Friday, July 17, 2009

Price of Smokes Skyrockets out of Universe

If you're a smoker, be prepared for much higher prices. Josh Muszynski got quite a surprise when a pack of cigarettes cost him over 23 quadrillion dollars.

NH man charged 23 quadrillion dollars for smokes
Posted 7/16/2009 10:32 AM ET
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars.

Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN'-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number -- a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).

Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee.

The bank corrected the error the next day.

Bank of America tells WMUR-TV only the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions. Visa, in turn, referred questions to the bank.

___

Information from: WMUR-TV, http://wmur.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Does this have anything to do with the Federal Government getting involved with the tobacco industry? It seems like we could deal with the deficit (and then some) with the sale of a single pack of Marlboros.

4 comments:

David Plass said...

On the news the guy said "I thought someone bought Europe with my credit card".

Steve Martin said...

I was once charged 16 quadrillion for a gallon of gas.

(it was later determined an error- the actual price was only 3.85 quadrillion)

Elephantschild said...

I think they've started a new tax on people with unpronounceable names.

Dorci said...

I knew it was a good idea for me to quit smoking 20 years ago.