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Jan. 25th, 2007
Annoyed at Wankers^WBankers
Jan. 25th, 2007 10:31 pmI was looking at my direct debits (arrangements with one's bank for a vendor of some sort (utilities, newspapers, and the like) to deduct funds from your account for remittances) and I saw this one:
Name Date Amount
CHURCH TIMES 00-00-0000 £999,999,999.00
Now I realised that the Church Times had recently changed direct debit systems, but I was worried that the bank would actually try to take that much money out of our account, and I wasn't convinced that HWMBO's and my salary would cover it.
I sent a message to my bank's customer service department:
"I have a direct debit for the Church Times. In looking at my direct debits, I see that the last date is 00-00-0000 and the amount is £999,999,999.00.
"I doubt my overdraft will cover this if that amount is removed from my account when the direct debit next happens. As a software test professional, I do hear of glitches like this; I didn't expect to see one on my own account.
"I would request urgently that someone check this 'transaction' and ensure that the amounts and date are correct."
Today I got their response:
"Thank you for your message. Please accept our apologies for the delay in our response.
"Please note that until the originator claims funds from us the amount shown as debited in the list of direct debits will be £999,999,999. This is just a display and nothing related to the merchant claiming an incorrect amount."
What a bunch of wankers! Didn't they realise that people might get a little upset about such a large amount appearing in their bank records??
This is almost as good as the (probably apocryphal) story of the man who got a bill for $0.00 and didn't bother to pay it, whereupon he got a red bill (means "overdue" here if they print it on red paper), sent them a cheque for $0.00 which promptly broke their remittance systems.
Name Date Amount
CHURCH TIMES 00-00-0000 £999,999,999.00
Now I realised that the Church Times had recently changed direct debit systems, but I was worried that the bank would actually try to take that much money out of our account, and I wasn't convinced that HWMBO's and my salary would cover it.
I sent a message to my bank's customer service department:
"I have a direct debit for the Church Times. In looking at my direct debits, I see that the last date is 00-00-0000 and the amount is £999,999,999.00.
"I doubt my overdraft will cover this if that amount is removed from my account when the direct debit next happens. As a software test professional, I do hear of glitches like this; I didn't expect to see one on my own account.
"I would request urgently that someone check this 'transaction' and ensure that the amounts and date are correct."
Today I got their response:
"Thank you for your message. Please accept our apologies for the delay in our response.
"Please note that until the originator claims funds from us the amount shown as debited in the list of direct debits will be £999,999,999. This is just a display and nothing related to the merchant claiming an incorrect amount."
What a bunch of wankers! Didn't they realise that people might get a little upset about such a large amount appearing in their bank records??
This is almost as good as the (probably apocryphal) story of the man who got a bill for $0.00 and didn't bother to pay it, whereupon he got a red bill (means "overdue" here if they print it on red paper), sent them a cheque for $0.00 which promptly broke their remittance systems.
