ATM-only cards without a network logo work perfectly at gas stations, grocery stores, practically ev

On Friday, Aug. 3, she took advantage of a Southwest Airlines fare sale to book a round-trip ticket from Atlanta to San Diego for just $196, about half the regular fare. The discount airline was running a one-day sale to celebrate its 3 millionth Facebook fan.
But when she checked her credit card account a few hours later, she found more than $5,000 in charges from Southwest. A software hiccup had generated multiple bookings for her, maxing out her credit card. "It was a fiasco," she says.
Turns out, she wasn't alone. Thousands of other Southwest last minute cheapest cruises customers experienced the same billing glitch, with bargain-hunters being overbilled — in some instances dramatically so — for what they thought would be a fare deal.
In a statement on its Web site, Southwest admitted to "website performance issues" that triggered multiple unwanted reservations. last minute cheapest cruises "We realize that some customers were charged more than once for the same reservation and we want to ensure you that we have all hands on deck, actively working to process refunds for any duplicate charges incurred," the airline promised.
This fare-sale foul-up and its eventual resolution raise several important last minute cheapest cruises questions for travelers who book their airline tickets online, particularly during times of peak demand. Chief among them: Is there a way to prevent an airline, or any business, from inadvertently billing your card until you've reached your credit limit? last minute cheapest cruises The short answer: last minute cheapest cruises No.
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, consumers like Solis are afforded some protection, but it's an imperfect remedy. Solis has 60 days to report the incorrect billing, and her financial institution is required by law to acknowledge her dispute within 30 days and take action last minute cheapest cruises within three months. By then, the overcharge would have wreaked havoc on her finances.
Some payment systems offer additional safeguards. For example, MasterCard last minute cheapest cruises has what it calls a "zero liability" policy under which it agrees not to hold customers responsible for unauthorized transactions. "MasterCard provides issuers with the ability to address many cardholder disputes, including last minute cheapest cruises the ability to address duplicate billings," company spokeswoman Robyn Cottelli says.
Financial institutions also deploy last minute cheapest cruises fraud-detection systems that might be tripped when a Web site tries to make repeated reservations, last minute cheapest cruises but banks are tight-lipped about what could trigger such action, which would render a credit card or debit card unusable. (My card stopped last minute cheapest cruises working last month because I committed the unpardonable sin of crossing a state line without first informing my bank.)
None of those safeguards helped Jill Atkinson, who paid $156 with her debit card for a half-price flight from Houston to Kansas City on Aug. 3. But her bank was considerate enough to send her a barrage of text messages, because the balance in her account had dropped below a certain last minute cheapest cruises threshold.
"I called Southwest first, and was told there was a three-hour wait just to speak to someone," she told me. "I waited and waited and never spoke to anyone. So I called the bank. They said I would have to file a fraud claim — which is exactly what this is."
The day after Southwest's sale was supposed to be a quiet Saturday for me. I planned to drive from Chicago to the Wisconsin Dells with my family, with a stopover at the Mustard Festival in Middleton, Wis. But then readers last minute cheapest cruises like Atkinson and Solis started calling me, exasperated by having to wait in a long "hold" queue to get their billing last minute cheapest cruises errors fixed. I spent the afternoon with a hot dog in one hand and an iPhone last minute cheapest cruises in the other, advocating for passengers' refunds.
Southwest says that it called in all its available employees, and they began to void each erroneous transaction manually. I contacted Southwest on behalf of Solis, Atkinson and several other passengers who had alerted me to the problem transactions, and by Saturday evening, all their money had been refunded. By Monday, the airline said, it had found every erroneous booking and was reversing the charges. It also agreed to pay any overdraft fees on debit card purchases and offered affected customers a $150 flight voucher.
ATM-only cards without a network logo work perfectly at gas stations, grocery stores, practically everywhere the credit cards work. In fact, these cards were around and worked at those places long before the Visa MasterCard ones were invented. You just don t have the option of signing for the purchase, you always have to use a PIN.
Yes, they have. One major pre paid card issuer accidentally credited all of their card holders 22 BILLION dollars last minute cheapest cruises each. Why? Some new computer software was installed and a field that should have been filled with binary zeros ended up filled last minute cheapest cruises with spaces. The spaces were interpreted as a dollar value. This issue was also fixed within 24 hours.
So, using your logic, should this company be fined and penalized? After all, if I looked at my pre paid card balance and saw a $22 BILLION available balance, I think I would possibly have a heart attack. Should I then be compensated for the anguish I suffered?
I was one of the victims. It was previous obvious that something was wrong when the system last minute cheapest cruises hang for a couple of minutes before giving an error, then when I tried again the same thing happened. I thought I had lost my chance but I started to see confirmation notices come into my inbox one by one until I had twenty. I posted a warning on their facebook page and also a tweet, just to make sure they knew what was happening. I called American Express and they said they would not allow multiple bookings like this to post. This was a lie. Although they did not show up for a few days, they did indeed show up, and I had to account for everyone one of these on my corporate expense account (since this was used for a business trip). Having said this, I would have been much more annoyed had I not got the $130 round trip that I was trying to get. I got through to Southwest after about 20 mins (probably helped that I am A list). Southwest cleared up the mess while I was on the phone although they would have done so anyway. They also gave me a $150 coupon. As a computer specialist I was able to see the funny side and actually laughed about it afterwards. I bear no grudge, these things happen and I hope they continue to make offers like this in the future.
2. Inability to resist buying things that the cardholder cannot afford. If you are the type to spend more money than you have, it s better to limit your access to credit and stick with a debit card. It ll cut you off when you lack the self-control to cut yourself off.
And yes, the banks have gotten completely out of hand with cutting off people s accounts. MBNA was in the habit of cutting me off once a month when I paid my kids daycare bill via credit card. I d have to call in, and they d tell me that my charge was out of character for me, so they cut me off. I d tell them that I made the same transaction every month for 2 years, which is the very definition of in-character, and that they were really irritating me by cutting me off each month. I eventually told them that I would close my account if they ever cut me off due to the daycare charge again. Wouldn t you know it, the very next month they cut me off. So I cut them off.
It is worth noting that using a credit card every month, even if you pay it off, CAN negatively affect your credit. For example, if you run up a $2,000 bill on a card with a $2,500 limit, even if it s paid off every month when the bill comes in, on the last day of your billing cycle it s reported to the credit agencies that you re using 80% of your available credit. last minute cheapest cruises I don t disagree last minute cheapest cruises with your main points on credit card use, but this is one of the pitfalls. It can be avoiding by making your payment prior to the last day of your billing cycle, at which time you re reported to the credit agencies as having last minute cheapest cruises a zero balance.
What s your problem? If you're having trouble with a business - any business - and you've reached a dead end, maybe I can help. Send me an email and I'll investigate. (I can't promise a fix, but I take every request seriously.) If you want to connect with other consumers, why not sign up for my free weekly newsletter , RSS feed or free daily email updates ?
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