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This is how Visa works

eduardo.intermeta.com.br

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Re: This is how Visa works

#31

Post by Paul_S »

potatolicious wrote: post #10
debacle wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really hip to the Brazilian legal system, but in the US this would be highly illegal.

Sadly, "highly illegal" is often not correlated with "goes to jail", or even "stopping the behavior". For example: have you ever wondered about the aggressive charity street canvassers that have sprung up over the last few years? The people who would do just about anything to get you to stop on your commute, talk to them, and hand over your credit card? The aggressive tactics they employ are often illegal, and many i…

Same thing happens in the UK, to the point that I thought you were talking about UK chuggers until I got the last sentence.

VISA's tactics don't surprise me. What is sad is that we think it's OK because you can do anything as long as you're maximising shareholder value.

Re: This is how Visa works

#32

Post by hannibalhorn »

DanBC wrote: post #26
hannibalhorn wrote: post #17

Plenty of multinationals play "dirty" in Latin America, I've heard similar stories about several other companies here from people that work for smaller, local competitors. That said, I highly doubt that it's a policy of the home office, it's really just the end result of hiring people who get results in the region, in a situation where oversight is difficult to impossible.

> in a situation where oversight is difficult to impossible. That excuse no longer washes.

In an ideal world, yes, but I reside in a very similar country, and have seen and heard too many similar stories to be naive. I think the best thing that can be done is to blog about it like this; someone in Visa corporate will take notice and changes will be made, hopefully for the better.

Re: This is how Visa works

#33

Post by ahi »

potatolicious wrote: post #10
debacle wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really hip to the Brazilian legal system, but in the US this would be highly illegal.

Sadly, "highly illegal" is often not correlated with "goes to jail", or even "stopping the behavior". For example: have you ever wondered about the aggressive charity street canvassers that have sprung up over the last few years? The people who would do just about anything to get you to stop on your commute, talk to them, and hand over your credit card? The aggressive tactics they employ are often illegal, and many i…

For example: pretty much any of the larger banks over the last decade.

Re: This is how Visa works

#34

Post by camiller »

Seems like I have heard this story before. Some local re-seller of Visa products/services (Visa is in employee benefits???) being overly aggressive is what it turned out to be. If I had time I'd do some more searching for similar stories.

Re: This is how Visa works

#35

Post by brown9-2 »

hannibalhorn wrote: post #17

Plenty of multinationals play "dirty" in Latin America, I've heard similar stories about several other companies here from people that work for smaller, local competitors. That said, I highly doubt that it's a policy of the home office, it's really just the end result of hiring people who get results in the region, in a situation where oversight is difficult to impossible.

Let's say you were a US-based multinational that wanted to expand your market share overseas, at any means necessary, even if it means using tactics that would be frowned upon or illegal in the US.

Isn't the "this was an unauthorized move by a subcontractor" the exact defense you would plan to use then when the dirty tactics were exposed?

Re: This is how Visa works

#36

Post by nookie »

alecco wrote: post #20
hannibalhorn wrote: post #17

Plenty of multinationals play "dirty" in Latin America, I've heard similar stories about several other companies here from people that work for smaller, local competitors. That said, I highly doubt that it's a policy of the home office, it's really just the end result of hiring people who get results in the region, in a situation where oversight is difficult to impossible.

Willful ignorance.

Do you really want to know how sausages are made? :)

Re: This is how Visa works

#37

Post by Uchikoma »

potatolicious wrote: post #10
debacle wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really hip to the Brazilian legal system, but in the US this would be highly illegal.

Sadly, "highly illegal" is often not correlated with "goes to jail", or even "stopping the behavior". For example: have you ever wondered about the aggressive charity street canvassers that have sprung up over the last few years? The people who would do just about anything to get you to stop on your commute, talk to them, and hand over your credit card? The aggressive tactics they employ are often illegal, and many i…

Happens in Germany too. I often ask if they work for a agency or the charity. Not once was there someone working/volunteering for the charity.

Re: This is how Visa works

#38

Post by [deleted] »

hannibalhorn wrote: post #32
DanBC wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in a situation where oversight is difficult to impossible. That excuse no longer washes.

In an ideal world, yes, but I reside in a very similar country, and have seen and heard too many similar stories to be naive. I think the best thing that can be done is to blog about it like this; someone in Visa corporate will take notice and changes will be made, hopefully for the better.

[deleted]

Re: This is how Visa works

#39

Post by pavel_lishin »

nookie wrote: post #36
alecco wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Willful ignorance.

Do you really want to know how sausages are made? :)

If I'm running a multi-million dollar SausageCo, Inc., then yes, I would very much like to know how the sausages I'm responsible for are made.

Re: This is how Visa works

#40

Post by DanBC »

hannibalhorn wrote: post #32
DanBC wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in a situation where oversight is difficult to impossible. That excuse no longer washes.

In an ideal world, yes, but I reside in a very similar country, and have seen and heard too many similar stories to be naive. I think the best thing that can be done is to blog about it like this; someone in Visa corporate will take notice and changes will be made, hopefully for the better.

Visa is a multi-billion dollar international company with strict regulatory controls.

For them to say that "preventing some of our employees from breaking the law is hard" is not good enough.

I accept that no organisation is going to achieve total legal compliance. But sometimes it feels as if some companies feel above the law; as if they are untouchable.

As if, indeed, they are too big to fail.

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