As I waited for a friend yesterday, I dashed across the road to 'Shop N Save Supermarket' in Bishan, to get myself a fruit drink, mango and grapes - I paid the S$10.32 purchase with my card.
Thank God, the purchase done and transaction accepted in less than 5 minutes.
But it will not be the case if was Monday, the day before.
For the first time in history, a big system had crashed that left customers and businesses in the dark for 7 hours.
In a country where almost all payments made by almost all walks of life with cards, it was definitely turned to total chaos.
A father I know, had to return his 2 trolleys of grocery shopping back to the shelving and freezers as his only POSBank card was not accepted.
He went home empty-handed as he could not withdrew money from the ATM.
Another father ran from one ATM to another for his son's pocket money and the wife's marketing.
Cold sweat appeared and he feared for the worst - His saving and salary are all gone - Save for the minimum required of S$2.00.
I heard a few end up borrowing from friends for breakfast to be paid.
An Indonesian friend used to laugh at us as Singaporeans, her remark, are slow at counting money (mind you, Indonesian currencies are in millions of rupiah), and she always insisted me to rely on cash rather than a card.
With this latest incidence, her saying does make sense. It holds some truth in it
Thank God, the purchase done and transaction accepted in less than 5 minutes.
But it will not be the case if was Monday, the day before.
For the first time in history, a big system had crashed that left customers and businesses in the dark for 7 hours.
In a country where almost all payments made by almost all walks of life with cards, it was definitely turned to total chaos.
A father I know, had to return his 2 trolleys of grocery shopping back to the shelving and freezers as his only POSBank card was not accepted.
He went home empty-handed as he could not withdrew money from the ATM.
Another father ran from one ATM to another for his son's pocket money and the wife's marketing.
Cold sweat appeared and he feared for the worst - His saving and salary are all gone - Save for the minimum required of S$2.00.
I heard a few end up borrowing from friends for breakfast to be paid.
******
With this latest incidence, her saying does make sense. It holds some truth in it
******
Jul 7, 2010 - DBS Chief Says 'Sorry'
Chief executive, Mr Piyush Gupta said: 'We are sorry for what happened. We took numerous measures to minimise inconvenience caused by the temporary disruption in services. - Photo: Reuters
DBS Bank apologised to customers yesterday after Monday's big systems crash that left customers and businesses in the lurch and in the dark for about seven hours.
'We have commenced a full scale investigation and I am treating this matter with utmost priority.'
Mr Gupta's comments come after Monday's massive network failure that knocked out more than 1,000 ATMs.
Irate customers could not access the bank's internet and mobile banking facilities, while payments made on DBS debit and credit cards could not be processed.
To cope with the situation, DBS made arrangements to deploy additional staff at branches and its call centre. Cheques were honoured and urgent cash withdrawals up to $500 were permitted.
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DBS detected the problem at 3am and many residents discovered the failure in the early morning.
Internet and mobile banking were down too.
However, services were soon restored at 10 am while other systems including credit cards, NETS, AXS, Internet and mobile banking by lunchtime.
Additional manpower was deployed to branches and call centre to assist with customer queries as 'technical difficulties' caused the breakdown.
DBS assured customers that all funds were safe, and apologised again to customers for the inconvenience caused.
******
Just wondering how would Singaporeans react if really the incident below reported by The Star does happen in the island.
A tidal wave?
And, it's not the first time.
Sunday July 4, 2010 - Cops Suspect Inside Job At ATM Theft Bids, 4 Arrested
KUALA LUMPUR: When the alarm failed to trigger in two recent attempts to steal from two automated teller machines (ATM), the signs pointed to an inside job. Police zeroed in on a security firm and arrested four men well-versed in the security features of such machines yesterday.
The men had tried twice over Thursday and Friday to grab money from the ATMs in Kelana Jaya and Puchong but failed.
In both cases, the alarms were not triggered, causing police to be suspicious. Selangor police chief Deputy Commissioner Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said the suspects, aged between 20 and 30, were familiar with the security features of the ATMs.
“That is probably why the security alarms on the premises and within the ATMs were not triggered. The suspects have been remanded for four days pending investigations,” he told a press conference in Dataran Ampang Point yesterday.
Sources revealed that police were also looking into similar unsolved cases in the Klang Valley to see if they matched the modus operandi of the latest failed thefts.
On Thursday, thieves tried to steal money from an ATM kiosk at a petrol station in Taman Tenaga, Jalan Puchong.
However, they fled when they saw policemen patrolling the area.
On Friday, a supermarket employee discovered a break-in at about 7am at a supermarket in Kelana Jaya.
The suspects had ripped through a dry wall to gain access to the ATM at about 4am before using a blowtorch to try to get to the money but aborted their plan and fled before the supermarket opened for business.
They were able to by-pass two security systems without triggering the alarm.
3 comments:
A system break down would definitely wreak havoc on us too. Gosh, that's really scary. Reading your post reminds me the importance of always carrying enough cash around as well as having enough cash at home in case of an emergency.
It happened to me once when I was grocery shopping when the store's debit card system was down. Many people had to leave their carts aside and go to the ATM machine to get cash. Luckily, my husband was waiting outside in the car and he had enough cash to pay for the groceries.
The incident must have caused a lot of confusion. The Card systems fail sometimes. It just shows that we cannot depend totally on technology.
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