That is really odd and most probably a case of employee misunderstanding. Generally the VISA (and MasterCard) regulations state that all merchants must accept all V/MC issued if they accept one.

The exception to this is that some banks in certain countries (Brasil and India come to mind) may issue domestic cards only. This means that those VISA or MasterCards are only valid for use within their country of issue. However, all merchants in those countries must accept all international cards issued by an association member

------------------
I Love New York -- Viva Espaņa