ANZ Bank has backed down on a decision not to refund fees to customers affected by a nationwide ATM outage this morning.
About 85 per cent of the bank's 3000 ATM machines did not work for about 40 minutes from 7am (WST, or 9am EST).
Customers who were forced to use other banks' machines - and incur a $2 fee - were initially told they would not be refunded.
"There are other options like branches and EFTPOS that they could have used," an ANZ spokesman said.
But the bank has since decided to reimburse the fee, following publicity about the issue on Fairfax websites.
"We realised it was completely our own error and we want to rectify that," the spokesman said.
Earlier, consumer group Choice called on the ANZ to refund the fees.
"They've got a shiny new advertising campaign talking about how they put customers first," spokesman Christopher Zinn said.
"They talk the talk, but they should walk the walk. You can draw your own conclusions on how they act on occasions like this... This is an opportunity from the 101 book of marketing."
It was not always possible for customers to go into a branch or use EFTPOS, Mr Zinn said.
"I wonder how many people would have used another bank's ATM in that time. While (ANZ) might not have any legal liability in this case, one would think it's in their interests to do the right thing by their customers."
Comments
Be the first to comment.
New user? Sign up
Make a comment
You are logged in as [Logout]
All information entered below may be published.
Thank you
Your comment has been submitted for approval.
Comments are moderated and are generally published if they are on-topic and not abusive.