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[Guest guest]

Technology. Love it...or else! This story is

so true it is hard to believe.

 

In March of 1992 a man living in Newton, Massachusetts

received a bill on his as yet unused credit card stating that

he owed $0.00. He threw it away. In April he received

another and tossed that one, too. The following

month the credit card company sent him a nasty note

stating they were going to cancel his card if he didn't

send them $0.00. In retrospect, he probably should have

let them do that. Instead he called the company and

was informed that (are you ready for this?) the problem

was the result of a computer error. They told him they'd take

care of it. The following month he reasoned that, if other

charges appeared on the card, then it would put an end to

his ridiculous predicament. Besides, they assured him the

problem would be resolved. So he presented his card

for a purchase. It was declined. Once again he called. He

learned that the credit card had been cancelled for lack of

payment. They apologized for (here it is again) another

computer error and promised they would rectify the situation.

 

The next day he got a bill for $0.00 stating that payment

was now overdue.

 

Assuming that this bill was yet another mistake, he ignored

it. But the following month he received yet another bill

for $0.00 stating that he had ten days to pay his account in

full or the company would take necessary steps to recover

the debt. He gave in. He mailed in a check for $0.00.

The computer duly processed it and returned a statement to

the effect that his account was paid in full.

 

A week later, the man's bank called him asking him why

he wrote a check for $0.00. He explained the problem at

length. The bank replied that the $0.00 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 caused a computer crash.

 

The following month the man received a letter from the credit

card company claiming that his check had bounced, that

he still owed $0.00 and, unless payment was sent

immediately, they would institute procedures to

collect this debt.

 

This man, who had been considering buying his wife a

computer for her birthday, bought her a typewriter instead.