Alabama: Billing mistake spurs couple to rethink Microsoft deal: 'I'm uncomfortable with this'

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Taking a network error into account

Alabama: Billing mistake spurs couple to rethink Microsoft deal: 'I'm uncomfortable with this'

09/20/00

By BRIAN LAWSON

Times Business Writer

Seaonna Davis went to her bank Friday to pick up a little cash, but the ATM informed her no money was available. A few anxious phone calls revealed the culprit - Bill Gates.

Davis doesn't know Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corp., but she and her husband gave his company their checking account number while purchasing a computer in March. The Huntsville cou"Don't do any automatic withdrawals out of your checking account with a debit card." Ken Davis of Huntsville, the victim of a Microsoft billing error ple received a $400 rebate on their computer when they agreed to a three-year contract for Microsoft's Internet network. The contract required a credit card and gave Microsoft authority to withdraw $21.95 a month from the couple's Compass Bank account through a Visa debit card number.

Microsoft withdrew the money regularly each month, but Thursday the $342 billion company upped the ante, taking $504.85 and leaving the Davises overdrawn with checks outstanding. That led to a harrowing weekend for the Davises, marked by extended stays on hold while trying to call Microsoft.

''We called the bank and then Microsoft,'' Ken Davis said. ''After waiting for about 45 minutes Friday night, a guy there told me it had happened to several people and that it would be taken care of by Saturday morning.''

At least 1,000 Microsoft Internet Network, or MSN, subscribers had between $500 and $1,000 taken out of their accounts after a foul-up late Thursday night while the company tested new billing software, a Microsoft spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Davis said that he and his wife didn't hear anymore from Microsoft and that calls to Compass Bank on Monday morning revealed the money was still out of their account and they were facing bounced-check charges and a $284 deficit. The bank told the couple if they could link Microsoft on a conference call Monday, the problem could be solved.

Seaonna Davis had no such luck.

Another Microsoft customer service representative told her the problem was being worked on by a team of people, but he was not authorized to talk to banks. The Davises also had to provide the same information they had given Microsoft on Friday night, after learning the representative had no record of that conversation.

''You'd think a company like Microsoft would do what they're supposed to,'' Ken Davis said.

Here's what happened, according to Microsoft: ''During the testing, they erroneously sent out a test script to a credit card clearinghouse and it preauthorized the withdrawal from MSN customer accounts,'' said MSN spokeswoman Melissa Banks.

''We've received about 1,000 calls out of our 3 million customers. We're crediting accounts and will pay for any overdraft fees, and we're giving people a month's free service.''

Banks said Microsoft has been working with financial institutions to sort out the tangled web that snared customers, and most have been cooperative.

Compass Bank credited the money to the Davises' account Tuesday afternoon, and assured them no checks had bounced, Ken Davis said. But the family is rethinking its deal with Microsoft.

''I feel violated, and I'm very uncomfortable with continuing this,'' Seaonna Davis said. ''Microsoft called us Monday night and said the money would be put back in within a few days. After that, I asked if we could stop the debit card withdrawal and just send them a check every month. They told me that the only way to do it was automatically, or we'd have to pay back the rebate and the balance on the contract.''

Banks said she wasn't sure about the billing information but suggested the couple shift to a credit card payment method.

Michelle McDaniel, the Better Business Bureau of North Alabama's president and chief executive officer, said consumers should guard how they use their debit card.

''A person doesn't need the card or a (personal identification number) number to use it, as long as they have the card number,'' McDaniel said. ''If you give that number over the phone . . . it is hard to control what they do with that information.''

Ken Davis learned that lesson the hard way. ''Don't do any automatic withdrawals out of your checking account with a debit card,'' he said.

Microsoft customers who have experienced similar problems with MSN billing should call (800) 386-5550.

http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/Sep2000/20-e2919.html



-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), September 20, 2000


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