.
Oh, and just to make it clear, it’s the banks and payment networks that pay the 0.15% Apple Pay fee, not the retailer. So Home Depot has absolutely nothing to do with how I swipe my credit card, they still pay the same 2-3% credit card processing fee regardless of using my left hand, right hand, or iPhone. That’s why I highly suspect Paypal has made a deal which benefits Home Depot somehow (probably data mining) which required them to block Apple Pay, screwing consumers out of real security. Very bad business practice. Offer Paypal, CurrentC, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, AND Apple Pay if you want, but don’t block in favor of services which have already been hacked such as yourself!
Certainly sounds like it when you’ve put it like that @jrox16
jrox16 is SO wrong…… When it comes to fees – banks don’t pay them, they charge them…. thats kind of how they make money in the credit card business. SMH
Please share with the class where you will be shopping for lumber or odd plumbing parts or fixtures now. Lowes? No Apple Pay. Walmart? No Apple Pay? Target? No Apple Pay. Crafty Beaver? Ace? The odd smelling new hardware store that used to be a Circuit City? No.
Because if you’re going to be so flamboyant as to declare “I shalt never shop there again!” then you kinda need a backup plan or else you end up standing around holding a plunger and cracked flush valve and feeling like a dummy because your Apple Morals has prevented you from flushing a pretty large doodie.
If these major retailers aren’t going to open up their systems to Apple Pay, then Apple should bar their apps from the App Store as a counter-negotiating tactic. Many big chain retailers would think twice if they lost their mobile app traffic metrics.
Home Depot has been on that list on the Apple support page for weeks, if not months already – the change made to the support page recently was adding a new Passbook image from iOS 8.3
Timely, I forgot my wallet the other day, but still managed to grab a quick breakfast bite in a drive through with Apple Pay. I crossed my fingers that it would work at Home Depot. The checker I asked as I walked in said it might work, it wasn’t earlier that week. Unfortunately it didn’t, I spent a few minutes trying to get PayPal to work but had no idea what the numbers were it was asking for, and anytime I went to paypal.com/anywhere like i was prompted to, it would redirect me to my account interface. Had to go home for my wallet and return. Not a happy camper.
Ceo’s Email: Craig_Menear@homedepot.com
This is pretty much BS, they are basically not accepting my credit card. I mean if they had a stellar security record I probably wouldn’t worry. Call me crazy but I feel safer using the credit card tokenization system Apple Pay uses. I know swiping my CC is easy but I really want to just tap and go.
I still find it amazing these stores would choose to do this. I mean, if I’m running a business, you would think my goal is to make it as easy and convenient as possible for my customers to PAY ME.
I get it, credit card fees are high and when you have volume like these big box stores, there are millions of dollars in fees at stake. Still, it is anti-consumer to the extreme and the chutzpah of these retailers annoy the hell out of me.
Home Depot is a headache. Bought too much for a project, tried to return it, they wouldn’t coz my card number didn’t match the encrypted authorizing number… After a lengthy explanation, they finally relented and gave me cash.
What people are missing here is that nationwide stores typically have amassed customer purchase histories and demographic data (with or without loyalty programs) they use to generate targeted promotions. Anonymized transaction solutions like Apple Pay prevent them from collecting this data. That’s why AP is such a hard sell to franchises and big box retailers.
I’m not defending this. They’re basically making their problems their customers’ problems, but they’re not just being naive.
I had to get a new credit card because of the IT goon losers at Home Despot. They *NEED* Apple pay. But the morons are going to stick with paypal. Great.
Apple Pay is MUCH MORE SECURE than the ridiculous trash from Android. Companies like Home Despot, Target, etc…. NEED it.
But if you want to share your credit information with companies that have a PROVEN TRACK RECORD of LOSING IT, go right ahead. Buy an Android while you are at it, and set up a few Windows systems. LOL
I will go to Lowes or Menards.
Write homedepot corporate ? ….
They want to manipulate and/or dictate how i pay them my hard earned money… They can go screw themselves !
Home Depot doesn’t take NFC Apple Pay = Bad Guys
Apple disables NFC for anything but Apple Pay = Good Guys
Uhh… whaaaa?
I am a long time Home Depot customer and will no longer be shopping at its retail stores or online. I was happily using Apple Pay with my iPhone 6 Plus and suddenly Saturday the computers rejected my Apple Pay payment. After finding out that Home Depot is trying to force customers to use PayPal, I am furious and will not return until I can use Apple Pay. I’ve spent a fortune at Home Depot and will now go to Lowes for everything. Please pass this feedback on to those that make these decisions!
NO APPLE PAY, NO CUSTOMERS!