Slashdot Mirror
Salesforce, a Pillow Maker and a $125k AmEx Bill
itwbennett writes "Salesforce.com, pillow manufacturer My Pillow, and an employee of My Pillow are caught up in a complex three-way legal battle. At issue is an allegedly failed software implementation and a $125,000 charge on a personal card. In short, there was an aggressive go-live date, a demand for immediate payment, and a system that was ultimately 'not functional'. Now, AmEx won't remove the charge, Salesforce.com is suing My Pillow for breach of contract and wants $550,000 in damages, My Pillow denies it owes anyone anything and is seeking unspecified damages from Salesforce.com, and the employee with the big bill wants his account credited. Still unclear is why My Pillow had no choice but to use the employee's personal credit card — and why the employee was naive enough to hand it over."
Clearly news for nerds, a boring legal battle in a slightly incomprehensible summary.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
I'm sure the employee wanted the miles.
419'd by your own employer--ouch!
The lawyers.
that's not so big. add two zeros and call me.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
What an executive of my pillow with a personal credit card with a credit limit higher than 125K paid it to some vendor of my pillow. Acting as the official of the company he offered to pay 125k in company check but the vendor refused to take a check. Even if he gave the vendor money from his creditcard, he should have issued that 125 k check from the company and deposited it into his account. But for some reason he did not. How did this chump get a card with higher than 125 k limit I cant understand. Fools and money are easily parted and fools and he should been taken to the cleaners much earlier.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
if you read the credit card contract for AmEx 'corporate' cards, you will notice that YOU are actually liable for anything purchased with it if the company decides to not pay it [or can't pay, if it goes out of business]. nice for the company and for AmEx, not so nice for the employee.
$125,000.00; What's your number?
People who aren't poor.
And old-school AmEx cards have no limit (in theory). And the balance on those old style accounts is due in full when the next statement is presented. Back in the day, it wasn't a credit card so much as a way for rich folks to pay for things while travelling without carrying a bunch of cash around or get businesses to accept personal checks. They'd pay the month's bill in full immediately, not carry a balance like poor people do with a regular credit card.
and why the employee was naive enough to hand it over.
For the same reason I'd do the same, in a frickin' heartbeat - $2500 in rewards dollars (and AmEx gives "real" dollars creditable to your account; not "miles", not "bux", not "flooz"). And in general, legit companies not on the brink of bankruptcy don't usually flake on their bills. Though sometimes... They do.
It does surprise me that AmEx wouldn't reverse the charge, though - They have one of the most consumer-friendly (and practically merchant-hostile) dispute policies out there. You ask, they reverse it and ask questions later, with the burden of proof on the merchant.
AmEx cards don't have a pre-set limit.
My AmEx card begs to differ.
>> there was an aggressive go-live date, a demand for immediate payment, and a (Salesforce.com) system that was ultimately 'not functional'.
Wait, is Salesforce is stealing SAP's business plan?
1. My pillow contracts sales force to give them a custom solution
2. Salesforce agrees & begins work that was due by June 1st
3. Work isn't done by June 1st and SF rep asks for 125k to do it by Aug. 1st that gets paid by employee card cause check "wouldn't work"
4. Aug 1st. SF does not deliver
5. My pillow refuses to pay SF, SF re-instates credit card charges to employee's card
6. SF sues My pillow for 550k stating substantial advertising efforts, employee disputes charge in court.
So this isn't a 3 way law-suit...
Before you go denouncing SF as being the anti-christ remember, we don't know what the requirements were, or how they were manipulated by either party. The employee's card being charged doesn't make my pillow look good either.
Personally, if I was that employee I'd maybe try to sue the sales rep for misrepresentation in the overall grey light of this case.
People who were consumers in the 90s?
*shrug* I wouldn't loan somebody my card to buy a coffee just because of the surrounding risks to its security, as well as the principle.
Be sure to specify exactly what happens if either party fails to fulfill their obligations under the contract. JEDEC failed to do so, and had no recourse when Rambus broke one of their rules and secretly patented stuff they heard being talked about at JEDEC for inclusion in an upcoming standard. The most they could do was kick Rambus out of JEDEC.
Same goes for self-employed independent contractors. If your contract just says you'll be paid $x upon completing the specific work, you are screwed. They can delay paying you for months without consequence. At the very least you need to put accruing penalties for late payment in the contract. Ideally you'll also have dates after which you can take the contract to a court and immediately get a summary judgment instead of having to go through a trial. Without a solid contract, once you hand over the money (for prepaid work) or the work (for post-paid work), all your leverage is gone. You are completely at the mercy of the other party.
Sounds like a poor contract is what happened here. Salesforce.com promised a lot and didn't deliver. My Pillow's contract didn't specify penalties or discounts/refunds for non-completion of work. Consequently all they could do was offer Salesforce.com more money to finish what they were supposed to have finished under the original contract. The opposite is possible too - that Salesforce.com did its beset to fulfill the contract, but My Pillow kept changing the requirements. In that case, the contract should've specified how many revisions to the requirements could be made, limits on how much they could change, and by what date they'd be finalized. Either way, it was a poor contract.
The old AmEx were great if you had to travel for your job.
Fly,
expense report,
get reimbursed,
pay Amex,
done
Not strictly true. The term used was (is) 'no pre set spending limit'. What this means in practical terms is that every charge authorization request goes through a complex decision tree based on many pieces of financial and fraud data before approving or denying the request. If your financial assets do not support your ability to pay for a charge, it won't go through. These products are charge cards, not credit cards. The 'no limit' misconception is fairly common though, just ask any of their call center employees.
It does surprise me that AmEx wouldn't reverse the charge, though - They have one of the most consumer-friendly (and practically merchant-hostile) dispute policies out there. You ask, they reverse it and ask questions later, with the burden of proof on the merchant.
An article I once read about this case stated that that was exactly what happened:
Furlong subsequently disputed the $125,000 charge with American Express, and Salesforce.com credited back the amount
It wasn't until later that the questions were asked and proof provided by the merchant:
Furlong's card was subsequently re-charged for the $125,000 but this time American Express refused to credit his account, saying that Salesforce.com had provided "authorization for the charge and a signed contract and order form stating that no cancellations or refunds would be allowed,"
You just need to claim that you are a Mennonite, and for religious reasons you do not own a credit card. Generally employers know so little as to be unable to verify the check, and are usually too scare of state and federal laws around religious discrimination to mess with someone who has an education and a moderate level of affluence. (sorry to get all political, but people still take advantage of the poor on the assumption that they won't do anything about it)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
$20K. My choice. Large enough to get back from wherever in the world I am that has gone to hell and small enough to manage if it goes bad in some other way (like in TFA).
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
AmEx did reverse the charge after it was initially disputed. It wasn't until Salesforce went back to them with the contract that stipulated no refunds under any circumstances that AmEx reinstated the charge.
Use your personal credit card for your company's expenses, you are a complete and utter moron.
If your boss ever says, "So can I use your credit card to buy this expensive product for the company?" you say.... "Here is my resignation, good luck."
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
This directly goes back to why you don't let anyone but the developers set the completion date for software. When ever your handed a deadline, the first thing you do is schedule a meeting right away and then throw the deadline out. If as a developer you can't set the deadline then walk away from the table, the reason a lot of software projects fail is because feature lack, bugs and crappy code. Most of those can be fixed by having the time you need to actually work on set code. As an embedded developer I would never allow anyone to set my deadlines, I put pride into my work and I'm not going to have it rushed by some marketing team or a project manager who knows nothing about programming embedded systems.
That assumes your company reimburses you within the month. Doesn't always happen.
...you don't really understand how credit cards work, do you?
What AmEx did was exactly what happens when people dispute a charge and the CC company sides with the merchant. The charge is dropped during the investigation, and if the investigation convinces the company that the charge was legit then it is reinstated.
It does surprise me that AmEx wouldn't reverse the charge, though - They have one of the most consumer-friendly (and practically merchant-hostile) dispute policies out there. You ask, they reverse it and ask questions later, with the burden of proof on the merchant.
According to TFA, AmEx did originally credit back the $125k to the guy. Afterwards, though, Salesforce approached AmEx with "authorization for the charge and a signed contract and order form stating that no cancellations or refunds would be allowed", and had the amount charged again. AmEx then refused any subsequent requests to reverse the charge.
Two words.
Black.
Amex.
Which needs about $200,000 charged in a year to achieve.
(And the ton of Membership Rewards points as another poster pointed out.)
Because, "Furlong's card was subsequently re-charged for the $125,000 but this time American Express refused to credit his account, saying that Salesforce.com had provided "authorization for the charge and a signed contract and order form stating that no cancellations or refunds would be allowed," according to his suit."
People with a good credit history?
I'm surprised AmEx didn't want immediate payment.
Last time I had AmEx, I bought a house air conditioner at Costco - about $5000 or so. AmEx called up a few days later and asked us when the bill will be paid. I said on the day it's due. They immediately asked if they could be paid within the next couple of days. This went on a few times and a few phone calls - AmEx wanting payment immediately (despite being a cardholder for 20+ years). Then they demanded immediate payment to which I refused since the bill has not come yet.
In the end, the air conditioner was refunded because it was misadvertised as having a rebate that didn't apply to that model. The amount outstanding was paid minus the refund of the annual fees paid, and the account closed.
For a customer that has never paid a bill late for decades, they were surprisingly hostile especially since larger amounts were paid just fine. And of course, AmEx keeps soliciting for a card.
Every time this kind of slashdot story passes editorial standards, somewhere a cluestick dies.
The old AmEx were great if you had to travel for your job.
Fly,
expense report,
get reimbursed,
pay Amex,
done
More like
fly
expense report
wait
wait
ping accounting, offshore data entry error, correcting
wait
wait
ping accounting again, find out it's been on boss's desk for last three days
ping boss for sig
Explain why roll of Rolaids on expense report (high stress meeting over unreasonably hot tandoori)
wait
wait
wait
get reimbursed
Forget what the check is for
Remember what check is for
pay Amex plus late fee
done
There's an alternate path that involves fighting with the hotel over a charge for six mini-bottles of Cuervo Gold, but it ends the same.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
My total credit card limit (across multiple cards) is somewhere in excess of $100K.
That's a couple in the mid 30's then a few more in the 10 - 15 range.
The cards actually in my wallet total maybe $30K, not counting the company "green AmEx". I have no idea what limit might be on that. It hasn't been used in years.
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.
That seems hinky as amex does not allow merchants to stipulate that for amex transactions. Now salesforce may be big enough to have a one off agreement with amex.
No sir I dont like it.
As a grad student I was pretty close. With grad student earnings, no less. First five years of this century were quite crazy, and if you played your cards right and had a bit of luck, you could in fact get that kind of a limit, even if it was many times your yearly gross salary. Many banks would let you consolidate the accounts into one, so that credit limits would simply add. Over time, those many banks were all acquired and joined the big bank. Ergo a humongous limit.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
You fail at reading.
Because, "Furlong's card was subsequently re-charged for the $125,000 but this time American Express refused to credit his account, saying that Salesforce.com had provided "authorization for the charge and a signed contract and order form stating that no cancellations or refunds would be allowed," according to his suit."
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
More likely the employee offered it up as a way to get the ball rolling, hoping to play hero and score some points with the company brass at the same time.
Unfortunately, the company decided to screw him, since it gets them out of a bad deal (what's personal bankruptcy?), and the courts get another headache to sort out.
I used to wonder why humanity needed the courts...now I wonder how a judge can walk around without facepalming all day.
I am John Hurt.
AmEx cards don't have a pre-set limit.
My AmEx card begs to differ.
You probably have an Amex credit card, rather than an Amex Charge card. The latter has no preset spending limit, however, the balance must be paid off within 28-30 days or you get dinged with a 30% interest charge and lose any points that your purchases would have earned for that month. You are considered not in good standing if you leave a balance on it past the interest free period.
If you had a platinum charge card, it would have arrived in a leather bonded portfolio.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
You just need to claim that you are a Mennonite, and for religious reasons you do not own a credit card. Generally employers know so little as to be unable to verify the check, and are usually too scare of state and federal laws around religious discrimination to mess with someone who has an education and a moderate level of affluence.
"Sorry, can't. I am a Mennonite... um, (software developer|computer engineer|adherent assisting in the sale of high-tech materialistic comforts via television infomercials).
(*cough*) Right. Well, best be off to my buggy then..."
Bonus points for insinuating that you don't respect your employer enough to tell a plausible lie.
(Just as an aside, but poor people have access to $125+k in personal revolving lines of credit from Amex now? I guess I need welfare—or perhaps insulation from the inevitable credit bubble collapse that would cause)
Having has to suffer for a time working for a company that had something of a scam going regarding employees and AmEx cards (Litton Industries, absorbed by Northrop-Grumman in 2001) I have some insight into how the story might have unfolded.
Litton Industries had AmEx cards issued to employees. It had your name on them, you were required to activate and use them, you were solely responsible for paying the balances, but the limit was set by AmEx based on Litton Industries' financial situation and thus were effectively unlimited. You were required to pay all company travel expenses with them (even charging airline tickets to them) and file for re-embursement when the trip ended (or monthly is it was long-term). Thus the employee could be on the hook for quite substantial amounts of money at the direction and for the benefit of the company.
Something like this could have happened to the poor employee.
But back to Litton Industries. They could not process a reimbursement claim (which required multiple sign-offs) within a week, it often took two (or even more). And they had a "payment cycle" that cut a check only once a month, if approval came in by the cut-off date. So if you took a one-week trip, filed immediately upon return, it was almost impossible to get the check in hand before the monthly bill was due, and thus you either had to pay the balance off out of your own personal funds, or you were hit with a late fee that the company would not reimburse for.
I did not stick around there for long.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
One credit card, $2k limit, had it since the early 80's when credit cards first became widely available in Australia. If I wanted more credit then I would use the equity in my house to avoid the stupendous interest rates charged on credit cards. If I was suffering from OCD I could rack up "fly buys" or whatever they are called just like mum collected "green stamps", but truth be told I can't be arsed with the paperwork to play that game. Of course I'm in a much better financial position now than when I got the card, back then $2K was close to 2 months wages, to a young family it was both a godsend and a mill stone. These days it's just a convenience for buying stuff on the net and feeding the car park vending machine.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
People who aren't poor.
And old-school AmEx cards have no limit (in theory). And the balance on those old style accounts is due in full when the next statement is presented. Back in the day, it wasn't a credit card so much as a way for rich folks to pay for things while travelling without carrying a bunch of cash around or get businesses to accept personal checks. They'd pay the month's bill in full immediately, not carry a balance like poor people do with a regular credit card.
A charge card is a different product than a credit card; however, Amex charge cards have always had soft limits above which users could get shut down.. It's just that it was a lot slower before technology caught up. To put $125k on a card today, you'd probably at least have to speak to a credit analyst before the charge went through on most cards save the Centurion "black" card. They could probably do it. That card is invitation only and although the requirements are not published, it's said you have to push 100K+ a month for a year through one of their other cards before they will even consider you. If they do, the offer won't arrive by mail but instead it will be hand delivered by an Amex employee. Oh, and the initial AF is $10K, but their are benefits like premium club membership for several airline, hotel and car companies as well as personal shopping services at a number of high end retailers that probably make it worth it if your in the class that can afford it.
not carry a balance like people who live beyond their means do with a regular credit card.
FTFY.
Im sure there are cases where this isnt true, but in general if you are carrying a balance because you cant afford something now, and it isnt a 1-off emergency, youre making a mistake and exercising poor judgement.
Back when credit cards were still charge cards too. When revolving credit cards (where you don't have to pay each money) changed their names to credit cards (credit is a positive, charge is a negative), AMEX kept the charge card description.
AMEX reminded me of this twice when I didn't pay in full at the end of the month. They said they didn't work that way and I wouldn't be able to charge anything until I paid it off. I replied that I didn't mind because I only used it on corporate trips and I didn't have another one for months, by which point the company would have reimbursed me and I would pay AMEX.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
no one gives a shit
I've been dunned for pay per view also, and have successfully had the charges removed, but it's a hassle.
These things, spurious mini bar and PPV charges, have me wondering whether the staff is having a party at my expense while I'm in meetings. I mean really -- pragmatically, if I wanted to drink, I'll go someplace where I can disguise it as food expenses. And if I wanted to see porn, there's the entire internet to draw from. There just isn't any reason to touch either the overpriced minibar, or overpriced PPV, especially since they show up very specifically on the hotel bill that is included as part of the expense report.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Actually no, Amex did exactly what they are supposed to do. A signed and authorised transaction took place, Their was no fraud, however there is a dispute over the services rendered and this is between those two parties and perhaps a court to decide not for Amex.
This is common practice at startups, where they don't have rules in place against it like most (or all) larger companies. Employees can build up a really good credit rating, and get the rewards, by charging things to their card that the company reimburses.
$31.205M, on a green card. Several in the $12M range.
How fortunate it's $31,205,000. Imagine if it was only $31,200,000?! How could you cope at the end of the month?
Are you not familiar with multiple page articles? You literally only read half the story.
this sorta thing matters. Whether you're buying it or making it, how these sorta disputes get sorted out makes a difference.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
AmEx cards don't have a pre-set limit.
...that they'll tell you about. They know how much they think you're capable of repaying and will start to deny charges when you reach the limit. They just won't tell you what the limit is.
They're also really bad about reporting stuff accurately to credit bureaus. I almost didn't get my first house because AmEx said I owed more than my salary to them when my balance was actually $0. Needless to say I cancelled my card immediately and haven't had a personal one with them since.
E pluribus unum
There's a huge difference between "no pre-set limit" and "unlimited". Their charge approval computer has a total in mind, I assure you, they just don't tell it to you.
Back in 1998, I was pushed into applying for a corporate AmEx card by my employers, a consulting company of moderate repute. The idea was that I would use this for expenses related to travel. When I read the agreement in full, and understood that it was my responsibility, rather than my employers, to pay the bill I declined to apply. Shortly thereafter, I heard from other people in the company that it was expecting them to charge various IT related expenses to the card, and was taking a very long time (over four months) to pay. This was clearly a credit-kiting scheme cooked up by corporate finance to support the company's cash flow. When I told my boss that not only had I not applied for the Amex card, but that I had no credit cards (true: I tore them up about a year before), I was treated with disdain. A few weeks later, I was asked to resign under the pretense of some irregularities in my job application (which I had been forced to fill out after I had been accepted by the company and switch coasts). For a variety of reasons, not the least of which is an NDA, I can't reveal the name of the employer. I can say that they were swept up in one acquisition after another, and few people remember the name fifteen years later. But I still remember how much I came to distrust them, starting with an employer trying to force loans from its employees. Beware!
You guys really need to mod me down instead of up. I was totally wrong. I didn't read the second page.
This isn't about geeks. That is correct. It is about a nerd getting a really bad deal when faux nerds failed to delivereon what were to them magical promises, and the employer of said original nerd used and didn't back up the said nerd.
Now, if you are a nerd, and it occurs to you that you could be the next nerd in a situation like this (look at your pocket protector: is it hanging at a skew angle even as you read this?) then
this is stuff that matters
please hand in your nerd bag at the door.
You've been slashslashslash dot dotted
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
not carry a balance like people who live beyond their means do with a regular credit card.
FTFY.
Im sure there are cases where this isnt true
It definitely isn't always true. Credit is a very useful tool, even for people not making much money. Individuals can use credit (aka leverage) the same way companies do. My last buy n flip house was done this way. I had practically no cash laying around, so I bought the thing on credit, paid for all the repairs on credit, and paid off the bill when the place sold. All told, I made about $5k off it, and never once used "my money" to do it. If I hadn't had the credit available, I never would have had the free cash to do the project. I rolled that balance for about a year though. Kinda ate into my profits, but not enough to stop me from doing it again.
Credit is a tool that accelerates finance. If you're doing good things with your money, then credit will allow you to do them faster. If you're doing dumb things, then credit will help you do them faster as well.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
Your Amex card, if not blue, has a limit that is dependent on may factors, but is not a pre-set, fixed limit. You may find that if you call in and ask, you're able to charge against it beyind what you expect. Any 'limit' is based on history, your creditworthiness, and other factors. You may NOT have to call in to process a charge against it that would seem to exceed any apparent limits. Amex explains this fairly well.
Blue cards (and you know if you have one) are more limited, but the available credit you may see on your statement may well not be a fixed limit.
I'm betting Mr.Furlong has a non-blue card, and his limit was not hard and fast. And while I see the details of the case as common, it is unfortunate. Mr. Furlong's error was in not getting payment from his employer immediately, and was an easy one to make. He's in the middle.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
"no cancellations or refunds would be allowed"
No performance required here.
Mr. Furlong's action is against his employer. My Pillow has less of a case against Salesforce. "no cancellations or refunds would be allowed".
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
There are no 'one off' agreements like that at Amex. Period.
However, terms and conditions are permitted for merchant charges, and the one noted above are not uncommon. It brecomes a tug of war between the implicit contract between merchant and cardholder, and performance.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
The reason the whole thing started is the Salesforce liar (salesman) said he couldn't take a check for for $125K:
What is that supposed to even mean? I mean, I can imagine not being able to carry $125K in cash, but a check is a check. And if it's made Pay to the Account of Salesforce.com, it's not as if some mugger is going to get a hold of it and cash at the local Bank of America for crying out loud.
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
I once landed in Israel the evening before yom kippur. Nothing was open. I had no food. I lived out of the mini bar and I bloody well got reimbursed. Fortunately I was working for a startup at the time and I could waltz up to the CEO and say 'bloody well reimburse me'. That's not so easy in the mega-corp I work for now.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
My last buy n flip house was done this way.
How, exactly, do you suppose the housing crisis started? What happens if you cant sell the house? Whoops, now youre broke and have a massive mortgage that you cant pay! Oh well.
If I hadn't had the credit available, I never would have had the free cash to do the project.
I sincerely am not trying to be mean, but to my mind it would have been far wiser to not do so. You took a risk, and it paid off, but it was a terribly large risk that could have wiped you out if the market had changed.
I sincerely am not trying to be mean, but to my mind it would have been far wiser to not do so. You took a risk, and it paid off, but it was a terribly large risk that could have wiped you out if the market had changed.
I fully understand your concerns, and the behavior does involve risks, but I came through the height of the housing burst, and the worst recession in the last half century by being very good at managing my risk. I am good at what I do, and I survived because I didn't take the idiotic risks that others had taken. Rule #1, never buy a property you wont be willing to live in, because you might end up living there. Rule 2. No more purchases than your income can support as complete dead weight. This is the one that too many people forgot. I survived because my downside risks were much lower than others. It meant that my upside profits were a lot lower too. That deal I just finished only had 5K in profit, but I turned my nose up at plenty of 20k and 30k deals because they were simply too large for me to handle if they tanked. Others got stupid and leveraged too far. Those others included a large swath of people, but most of them had one thing in common. They were investing money, and didn't want to know the details of how the returns were earned. They gave their money to property managers who earned them 30% when things were going good, but bankrupted them when things tanked. Many of us in the business did just fine, even when things tanked because we did a very good job at estimating our downside risk and an even better job at managing it.
Like many others, I lost some money when the thing tanked, but I still own all of my income properties, and as prices recover so will my net value. In the mean time, rents have been jumping up by leaps and bound for 4 years, which is why I had some spare income to throw at this recent project. I am almost back where I was in '07, and will pass that value in less than a year.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
An article I once read about this case stated that that was exactly what happened:
You mean the article linked to in the summary?
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Shh! If word gets out that I read those, my credibility will be destroyed forever.
It is somewhat of a good warning to Devs or others that might be tempted to use a personal card for a large business purchase (in order to get the points or whatever)...
don't do it unless you're 101% sure you'll be reimbursed...
Cute. Not even my card, corp.card.
Actually, when someone got impressed with the OP article and the $125k transaction. I wanted to point out that even $30M is not unheard of. I've processed larger. For an individual account, transactions over $5M would be notable.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
As far as I'm concerned, you're a sucker if you're not collecting credit card points. There's no paperwork, you just use the card and points accrue. If they're Chase points, you can use them at a penny a point at Amazon with no fuss, just register the card and click on "use my points" at checkout.
Every bill that I can put on that card goes on that card, and I never pay cash if I can pay credit. I wind up hundreds of dollars a year ahead and it's just free money.
Just to be clear, I never carry a balance, and therefore never pay interest, with one exception.
We (wife and I) bought a condo for her mother to live in. About a third of that went on a cash advance on one of the cards, and we've been shuffling it around between zero interest offers as the offers expire and someone else offers zero percent for 12+ months. That money's costing us a 4% transfer fee when we transfer it, typically every 12 - 14 months, which I view as good, since it's basically impossible to get a loan against the condo thanks to Fannie and Freddie's rules. There are very few real direct lenders left, and they're not interested in "investment" properties.
(Since you're Australian, I'll explain that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are pseudo-governmental organizations that effectively control the entire mortgage industry in the US. If your loan doesn't meet their guidelines you're not getting a loan.)
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.