New Hampshire man overcharged

[mom-from-missouri]

Business : Area Business & Industry


New Hampshire man charged $23 quadrillion for smokes
Jul 15, 2009, 9:29 AM

(Photo courtesy of Google Images)
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over $23 quadrillion.

Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN'-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).
Business : Area Business & Industry


New Hampshire man charged $23 quadrillion for smokes
Jul 15, 2009, 9:29 AM

(Photo courtesy of Google Images)
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over $23 quadrillion.

Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN'-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).

Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee.

The bank corrected the error the next day.

New Hampshire man charged $23 quadrillion for smokes | digitalBURG.com

[red92s]

Apparently a handful of BOA customers had this happen. It was related to a programming error that used the wrong format of a number (HEX vs binary or something like that). Apparently the charge had to be for a specific amount (like $7.21) for this to happen.

[disneysteve]

Heard this on the news the other day. Personally, I think they should raise the price of a pack of cigarettes to that amount. Maybe that would get people to quit.

[Broken Arrow]

Yeah, heard that several people were hit with the quadrillion error. Interesting glitch.

[PrincessPerky]

Heard this on the news the other day. Personally, I think they should raise the price of a pack of cigarettes to that amount. Maybe that would get people to quit.

More likely they would go undergroud growing their own, buying them on the street...making it cost a fortune wont stop folk determined to self destruct..

Shall we raise the price of oil for frying, or white sugar, or trans fats while we are at it?

The best defense is solid education, and accepting that we cannot MAKE everyone agree to do what we feel is best. Would we even want to? If God gives us free will, why can't we give the same respect to other humans? So long as they are not hurting others -self destruction is ones right.

Now I shall go enjoy my self destructive chocolate and peanut butter, and hang the consequences to my heart, can't see it what do I care.

[disneysteve]

PrincessPerky, I was being sarcastic. I realize there is a whole lot more to breaking addiction than raising the price. No offense intended.

[tripods68]

With that price, the Federal Government could have paid it's bills and any future liabilities like Medicare, SSN, Health Care Reform, including ALL 50 states liabilities multiple times over

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

He should have put it on his cash back rewards card.

Perky, it is not illegal to grow your own t'backy. Seeds are available through mainstream sources. I've kind of wanted to do it even though I don't smoke and know I would get tired of the fuss and trouble of the curing process. I see my neighbor across the street has a large Nicotiana (that's the genus of tobacco) in the front yard. It looks like the Nicotiana that is smoked, but I'm not sure.

[wincrasher]

What's hilarious is that BOA was quick to post their $15 over limit fee.

Later in the article it said they were gracious enough to waive the fee since this was their error.

[PrincessPerky]

PrincessPerky, I was being sarcastic. I realize there is a whole lot more to breaking addiction than raising the price. No offense intended.

You know after I posted I kinda thought you were more reasonable than to suggest a simple solution would work, sorry for the lecture.

[GREENBACK]

He should have put it on his cash back rewards card.

Perky, it is not illegal to grow your own t'backy. Seeds are available through mainstream sources. I've kind of wanted to do it even though I don't smoke and know I would get tired of the fuss and trouble of the curing process. I see my neighbor across the street has a large Nicotiana (that's the genus of tobacco) in the front yard. It looks like the Nicotiana that is smoked, but I'm not sure.

I would simply have to inquire about that. I do occasionally stop at strangers households to ask about an unusual plant or something odd they have in their yard. My undying curiousity will probably get me shot one day

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

The Nicotiana was planted by the previous owner (foreclosure, unfortunately.) I doubt the new owner knows anything about it. Other wise, for sure, I'd be asking. The previous owner did not speak English well. I tried to ask her about the plant, but mentioning cigarettes and smoking with reference to the plant did not seem to make sense to her, so that reduces the chances it was smokeable tobacco.

[disneysteve]

You know after I posted I kinda thought you were more reasonable than to suggest a simple solution would work, sorry for the lecture.

No problem.

That said, as I noted in another thread, raising prices does work. Rhode Island has one of the lowest smoking rates in the country and has the highest per pack cigarette tax. South Carolina has one of the highest smoking rates in the country and the lowest per pack cigarette tax. Surely, those facts are related. Raising prices does reduce consumption, particularly among young people who tend to have less disposable income. If we can get the young folks to not start smoking in the first place, we wouldn't have to deal with all the stuff that comes later.