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My Apple Pay does not register the correct vendor when I use the tap to pay feature.

I will be in an office building where I frequent certain merchants. When I use my Apple Pay for breakfast. My phone will register a transaction at a local coffee shop 100 feet away from where I am actually buying breakfast.

Posted on Nov 7, 2023 5:43 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 10, 2024 3:23 PM

@KiltedTim, the reason the merchant descriptor displayed in the cardholders Apple wallet for the transaction is incorrect has nothing to do with the merchant account for the business. Apple Wallet is pulling the merchant name from the Apple Maps app rather than displaying the merchant name associated with the merchant account. The screen capture provided in the responses to this issue by author Beforeonezz states how this merchant information is sourced, it says “Apple Wallet uses Apple Maps to provide merchant name, category and location for your transaction. Help improve accuracy by reporting inaccurate information.”. The data source Apple Wallet is using is unreliable, it will remain unreliable as long as they use Apple Maps to provide merchant names, and other merchant data. The merchant name and other merchant details such as the merchant category, and merchant location is captured by the card issuer with each transaction during the authorization process. If cardholders want accurate information they should log into their bank/credit card account and look at the description on the statement or in the official transaction activity for the card used for the Apple Wallet transaction. Card holders should not rely on Apple Wallet for their transaction reporting because Apple Wallet doesn’t get the merchant data for the transaction they use their Apple Maps product which is not a reliable source for reporting merchant data associated with card transactions.

12 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 10, 2024 3:23 PM in response to KiltedTim

@KiltedTim, the reason the merchant descriptor displayed in the cardholders Apple wallet for the transaction is incorrect has nothing to do with the merchant account for the business. Apple Wallet is pulling the merchant name from the Apple Maps app rather than displaying the merchant name associated with the merchant account. The screen capture provided in the responses to this issue by author Beforeonezz states how this merchant information is sourced, it says “Apple Wallet uses Apple Maps to provide merchant name, category and location for your transaction. Help improve accuracy by reporting inaccurate information.”. The data source Apple Wallet is using is unreliable, it will remain unreliable as long as they use Apple Maps to provide merchant names, and other merchant data. The merchant name and other merchant details such as the merchant category, and merchant location is captured by the card issuer with each transaction during the authorization process. If cardholders want accurate information they should log into their bank/credit card account and look at the description on the statement or in the official transaction activity for the card used for the Apple Wallet transaction. Card holders should not rely on Apple Wallet for their transaction reporting because Apple Wallet doesn’t get the merchant data for the transaction they use their Apple Maps product which is not a reliable source for reporting merchant data associated with card transactions.

Nov 7, 2023 6:20 PM in response to BeefouroneZZ

BeefouroneZZ Said:

"My Apple Pay does not register the correct vendor when I use the tap to pay feature.: I will be in an office building where I frequent certain merchants. When I use my Apple Pay for breakfast. My phone will register a transaction at a local coffee shop 100 feet away from where I am actually buying breakfast."

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You need to contact Apple Support Directly. This is a User-to-User forum. We are all volunteers. So, as you may suspect, no one here has access to that information — and that is a good thing, BTW. That’s why for Financial Assistance, you need to contact Apple Support. They’ll see what’s going on and will run you through the fix.

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Nov 8, 2023 5:48 PM in response to BeefouroneZZ

BeefouroneZZ Said:

"My Apple Pay does not register the correct vendor when I use the tap to pay feature.: When you see an incorrect transaction in your ApplePay. Click on the transaction and it will take you to the screen below. Click “Report Incorrect Merchant Info” below. You will be able to correct the issue."

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So, is this solved?


Please confirm, so that others out there can be made aware of it.

May 10, 2024 3:59 PM in response to Prymepay

There are several issues at play here. Anyone can contribute or be the cause of the inaccuracy.


Apple uses Apple Maps, basically location services, for identifying the nearest merchant. The issuing bank doesn’t have the exact location for where the transaction to place (vending machine). Banks have the single location for the business corporate address. So, in final analysis, banks supply the nearest geographical location and banks provide the corporate location/address.


The next step would be to insure precise location and location services (specifically for Wallet app and System Services Apple Pay Merchant Identification) is enabled on the iPhone.

May 10, 2024 5:44 PM in response to BeefouroneZZ

Apple Wallet is pulling the merchant name from the Apple Maps app rather than displaying the merchant name associated with the merchant account. Next time you run a transaction using Apple Pay, then view the transaction details in Apple Wallet you will notice near the bottom of the transaction detail record it states “Apple Wallet uses Apple Maps to provide merchant name, category and location for your transaction. Help improve accuracy by reporting inaccurate information.”. The data source Apple Wallet is using is unreliable for this use case (Apple Maps), Apple Wallet transaction activity will remain unreliable as long as they use Apple Maps to provide merchant names, and other merchant data. The merchant name and other merchant details such as the merchant category, and merchant location is captured by your card issuer (bank, credit card company) for each transaction during the authorization process which occurs whenever you present a payment card for a purchase. If cardholders want accurate information they should log into their bank/credit card account and look at the description on the statement or in the official transaction activity for the card used via the Apple Wallet transaction. Card holders should not rely on Apple Wallet for their transaction reporting because Apple Wallet doesn’t get the merchant data for the transaction from the card issuer, they use their Apple Maps product which is not a reliable source for reporting merchant data associated with card transactions. Apple has created a feature that provides consumers with a best guess scenario and presents this data as if it’s an official transaction record, the only data in the transaction detail in Apple wallet that is reliable is the amount of the purchase and time of the sale. Consumers should not rely on Apple Wallet for accurate merchant data because they don’t bother getting such data, the just guess by using whatever’s in Apple Maps near the location of the purchase.

May 10, 2024 6:09 PM in response to Jeff Donald

Jeff- I think your comment is mostly correct. However it’s important users know this is not an issue that is caused by banks, or merchant account providers. In fact this issue is purely due to Apple using the wrong data source for a feature that is supposed to be capable of providing accurate transaction activity details. It’s Apple that is responsible for providing reliable services that consumers can rely on. The fact is the merchant data is reported accurately to the card issuing financial institution which is used in each Apple wallet transaction. This means Apple should be required to plumb their service into the card issuers via api integration before offering any transaction records to consumers. To rely on Apple Maos for merchant data transaction reporting is obviously not acceptable. Think of the potential problems this could cause for card holders, card issuers, and merchants. Cardholders will potentially dispute transactions they don’t recognize which costs all stake holders in the transaction lost time and resources, and potentially chargebacks for merchants if they forget or fail to respond once a dispute is started- all because a card holder doesn’t recognize the name reported by Apple Wallet.


The only way to resolve this is to disregard the merchant details reported in Apple wallet transaction activity. Instead login to your card issuers transaction reporting web app to see the correct merchant transaction data every time.

May 11, 2024 4:30 AM in response to Prymepay

Information displayed in Apple Wallet in regard to individual transactions is provided by the bank. Apple only has access to GPS data, and that’s only if the devices Location Services and System Services is on. Apple doesn’t maintain a list of merchants. So, GPS is all they have.


Apple posts a disclaimer and it’s in the screenshot you posted above


>>Wallet uses Maps to provide merchant name, category, and location for your transactions. Help improve accuracy by reporting incorrect information.<<


Unless consumers make the effort to report errors it’s unlikely to improve. Banks would need to share the merchant information and they’re unlikely to do that, in my opinion.

May 16, 2024 8:36 AM in response to Jeff Donald

@Jeff Donald, as I stated in my prior response the bank does receive the physical location of the transaction for all face to face transactions in which the merchant has a store/outlet. This is not my opinion, it is a fact. This is regulated by the card associations. Merchant Acquiring Banks and or the entity's they sponsor to provide credit and debit card processing services commonly referred to as Merchant Service Providers are required to complete specific underwriting steps for every new merchant account to demonstrate the merchant location is operating in compliance with the card associations rules and regulations such as the following rule set by Visa; "Visa’s rules require merchants to submit complete data, including name, type of business, and

merchant location. Providing the proper information is important for.

• Cardholder recognition, and reducing unnecessary cardholder disputes

• Accurate risk assessment and authorization decisions, reducing additional risk to all participants

in the Visa system

• Accurate assessment of fees and interchange

The rules for identifying your location have been clarified to help you more accurately identify your

location.

Card-present transactions

Generally, the merchant location is the physical location where the transaction takes place;

however, there are rules in place for when a merchant is not in a fixed location.


Here is the official rule here: https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/global/support-legal/documents/providing-proper-location-of-merchant-business.pdf


If these details don't interest you, or if you just want the correct merchant information for transactions run on apple pay then login to the online transaction activity posted to your account on the card issuers site where you manage your account, alternatively refer to the statement from the card issuer that shows the official activity. The correct merchant information is displayed when you obtain it from an actual participant in the transaction that plays by the rules set by card issuers.


My Apple Pay does not register the correct vendor when I use the tap to pay feature.

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