A $23 Quadrillion restaurant charge in San Francisco.

Visa dings $23 Quadrillion charge in San Fransisco...

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco.



Visa says a technical glitch is responsible for a rash of notices warning customers their accounts are overdrawn to the tune of $23 quadrillion.

An anonymous Reg reader tipped us to one emailed statement, which claimed the account of the tipster's son was on hold because of a charge made to an Applebee's restaurant for $23,148,855,308,184,500.00. The tipster continued:

"After checking with him to make sure he really hadn't purchased 23 quadrillion dollars worth of food from Applebees - he's really not that big an eater - I called to dispute the transaction. A tired-sounding customer service rep interrupted me: 'Are you calling about the $23 trillion dollar charge?' I corrected her "Actually, it's 23 quadrillion. I looked it up."
Visa representatives quickly blamed the notices on a technical glitch. The 17-digit charges were applied to holders of prepaid cards, they said, such as the Visa Buxx card, a service parents can offer teenaged children.

"Late yesterday, July 13, a temporary programming error at Visa Debit Processing Services, caused some transactions to be inaccurately posted to a small number of Visa prepaid accounts," a statement issued on Tuesday said. "The technical glitch, which impacted fewer than 13,000 Visa prepaid transactions, has been corrected and erroneous postings have been removed. Importantly, this incident had no financial impact on Visa prepaid cardholders."

Not so green on the other side of the ditch, Kiwi...

Not so green on the other side of the ditch, Kiwi...

When times get tough like they have in recent time, many Aussies are starting to resent, just a little, their Kiwi cousins and mates. But after years of New Zealanders thinking the other side of the Tasman Sea was the greener side, reality is starting to bite hard for many, especially those who couldn't read the weather and realise the colour was changing. Those who sold up and came over during the last year or so. Not so green on the other side, Kiwi!

Sure, Kiwis were hard workers and all that bull: they were in OZ for a better life? Yeah, really? They were after better opportunities, incomes and standards of living for their families. And now things may be falling apart for many; the unexpected loss of jobs and no prospects for others.

But the colour of money is changing, and the natural born Aussie is probably starting to resent, just a little, his Kiwi cousin and mate. Suddenly the Kiwis who moved over to Australia in recent years are realising that the future is no longer guaranteed for them. The Aussie dollar is worth a lot more than the Kiwi and the standard of living so much higher; or so they said.

I always said of those who emigrated to Australia; if you lose your job and haven't been in Australia for the required two years to qualify for the Aussie dole, you will wish you were back home in NZ and close to your families. Always have a return plane fare to New Zealand sitting in the bank! Red is the colour of embarrassment my friends.

And like an old prophet or seer, I see the colour of green turning to a lousy shade of brown for many Kiwis in Australia.