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Great work Visa, now I hate you

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Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#31

Post by el_cuadrado »

Shenglong wrote: post #18

I disagree completely. Visa sponsored the event - why would they want competitors there? When the average person sees that his or her Mastercard is not accepted, I don't think the first response is "damn you, Visa!" Just like, when I see an AMEX card isn't accepted, I don't say "Damn you Visa and Mastercard for offering lower rates!" The image that Visa is trying to promote is that they're the most commonly accepted…

When MasterCard sponsors an event, you get additional 10% off when you use a Mastercard.

WOW! It is totally not offensive, positive and good for MC public image. They must be some marketing wizards or something!

Either that, or Visa people are morons.

* Edit: misprint

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#32

Post by Bud »

jonknee wrote: post #15
fleitz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the issue, you walk into a store that you've been going to since you were a kid, pull out the payment card that you've been using since you were an adult, and they point you to a sign that says only Visa is accepted even though you bought something on interac a week before. It's not about visa being exclusive to the Olympics, its about VISA being the only thing you can use to buy shit in your hometown. Basical…

But that didn't happen. He went to an Olympic stadium, probably one built just for this event. It's like complaining that only Coke products were for sale (which is also the case thanks to a giant Coca Cola sponsorship).

No. It's not. It's not at all like complaining, in fact, that any given product is not for sale.

What it is like is, complaining that normally-valid and assumed-valid payment methods are suddenly not valid.

That's what it's "like".

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#33

Post by timrogers »

The oddest thing for me was seeing a "Visa Customer Services" desk at an Olympic venue yesterday with two exceedingly bored looking staff. I'm not at all sure what they were meant to be doing given that all the customer service is provided by card issuers, not the network...

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#34

Post by donpdonp »

Not having been to the olympics before, an important detail is how far this 'zone' covers. I am going to assume its a significant number of blocks, maybe even a mile, around the olympic venues that include everyday businesses that people use, olympics or not.

The not-selling-fries bit sounds hugely anti-competitive and way beyond the scope of what should be possible by this event. Payment cards go a step further. People rely on their particular card and the norm is to accept at least two kinds of cards. Creating a temporary monopoly on payment cards is again way beyond the reach of what is reasonable for a marketing agreement.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#36

Post by mthoms »

jonknee wrote: post #12
chokolad wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the fact that only Visa is accepted is not really something to be proud of, is it?

The fact of any corporate sponsorship isn't something to be proud of. Your Big Mac isn't going to taste better because they forked over a ton of cash to the IOC. I have a Diet Coke on my desk right now and I'm not proud at all over it being available at the Olympics instead of Pepsi.

Equating the fact that you can only pay by Visa with the fact you can only eat McDonalds french fries is a bit disingenuous don't you think?

Paying Visa directly costs me more money (and inconvenience). It's a tax on everything.

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#37

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #29
haeikou wrote: post #8

So I'm European and everything, and not so much used to credit cards everywhere ... but is it really so hard to pay cash for a day?

Not really, but you have to estimate how much cash you'll need. You also run the risk of that cash being stolen.

And there's also the convenience thing of not having to withdraw in advance

Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you

#38

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

tonfa wrote: post #35
peterwiese wrote: post #24

Pay cash, moron. That's how we roll in Europe.

s/Europe/??/ (Germany?) I know at least a couple of European countries where debit/credit cards are prevalent.

Like the United Kingdom, which is hosting the Olympic games...
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