Payment card reader broken at the gas station

Here's my experience of the day. After work, I went to get petrol at the gas station on the A99. When I drove in there, the place was packed with Dutch caravan's and trucks but luckily I could squeeze in at a pump and fill my tank. Tank filled up, so I went inside, and there I discovered why it was so busy. Apparently the only way to pay was in cash because the card system didn't work at the moment. So in between the overpriced chips and candy bars there were at least 20 people screaming that they were willing to pay but not in cash. The people behind the register only told that they didn't know how long it would take to fix it. I quote "it could be a few hours".

Now leaving the gas station without paying is a pretty serious crime, and all the people in there already filled up their tank.

What would you have done in that situation?

EDIT: I will post later how I solved it, I am just curious what you would have done

Had to be a teller within walking distance to withdraw some cash. That has happened to me before when my card was rejected over and over due to the heat...or something...i just walked to the teller and used the same card to withdraw the money...took all of 10 minutes. Most autobahn stations also have teller machines these days as well.

I hadn't thought of that, but I don't think they had, otherwise they wouldn't have made such a fuss of it.

But normally those cashpoints aren't connected to my bank, so I'd pay extra charges, because the card reader isn't working.

If it happens here, they put signs up on the pumps to let you know in advance.

I experienced it once after having a car repaired. They produced an Überweisungsträger and filled out the details of the bank account (from the ec card). You then sign the slip, they send it off to your bank and the money gets transferred that way.

Maybe they had the old swipe card machine with the carbon copies handy?

what the hell were those things called, and why cant i find an image on google

these

Check the ammount you owe and pay it another time.
Do pay it but.

Hmm...actually that is one thing that surprised me about Germany is how many of the services off the motorway do not have cash machines.
It is commonplace back home but more often than not here you have to drive into the small town at the next exit to get some cash, if that town is lucky enough to have a bank (usually Sparkasse of some kind)
So that is really not always an option.
Not sure what I would do in that case, but I would probably pay somehow because I hate not paying what I owe.

Just leave my liscence there and take them the money after.

As far as I was there, there were a lot of people being very annoyed, mainly tourists who probably had a long drive that day and didn't want to get too much delay for nothing at a gas station.

I left my business card with my license plate number, date, time and amount, and said I'd come back tomorrow. I was surprised that he accepted that

I thought you were going to say you spent the night right outside in your caravan

I don't know the exact percentage, but I'd be willing to wager that most do...especially the ones that cater to the truckers who need quick cash to pay the ho's.

Guess thats a bonus of the American style credit card/debit card instead of the normal EC Card. If the reader is not functioning they can manually swipe it with the carbons and submit it later (the manual swiper is usually referred to as a 'knucklebuster'). By the way, all merchants who take credit cards in the U.S. are required by Visa/Mastercard to have a manual swiper.

No they're not. I took credit cards for my business. I had some slips but could fill them out manually. An imprint isn't required, just a whole lot easier to prevent false claims since it proves you had the card in hand.

If the station didn't have Überweisungsformularen I'd've exchanged information with a promise to pay within three days. They can't honestly expect people with no cash to use pumps not marked "cash only" to wait for hours for their system to be restored.

woof.

If you read the fine print of your agreement for the merchant account with Visa/Mastercard, it is a requirement... unless that has changed. I used to run a business providing Merchant accounts to businesses. Some types of businesses are even required to always have an imprint of the card, regardless of the fact they can swipe it electronically (usually high risk businesses in shady industries with high rates of fraud).

I would have done the same. It's easy for you as a local to do that, but the tourists weren't coming back for another two weeks or so and would probably have forgotten to stop by.
Possibly the attendants could have prepared a form for the customers to sign with personal details and CC number and amount. Then take a pencil and rub the CC number into the form, having the owner sign across that image as well. It might be worth suggesting to them against the next time this happens. There always is a next time.