posted on February 28, 2009 05:46:16 AM new
When a commuter pulled into a gas station in Richland, Wash., to fill up the tank of his 1994 Camaro on Tuesday, he thought the $90 he had on his PayPal debit card would easily cover the $26 bill.
But the tab for fuel at the By-Pass Deli and Conoco station off state Route 240 maxed out his card, and then some, the Tri-City Herald reported Thursday on its Web site.
The transaction, Juan Zamora told the newspaper, was recorded as $81,400,836,908.
"That's a B, as in billions!" Zamora wrote in an e-mail to the Herald on Wednesday.
Zamora was concerned that his bank account might be in jeopardy. So he called customer service for PayPal, only to have to argue with the agent over the bill. "Like I had to prove that I didn't pump $81,400,836,908 in gas," he told the Herald.
Though the customer service person finally realized the error, the newspaper reported, how the glitch happened remains a mystery.
"I guess the moral of this story is 'pay cash,'" Zamora said.
Feb. 28: A Washington State man received quite a surprise when he found that he had been charged over $80 billion to fill up at a gas station.
A commuter in Richland, Wash., who thought he was overcharged — by $81 billion — for a tank of gas instead may have been confused by an e-mail about the transaction, his debit card company suggests.
Juan Zamora told the Tri-City Herald newspaper this week that an e-mail he received from PayPal showed a debit card transaction of more than $81 billion, instead of the $26 worth that he said he pumped.
But a spokeswoman for PayPal, Sara Gorman, said Friday that Zamora may have been confused by a merchant identification number that appeared along with details about the transaction in the e-mail. “I can assure you that we did not charge him $81 billion,” Gorman said.
Caroline