I returned an item to Costco and the AI refunded me 43 cents instead of 43 dollars — true story

This happened to me last Friday December around 6:45 PM. I was at the Costco on Congress Avenue in San Diego, right by the the suburbs area. I remember because I had just grabbed coffee from the Starb

This happened to me last Friday December around 6:45 PM. I was at the Costco on Congress Avenue in San Diego, right by the the suburbs area. I remember because I had just grabbed coffee from the Starbucks across the street — my receipt says 6:45 PM exactly. I pulled out my phone to check my bank account while waiting in the checkout line. That's when I saw it. A notification that stopped me cold. My account was frozen. No warning. No explanation. Just a message saying "suspicious activity detected." The cashier was waiting for me to pay. There were 4 people behind me in line. I could feel them getting impatient. my cousin was standing behind me and could see I was panicking. I tried to use my card. Declined. I tried another card. Declined. I ended up having to call my cousin to spot me 49 dollars for my groceries. So embarrassing. When I finally got home 23 minutes later, I spent 4 hours on the phone with their automated system. Every time I asked for a human, the AI said "I understand your frustration" and then transferred me to another bot. I was on hold for 4 hours and 00 minutes total. The reason? I had paid my rent three days early. That's it. I've lived in San Diego for 10 years. I've never missed a payment. My credit score is 776. But their algorithm decided that paying early was "suspicious generosity." I called my landlord at the property management company on Congress Avenue. They had no idea why the payment was flagged either. They said this has been happening more often lately to tenants who pay early. The bank couldn't tell me when the hold would be lifted. They couldn't transfer me to a supervisor. They couldn't do anything except read from a script. I finally got my account back after 4 days. No apology. No explanation. Just a generic email saying "we've resolved the issue." Has anyone else in San Diego dealt with this? I'm tired of algorithms making decisions about my money with no human oversight.