Upgrade in full swing but some merchants must act now

Media Release

Date: 23-May-11

Upgrade in full swing but some merchants must act now

With one week to go before out-dated 5.1 versions and below EFTPOS terminals are deactivated, the latest figures from Paymark show that of the 116,000 terminals connected to its network, 4,500 are at-risk and will be deactivated if they are not upgraded by June 1.

Paymark CEO, Simon Tong, says that though the picture has improved significantly in the past few months, the remaining merchants are a concern as they have ignored a multitude of communications and warnings.

“The response from most merchants has been fantastic and we are pleased to report that come June, over 97 per cent of all transactions through our network will be processed by compliant terminals.

“The last thing we want to do is deactivate merchants from our network – we have been communicating with businesses for the past 18 months and our aim is to ensure that beyond June, everyone is able to operate as normal.

“As a last measure, we are telephoning each of the affected merchants. These calls will be the final communication and our intention is to assist as many as possible with their upgrade scheduling plans,” adds Simon Tong.

Christchurch merchants whose businesses were affected by the 22 February earthquake are being offered an extension on their upgrade cut-off date.

Come June 1, those merchants who have not upgraded will be deactivated from the network in a staged, automated process. The process will run over all of June and early July if necessary.

Simon Tong adds that all merchants connected to the Paymark network have received at least six communications from Paymark and the banks involved, outlining the need to upgrade and the timeframe to do so. Most recently, they have received a letter outlining the week in which their terminal will no longer function on the network, should they not upgrade.

“We acknowledge that the upgrade is a cost to their business during tough times. However the June 1st date has been public since 2008, and we have been communicating the need to move for over a year.

“Merchants who still need to upgrade should act now as ordering and installing terminals takes a few days. Call your EFTPOS provider or Paymark on 0800 800 996 and the Paymark team will point you in the right direction,” concludes Tong.
ends

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