A pack of smokes for US-$ 23,148,855,308,184,500.00

Started by Syt, July 18, 2009, 12:06:40 AM

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Syt

BBC: US smoker chokes on cost of habit

QuoteA man in the United States popped out to his local petrol station to buy a pack of cigarettes - only to find his card charged $23,148,855,308,184,500.

That is $23 quadrillion (£14 quadrillion) - many times the US national debt.

"I thought somebody had bought Europe with my credit card," said Josh Muszynski, from New Hampshire.

He says his appeals to his bank first met with little understanding, though it eventually corrected the error.

It also waived the usual $15 overdraft fee.

"It was all back to normal," Mr Muszynski told his local television station, WMUR. "They reversed the negative balance fee, which was nice."

Debt crisis

His nightmare began when he checked his online bank account a few hours after buying the cigarettes.

He thought he would be a couple of hundred dollars in the black. But his overdraft had pushed him into the red - by an amount equivalent to many times the entire US national debt.

"It is a lot of money in the negative," he said. "Something I could never, ever, afford to pay back.

"My children could not afford it, grandchildren, nothing like that."

In panic, Mr Muszynski rushed back to the petrol station, but they were unable to help. He says he then spent two hours on the phone with the Bank of America.

Eventually, it assured him it would be fixed - and the next morning, it had been.

But no-one has yet explained to Mr Muszynski how such a astonishing error could have been made.



15$ overdraft for such a transaction seems a bargain. :P
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Caliga

There's no man in America that goes to his "local petrol station"  :rolleyes:

IT'S A GAS STATION DAMMIT.  :mad:
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Alatriste

Quote from: Caliga on July 18, 2009, 06:39:47 AM
There's no man in America that goes to his "local petrol station"  :rolleyes:

IT'S A GAS STATION DAMMIT.  :mad:

Last time I checked, gasoline was still a liquid. Face it, the Brits have got it right.

Neil

Quote from: Alatriste on July 18, 2009, 07:14:46 AM
Quote from: Caliga on July 18, 2009, 06:39:47 AM
There's no man in America that goes to his "local petrol station"  :rolleyes:

IT'S A GAS STATION DAMMIT.  :mad:

Last time I checked, gasoline was still a liquid. Face it, the Brits have got it right.
They both have it wrong.  They're not putting petroleum in their car, they're putting gasoline in.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

Lucidor

Quote from: Caliga on July 18, 2009, 06:39:47 AM
There's no man in America that goes to his "local petrol station"  :rolleyes:

IT'S A GAS STATION DAMMIT.  :mad:
Petrol station doesn't serve food! :angry:

DGuller


Josquius

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swallow

Even more choking is that the real price of the cheapest pack, one measly pack, of cigarettes in our local super market is £2.75

Kleves

My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.

HisMajestyBOB

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