home | downloads | scene listings | non-scene listings | links | advertising details | contact us |
Click here for the graphic version of this page
A bank is being threatened with a lawsuit after a Leeds man was repeatedly denied access to phone banking because staff thought he sounded like a woman.
Graham O’Brien, 29, is a customer with the Halifax Bank and after several attempts to conduct transactions over the phone were unsuccessful, he was told to visit a branch.
When he did, he was told that a 'suspect person’ thought to be a woman had been trying to access his account, which had been suspended. O’Brien, a law lecturer, officially complained to the bank, who admitted in writing that:
Having passed our security requirements you were transferred to an operator who garnered the impression the individual accessing your account was female.’
O’Brien’s partner said, 'Just because he’s got a bit of a squeaky voice, why can’t they accept that he is who he says he is?’
Despite assurances from the bank that the mix-up will not happen again and an apology, O’Brien is considering his legal options.
I feel I have been humiliated and alienated,’ he said. 'There’s the patronising way they’ve spoken to me and there’s the humiliation of going into the branch and dealing with it.
Stories from the magazine this month:
Related pages:
Click here for the graphic version of this page
home | downloads | scene listings | non-scene listings | links | advertising details | contact us |
visitors since 1 Aug 03