Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes

Dark Seraphim · 07-17-2009, 02:06 AM

A man who was charged a staggering $23 quadrillion for a packet of cigarettes has fortunately managed to avoid paying the bill.

The New Hampshire resident bought a packet of cigarettes at a Mobil petrol station using his Visa credit card, but when he returned home he discovered he had been charged rather more than he expected.

Eventually he managed to clear up the matter with the issuing Bank of America, and was naturally relieved not to have to pay the bill.

Visa downplayed the blunder, described as an “inaccuracy”:
“A temporary programming error at Visa Debit Processing Services, caused some transactions to be inaccurately posted to a small number of Visa prepaid accounts.

The technical glitch, which impacted fewer than 13,000 Visa prepaid transactions, has been corrected and erroneous postings have been removed.

Importantly, this incident had no financial impact on Visa prepaid cardholders.
Visa regrets any inconvenience to our customers and has taken immediate steps to ensure this error doesn’t occur again.”

Via Itai News.

The US GDP is only $14 trillion, so by not making this man pay an opportunity to increase the US GDP by 16,200% has been lost; such are the wonders of national income accounting…

Source: Click Here!

That's some pretty expensive cigarettes there.

CinnamonToast · 07-17-2009, 04:45 AM

Well, Zimbabwe is heading that way with the inflation rate...

Dark Seraphim · 07-17-2009, 05:05 AM

Probably worse then buying a loaf of bread for millions of marks way back when.

LostHope · 07-17-2009, 05:17 AM

Originally Posted by Dark Seraphim

Probably worse then buying a loaf of bread for millions of marks way back when.

heh...i still have an old 200 billion mark bill from 1923ish...
wasn't even enough for a pack of cigarettes back then...

Dark Seraphim · 07-17-2009, 05:48 AM

Originally Posted by LostHope

heh...i still have an old 200 billion mark bill from 1923ish...
wasn't even enough for a pack of cigarettes back then...

lol.

Expensive cigarettes nevertheless.

Pat123 · 07-17-2009, 10:57 AM

Visa downplayed the blunder, described as an “inaccuracy”:
“A temporary programming error at Visa Debit Processing Services, caused some transactions to be inaccurately posted to a small number of Visa prepaid accounts.

The technical glitch, which impacted fewer than 13,000 Visa prepaid transactions, has been corrected and erroneous postings have been removed.

I like how 13,000 customers is a "small number."

Drgentile777 · 07-17-2009, 06:50 PM

That's hilarious. I wouldn't even worry about this if it happened to me. Of course you can't be expected to pay for this. How exactly did it happen though? Did it ring up that way? Or did the transaction just go haywire?

SaitoBenkei · 07-17-2009, 08:35 PM

I freaking hate Bank of America
Its a total rip-off
They have so many hidden fees its ridiculous and so many errors (not quite this substantial) I had to endure while I was banking with them
I never trusted banks to begin with and with my previous experience and seeing this...its just cements my attitude with them even more

07-17-2009, 02:06 AM	#1
Dark Seraphim Ifrit Posts: 47 Join Date: Jun 2009 Gender : Location: New Zealand	Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes A man who was charged a staggering $23 quadrillion for a packet of cigarettes has fortunately managed to avoid paying the bill. The New Hampshire resident bought a packet of cigarettes at a Mobil petrol station using his Visa credit card, but when he returned home he discovered he had been charged rather more than he expected. Eventually he managed to clear up the matter with the issuing Bank of America, and was naturally relieved not to have to pay the bill. Visa downplayed the blunder, described as an “inaccuracy”: “A temporary programming error at Visa Debit Processing Services, caused some transactions to be inaccurately posted to a small number of Visa prepaid accounts. The technical glitch, which impacted fewer than 13,000 Visa prepaid transactions, has been corrected and erroneous postings have been removed. Importantly, this incident had no financial impact on Visa prepaid cardholders. Visa regrets any inconvenience to our customers and has taken immediate steps to ensure this error doesn’t occur again.” Via Itai News. The US GDP is only $14 trillion, so by not making this man pay an opportunity to increase the US GDP by 16,200% has been lost; such are the wonders of national income accounting… Source: Click Here! That's some pretty expensive cigarettes there.

07-17-2009, 04:45 AM	#2
CinnamonToast 4 months - TOASTY IS BACK Posts: 1,248 Join Date: Oct 2008 Gender : Location: Donno :-?	Re: Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes Well, Zimbabwe is heading that way with the inflation rate... Blast... Logic rears its ugly head once again... Spoiler! Hinata! Spoiler!

07-17-2009, 05:05 AM	#3
Dark Seraphim Ifrit Posts: 47 Join Date: Jun 2009 Gender : Location: New Zealand	Re: Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes Probably worse then buying a loaf of bread for millions of marks way back when.

07-17-2009, 05:17 AM	#4
LostHope bastard Posts: 11,090 Join Date: Aug 2008 Gender : Location: shores of hell Total Awards: 2	Re: Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes Originally Posted by Dark Seraphim Probably worse then buying a loaf of bread for millions of marks way back when. heh...i still have an old 200 billion mark bill from 1923ish... wasn't even enough for a pack of cigarettes back then...

07-17-2009, 05:48 AM	#5
Dark Seraphim Ifrit Posts: 47 Join Date: Jun 2009 Gender : Location: New Zealand	Re: Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes Originally Posted by LostHope heh...i still have an old 200 billion mark bill from 1923ish... wasn't even enough for a pack of cigarettes back then... lol. Expensive cigarettes nevertheless.

07-17-2009, 10:57 AM	#6
Pat123 Yojimbo Posts: 2,418 Join Date: Jan 2009 Gender : Location: New Mexico, USA	Re: Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes Visa downplayed the blunder, described as an “inaccuracy”: “A temporary programming error at Visa Debit Processing Services, caused some transactions to be inaccurately posted to a small number of Visa prepaid accounts. The technical glitch, which impacted fewer than 13,000 Visa prepaid transactions, has been corrected and erroneous postings have been removed. I like how 13,000 customers is a "small number." Pat, the desert rat Owner of the Untranslated Manga Bits Club and Member of the *Let's Speak Japanese, Nihonomaru*, World of Manga, and Knights of the Round clubs.

07-17-2009, 06:50 PM	#7
Drgentile777 Ifrit Posts: 173 Join Date: Jun 2009 Gender : Location: U.S.A.	Re: Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes That's hilarious. I wouldn't even worry about this if it happened to me. Of course you can't be expected to pay for this. How exactly did it happen though? Did it ring up that way? Or did the transaction just go haywire?

07-17-2009, 08:35 PM	#8
SaitoBenkei ††††† Posts: 10,037 Join Date: May 2009 Total Awards: 2	Re: Man Charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for Cigarettes I freaking hate Bank of America Its a total rip-off They have so many hidden fees its ridiculous and so many errors (not quite this substantial) I had to endure while I was banking with them I never trusted banks to begin with and with my previous experience and seeing this...its just cements my attitude with them even more Thanks to a genius of a man....Wisteria And this sig is here to stay as long as I reside at this forum Happily Married to Vivi ;) Spoiler!

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