Computer Credit Card Processing Fiasco

In March 1992, a man living in Newton 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 of post. He called
them and talked to them about the problem. They said it was a computer
error and told him they'd take care of it.

The following month our hero decided that it was about time that he
tried out the troublesome credit card figuring that if there were
purchases on his account he could end this 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 cancelled.

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. Having
spoken to the credit card company the previous day, he assumed 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. It reported 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 $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 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. Furthermore, 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 their
anniversary, bought her a typewriter instead.