NETS-related services restored after 'connectivity issues' cause peak lunch hour disruption

SINGAPORE: Connectivity issues caused NETS-related services to go down briefly on Friday (Nov 3), with some users reporting problems with their payments not reflecting or being charged multiple times. 

The payment provider said in response to CNA’s queries that NETS QR and eNETS faced intermittent connectivity issues from 11.30am. 

“Both services recovered at 12.42pm. We will be conducting a post-incident review to investigate further,” it added. 

NETS first flagged the issue in a Facebook post at about 12.20pm, notifying the public that NETS QR and eNETS were facing “intermittent connectivity issues” and that it was working to stabilise the service.

DBS said in a separate post at about the same time that NETS-related services, including NETS QR Scan & Pay, were unavailable.

PAY WITH CASH

Several stallholders at Kim San Leng Hawker Centre in Bishan told CNA on Friday afternoon that they noticed issues with the QR payment service at about 12.30pm during peak lunch hours. Diners were asked to pay with cash instead.

A Facebook user in the comments section of DBS’ post said that the service outage caused him to miss out on a discount.

“Missed the rebate again, last Friday also down,” said user Yan Dao.

Despite NETS announcing that its services were back online, several individuals still encountered issues. 

Facebook user Ryan Tan KB said he was unable to pay his bills via an AXS machine at about 2.20pm while other users left comments asking NETS about transaction refunds. 

“You should have the transaction as failed. Now we all have to double pay and ask (sic) for refund later on,” said Facebook user Steven Lee. 

NETS said in response to CNA’s queries that its services were fully restored at 2.18pm, adding that it will work with the banks to “support the reconciliation process”.

“Consumers should contact their banks for more information relating to their transactions,” it said.

Customers who are still experiencing issues with NETs may contact its customer service hotline.

Additional reporting by Suen Wai Kit. 

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