Students unable to Eat@Warwick

The University’s Eating@Warwick card programme has been experiencing technical problems over the past four weeks resulting in the system being unusable throughout the Students’ Union.

The problem is believed to be caused by a fault within the card readers themselves. There have been no signs of malicious or security related activities involved.

Students who have an Eating@Warwick card are still eligible to use their discount when they show their card to any Union outlet or Costa Coffee. Those with a card will, however, have to provide an alternative method of payment.

The university’s press office elaborated on the issue at hand: “To fully integrate the Eating@Warwick card into the SU and Costa outlet on campus, we need to resolve some technical issues. There is an outside chance that this may require us to wait until a new academic accounting year begins in August, or perhaps the new academic year, however we are working to resolve this at the earliest opportunity and it may be resolved sooner.”

They continued: “In the interim, staff and students can continue to get a 10% discount in SU outlets and the campus Costa outlet simply by showing the card on making a purchase and without having to have actual money loaded in the card account. For a short period it will no doubt actually make the card even more popular and easy to use by students and staff in the SU outlets.”

The Eating@Warwick programme, which was revamped at the beginning of this academic year, gives Warwick students and staff a pre-paid card that allows them to pay for goods on campus with the benefit of a 10% discount.

{{ quote “We are working to resolve this at the earliest opportunity” – University spokesperson }}

As the scheme operates under a pre-paid top-up plan, concerns have been raised by students and staff who cannot currently use the available cash they have on their card.

A first year History student told the Boar, “I’m frustrated about the money I have on my card. I just topped it up before the system went down and I’m now uncertain if I will use the rest of my balance before the end of this term … Although we still get the discount, it is still inconvenient, particularly as the problem has been going on for weeks.”

A different conclusion was reached by a first year student, who stated, “I actually like what’s happening, as I now receive discounts without having to top-up my card.”