I totally read that headline as "Great, work visa, now I hate you." Was expecting an immigration rant.
Great work Visa, now I hate you
81–90 of 267 posts
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#82This reads like the sort of post that so often goes on bad logic riding on emotion, but it's a completely valid point. I'm a Visa user, plus I don't plan on going anywhere near the Olympics despite living fairly close to London, but when I heard about this marketing plan I literally thought it had to be one of those hilarious fake news stories. But it wasn't. Stuff like the McDonalds sponsorship he mentioned (banning…
But this Visa deal, what on earth are people without Visa supposed to do?
I do not have a Visa card. I have one Mastercard and one Discover card, plus my PayPal credit/debit card which is also Mastercard. The only Visa I've had in years have been those prepaid rebate cards.
But I don't think it's VISA that we should be blaming but the Olympic Committee that agreed to this and the McDonald's deals. They didn't have to accept those conditions.
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#83What the? I'm surprised they could actually pull this off - they must've spent a lot of money on it. In Europe, MasterCard is much more popular than Visa (the latter is used mostly for credit cards, and most Europeans use debit cards) - I'm thinking there are a whole lot of other people cursing the company right now, too. Good going, Visa...
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#84I've been having enormous trouble understanding the thinking behind the "We are proud to only accept Visa" marketing campaign. I simply can't understand how it could be viewed positively by any consumer - it's such an obviously anti-customer thing to do. I've been trying really hard to understand why Visa would make such an obviously unfriendly and counter-productive decision. The only theory I can come up with is th…
In socialist Europe, banks own YOU! :-). But seriously, the banks screw with their customers so much over here that this is just another bump on the road.
To me, "proud to only accept Visa" sounds like "F@#k you MasterCard and your users, too"...
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#85> I discovered that McDonalds’ terms of sponsoring included that no one else in the areas of the games is allowed to sell french fries, unless they come with fried fish (because the classic dish of Fish & Chips could not be banned in the UK). But besides the Fish & Chips exception, no one is allowed to sell french fries around the games.
My friend dealt with sponsorships in the venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
One of her tasks was getting the venue menus signed off on by the sponsors.
One of the food vendors wanted to serve potato wedges at the venue.
But because McDonald's was one of the 2010 title sponsors, and they had the same "no french fries" clause, my friend spent ~6 months of her life negotiating with the McD's folks over the difference between potato wedges and french fries.
In the end, the vendor got to serve potato wedges, but McD's got a ton of concessions in exchange (better signage location, etc etc).
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#86But the olympic organizers need a way to pay for their $70,000 lunches, which totally justifies this.
http://www.businessinsider.com/no-one-knows-who-was-behind-t...
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#87I'm surprised Visa even needs to market, whenever I have been issued a card by my bank sometimes it's been a VISA and sometimes a Mastercard/Maestro. I assume I could get one particular type of card if I specifically requested it but I really don't understand what the difference would be to the end user. I guess perhaps if the only differentiating factor is "you can use this one if you goto the olympics" then maybe t…
You have to understand what Visa is competing against; it's not against the other card providers, it's against cash.
Considering how much money they have spent to be a sponsor I don't think they count their return to happen during the Olympic period, this looks more to be a habit forming thing (when you go out their aim is you'll go for your Visa by default).
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#88I've been having enormous trouble understanding the thinking behind the "We are proud to only accept Visa" marketing campaign. I simply can't understand how it could be viewed positively by any consumer - it's such an obviously anti-customer thing to do. I've been trying really hard to understand why Visa would make such an obviously unfriendly and counter-productive decision. The only theory I can come up with is th…
In socialist Europe, banks own YOU! :-). But seriously, the banks screw with their customers so much over here that this is just another bump on the road. To me, "proud to only accept Visa" sounds like "F@#k you MasterCard and your users, too"...
>In socialist Europe, banks own YOU!
Americans have a lot more personal debt than Europeans. 'In Free Market America, banks own YOU!' would be more appropriate.
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#89During the Vancouver Olympics not only were we not permitted to use other credit cards, we couldn't even use our bank-issued debit cards for payment (in Canada we don't have Visa Debit cards - our debit cards are issued directly from banks have been accepted everywhere for nearly two decades.) Cash or Visa Only. So there I was at an official Olympic souvenir shop picking up some gifts when I was told no - I'd have to…
I've got a Visa debit card through CIBC, but it confuses every merchant I hand it to, so I'm not sure it's even worth it.
Re: Great work Visa, now I hate you
#90Visa should be reviled for what they did in the Olympics.
"Am at the GB v UAE match, and there's a serious problem with Visa. All the cash machines are turned off as they accept non-Visa cards, and the Visa-only card payment system has crashed. There's a lot of frustrated people here with no money and no food for two football matches. No one wants to do anything here. Very annoying, lots hungry and thirsty people here."
From http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/london-2012-olympics-blog/20...
Also, pre-Olympics they had the games zones remove all non-Visa machines.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jun/01/visa-cuts-atms-l...
"Visa confirmed that it was replacing the existing cash machines at various Olympic sites with machines running on its own system as part of its exclusivity arrangement as a sponsor. The move means people with Mastercard credit or debit cards will not be able to use the ATMs to withdraw money."
Gold in the Corporate foot shooting event goes to.....VISA!