Modern technology
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.
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