RIYADH: Complaints about the malfunctioning of POS (points of sale) machines have recently been on the increase.
The ATM and POS network often breaks down during the holiday and festive seasons, possibly due to a high volume of use. According to Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, no effective measures have, seemingly, been taken to resolve the issue.
The situation is extremely worrying for customers and the ramifications of the problem include worsening customer relations and a lack of confidence in electronic transactions.
“This may also involve a loss of money for customers if the system breaks down in the middle of a transaction. Who is responsible for such failures? Who will protect customer rights if the system goes down while transactions are under way?” a customer asked.
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said in February that it had authorized another company, along with Saudi Telecoms, to strengthen communication services supporting the electronic transaction system. It is also planning to bring in two more companies to speed up the system.
SAMA assured the public that the new steps would result in immense improvements.
In an earlier statement SAMA said the situation had improved considerably in 2008 and that problems were mainly because of mounting pressure on the system. “The problems were very low compared to the volume of operations carried out on the system,” the statement said.
Some customers say that receipts issued by POS machines after a failed transaction show their transaction was canceled.
Their bank statements, however, indicate that money was deducted as if the transaction was successful.
While SAMA insists that the problems have been resolved, store cashiers complain of the poor performance of POS machines.
“Impatient customers mostly cancel their purchases and leave the shop in such circumstances,” one cashier said.
Some customers say that the solution to the problem lies in linking POS machines directly to banks instead of the Saudi Payments Network (SPAN).
