DBS PayLah works overtime to handle frustrated customers on social after cashback outage

Banking application DBS PayLah saw some frustrated users emerge as customers faced delays when it came to receiving their cashback last week after a high volume of logins affected a SG$3 meal subsidy that was being offered by the bank under its 5 Million Hawker Meals initiative.

According to DBS in a statement posted to its Facebook page, the bank apologised for the inconvenience and said, "We are aware that some customers who had earlier made eligible transactions under the DBS 5 Million Hawker Meals scheme did not instantly receive their cashback. Please be assured that we have credited the cashback to your PayLah! wallet."

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE found that on its Facebook page, DBS has also been actively responding to consumer complaints.  According to The Straits Times, users were initially told through a notice on the PayLah app, that they would have to wait until Monday to receive their cashback amounts that that they should expect delays when it came to logging into the app.  MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to DBS for more information.

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As part of the 5 Million Hawker Meals initiative, DBS PayLah users can expect to receive 100% cashback capped at SG$3 for the first 100,000 users who use DBS PayLah to scan and pay for their meals every Friday at any of the 11,600 SGQR-enabled hawker stalls island-wide, according to DBS. The initiative began on 10 February this year and will run until 19 January next year. 

The initiative was started to help Singaporeans and residents cope with inflationary pressures that are continuing to drive up food prices.

The technical issue with DBS comes just months after the bank launched a regional campaign to reflects its belief that, by behaving more like a startup and less like a "traditional bank, it can be a bank for the times – because a post-COVID world demands for a different kind of bank. The brand campaign which comes four years after its “Live more, Bank less” positioning, builds on what DBS wants to stand for and aims to defy the status quo of what being a bank means.

The campaign, which was rolled out across six markets in Asia, namely Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Taiwan, showcased DBS' commitment to becoming more like a forward-looking tech company offering financial services.

At the time, one of the key pillars for the campaign was for the bank to commit to continuous innovation when it comes to leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning and data, blockchain technology and ecosystem partnerships. The bank sought to ensure that banking is simple, fast and effortless, increasingly personalised, and seamlessly woven into everyday life, according to Karen Ngui, the managing director and DBS' head of group strategic marketing and communications in a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE last year. 

However, DBS has faced other tech-related issues in recent years, one of which includes a massive outage to DBS's online banking services in November 2021. At the time, DBS Bank's access control servers disrupted its online banking services for about two days, preventing customers from being able to access its services.  The disruption was so serious that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed an additional capital requirement of SG$930 million on DBS due to the outage. This was four times higher than the SG$230 million that was originally set aside by DBS for similar disruptions of its digital banking services in 2010.

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