A 'profoundly' deaf man was left feeling 'degraded' after being turned away for help from a Currys. The man, who does not want to be named, went into the store in Rochdale on Sunday (September 25) as his TV remote had stopped working but was 'rudely' told to leave and call a customer service number himself, despite his difficulty hearing, he says.
The man's ex-wife, Helen Khan who approached the Manchester Evening News , said she saw her ex-husband shortly after and he was 'visibly shaken and distressed' by the experience which was overall 'degrading' for him. He has since been offered cash compensation after struggling to make a complaint but they are not satisfied by this and would rather see real changes made so that other disabled people do not have to go through the same experience.
Ms Khan told the Manchester Evening News that her ex-husband clearly wears hearing aids in both ears and he often will go into store to get help with products as he has difficulty hearing over the phone. However, on this occasion he was immediately told he could not be helped and to go home and ring customer services despite 'pointing to his ears' to try and make it clear he could not hear.
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Despite pleas to be helped there and then she said the member of staff walked away from him, ignoring him, leaving him no choice to return home. "I’m quite shocked somebody would be treated like this by a big retailer," Ms Khan told the M.E.N.
"He was just told to just go home and ring customer service number but he said it all felt quite degrading. He's normally quite independent and always goes out to do his shopping and other things but events like this cause people with disabilities to stay in and not socialise as they’re too worried of being treated like this.
" It feels like staff should be trained better to deal with this and other people who may have disabilities or special needs. Most big shops are really great at dealing with disabilities these days.
"I genuinely feel h e is a victim of discrimination against his disability. It was awful, he was a vulnerable customer who needed some support from a large company.
"There are legal requirements towards disabled customers. He has lost all of his confidence after this incident. He had decided to not even visit his local Asda store and says he would now prefer to do it online, due to the trauma caused by the above experience – he tells me he feels degraded."
A Currys spokesman said: "We are truly sorry that they didn’t receive the standard of customer service that we normally expect of ourselves. As part of their ongoing professional development every Currys colleague receives Vulnerable Customer training, which supports them in identifying vulnerable customers and ensuring their needs are met in a sensitive and flexible way.
"Once we were made aware that his issue hadn’t been resolved, we immediately apologised and offered to replace the faulty item for a brand new remote control. We will continue to work with him to ensure he is happy with the resolution."
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