Anyone had any experience with the VISA Card "Global Customer Assistance Service" as described at http://www.visa.com/… ? I’m especially interested in non-USA cardholder comments.

Here’s a quote from the site:

"When you travel away from home — whether it’s a business meeting, a family visit, or that once-in-a-lifetime special vacation, you don’t want to worry about being stranded if your Visa card is lost or stolen. Visa doesn’t want you to worry about how you’ll continue your trip. That’s why we provide around-the-clock emergency assistance to all Visa cardholders. No matter where you travel in the world, you can call our Global Customer Assistance Service, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and a customer service representative will be on hand to help you. They’ll take your lost or stolen card report, arrange for a replacement card or emergency cash delivery with your financial institution’s approval, and answer any other Visa or travel related inquiries. Our worldwide network of toll-free telephone numbers makes contacting one of our Global Assistance Centres easy. And once your call is answered, our multilingual customer service representatives are ready to assist you in your native language."

Seems to me this would solve all the worries about having only one ATM card that gets eaten by the machine or stolen. The Service is available in most of Europe as well as elsewhere.

My main problem is this: I can’t get an answer from VISA on one issue: – does this service apply only to people who have got their VISA cards from banks in the States, or does the service really apply to all cardholders wherever they sourced their cards – for example a South African bank?

Comments?