800,000 Debit Cards Overcharged at Wal-Marts .....double & triple billed

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51240-2004Apr5.html

DENVER - A computer hardware problem caused more than 800,000 credit and debit card transactions to be double- or triple-billed last week at Wal-Mart stores nationwide, according to officials at First Data Corp., which handled the electronic payments.

The excess Visa and Mastercard charges, which occurred Wednesday and were posted on Thursday, have been reversed, First Data spokeswoman Staci Busby said Sunday.

Busby said the problem showed up on reports the company generates for quality control purposes. She said it's unclear how many customers were affected, and that she had no other details about the hardware problem.

"Anyone who conducted a transaction with a Visa or Mastercard on March 31 should check their statements," Busby said.


more....

[SCDem]

1. Just another good reason why I don't shop at Wal Mart!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. me either..never have and never will shop there

[0007]

2. Thanks for the tip

I sometimes shop at Wall-Mart only because I'm on limited income. If I had a choice I'd never go into the bloody store.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. i hear ya..they are holding America hostage to China

WalMart is the reason China owns America...China and japan hold the mortages on the US 7.4 trillion dollar debt.

[BiggJawn]

4. So they "corrected" it....Uh-huh....

What did they do with the interest they "earned" on what they over-charged everyone?

800,000 accounts, double and triple-charged, they hold onto it for a day or two...

[derby378]

8. Hey, that sounds like a great money-making idea!

All I have to do is rig an "oopsie" in my auction payment code, cheerfully reimburse everyone once they're found out, and hide the interest away in a bank in Liechtenstein. Brilliant!

On second thought, let's not... :evilgrin:

[keithyboy]

6. No wonder their profits are up and stocks higher...mostly Freepers shop

there these days. Nothing like conservative corporate sleeze.

[BiggJawn]

10. Hey! Us limited income types shop there, too.

Hate it!
But it's either shop there or live like I did during the 80's.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. shop at Target....even K Mart is better than supporting WalMart

CostCo

[BiggJawn]

13. Don't get me started.....

All you people beseeching us to be "Socially conscious shoppers"...I don't hear any offers to pitch in to make up the price diference.

They ever build a Costco here, I'm there. Until then.....

[drfemoe]

16. Take your time ..

Three years ago I read the WM stories (online) and decided I wanted to boycott. There was a super store right down the street. I didn't know HOW I would ever manage. About that same time WM opened a "neighborhood market" (much smaller) a little further from home. So I drove a little extra to shop there (self check out too). At least I wasn't supporting the SUPER STORE.

WM got 'worse'. Items I routinely purchased often suddenly became unavailable. I started buying one brand of candle, and a few weeks later, I noticed the packaging and quality of the candle had decreased QUITE A BIT. I eat very little, but buy lots of bottled water. A little over a month ago, my bottled water was no longer available there!! So I HAD to go to another store. W.O.W. what a difference. The WM neighborhood market had a urine smell, which I noticed the last time I was there .. ugh. The new store I went to was brightly lit, clean, wide, spacious, smelled good, and the grocery buggies are larger and cleaner and not broken down .. they steer straight!! Someone checked me out, and I didn't know how to act. With the store incentives, I'm not paying THAT much more. But the shopping experience is so much better for my self esteem (I'm not shopping WM AND the store and employees are so much better quality).

I wouldn't try to insist that anyone else change their shopping patterns. It takes time to make the adjustment sometimes. But it FEELS SO GOOD once that step is taken. I MAY go back for a few things .. loss leader type items, because they don't make a profit on those items. But I may never step foot in WM again. I would like to see WM go out of business. The world would be a better place.

When the time is right, you'll have the opportunity to make the change.

[Iceburg]

7. Hardware problem ... my A$$

Programmed non-violent theft -- pure and simple.

[Cronus Protagonist]

18. Yeah, there's no hardware problem that could affect nationwide sales

I refuse to believe that they have all credit card transactions passing through a single piece of hardware and that the hardware failed in such a way as to operate twice as well instead of just crapping out entirely.

Why do they lie?

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[fryguy]

9. Walmart Sucks

and its taking over the world - CNN reported today (haven't been able to find the link yet) that the Evil Empire is asking California voters to approve a measure that will create a city within a city to allow them to build over the objections of the local city council. The measure apparently will exclude WalMart from all zoning requiremnts of the area - how nice. Will it also permit them to suspend the Constitution? Disregard evironmental laws and labor regulations - oh wait, they already so that.....

[Mel]

12. Link to that California Wally World Story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x464558

[sybylla]

14. About half the banks in the midwest use First Data Corp

as well as a large number of businesses who need active data management. Avoiding Walmart won't avoid this problem.

All I can say is that Walmart and First Data Corp better pony up the money for all the overdraft charges they caused.

[KansDem]

15. No doubt WalMart employees will work overtime to correct this...

Without pay, of course!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

21. yup watch them "time shaver" managers work double OT

[bleedingheart]

17. Are they going to credit these people their money with interest?

think about it... if millions of dollars were "accidentally" "borrowed" from consumers....who gets the interest???

[burrowowl]

19. Walmart needs

short-term interest the money generates until it is refunded to the customer. Meanwhile, customers' checks bounced because their debit cards were overcharged double or triple? Here's hoping 800,000 customers finally get pissed. First they rip off the workers and now the customer. NASTY PEOPLE!

Is WalMart going the way of ENRON, gouging while they can?
Will Walmart pay the customers' penalties for bounced checks?

[tom_paine]

20. Sounds like they got caught

Guaranteed there are millions of these double-charges that WEREN'T caught.

Guaranteed.

[TrogL]

22. Absolute nonsense

I'm in the online transaction business. I cannot conceive of a methodology where this could be purely hardware. I was vaguely thinking of something where all the data was stored to tape and then the wrong tape got loaded, but tapes all have headers. If the software isn't checking the header to make sure it's got the right tape, this is a software problem.

[htuttle]

23. I'm betting it was neither a software or hardware problem

I think it was a 'wetware' problem.

[louis-t]

24. it was a greed-ware problem.

[burrowowl]

25. Amen

Brother, Amen!
I like Greedware, good coinage of a word.

[arikara]

26. Crooks. I despise walmart

I have a suggestion for those who say they can't afford to shop anywhere else... thrift stores and garage sales. You will find better stuff at cheaper prices. Works for me. Then I can use the money I save to buy better quality food at the farmer's markets.

[fortyfeetunder]

27. Where are First Data transactions being executed?

Did they outsource their technology to an international concern? Hmmm.

[burrowowl]

28. No need to

they did it all by themselves.
Poor old papa WallyWorld must be turning in his grave, hope he haunts his children.