Marks & Spencer has warned a ‘cyber incident’ hit its stores nationwide which caused widespread mayhem and disruption for shoppers.
Customers faced pandemonium yesterday as they were turned away from tills after contactless payments and click-and-collect orders were rocked by the glitch.
The retail giant said the contactless payment issue has since been fixed but admitted it was still struggling with woes blighting its click-and-collect service.
In a statement today, M&S’s chief executive Stuart Machin, warned shoppers of some ‘small changes’ to store operations as the company tries to fix the gaffe.
In a message on social media, retail chief Mr Machin said: ‘I’m writing to you to let you know that over the last few days M&S has been managing a cyber incident.
‘To protect you and the business, it was necessary to temporarily make some small changes to our store operations, and I am sincerely sorry if you experiences any inconvenience.
‘Importantly, our stores remain open, and our website and App are operating as normal.
‘There is no need for you to take any action at this time and if the situation changes, we will let you know.’
Marks & Spencer is still having major issues with its click-and-collect service. (File image)
In a statement today, M&S’s chief executive Stuart Machin (pictured), warned shoppers of some ‘small changes’ to store operations
Pictured is Mr Machin full statement, which was shared by M&S on social media on Tuesday
M&S said it is currently working with cyber security experts to investigate and manage the incident.
The company is taking actions to protect its network and has also reported the incident to data protection supervisory authorities and the National Cyber Security Centre.
M&S has already been forced to apologise for the Easter Bank Holiday IT glitch that left customers furious.
Jake Moore, global cybersecurity adviser at internet security firm Eset, said: ‘This highlights the significant impact cyber attacks can have in the public domain.
‘Many ransomware attacks are dealt with behind the scenes which can make people think the problems are eroding but when customers are directly affected, the knock-on effects are far more widely noted.
‘Luckily, it seems no customer data has been taken in the attack but this situation widens the reality that card-only payments may not yet be the answer in a time when cyber attacks are just as prevalent as they’ve ever been.’
A spokesman earlier today admitted the misery for some customers may not yet be over, with the retail giant’s click-and-collect orders still facing ‘issues’.
After one customer demanded an update, a spokesman for M&S wrote on X: ‘Hi Molly, we’re working with our teams to get this resolved as quickly as possible but currently don’t have a timeframe on when this will be. If you’re worried about collecting your order late, please pop us a DM with your order number so we can look into it further.’
Scores of customers across M&S faced mayhem following a nationwide IT glitch with the chain
In another comment, an M&S official added: ‘We’re sorry about the issues over the weekend.’
The contactless payment issue over the Easter bank holiday weekend was the second major IT glitch suffered by the retailer in the past year.
Last May, the department store chain saw both its website and app taken offline for several hours following a third-party service failure.
The technical gaffe over the Easter weekend left customers furious, with many taking to social media to vent their anger.
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.’
Another wrote: ‘@marksandspencer hello, we were in store earlier and couldn’t use gift cards or contactless to pay. Has this now be resolved?’
Others suggested contactless payments have been down since Saturday. There are also several tweets from Saturday reporting contactless was down.
One warned: ‘Popped into the Harrow store today to collect some food items after the gym, so didn’t have my physical bank card with me… you know what I am going to say, but your contactless systems and also collection kiosks have been out of service for at least 48hrs.’
A spokesman for M&S said the issues were still on going but that the company was seeking to fix them as quickly as possible (above). It followed outrage over the bank holiday glitch, with customers expressing their fury on social media (below
Several shoppers have demanded answers, with M&S saying there are ‘technical issues’
Another wrote: ‘@marksandspencer I’ve tried to return some clothing to the Camden store and have been told that your WiFi has been down company wide since Saturday so I can’t return them.’
A third said: ‘In a queue with 10 customers at @marksandspencer, I was the only person remaining when they announced that their contactless service was not working on their card machine.
‘Welcome to a world where they will stop you from using facilities whenever they want. Cash.’
A fourth claimed: ‘When you drive 20 minutes for breakfast at the cafe but there’s a company wide issue, contactless isn’t working and they decide to close the cafe.’
A fifth fumed: ‘Bexleyheath store system has been since Saturday and can’t process returns, apply pay or contactless. Why is there no communication from the team.’
Responding to a customer on X this past weekend, a representative for M&S said: ‘I’m really sorry to hear about the poor experience you had – I completely understand your frustration.
‘We’ve had a nationwide issue with contactless payments in store and our software engineers are working hard to resolve this as quickly as possible.’
At 4.30pm on Easter Monday, customers were still reporting issues with contactless payments. The glitch has since been resolved.
There has been no timeline on when the click-and-collect issue will be resolved.
