To be fair, it is on one of the Olympic souvenir shops and I know Visa are the authorised partners, but something about this just isn't right. From a number of perspectives.
Now, I'm sure they take cash and don't mean you can only pay by Visa but I would have thought announcing that at the door reduces the number of people who will pass through the door. And certainly if you have Mastercard, Diners and AmEx you can feel a little offended.
I know different payment schemes cost different amounts to belong to but normally Visa and Mastercard go hand in hand. I would have thought it was a restrictive practice to accept only one of them. Although I'm probably wrong.
I don't like the wording either. Why not just write, "we are proud to accept this companies money and restrict how you pay, stifle competition, and sod you if you don't hold a visa card". If it had said they were proud to have the Visa tie up then that would be legitimate advertising.
I'm probably making something out of this where nothing really exists but it looks to me like the cart is pushing the horse here and the sponsor is more important than the customer. But then, isn't that the way of most major sporting events now, why should it be any different in the wider world.
3 comments:
I see what you mean. The way it's worded seems to indicate that they will only accept VISA and sod you if you hold any other form of credit card.
As I've just recently switched from VISA, I'd be proud to give that shop a miss.
I'd be proud to give the whole Olympics circus a miss. It's all about the cash, the sport seems to be the icing on the cake that makes it acceptable.
I agree with Brennig, my heart sank when I heard that London was to host the Olympics. Besides which, I favour Mastercard.
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