Greeks and tourists experienced a problem over the pre-Christmas days: the system for payments with debits and credit cards or withdraw money form the ATM seems to have been blocked due to the high demand
The problem started a few days ago reaching its peak on Saturday and Sunday, December 23 and 24th 2017.
While the problem seemed to be solved on Saturday afternoon, consumers were surprised to see they could not proceed with their Christmas purchases also on Sunday, just hours before stores and supermarkets would close their doors for two days.
According to media, the problem, a technical problem arose not so much due to the consumption increase but also because the system DIAS is linked also to the payment of wages and Christmas bonuses.
There are reports that big banks have revoked employees’ Christmas holidays in order to tackle the problem.
Banks in Greece closed on Friday afternoon, Dec 22, and are to open again on Dec 26th.
I encountered this myself when I went shopping at IKEA today. I was fortunate enough to have cash with me but I’m sure this has caused a lot of problems for many people.