KUALA LUMPUR: The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) has advised cardholders to carefully read and follow prompters on the payment terminal screen when making payment with their credit or debit cards.
ABM said in a statement today that card payment terminals at food and beverage outlets would display the amount that customers had to pay and would prompt on-screen if they wished to add a tip or gratuity.
“Customers are advised to follow the display prompts accordingly and check the message to ensure that the final amount displayed on the point-of-sales terminal screen is correct before keying in their personal identification numbers (PIN),” the statement said.
The statement was issued following a recent news report in a local publication titled “Credit card machine with extra feature worries customers”.
ABM added that banks had taken steps to provide training to merchants and their cashiers, especially in the food and beverage industry, with regards to the tipping feature introduced for all payment cards.
A similar message warning Malaysians to be careful when using credit cards has also been circulating on social media.
The message reminded customers to be alert when keying in their PIN at restaurants to avoid paying "extra charges".
Since the implementation of the PIN-and-Pay feature, a lot of people are alarmed because it has been made compulsory for everyone to key in their PIN for all card payment transactions that uses locally issued payment cards at POS (point of sales) terminals in Malaysia.
Signature-only cards were no longer permitted to be used in the country since July 1.
In Malaysia tipping is not required and as a 10 per cent service charge is normally added to a bill.
Many locals are also known to round-up the bill and leave the change.
However, at high-end restaurants, some patrons out of their goodwill would choose to tip a waiter or waitress.