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 canceled 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.
