A total of HK$142,400 was wrongfully deducted from the bank accounts of Octopus card users in the past two months when they unsuccessfully attempted to use the EPS add-value machines in MTR Corp and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation stations.
Apoligising to cardholders yesterday, Octopus Holdings chief executive Prudence Chan Bik-wah said the amount involved 571 transactions, an average of HK$250 each, and would be refunded by next Wednesday.
The EPS add-value service was suspended on February 3 pending the results of an investigation into the glitch.
Cardholders can still add value using cash at EPS services outside MTR and KCR stations, because separate networks are used and they are not affected by the problem, Octopus Cards sales and marketing director Cindy Cheng said.
Octopus is liaising with EPS and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which governs the smartcard operator under the Banking Ordinance, and will initiate an inquiry with an independent consultant. The findings are expected in a few months.
Ms Cheng said the inquiry would help find whether the problem was with hardware, software or infrastructure.
She explained that under normal circumstances the add-value machine would alert the cardholder if adding value via EPS failed, with the message: 'Add value unsuccessful. Please contact customer service counter.'