EPS Add-value Glitch
In February 2007, it was found that when customers added value to their cards at self-service add-value points located in MTR and KCR stations, their bank accounts would be debited even if the transactions were cancelled. Octopus Cards Limited claimed that the fault was due to an upgrade of communication systems. Initially, two cases were reported. The company then announced that the use of the payment system, Electronic Payment Services (EPS), in add-value service points would be suspended until further notice, and had started investigation of the system's mistake.
On 27 July 2007, a report was announced that the wrong transactions could be traced back to 2000, and a total of 3.7 million Hong Kong dollars was wrongly deducted from 15,270 cases. The company reported that there may be cases dating before 2000, because only transactions from the past seven years were kept. It stated that it would co-operate with EPS Company Limited, operator of Electronic Payment Services, and banks to contact customers involved and arrange a refund within ten weeks' time.
On 21 December 2007, the company announced to permanently cease all transactions completed using EPS because they cannot guarantee such events from happening again.
Read more about this topic: Octopus Card