A true story expounding on a typical computer "thorn in the side". Compound this with potential Y2K problems and it can be a nightmare.
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In March 1992 a man living in Newtown near Boston Massachusetts received
a bill for his as yet unused credit card stating that he owed $0.00. He
ignored it and threw it away.
In April he received another and threw that one away too. The following
month the credit card company sent him a very nasty note stating they
were going to cancel his card if he didn't send them $0.00 by return mail.
He called them, talked to them, they said it was a computer error and
told him they'd take care of it.
The following month he decided that it was about time that he tried out
the
troublesome credit card figuring that if there were purchases on his
account
it would put an end to his ridiculous predicament. However, in the first
store that he produced his credit card in payment for his purchases he
found that his card had been canceled. He called the credit card company
who apologized for the computer error once again and said that they
would take care of it.
The next day he got a bill for $0.00 stating that payment was now overdue.
Assuming that having spoken to the credit card company only the previous
day the latest bill was yet another mistake he ignored it, trusting that
the
company would be as good as their word and sort the problem out.
The next month he got a bill for $0.00 stating that he had 10 days to pay
his
account or the company would have to take steps to recover the debt.
Finally giving in, he thought he would play the company at their own game
and mailed them a check for $0.00. The computer duly processed his account
and returned a statement to the effect that he now owed the credit card
company nothing at all.
A week later, the man's bank called him asking him what he was doing
writing a check for $0.00. After a lengthy explanation the bank replied
that the check had caused their check processing software to fail. The
bank could not now process ANY checks from ANY of their customers
that day because the check for $0.00 was causing the computer to crash.
The following month the man received a letter from the credit card company
claiming that his check had bounced and that he now owed them
$0.00 and unless he sent a check by return of post they would be taking
steps to recover the debt.
The man, who had been considering buying his wife a computer for her
birthday, bought her a typewriter instead.
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Quote of the Day: "43.3% of statistics are meaningless!"
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Dr. Bob Griffin, Christian College Professor, Editor of "Grif.Net" a
humorous look at life. Website: Grif.Net E-mail: Bob Griffin