ISP Information:
A specialized power outlet that uses capacitors to keep spikes in the power supply from damaging electronic devices.
ISP Glossary:
Surge Protector - On Thursday evening, a major problem happened with Walmart Stores andtheir credit/debit card processing. I do not usually shop at WalmartSupercenter here in Independence but on Thursday evening had to getsome ink for my printer after the stores which carry it downtown wereclosed.I love to use my PayPal debit card, since Paypal pays 1.5 percent cash backon sales, and I can check its status right on line anytime. Of course Ican use it 'like a credit card' for purchases on the net, and I neverhave more than a few dollars in it at any time.Anyway, I went out to Walmart SuperCenter, got my printer ink and a reamof paper. The purchase came to $36.72 (I do not know WHO keeps claimingthat Walmart is 'so much cheaper than the stores downtown' but they do.)Anyway, today, Friday, I was checking my PayPal account and saw not one!not two! but three charges from Walmart for the $36.72, leaving me$72.44 in the 'hole', since I *only* move what money I need to thatPayPal account, plus or minus a couple dollars.Naturally I got on the phone right away to PayPal and asked them, "howdid that happen, the account is a debit card with a 'credit limit' ofonly the balance in the account. How did those additional two chargesget approved instead of declined as I would have expected." Pay Palsaid the reason it showed as 'approved' rather than 'declined' wasbecause Walmart had 'forced it' in order to balance their card salestotals for the night. She blamed it on Walmart, saying 'they had abig mix up Thursday night in their card balancing.'I called Walmart/Independence and the customer service lady said itwas not their fault, it was their credit card processor who screwedeverything up. She said every Walmart store got a memo on the fax todayexplaining what had happened and that it 'was being corrected over theweekend, and to tell any customers who asked that it was NOT Walmart'sfault'.I still decided to check with the credit card processor, who becausethe size and severity of the screw up opened an 800 toll free line todeal with customers tonight who happen to use their computers toexamine their credit/debit card balances, and went crazy when theysaw the mess. Just as I suspected, the credit card processor refusedto confess to the blame either, saying "it was not us, it was Walmartwho caused this mess, and we are not going to have Walmart blaming usfor causing this."PayPal also had a standard response to read to customers saying that**everyone will get full credit either overnight or by Monday for theincorrect charges**. Walmart and the credit card processor said thesame thing. They all said 'do not pay attention if your computerscreams at you about 'get money in your account to cure this negativebalance mess'.Apparently either Walmart Stores or the card processor ran the 'batch'two or three times instead of ONCE Thursday night, and a lot of peoplewere affected. Credit cards were charged two or three extra times,and debit cards the same way. Debit cards which went negative as aresult or credit cards which went over limit as a result were 'forced'to balance. Its all being ironed out now.I hope Walmart and/or the card processor find out who caused this andmake a human sacrifice of them.(Update, Saturday afternoon, 4:30 PM CST: I got a phone call from thecredit card processing office people. They are still workingfeverishly trying to get this straightened out; it was much worse thanjust Walmart Stores apparently. )PAT
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