| Disability Discrimination 15:57 - Dec 3 with 978 views | wkj |
Is it legal for a company to ask you to clarify your disability.
I don't want to get into too much detail, but over the phone a call centre agent for a bank asked my mother to clarify her disability on a call when she was talking about an inbound payment.
I found this extremely odd and have made a complaint on her behalf - though thinking about it I was curious if the question was not only wrong, but illegal in relation to the Disability Discrimination Act. [Post edited 3 Dec 2020 16:00]
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:01 - Dec 3 with 941 views | footers |
Why on earth would a bank need to know that? I can't see any reason for it? |  |
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:04 - Dec 3 with 921 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Disability Discrimination on 16:01 - Dec 3 by footers |
Why on earth would a bank need to know that? I can't see any reason for it? |
I imagine it might be worth checking someone is blind before approving their loan application to buy a Ferrari?
But otherwise that sounds well dodgy. |  |
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:08 - Dec 3 with 896 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| Disability Discrimination on 16:01 - Dec 3 by footers |
Why on earth would a bank need to know that? I can't see any reason for it? |
Is it possible that the bank has a more lenient/helpful policy to vulnerable people or those with disabilities, and clarification is asked for to see if this applies?
Is it possible the OPs mother said "I'm struggling with a disability." and the employee, trying to build rapport, said "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, may I ask what your disability is?" They probably shouldn't have done, but some people are just friendly and pick up on cues.
Could have come from good intentions and been slightly clunkily executed, could have been ignorant or malicious prying. Hard to know without hearing back the "for training purposes" recording.
I think the OP did the right thing in not naming the bank if unable to give more detail and context. |  | | |
| Disability Discrimination on 16:09 - Dec 3 with 897 views | jeera |
Any more context to that?
If she was about to visit the bank in person and they wanted to know how they could be of assistance, it would make complete sense.
Otherwise, I got nothing. |  |
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:12 - Dec 3 with 874 views | footers |
| Disability Discrimination on 16:08 - Dec 3 by ArnoldMoorhen |
Is it possible that the bank has a more lenient/helpful policy to vulnerable people or those with disabilities, and clarification is asked for to see if this applies?
Is it possible the OPs mother said "I'm struggling with a disability." and the employee, trying to build rapport, said "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, may I ask what your disability is?" They probably shouldn't have done, but some people are just friendly and pick up on cues.
Could have come from good intentions and been slightly clunkily executed, could have been ignorant or malicious prying. Hard to know without hearing back the "for training purposes" recording.
I think the OP did the right thing in not naming the bank if unable to give more detail and context. |
That was my only other thought, that they would need clarification on any special assistance or methods of communication, like letters in braille. But even then it seems a little intrusive.
Perhaps just overfriendliness, as you suggest. | |
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:17 - Dec 3 with 864 views | wkj |
From what I know the discussion was not related to any accessibility discussions, it was out of the blue when my mother mentioned a payment due to go in. My gut feeling is the operator was applying small talk without thinking- which I feel sympathy for having done telephone work myself, but the company needs to know about it - which, I have no love for the banks. | |
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:20 - Dec 3 with 847 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Disability Discrimination on 16:08 - Dec 3 by ArnoldMoorhen |
Is it possible that the bank has a more lenient/helpful policy to vulnerable people or those with disabilities, and clarification is asked for to see if this applies?
Is it possible the OPs mother said "I'm struggling with a disability." and the employee, trying to build rapport, said "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, may I ask what your disability is?" They probably shouldn't have done, but some people are just friendly and pick up on cues.
Could have come from good intentions and been slightly clunkily executed, could have been ignorant or malicious prying. Hard to know without hearing back the "for training purposes" recording.
I think the OP did the right thing in not naming the bank if unable to give more detail and context. |
Halifax have been advertising that they're making wellbeing calls to their customers - might be something similar I suppose. | |
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:21 - Dec 3 with 847 views | jeera |
| Disability Discrimination on 16:17 - Dec 3 by wkj |
From what I know the discussion was not related to any accessibility discussions, it was out of the blue when my mother mentioned a payment due to go in. My gut feeling is the operator was applying small talk without thinking- which I feel sympathy for having done telephone work myself, but the company needs to know about it - which, I have no love for the banks. |
Once, on a visit to my elderly mum, I caught her happily telling some complete stranger over the phone all her details; birth date etc and was working her way towards some bank details before I grabbed the phone from her.
It's a concern.
*I appreciate that's not what happened with your mum but you do worry about them. | |
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| Disability Discrimination on 16:21 - Dec 3 with 844 views | CBBlue |
| Disability Discrimination on 16:12 - Dec 3 by footers |
That was my only other thought, that they would need clarification on any special assistance or methods of communication, like letters in braille. But even then it seems a little intrusive.
Perhaps just overfriendliness, as you suggest. |
Could be. I was helping an elderly neighbour once try to sort out her sky account and she asked me to phone them as she's partially deaf and couldn't hear what they were saying. The operator asked her to confirm this (with me shouting the question at her!) so they could make a note on her account so I wouldn't have to go through all the checks again if I needed to phone on her behalf in the future.
If it's nothing like this then yes sounds a bit dodgy. | |
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| Disability Discrimination on 18:26 - Dec 9 with 668 views | wkj |
Update: HSBC issued an appology and £250 stating it was a gross lapse in customer service | |
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