A sudden surge in the use of Point of Sales (PoS) or card swiping machines has caused an overload on the servers, thereby inconveniencing traders and customers alike. This comes as a double blow for people already in demonetisation duress.
DH had, in its December 11 edition, reported technical glitches in debit card, online transactions.
In an interaction with DH, Mohammed Mushtaq, manager of Smartline garment showroom, said three of his PoS machines (two HDFC and one Citibank) had stopped functioning since Sunday evening.
"There was a repeated retry message when we swiped customers' debit/credit cards. We had to turn away customers as they did not have cash either," said Mushtaq.
"Over 20 customers went away, which resulted in a loss of close to Rs 50,000. If it was a small amount, they would have managed, but if it is beyond Rs 2,000, they prefer to pay by card," Mushtaq said.
Another trader from Shivajinagar said normally Sunday would be a sales day for the shop.
"Since the banks were closed, I could not get the PoS machines rectified there. I tried contacting the call centre, but the lines were busy. On a daily basis, we face a technical problem for 30 minutes. On Sunday, the server was completely down," the shop owner said. "If this continues, shopowners will be in big trouble," he said.
At Matteo Coffea, the supervisor had to face the ire of customers. "Customers abused me when I requested them to pay by cash as servers were down. They were giving Rs 2,000 note, but I had no change," he said.
"We don't have any option, but to force customers to pay by cash when servers are down. In the evening, before we take orders, we are asking customers to pay by cash, which makes them angry. Most of them leave if they don't have cash," he added.
"I went to a few shops in Indiranagar and found that most of them were facing a similar problem. I went back to my PG accommodation, borrowed money from friends and returned to shop," a customer said.
An email sent to private banks did not elicit response.
DH had, in its December 11 edition, reported technical glitches in debit card, online transactions.
In an interaction with DH, Mohammed Mushtaq, manager of Smartline garment showroom, said three of his PoS machines (two HDFC and one Citibank) had stopped functioning since Sunday evening.
"There was a repeated retry message when we swiped customers' debit/credit cards. We had to turn away customers as they did not have cash either," said Mushtaq.
"Over 20 customers went away, which resulted in a loss of close to Rs 50,000. If it was a small amount, they would have managed, but if it is beyond Rs 2,000, they prefer to pay by card," Mushtaq said.
Another trader from Shivajinagar said normally Sunday would be a sales day for the shop.
"Since the banks were closed, I could not get the PoS machines rectified there. I tried contacting the call centre, but the lines were busy. On a daily basis, we face a technical problem for 30 minutes. On Sunday, the server was completely down," the shop owner said. "If this continues, shopowners will be in big trouble," he said.
At Matteo Coffea, the supervisor had to face the ire of customers. "Customers abused me when I requested them to pay by cash as servers were down. They were giving Rs 2,000 note, but I had no change," he said.
"We don't have any option, but to force customers to pay by cash when servers are down. In the evening, before we take orders, we are asking customers to pay by cash, which makes them angry. Most of them leave if they don't have cash," he added.
"I went to a few shops in Indiranagar and found that most of them were facing a similar problem. I went back to my PG accommodation, borrowed money from friends and returned to shop," a customer said.
An email sent to private banks did not elicit response.
A sudden surge in the use of Point of Sales (PoS) or card swiping machines has caused an overload on the servers, thereby inconveniencing traders and customers alike. This comes as a double blow for people already in demonetisation duress.
DH had, in its December 11 edition, reported technical glitches in debit card, online transactions.
In an interaction with DH, Mohammed Mushtaq, manager of Smartline garment showroom, said three of his PoS machines (two HDFC and one Citibank) had stopped functioning since Sunday evening.
"There was a repeated retry message when we swiped customers’ debit/credit cards. We had to turn away customers as they did not have cash either,” said Mushtaq.
"Over 20 customers went away, which resulted in a loss of close to Rs 50,000. If it was a small amount, they would have managed, but if it is beyond Rs 2,000, they prefer to pay by card,” Mushtaq said.
Another trader from Shivajinagar said normally Sunday would be a sales day for the shop.
"Since the banks were closed, I could not get the PoS machines rectified there. I tried contacting the call centre, but the lines were busy. On a daily basis, we face a technical problem for 30 minutes. On Sunday, the server was completely down,” the shop owner said. "If this continues, shopowners will be in big trouble,” he said.
At Matteo Coffea, the supervisor had to face the ire of customers. "Customers abused me when I requested them to pay by cash as servers were down. They were giving Rs 2,000 note, but I had no change,” he said.
"We don’t have any option, but to force customers to pay by cash when servers are down. In the evening, before we take orders, we are asking customers to pay by cash, which makes them angry. Most of them leave if they don’t have cash,” he added.
"I went to a few shops in Indiranagar and found that most of them were facing a similar problem. I went back to my PG accommodation, borrowed money from friends and returned to shop,” a customer said.
An email sent to private banks did not elicit response.
DH had, in its December 11 edition, reported technical glitches in debit card, online transactions.
In an interaction with DH, Mohammed Mushtaq, manager of Smartline garment showroom, said three of his PoS machines (two HDFC and one Citibank) had stopped functioning since Sunday evening.
"There was a repeated retry message when we swiped customers’ debit/credit cards. We had to turn away customers as they did not have cash either,” said Mushtaq.
"Over 20 customers went away, which resulted in a loss of close to Rs 50,000. If it was a small amount, they would have managed, but if it is beyond Rs 2,000, they prefer to pay by card,” Mushtaq said.
Another trader from Shivajinagar said normally Sunday would be a sales day for the shop.
"Since the banks were closed, I could not get the PoS machines rectified there. I tried contacting the call centre, but the lines were busy. On a daily basis, we face a technical problem for 30 minutes. On Sunday, the server was completely down,” the shop owner said. "If this continues, shopowners will be in big trouble,” he said.
At Matteo Coffea, the supervisor had to face the ire of customers. "Customers abused me when I requested them to pay by cash as servers were down. They were giving Rs 2,000 note, but I had no change,” he said.
"We don’t have any option, but to force customers to pay by cash when servers are down. In the evening, before we take orders, we are asking customers to pay by cash, which makes them angry. Most of them leave if they don’t have cash,” he added.
"I went to a few shops in Indiranagar and found that most of them were facing a similar problem. I went back to my PG accommodation, borrowed money from friends and returned to shop,” a customer said.
An email sent to private banks did not elicit response.