‘I Need Help, I’m Legit Starving’: DBS Customers Say They Couldn’t Pay For Food During Outage

Cashless DBS Customers Could Not Pay For Things During Outage

On Saturday (14 Oct), DBS customers faced an outage that affected digital banking, payment services, and even ATM services islandwide.

Although all the services were back online the next morning, the situation left many customers who rely on cashless payments unable to pay for food and groceries for most of the day.

Members of the public took to TikTok to share their experiences. Many had to go home empty-handed, scramble for cash, or use an alternate bank account.

DBS customers stranded, one man had only S$1 in wallet during outage

One TikTok user shared that he found out about the outage when he went out to buy dinner.

As the ATMs were down, along with PayLah! and PayNow, he was not able to buy dinner or get a haircut as he only had S$1 in his wallet.

He said he also could not ask his mother for help as she was in Malaysia.

“I need help, I’m legit starving,” the user laughed.

“I don’t even think I can take public transport because I don’t use EZ-Link, I use the SimplyGo bank card — I can’t even take the train to ask my friend or family for help.”

Lamenting how he was stuck wherever he was, he joked that he should start a GoFundMe campaign to raise money instead.

Had to use alternate bank accounts to pay for groceries

Another DBS customer was grocery shopping at FairPrice when the outage happened.

In her video, she said, “PayWave and PayLah! are not working. You cannot even log in to the app.”

As such, she could not pay for her groceries with her credit card.

Fortunately, she had another account with a different bank and could settle her payment with it.

Went home to cook instant noodles due to lack of cash for takeaway food

This TikTok user also realised that it might be wise to have some cash on hand in case a similar situation arises.

At the beginning of his clip, he asked if there were any viewers who, like him, did not like to keep cash with them.

Then, he shared how he was on his way to get some takeaway after work. It was at that point he realised that DBS PayNow services were down.

“Heng, I have Maggi at home on standby,” he said in Mandarin.

He joked that he could do his dishes at home, record this video, and not have to do the dishes at the eatery due to being unable to pay for his food.

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Featured image adapted from TikTok and TikTok.