Payment problems resolved at Albert Heijn and Gall & Gall

A malfunction with the payment terminals at Ahold stores has been resolved, the company reported on Tuesday morning. The malfunction left customers of Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall & Gall unable to pay with their debit cards on Monday afternoon, ANP reports.

"Since yesterday afternoon our customers have not been able to pay with their cards in our stores. Of course we found that very annoying. The problem has been solved, customers can now swipe again", a spokesperson for Albert Heijn said to the news wire. The cause of the problem turned out to be a technical failure. "We worked hard with KPN through the night to resolve this."

The malfunction resulted in long lines at supermarket checkouts that only accepted cash. Thousands of reports about the failure were received, according to newspaper AD.

NOS reports that a malfunction in the firewall was the culprit - instead of stopping only erroneous data, the firewall stopped all data. Ahold did not say exactly where the problem lay.