A number of Tim Hortons and Starbucks locations in Toronto remain unable to accept debit or credit cards, with staff at one downtown store characterizing the situation as a large outage.
A spokesperson from Tim Hortons headquarters in Oakville told Newstalk 1010 the chain was experiencing “intermittent” issues with its debit and credit card terminals.
Reports of outages came in Wednesday from Tim Hortons stores across Ontario.
At Starbucks, staff at a location on Queen Street West and John Street said they had received a message Wednesday morning that outlets across their district were without credit or debit capabilities.
A Tim Hortons spokesperson said all issues would likely be resolved later on Wednesday morning.
Employees at both chains could not say what caused the outage.
A spokesperson from Chase Paymentech told CP24 that the company is experiencing “widespread intermitting communications problems” across Canada.
Complaints about the faulty debit transactions started coming in at around 2:30 a.m., the spokesperson said.
At a downtown Starbucks location, a sign posted near the cash register told customers that debit and credit card payments weren't processing. The inconvenience prompted some customers to make other plans.
"I saw the sign and it said they were having issues or whatever," one customer said. "I have to go to class and I didn't have the time to stick around."
It’s unclear when the issue will be resolved.
One week ago, as many as 1,300 Shoppers Drug Mart locations were without debit and credit card services for as long as two days.
