M&S apologises after glitch forces shoppers to abandon carts

Marks and Spencer has issued an apology to its customers after its contactless payments and click-and-collect services experienced a widespread outage over the Bank Holiday weekend. 

Customers were frustrated by the lack of an official statement from the company or any warning signage in the store indicating that there was a problem.

Many demanded an explanation on X, with some saying they were forced to abandon their full weekly shops at the checkout.

One person wrote: “Went to @marksandspencer did a full food shop only to be told that I can’t use contactless, had to walk away from a whole food shop. Heading to Waitrose now instead.”

In response to a customer’s tweet on X, M&S said: “I’m sorry about this. We had some issues that are affecting our payment systems and Sparks offers. Our technical team is currently working hard to get this resolved.”

Another customer wrote: “@marksandspencer just went to pay for a full basket of shopping only to be told that your contactless payments aren’t working at your Edgware Road store all day. No signs up, no warnings, just customers being told at the tills. Very poor service.”

The company stated that the issue had also affected its emails and chat systems, which is why it wasn’t able to get any communication out to its customers ahead of them visiting the store or collecting an item in store. 

However, the group confirmed that it is not a security issue but a technical glitch that occurred within its payment systems. 

While the exact cause of the technical issues remains undisclosed, M&S said its teams are working to restore full functionality but has yet to confirm whether the issue has been fully resolved.

In response to a tweet, M&S said: “Unfortunately, it seems to be taking much longer to resolve than we’d originally hoped- mainly due to Bank Holiday restrictions. We appreciate your understanding.”