Juan Zamora fed his 1994 Chevy Camaro $26 worth of gas, a transaction for which PayPal charged his debit card $81,400,836,908. Unsurprisingly, PayPal saw nothing wrong with the charge and demanded that Juan prove that he didn’t actually buy $81.4 billion worth of gas.
He only learned of the astounding figure when he received an email later that afternoon informing him that his debit card, which started out with $90 on it, was maxed out.
Initially, Mr. Zamora thought it must’ve been a joke. But after contacting PayPal customer service he was surprised to see that the company treated it as anything but a laughing matter.
“Somebody from a foreign country who spoke in broken English argued with me for 10 to 15 minutes,” Zamora said. ” ‘Did you get the gas?’ he asked. Like I had to prove that I didn’t pump $81,400,836,908 in gas!”
He would have needed more than 3 billion fill-ups of the amount he actually pumped into his tank in order to reach that outrageous sum.
Eventually, Zamora said, he was finally able to convince the representative that he didn’t deserve to be in the same position as General Motors, who has lost roughly 80 billion dollars since 2005.
When Zamora returned to the Conoco gas station, he said, the attendant would not believe him until he showed her the printout of the PayPal receipt.
What moral is Juan taking away from the story? “Pay cash.”
Driver Fills up Gas Tank, Receives Bill For $81 Billion [Consumer Energy Report via Jalopnik]
(Photo: NASA)
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81 Billion Dollars is a lot of money and for anyone to argue on the phone for 15 minutes about this is really ludicrous. All the guy had to do was talk to a supervisor. I use paypal constantly. The problem is with the stations that do a double hold on money because they’ve been ripped off when gas prices were really high.
So they double the amount of the deposit. If you have an SUV, the normal deposit would be $75, but they charge $150. One night I found that my card had been tapped as well, for $250 for a fillup. I freaked out and called paypal, they released the holds within minutes.
So this story is a bit bizarre.
But it is funny. In the end, nothing would have happened to him. PayPal is owned by EBAY and there’s never been a transaction that large in one fell swoop through ebay.
Have a nice day.
has no one brought this up?:
[www.newsvine.com]
the number in the email was the merchant ID number and not the amount?
OK, everyone go back to complaining about how evil PayPal is and how he should have used cash.
@microcars: And I was starting to think that the charge got converted to Zimbabwean dollars and never got converted back.
Darn you, reality.
@microcars: It would have been helpful to see a screen shot of his receipt and/or PayPal statement to validate the story.
You know, like journalism.
Conoco is majority owned by the country of Venezuela.
Venezuela is having trememdous monetary problems (among other things).
This is just a way that Hugo Chávez is trying to get his country back on a stable finacial footing.
@DadCooks: No. Citgo is owned by Chavez. Conoco is not.
@DadCooks: Please do research next time. Conoco is not a Venezuelan company. That’s Citgo.
Seems like a pretty decent referral to his State’s attorney general.
PayPal sucks ass! Unless you live in a hole or in an area where there is a news blackout, you’re a fool for using PayPal. I’ve heard nothing good about PayPal.
It’s the new gas tax! The $26 was correct. The extra $81,400,836,882 was the tax to cover his share of the stimulus package.
At $3/Gallon, and 20mpg, that’s enough gas to travel nearly one tenth of a lightyear, or from the earth to the sun AND BACK 2917 times.
@Darren W.: MPG of gasoline does not apply well to space travel.
What is plates talking about?! Your whining doesn’t belong here.
I would be tempted to let the charge stand and see how paypal handled it on their own.
you can use Pay Pal to buy gas?!?
My PayPal debit card has a daily spending limit of a thousand dollars or something, I forget. I can’t imagine any system letting a transaction like this go through. It really must have been a simple glitch.
I’m as left-wing a socialist hippie as you’re likely to need, but dammit, the SR-71 makes me proud to be an American.
Grossly ahead of anything else of its time, or ANY time. Everything about it is wildly superlative, from the J58 ramjet engines (32,500 lbs. of thrust; enough to drive the largest ocean liners) to the wild altitudes (at 85,000 feet, the sky is black and the curvature of the earth is evident).
For many the SR-71 is the most amazing object made by the hand of man.
@nevets 68
He should have used his Exxon credit card to fill his Bitchin Camaro.
I actually heard this story on the news this morning. They said it was not the pump or the gas station that was at fault, rather that Paypal charged Juan all of their merchant fees for the month. That explains the high charge, although that’s a hell of a mistake to make.
the phone agent is just as dumb as the system that made this mistake. A lot of these reps lack common sense.
Step 1: Buy $81 billion in gas via paypal
Step 2: Find out company that now has $81 billion in cash from paypal
Step 3: Work out deal with this person whereby they give you ~$1 billion cash when you go bankrupt
Step 4: ?????
Step 5: Paypal eats $81 billion, you and the other person profit!
For all the IAALs, this is, of course, just a joke.
I had the same experience with PayPal customer service when my account was hacked and used fraudulently. Couldn’t explain how it happened or how I could prevent it from happening again. I was not happy with that answer, so I went to the E.E.C.B. Wow, I can tell you that PayPal execs respond to that. I received a phone call from one of their execs the same morning I sent the E.E.C.B. Everything was explained and taken care of. Try it if you still have problems.
But just imagine the frequent flyer miles!!!
I’m going with don’t use Paypal.
My wife wanted to buy some stuff from an Amazon reseller who only accepts Paypal. It only took a couple of pages from nopaypal to convince her otherwise.
Juan didn’t say WHERE he bought the gas. If it was New York City, it’s possible they have extra charges they have added on to get themselves out of debt.
Py Pl prbbly jst ssmd tht t ws mr txs frm th bm-Pls mf.
@Plates: Based on your well spoken, thoughtful and cited 16 words on a blog comment system, I have to believe your ideology is the correct one.
/yeah right
@Plates: Nancy prefers the “Pelosi-Obama” mafia as we all know who wears the pants in this political relationship
@Plates:
Someone is still all pissy about the election results because this comment has no value about the original story. Here’s a tissue, you’re welcome.
@GothamGal: That didn’t stop Bush haters for the past 8 years (and it still continues).
But, I agree with the gist…this is a useless comment.
@InfiniTrent: Remember, it’s only political sniping if it’s against the Democratic party.
@Con Seannery is apparently an ADMIN…: You keep on touting that strawman as if it were true. Most of us are also sick of seeing political sniping at Bush in completely unrelated contexts. But, you know, whatever you need to sleep better at night and score political points.
Consumerist desperately requires a “report” button for completely useless comments like the ones Plates invariably makes in every single damn threat.
@Plates: Where is the devoweler when we really need some completely irrelevant, unrelated and inappropriate political sniping removed?
Yeah, I know: banhammer for complaining about another commenter… but really, what is this comment doing on Consumerist?
@Plates: Can we get a report button? I am so tired of seeing the out of place political whining injected into comments.
@bohemian: Now wait a minute, just because you dissagree with someone does not give you the right to call security. He does bring up a valid point. Anyway, enjoy paying 40 grand for that new plug in car that gets mandated. Also enjoy the rolling blackouts when power companies take their ball and go home rather than pay “cap and trade” taxes.
@badgeman46: Did you just stick up for Enron? Hmmm, I’m pretty sure you did.
@♥♥♥: Nah, I don’t stick up for any ponzi scheme, including Enron and Cap and Trade. Honestly I’m surprised this error doesn’t happen more often with all of our electronic transactions.
@badgeman46: Which brings up a point- why did deregulation happen? Electricity should be government-regulated, as should be water/gas.
@jamar0303: I don’t think re-regulation is a good idea at all. My area went from the most expensive electricity in the country to some of the cheapest in the country since deregilation. My electric bill is rarely over a 100 bucks, and everything in my house is electric. Another example is car insurance. Try buying cheap car insurance in regulated Massachusetts.
@badgeman46: Mass is about 3/4 of the price I paid for better coverage in ‘Free Market’ South Carolina.
@Plates:
You sir, have just won my vote when Consumerist does the next user purge.
While I respect your right to have whatever political view you so desire, with that right comes the responsibility to know when it’s appropriate to let loose. This probably isn’t a good place.
@zentec: Yeah, they ban people all the time for not contributing enough to the conversation, but this guy is still posting? Because he contributes such well-thought out comments to the discussion, I guess?
@Plates: Geez. Everyone knows it’s the Soros mafia.
@Plates: I’m just glad that joker Roosevelt is finally out of the White House!!
*note: I’m as topical as you are.
@deadspork:
Which Roosevelt?
@Plates: Heh, I love how people thought it was ok to bash Bush but, now that Obama is popular, saying something against him is off-limits. Sounds like a bad case of double standards to me.
I totally agree with the OP, good for you!
@GuinevereRucker: Another way to look at it is that, as a result of the Bush/Obama bailouts, which are a continuation of a general pattern of fiscal recklessness and erroneous “Keynesian” nonsense that stretches back decades…A fill-up in a ’94 Camaro may one day cost $81 Billion.
Personally, I don’t see any way of avoiding hyperinflation in the next 1-5 years.
@Plates: Very nice. Georgie’s pal Kenny Boy Lay (“Who? Never met the guy!”) helped orchestrate the rolling blackouts by Rethugs like you and Bobby (“Arrest me, too! Man the lifeboats!”) Jindal lie your butts off but you know what? We’re not fooled anymore. You drove the country down the drain. Suck it up like a man or move to Antigua where you stand a chance of being knighted. Buh-bye, blowhard.
Also considering the fact that even when gas was $4+ a gallon I doubt theres a gas station that has $81 Billion worth of a single grade of gas on hand at a time(Heck not even close to that much in all grades combined at a time)
Hey Hey……wait everyone………Juan could easily get this taken care of………..Just call or email President Obama, Im sure that he could easily get a bail-out for $81 billion………LMAO