GM Makes $4 Mil Accounting Mistake; Refuses $ Back

[Guest Josh]

General Motors has been in the spotlight lately with financial problems, and now one big mistake cost the company a lot of money.

GM owed Jack Paulis, owner of Paulis J.R. Industries, $1,900, but through an apparent accounting error, transferred nearly $4 million into Paulis’ account, Local 4 reported.

The error occurred when GM ordered one part for $1,988, but somehow the statement was noted as ordering 1,988 parts, and transferred the appropriate funds to cover what was believed to have been the accurate amount.

Paulis said he was having a hard time returning the money, and when he made attempts to call it seemed as though they didn’t care and they showed no sense of urgency.

“I even said that I would drive over myself,” said Paulis.

After several attempts were made to contact GM officials, Paulis said nobody came to his home to get the money and nobody from the company called him back, Local 4 reported.

One GM representative advised Paulis to send the check to Arizona, but before he did that, he phoned Local 4, who in turn contacted GM officials.

Once there was a connection, GM representatives became serious about the situation and had Paulis drop the check off at a local GM office, according to the station’s reports.

The money is back in the right hands.

Source: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/8368899/detail.html

Wow....juuuuuust WOW!

[daves87rs]

Stupid, stupid, Stupid...

[Northstar]

Sounds like GM needs to hire some new accountants.

[Variance]

I have to say, that guy was probably a better man in that situation than I would've been. They would've never known if he hadn't contacted them?

[ellives]

And I *really* hope somebody at GM lost their job over that one.

It reminds me of a an old joke that used to go around in the PC business a while back. The joke was a dialog between a not-so-bright customer and a technical support person on the phone.

The dialog went back and forth for a long time with the support person getting more and more frustrated. Eventually he gave the customer very specific instructions:

TSR: Do you still have the box the PC came in?

Customer: Yes, it's right here.

TSR: Please place the computer back in the original shipping container and ship it back to us.

Customer: Is something wrong with it?

TSR: No sir, you're too stupid to own a computer. Have a nice day.

I have to say, that guy was probably a better man in that situation than I would've been. They would've never known if he hadn't contacted them?

[balthazar]

GM is not the corner Mom-n-Pop hardware store where one of 3 people always answers the phone and they always know the other 2 person's business. Undoubtedly, getting the 'proper' response depends of contacting the responsible party.

How the F do these stories get picked up???

[thegriffon]

Another reason toreduce the number of white collar staff.

[Drew Dowdell]

uh... how do I bid on contracts at GM?