12 Feb, 2011
Mary Portas, the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Shops’, took to Twitter today to air her views on the “rotten” service her teenage son experienced in a London outlet of GAME.
The dispute arose after her son attempted to buy a game rated 15 by the BBFC and was refused, when he failed to produce valid ID. Phoning the store to complain, Portas tweeted, “STILL holding on after 8mins to spk to a human at GAME Ox st where they refused to sell my 17 yr son a 15 + game. Now they’ve cut me off.”
Portas later explained to inquisitive followers that her son did not hold appropriate identification, but nevertheless she remained vigilant that staff at the store should’ve accepted his over-16′s Oyster card.
As the dispute escalated, Portas sent another angry tweet to GAME Group’s CEO Ian Shepherd; “Son and I had rotten attitude from your shop today. Want to discuss. Shall we do by email?”
Portas’ son later returned to the shop with his passport.
The BBFC are the main board of classification in the UK. Failure to comply with their regulations can result in a four-figure fine, or even imprisonment.
UPDATE Portas has since discussed the matter in private with GAME Group’s Ian Shepherd. She tweeted, “spoke to CEO of GAME. Impressive and bright. Agreed good customer service is worth fighting for and how tough the regulations they face are.”
Shepherd also tweeted to his followers on the subject of the dispute, “FYI spoke to @queenofshops – age verification issues all understood, and we clearly share her commitment to great service.”
However, Portas’ actions appear to have offended many of her followers, as well as Shepherd’s. One dismayed Twitter user commented following the resolution, “‘impressive and bright’?! Patronising, much?! And this came from the woman who said ‘manners cost nothing’.”
To hear our views on Portas-gate and the evidently touchy subject of age verification in gaming retail, check out the brand new episode of the GGS Gamer podcast!
Portas seems to be claiming that it’s not that he was refused the game, but the manner in which he was refused (however, I’m not sure I believe this at all). She has tweeted in a reply to someone who had said they were going off her (Portas) because the cashier was doing their job that “its how you do the no that counts. And if that puts you off me, then I will take that. Manners to customers takes nothing”. Yet, I wonder how she would expect this to be done, and I bet that her son had a poor attitude back at the staff, and he would have had the same response regardless, as I know from refusing sales myself in a polite way.
It does feel like she feels the law shouldn’t apply to her/her son in this case, and I sincerly hope that noone at GAME gets into trouble simply for upholding the companies rules, as well as the law for age restricted products.
I absolutely loathe Mary Portas. For someone who claims to be a retail expert, she apparently doesn’t know what can and cannot be provided as valid ID for the purchase of restricted goods.
This whole thing reeks to me of someone who clearly believes that she is entitled to some kind of preferential treatment. Tweeting the CEO of GAME is just a tacky publicity stunt, to further advance her image as some of Martyr out there standing up for the people. She’s never struck me as anything other than someone who loves to complain for the sake of it, and it’s people who like her that are the reason so many people hate their job. Whenever I see jumped up snooty men and woman like her in town it just angers me, giving these poor workers a hard time because they haven’t had the red carpet rolled out for them.
At the end of the day, for minimum wage I’m amazed she thinks anyone should give a shit. I’d have put the phone down on her too.
This is outrageous. If her son was 14 and he’d been sold a game that she deemed unsuitable she’d be off on a different rant. Asking someone to produce valid ID to make sure you are keeping within the law is GOOD customer service. If then sales person was rude to her son, then that’s something to complain about, but a woman who makes a living getting people in retail to do their jobs properly complaining about someone doing their job properly, it’s a joke. She seems to think that she’s a big hitter in the retail world and the power has gone to her head…going straight to the CEO of Game with a silly and futile complaint like this is a pure display of her ego. Ridiculous!
I was 21 when Resident Evil 5 came out. It’s an 18. I was ID’d and didn’t have any with me so was refused. FINE. WITH. ME. The store were just following procedure. I was courteous enough to say “that’s ok” and walk away. This woman clearly just wanted to cause a fracas. I’m on Game’s side on this one.
I worked part time at GAME during my student days and often came across this type of thing from parents after refusing to sell age restricted games to children/teenagers without ID. What the little darlings often omitted to tell their parents is that they gave me a mouthful of vile abuse after being asked politely for ID and being told I was simply following company policy and, more importantly, the law.
I fully agree with everything that has already been said by Michael, Jen and Carrie.
I used to work in a place that sold games, Dvd’s and all that. I know that one Oyster card is not a form of ID. I think from personal experiance that her Beloved son yelled and kicked off. Im 19 and I have been refused serivce for a 15 rated game. It was MY fault because I didnt bring ID. I hate this woman anyway but to plaster stuff all over twitter surely shows the maturity this woman has.
This is it! How very professional of her to have a tantrum on Twitter. I have always thought that someone should make a campaign show about protecting the rights of the employees. Why anyone thinks it’s acceptable to be abusive and rude to people just because they are working behind a desk is beyond me. Never in my life have I done it, nor would I.
I hope the CEO tells her where to go, she’s got ideas well above her station.
He did respond to her in the end, saying “@queenofshops that’s appalling. I’m very proud of our focus on age verification but also of our service. If that’s gone wrong, we’ll fix it.”
He’s had a lot of messages of support, as have his staff at Oxford Street, but he’s also being scrutinised for appearing to pander to Portas simply because she’s a television personality with a cult following and far too much clout for her own good.
They’ve got a point. What’s to fix?
I think we all need the facts. Too many presumptions from everyone. What we do know from this is it seems to be a regular occurrence and perhaps customers should be made more aware of what is necessary. They are loosing customers while there is a lack of clarity.
Mary Portas has made customer service a personal crusade – she gets heated when she just sniffs the smell of poor service. We put up with it and some blame the minimum wage. Truth is a job is a contract, and if service is part of that contract, whatever the wage, we should honour it.
It’s a difficult situation, and as David rightly said we don’t know all the facts – to be honest, by all accounts Portas wasn’t there herself so even she doesn’t know for sure. The facts of the matter are that a) Retail staff can refuse a sale without giving a reason and b) the BBFC do not dictate what is classed as ‘valid ID’; that is left to the company’s discretion.
In this case, GAME clearly do not accept an Oyster card as valid ID and that is their right. This is a system designed to protect minors from explicit content, and as Carrie said – which I said myself following the dispute – if the shoe was on the other foot and say her son had been sold an 18-rated game without being asked for ID, not only would she have been ranting about that, the clerk in question would’ve broken trading law, with severe consequences.
She’s since tweeted, presumably in response to a backlash by Twitter users, “My son did have valid ID, end of.” Unfortunately, it’s not her place to dictate what is considered valid ID; that is up to the company, and it’s pointless trying to deal with that sort of dispute at a service level. In other words, phoning up the branch to rant at the manager, not a good move.
And like a lot of you have said, it’s not outside the realms of possibility that her son was rude to the member of staff in question. There is absolutely no excuse for staff being actively rude to customers, but if that is indeed what’s happened in this case, she’s done herself a disservice by not mentioning that until half of Twitter was disagreeing with her little public crusade. Like you said Mikey, I just don’t buy it.
Mary Portas… I hate you.
Hello competition-winning-Chris! What tee did you get in the end? :)
One minute they’re saying that kids getting hold of games with adult themes is contributing towards sexual violence (wtf??) but the minute a retail outlet challenges someone about their age, all hell breaks loose.
The game industry can’t fucking win.
This is what I thought Sarah. Like I said before, you can almost guarantee, had her son been sold a game he was too young for and they hadn’t asked him for ID, she would’ve been on it like shit on a shovel.
Thanks for the update!
Very proud of GGS Gamer for being first with this story over the weekend.
Thank you Tanya. :) I’m delighted as well – right place at the right time!
My focus is on quality management. Andy has hit the nail on the head. Everyone has a different way to check identity. At 65 I retired with 9 (lots of jobs) pensions. Not one provider had the same method of confirming my identity and age. I did a Mary Portas! Why can’t you all be consistent – if my Nat Insurance No. Is OK for the tax office why all these other systems?
My point is it makes a customer frustrated when the target is moving. Shops and pubs joint to make it easier.