-----Original Message-----
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, September 12, 1998 11:09 AM
Subject: Y2K_GPS
 
>>I was not so lucky with a renewed credit card with a 01/2000 expiration
>>date which was refused by the card reader of an airline and which had to
>>be exchanged by the credit card company for one dated 01/1999 as a
>>stopgap after some very expensive and hectic long-distance telephone
calls.
 
>>
>>Comments?
 
 
COMMENT:
 
I also have had this problem and sometimes the merchant receives back
"weird" replies that confuse them, and the "charge" is declined.  My
response is to deal with the matter immediately with the merchant and try
the following as a possible solution.
 
(1) In most instances the merchant has a device to scan (read) the
information on the back of the card, and if the expiration date is in 2000
or later it may actually read 20 (just the first two digit of 2000). It
reached the limit of characters it expected to read.
 
(2) If the merchant has a way to manually type in the credit card
information (most do if they can "scan/read" the card), ask the merchant to
MANUALLY TYPE the expiration date (MO/YR) and for the YEAR, just enter 00
(zero zero) if the expiration is in 2000. This has worked for me.
 
Note: The problem may not be at the final end -- the verifying process of
the card issuer -- but with the software of those along the electronic
transmission they have sub-contracted to forward the "scanned" information
for "authorization."
 
Since your geographic location (even within the same town) might end up with
different sub-contractors forwarding the electronic data from the scan of
the card, results can vary widely. So far, (2) above has worked for me when
initially the (valid) card was initially rejected.
 
Humans remain "smarter" than machines, I hope.
 
Warm regards,
 
Wayne Neighbors
President and CEO, Vee Ring Ltd
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http://anthro.org