Yesterday I reported about how a user of the digital distribution platform GOG engaged in a very odd, weirdly confrontational email exchange with one of the company’s customer service reps.
The exchange occurred after the user requested that Pillars of Eternity be removed from their game library, due to its inclusion of a transphobic poem (the poem, which was created by a Kickstarter backer of the game and not by developer Obsidian itself, has now been removed from the game).
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While the rep issued a refund for the game, they also requested that that the customer give an explanation as to why they found the poem to be offensive. After the user did so, the rep then decided to argue against their opinion, and the whole debacle turned a little strange. You can read the entire exchange right here.
While a debate surrounding what is/isn’t offensive is a run-of-the-mill conversation topic for the internet, it’s not particularly the kind of discussion you’d expect to become embroiled in with a customer service rep. GOG seemingly recognizes this, and released a statement to CraveOnline today, reading:
“We’re very sorry about our employee’s behavior. We agree that they acted unprofessionally and that their comments were completely out of place. While they voiced only their private opinion, one that does not represent our company’s stance, a customer support ticket is no place to vent or engage in that type of debate. We promise to take appropriate action to prevent this type of situation from ever happening in the future, and we have already reached out to the customer directly with our sincere apologies.”
It’s good to see that GOG reached out to the customer directly, and that they are apparently working towards ensuring that this kind of behavior doesn’t happen again. What was so baffling about this issue was that it was so clearly not something that’s okay for a customer service rep to do, leading to the assumption being drawn that GOG’s training methods for its reps must be very lackluster.
Hopefully that’s not the case and this was just a one-off, and people can continue to send emails to GOG’s customer service department without fear of being engaged in a sociopolitical debate.
