- Card giant to disable cashpoints around Olympic venues so customers only use Visa
- Firm accused of ‘exploiting consumers’ through ploy
- Visa ordering closure of all cashpoints which accept Mastercard or American Express
By
Louise Eccles
18:59 EST, 31 May 2012
|
20:11 EST, 31 May 2012
Ploy: Visa will disable 27 LINK cash machines and replace them with just eight Visa only cashpoints
Olympics sponsor Visa has been accused of exploiting spectators by effectively banning the use of rival cards at Games venues.
It is ordering the closure of all cashpoints which accept Mastercard or American Express.
Non-Visa customers will not even be able to use their cards to pay for goods at checkouts.
The card giant will disable 27 LINK machines inside venues and replace them with just eight Visa-only cashpoints.
These will be found at the Olympic Park in East London and the Excel centre in nearby Docklands, leaving 34 venues – including Wembley Stadium – with no cashpoints at all.
Critics say this will entice spectators to apply for Visa cards and encourage even existing customers to pay by card for food, drinks and merchandise, boosting the company’s income from transaction fees incurred whenever a purchase is made.
Visa has also been accused of using the ban as a cynical ploy to promote its new ‘contactless’ payment cards, which will be accepted at the venues.
These allow shoppers to make payments of up to £15 by simply swiping the card at a till.
Visa is a top-tier sponsor of London 2012 and has exclusive rights over the Games’ payment system.
Marc Gander, of the Consumer Action Group, predicted long queues at cashpoints outside venues.
He said: ‘This is shocking. It is a privilege to be a sponsor of the Olympics and they are abusing that privilege by exploiting consumers.
‘Non-Visa customers will be angry and concerned by this kind of discrimination. Where are we heading with this? Will we cover up manhole covers with Thames Water on them because it is not a sponsor? This should be a joyous event and instead it is being marshalled in a controlled and rather sinister “1984” manner.’
Critics have said the Visa removing cashpoints around the Olympic park is a cynical scheme to make more from credit card transaction fees
UK Payments Council director Ron Delnevo called Visa ‘power-crazed’.
He said: ‘The Olympics do not belong to any sponsor, however much money they have paid. McDonald’s is a sponsor but it is not forcing everyone to eat only hamburgers.
‘This is plainly unacceptable in a world where 85 per cent plus of all transactions continue to be made using cash.
‘The Games are meant to be a celebration of the sporting prowess of men and women from every corner of our planet.
‘Sadly, it seems that the ideals of the Olympics now take a back seat whenever they get in the way of needs of commercial sponsors.’
He added that he believed the move was a shameless way of Visa promoting its new contactless cards, which he said had proved unpopular in the UK because of security concerns.
‘The vast majority of people attending the Games, from over 200 countries, have no interest in becoming guinea pigs in product launches by sponsors,’ he said.
The disabling of cashpoints by Visa means that some Olympic venues, including Wembley Stadium, will have no cashpoints at all
Visa said: ‘At every Olympic Games, Visa creates and manages the entire payment system infrastructure and network throughout all Olympic Games venues.
‘Eight ATMs will be installed at London 2012 Olympic venues and this year, for the first time at an Olympic and Paralympic Games, contactless payment technology will be implemented across the event venues providing additional ways to pay.
‘Visa debit, credit and prepaid cards and cash will be accepted at all venues.’
A spokesman added that more than 115million Visa cards were in circulation in the UK and the majority of UK banks issue Visa debit cards.
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More stupidity for this bad idea called the olympics.
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Get lost visa
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If I were MasterCard I would disable visa on any terminal that I owned. What will happen when people arrive with only mastercards ? This has to be against the law doesn’t it ?
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I suppose once upon a time the Olympics were about celebrating the best in world sport, now its just a money making machine for the big corporates, paid for by the little man. I should feel proud they are being held in Britain, but the reality is I am not. i feel sorry for the athletes who have worked so hard to get there, as they are what the Olympics should be about
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This should be the very last time that ANY major sporting event is brought to this country. This Olympic fiasco has been a disaster from start to finish. Remember the increase on the original estimate? the “oh dear we forgot about the VAT”? all the following rip offs…….. People having to BUY their Olympic torches, The price of food and drink, no picnics allowed, the price of tickets, roads closed to all except so-called VIPs, the whole ticket selling shambles…………………………….I could go on and on. The whole thing has been geared to RIP OFF normal people and cater for ther drones of society. I shall not be watching any of it on TV, and I just feel sorry for athletes and sport lovers who will have to put up with all this chicanery.
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This should be illegal. Period.
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Olympics means the ban of free trade, fat cats getting fatter and the people suffering more.
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Who gives Visa the authority to interfere with other companies credit cards. Mastercard should call for a ban on all Visa outlets. Make one rule fit all.
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