Retailers’ EFTPOS Machines Disconnected

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday 14th March 2011

Retailers’ EFTPOS Machines Disconnected

Approximately 400 EFTPOS machines around the country will be disconnected from the Paymark network resulting in those retailers being unable to process EFTPOS transactions from today.

The disconnections come as a result of retailers who, despite months of warning, have not upgraded out-of-date terminals. The terminals now pose risks to the safety and security of transactions.

Until today, the retailers concerned have been operating under an agreement with their bank, which has allowed them extra time to get their equipment upgraded. Some of these agreements date back months: others, years.

A series of communications have been sent to the retailers over the past three months from both Paymark and the banks, outlining that their terminals will be disconnected on the 14th March. The retailers being cut off represent a cross-section of industries ranging from small businesses to large corporate merchants.

Paymark CEO, Simon Tong, says that the message is simple: those retailers who do not upgrade in time will be disconnected – get it done now.

“The cost of upgrading is not going to get any cheaper. There are plenty of excellent deals out there at the moment – our partners are working hard to make the process as easy as possible. This particular group of retailers have had time to make the switch, but have ignored our warnings and as a result will be unable to process EFTPOS transactions on our network as of today,” says Simon Tong.

Mr. Tong adds that reconnecting is a simple process – retailers can be up and running as soon as they connect a complaint terminal to the network.

Operating without EFTPOS will become a reality for more and more retailers if they do not make the move to the more secure version 6.0 EFTPOS terminals by the nationwide cut-off date of June 1st.

“Today’s disconnections apply to a small group of retailers whose agreement with their bank to run old equipment has expired, but all retailers who are not yet using compliant equipment need to make the switch in time for June 1st

“We’ve been urging people to upgrade for some time now and the response from most retailers has been fantastic. The sooner the remaining retailers make the move, the better. Leaving things to the last minute won’t work and we owe it to the 75,000 retailers with compliant terminals to stay true to our disconnection date,” concludes Mr. Tong.

ENDS

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