Important Information regarding service problems on Saturday 2 September
Many of our merchants would have experienced significant disruptions to our
service on Saturday 2 September. We would like to apologise for these.
This disruption was triggered by a 'VISA' network problem on Saturday
afternoon, which affected our authorisation system and call centre, along with
those of many other acquirers.
This caused significant problems during Saturday afternoon with both online
transactions and terminal resets. We scaled up our helpdesk quickly in an effort
to respond to the resulting calls. But, inevitably, this unprecedented surge of
calls meant that many of our customers were unable to contact us. We apologise
for the frustration this will have caused.
Whilst we restored the service and helpdesk as quickly as possible, we are
now working with all parties involved to make any necessary changes to prevent a
re-occurrence of this problem.
You may have further queries, please view some additional questions and answers below:
What was the disruption to your service on Saturday 2nd September?
RBS, in common with all other UK acquirers, experienced serious disruption to the automated on-line card authorisation service. The incident was triggered by a failure in the Visa authorisation system.
This caused significant problems in the afternoon with transaction authorisation requests. Whilst we responded by increasing the number of operators available to process manual authorisations, the telephone network was under pressure due to an unprecedented level of calls. This meant that at times customers received an engaged tone or experienced an unusually long wait to speak to an operator.
The disruption also affected the operation of a number of terminals, which required customers to contact us to have their machines reset.
We apologise for the inconvenience and frustration this will have caused you and your staff.
All transactions should now have processed. If you are experiencing difficulties reconciling your transactions then please contact our helpdesk in the normal way.
During this period I processed transactions on paper. Is there anything more that I need to do?
No. Provided that the instructions for taking a paper transaction, as detailed in your ‘Merchant Operating Instructions’, were followed there should be nothing else for you to do.
If you do get a chargeback relating to a transaction taken on the afternoon of Saturday 2nd September you should deal with this in the normal way. We will then act on your behalf and keep you advised of progress.
Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience.
What can you do to reassure me that this will not happen again?
The events of Saturday 2nd September were unprecedented and we believe that it is highly improbable that the combination of factors that created the interruption to service could be repeated. However, we are undertaking a full review of events with Visa to ensure appropriate lessons are learnt and any further safeguards that are identified will be put in place.
Who do I approach if I have a further question relating to this issue?
If your question has not been answered then please contact our helpdesk on 0845 7 61 62 63 where one of our advisers will be able to help you.
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