There’s one surefire way to lose your job in customer service, and that’s arguing with a customer. We all know that the customer isn’t always right, but that’s the belief that the vast majority of companies like to uphold. Unfortunately, this customer service representative for PC game distribution service GOG.com found it appropriate to hold a debate with one of its customers regarding what they should/shouldn’t find offensive, and the results were odd to say the least.
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Pillars of Eternity released to critical acclaim when it launched on PC this year, though its release was blighted by the inclusion of a perceived transphobic “joke” poem that was created by one of the game’s Kickstarter backers (read the poem here). A Reddit user offended by the poem sought to have the game removed from their library by contacting GOG’s customer service department. The user wrote: “I recently purchased Pillars of Eternity from Gog.com. After buying it, I found out that the developers left in this transphobic ‘joke’ from a kickstarter backer.
The offending poem that was eventually removed by the game’s developer Obsidian.
“Often I turn a blind eye to this kind of stuff, groan, then move on. But this one really got to me, because I specifically purchased this game for its reputation of being mature and free of this kind of bollocks. So I asked for a refund from Gog and for it to be deleted from my Gog account.
“I didn’t expect a refund, as their content is DRM free, unlike Steam. But I did want the game removed from my profile, regardless.”
The user then claims that after a few days, she received the following email from GOG:
Hello
I’m afraid that sale is considered final either 30 days after purchase OR when you make a download attempt for a game or its bonus content. Once either of those happens, an immediate cash refund is no longer possible.Since you have already made an attempt to download that game you are not entitled to the refund or exchange however because we believe that everyone could make a mistake I will make a one time exception in your case and will offer you a store credit. Please send me the following, in order to verify that you are the account’s owner:
(depending on whether you used a credit card or PayPal)
a.) The last 4 digits of your credit card number or
b.) The PayPal Transaction ID you received after the order purchase.Also personally I’d like to ask you – and I really hope that you wouldn’t find it offensive – why you find it so offensive?
Regards,
(Name removed)
GOG.com Support
Though the user stated that they were thankful they could receive a refund, they were also taken aback by the customer service rep’s final question, though they still issued a response:
Hi there,
Here’s the Paypal details:
Unique Transaction ID (removed)
Thank you for being gracious enough to give me store credit – it was more than I expected.
In future I’ll be careful to research games better and wait until others have reviewed them (which is obviously easier with the retro games).As for your question: if the same ‘joke’ as the offensive content was made about black people, Jewish people or gay people, I imagine any of those groups would find it equally offensive (i.e. being in a relationship with them is so shameful one should commit suicide).
Considering that transgender people have the HIGHEST suicide rate of any minority in the world (43% success rate, over 50% attempt rate) the ‘joke’ is in especially poor taste.
That the developers allowed the ‘joke’ through makes me deeply regret spending money on their game. I was attracted to Pillars of Eternity because everything I read pointed to it being a game for a more mature and sensible audience, free of that kind of bigoted garbage.
Regards,
(Removed)
After explaining why they were offended, the rep didn’t appear to be satisfied with their answer, replying:
Hello I have confirmed your payment information. Your order is now cancelled and store credit was added to your account.
Thank you for your answer. I will present below my response to it however first I’d like to point that it is my personal opinion and if in any way you will find it offensive I sincerely apologize for that as it would not be intentional and in such situation please simply let me know to stop and I’ll do it.
I still cannot see point why it have to be offensive to anyone. First of all the laugh is not from transgender only from the bigoted guy (and it wasn’t a relationship – unless one night stands are such). let’s change characters into a guy and ugly woman – is it offensive to ugly women, or catholic and not a virgin on a wedding night – is it offensive to sexually active? Second your statistics are not showing the actual situation. Despite such percentage it is rather a small minority and the suicide rate is always higher in smaller groups (it is obviously also strongly connected with often shameful reactions of “normal” and even less controversial minorities) – it’s kind of like saying that over 50% of Polish citizens who are not catholic declare themselves as non-believer but overall it is less then 3% of all citizens. And finally I believe if someone demands to be treated with equal rights shouldn’t make such hassle on situation like this. Tolerance does not mean that everyone should like transgender persons and specially forbid to make jokes no matter how bad tasteful they are.
Regards,
(Removed)
GOG.com Support
The user stated in their Reddit post (which is archived here) that they were baffled as to why this customer service rep would deem it appropriate to debate personal opinion with one of GOG’s customers, and that doing so in most other lines of employment would lead to an instant dismissal.
Though many may argue that the customer was being oversensitive in wanting the game removed from the library in the first place, that is ultimately their decision. If they want it removed, they should be entitled to do without having GOG question their motives. This is inexcusably bad customer service, and it casts GOG in a very poor light.
GOG has now released a statement regarding this issue.
