Glitch Kicks out Heart-Stopping Pension Payment Demands

December 29, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A computer glitch at a French pension fund produced letters to more than 100 participants demanding they hand over more than €2 billion ($2.37 billion) in dues.

Alain Lavie, a regional director for pension fund Organic, said a computer glitch was behind the mistaken mailings, adding that the accounts held by the recipients of the letters would not be affected, according to the Associated Press.

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The letters demanded payment by January 12.

“I had to sit down when I saw the sum,” recipient Christine Vallee, a bar manager in the Loire Valley town of Tours, told the Associated Press about her letter. The sticker shock prompted Vallee to call a lawyer.

“I wasn’t laughing when I read the last paragraph: ‘We take this opportunity to offer you our best wishes for the new year’,” she said.

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