[IP] First Data triple-billed thousands of Wal-Mart customers

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+@ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Sat, 03 Apr 2004 18:56:59 -0500 (EST)
From: Rich Wiggins <wiggins@msu.edu>
Subject: First Data triple-billed thousands of Wal-Mart customers
To: dave@farber.net

Folks who cite the confidence we place in everyday electronic
transactions such as swiping our credit cards at Wal-Mart might
want to read this story carefully.

NBC News reported that First Data triple-billed customers who made
purchases at Wal-Mart on Thursday.  If I heard Brian Williams right,
he said 800,000 transactions might be affected.

All Google News is finding on this is a very terse press release:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040402/laf044_1.html

 DENVER, April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- On Thursday, April 1, First
 Data (NYSE: FDC - News) experienced a computer hardware problem that
 affected MasterCard and Visa transactions at Wal-Mart. In some
 instances, the problem resulted in triplicate postings to consumer
 debit and credit card accounts. First Data processed corrections to the
 affected accounts on Friday. First Data opened a toll-free customer
 hotline at 1-888-893-0626 to assist consumers. First Data apologizes to
 Wal-Mart and its customers for the inconvenience.

Ya gotta wonder what hardware problem could've caused this.  And
why if the incident occurred April 1 (ahem!) it took until 10:31 pm
on Friday to get the word out.  Old trick: issue press release
Friday night to minimize coverage.

The rest of the press release brags about First Data's role as a leading
firm in the electronic commerce field.  I don't see the press release
on the First Data Web site, and I don't see anything about the
incident on Wal-Mart's Web site.

/rich 

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