Source: www.sportbusiness.com
Visa has apologised to people who were unable to book tickets for the 2012 Olympic Games on the first day of going on sale.
The debit and credit card giant, which is an official sponsor of the Olympics, offers the only route to purchase tickets online, and spectators have six weeks to apply. However, those who applied with Visa cards that expire before the end of August found that the ticket website, which went live on Tuesday, could not complete their orders.
"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to those cardholders who are having problems applying for London 2012 tickets," a Visa Europe spokesman told the Press Association. "While we are aware that cards which expire before August 2011 are not currently being accepted, as a priority, we are working closely with all relevant parties to resolve this issue as soon as possible."
The spokesman added: "It is important to stress that tickets are not issued on a first-come, first-served basis, and any ticket registration taking place by April 26, 2011 will have an equal chance of success in the ballot. For those cardholders who do not wish to wait, there are a number of alternatives including using a Visa prepaid card."
On a day of glitches, the showpiece countdown clock to the 2012 Olympics, which has pride of place in London's Trafalgar Square, also stopped. A statement from official Olympic timekeeper Omega admitted: "We are obviously very disappointed that the clock has suffered this technical issue."
The statement added: "The Omega London 2012 countdown clock was developed by our experts and fully tested ahead of the launch in Trafalgar Square. We are currently looking into why this happened and expect to have the clock functioning as normal as soon as possible."