SumUp blocks card readers

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SumUp, a British technology company headquartered in London, sells card readers and a number of online payment and bank account systems for merchants and businesses.

Although their services have increased in recent years, their main business is the selling of card readers.

Their card readers seem to block themselves at random, with the error message "Device blocked. Please contact support."

Upon contacting their customer support, merchants are informed that the card readers become blocked due to "being dropped or exposed to low/high temperatures", which most users state doesn't happen.

Those same card readers, according to them, cannot be unblocked nor repaired, and need to be replaced, depending on their own warranty coverage.

Background

SumUp first launched their "3G" model back in 2018. This was the company's launch into the physical card reader world. Merchants can allow their customers to make payments by inserting the card into the card reader, or by paying using the "Contactless" feature. However, the issue above affects even the most recent models, including the "Air", the "Solo Lite" (which replaced the "Air" model), and the "Solo". It is yet to be confirmed if their most recent model, the "SumUp Terminal", is affected by this.

"Device blocked. Please contact support"

Users claim that their devices block themselves for no apparent reason. Despite the company's claims that this happens when the devices are dropped, or are exposed to extremely low/high temperatures, most users state that this is not the case.

Some users report having them on their desks and shelves, others even going as far as saying that they keep them stored in their box.

Out of the blue, upon turning it on, or after a payment is accepted, an error message appears on screen stating "Device blocked. Please contact support". Depending on the model, another error message might appear, showing "Communication mode. Press C to exit". This applies to models with physical buttons ("Air" and "Solo Lite", by clicking on the red cross button when this message appears. The "Solo" model simply states this message, along with a QR code that redirects the user to the self-service replacement options.)

SumUp's response

Upon contacting their customer service, users report that the person on the phone informs them that the blockage message is irreversible. They are also informed that the card reader cannot be replaced nor repaired, as the message is permanent and the process irreversible.

They are then asked to replace the device, which then depends on their warranty coverage. For the most part, users state that this mostly happens a few days or weeks after the device is no longer covered by their warranty, and they are then invited to purchase another one at their own expenses.

Lawsuit

Although there are several mentions on Social Media about the need for a class-action lawsuit, there have been no lawsuits registered yet.

Consumer response

Users are complaining that this might be related to planned obsolescence of their devices, set up by the company. Their warranty coverage is very vague and there is no specific information on their website or support center page, with users stating that they are covered between one to two years after the date of purchase.

They also state that a few days or weeks after the device is out of warranty, the message "Device blocked. Please contact support" appears all of a sudden, without anything unusual happening to their devices. Most of them are invited to purchase a replacement out of their own pockets either from their online store or physical retailers, or to use "Tap to Pay" on their phones, which is more limited than the card readers as it only allows them to accept "Contactless" payments.

References

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/682827/The+Card+Reader+becomes+%22blocked%22+after+receiving+a+small+shock-hit