FEWER CUSTOMERS are experiencing problems with their point-of-sale debit card purchases as ScotiaBank works to fix the problem that has been causing cards to be rejected since Saturday.
Marie Powell, ScotiaBank's general manager of sales and marketing, said yesterday they were experiencing a "systems issue" that worsened on Saturday, causing many customers to rush to Automated Banking Machines (ABMs) or abandoned purchasing altogether. The issue, she said, affected debit card point-of-sale customers only and not the general Multilink withdrawal network.
On Saturday, scores of customers were unable to use their Scotia cards as machines simply hung up with "unable-to-connect" signals or declined the cards altogether. Shoppers at Super Plus supermarket in Half-Way Tree had to rush to the nearby ABM to get cash to pay for their goods; others were unsuccessful even after Super Plus removed its sign which advised shoppers that the system was down.
Several incidents of the debit machines malfunctioning were also recorded by customers at the Record Plaza, Tropical Plaza, Ammar's Kids and Twin Gates Appliance and Gifts in Half-Way Tree and the Basix Supermarket and Tropical Plaza Pharmacy on Constant Spring Road.
The Gleaner was told that the system had been giving trouble all Saturday morning to the extent that one banking system was refusing to accept transactions from another - National Commercial Bank not accepting ScotiaBank's. NCB-to-NCB transactions in some instances went through quicker than other banks' transactions.
