23 Quadrillion dollar error on Visa Statements...

[ericmc783]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/15/quadrillion.dollar.glitch/index.html

A technical snafu left some Visa prepaid cardholders stunned and horrified Monday to see a $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge on their statements.

That's about 2,007 times the size of the national debt.

Josh Muszynski, 22, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was one Visa customer aghast to find the 17-digit charge on his bill. Adding insult to injury, he had also been hit with a $15 overdraft fee.

[ThisEndlessFall]

Lol

[drawkcab]

project mayhem

[CJ Master]

"He next called Bank of America, the issuer of his Visa prepaid debit card. The bank kept him on hold for two hours, during which time he contemplated the impossibly bleak financial future that might await him. He also felt a stab of fear that he had saddled all his unborn grandchildren -- and their grandchildren -- with a lifetime of debt. "Down the generational line, nobody would have any money."

Give me a break. Is anybody that foolish to think they'd actually be charged that ammount of money?! WOW.

[Giant Speck]

Yeah, he was being a bit too melodramatic about the whole thing.

But there is a lesson here, kids. A smoking habit is an expensive habit.

[Dr. C]

"He next called Bank of America, the issuer of his Visa prepaid debit card. The bank kept him on hold for two hours, during which time he contemplated the impossibly bleak financial future that might await him. He also felt a stab of fear that he had saddled all his unborn grandchildren -- and their grandchildren -- with a lifetime of debt. "Down the generational line, nobody would have any money."

Give me a break. Is anybody that foolish to think they'd actually be charged that ammount of money?! WOW.

He is not foolish, since he has been actually charged that amount. The real issue here is not that the Bank made a mistake, anyone can make a mistake, but that the Bank refused to allow the customer to bring their mistake to the Bank's attention in a timely manner by keeping the customer on the phone for two hours.

IANAL but the customer should sue the bank over this and make an example out of the Bank.

[nmccrina]

A technical snafu left some Visa prepaid cardholders stunned and horrified Monday to see a $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge on their statements.

That's about 2,007 times the size of the national debt.


The national debt doesn't seem too large now! Hey, maybe the national debt is a technical snafu...that's at least as plausible as aliens being responsible for 9/11 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories#Reptilian_shape-shifting_aliens) :lolflag:

[3rdalbum]

I misread the topic as "Vista" - and I thought "Is that only when it runs on Pentium processors?"

[Technique13]

IANAL but the customer should sue the bank over this and make an example out of the Bank.

He has no damages, and he probably signed a contract stating that if something like this went wrong the bank could not be held liable, so he really shouldn't sue the bank, we have enough frivolous law suits

[Dr. C]

He has no damages, and he probably signed a contract stating that if something like this went wrong the bank could not be held liable, so he really shouldn't sue the bank, we have enough frivolous law suits

He does have damages the value of his time for starters. Furthermore because most bank account agreements have a clause that makes the customer responsible for errors if the bank is not notified within a certain period of time, the customer may not have any option but to sue if the bank frustrates the notification process placing the customer in a catch 22 situation, otherwise the customer could find himself legally liable for the 23 Quadrillion dollars.

This is far from trivial

[Grant A.]

He does have damages the value of his time for starters. Furthermore because most bank account agreements have a clause that makes the customer responsible for errors if the bank is not notified within a certain period of time, the customer may not have any option but to sue if the bank frustrates the notification process placing the customer in a catch 22 situation, otherwise the customer could find himself legally liable for the 23 Quadrillion dollars.

This is far from trivial

Did you read the entire article?



The company assured customers that the problem has been fixed and that all falsely issued fees have been voided. "Erroneous postings have been removed ... this incident had no financial impact on Visa prepaid cardholders."

[ssam]

he wasn't the only one http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/14/visa-claims-teen-spe.html

[armandh]

a better idea would be to take the statement to a competting card issuer and ask "how much credit will you give me?" or apply to the fed for a bailout!