Geoid Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Grrrr, I am SOO angry I went into Woolworths today and tried to buy a DVD, they wanted some ID, so I showed them my birth certificate, they said it needed a photo (not true) so I got my oyster card out, which has photo and full name on it (but no DOB) and said My oyster has my name on it, the same as my birth certificate. An employee looks at my birth certificate and says 'I could make this at home' to which I replied 'I would like to see you try' (birth certificate has holograms etc) to which the employee says 'Im not going to sell you it now' The guy has not only lied saying I need photo ID he also implied that I had forged my birth certificate! Anyway I went to asda and got the DVD there, no problem (I also emailed Head Office and Trading Standards....hehehe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Why on earth would you need ID to buy a DVD? Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Sounds like a jobsworth there Fred! Be careful about carrying your birth certificate around, Fred It would be a gift to a fraudster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Think about it Fred - that poor person has to work in Woolies all day so they need a little power trip occasionaly over those of you who don't have to work there! I guess the film had to be age appropriate - Fred is still young! Can't remember the last time anyone asked me for ID! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 8, 2008 Author Share Posted March 8, 2008 Fred is still young! Im not that young But saying I forged my birth cert, not on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Crazy! No wonder you are angry, some one obviously on a power trip! glad you got it in the end though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubereglu Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 That is a tad ridiculous. We had problems with Woolworths last week too, Sarah bought a DVD, got out of the store checked that the disks were there and there was only one disk of a 2 DVD set. Easily sorted, but it still shouldn't happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little chickadee Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I know someone in her 30's who still gets asked for her ID Fred! Can you get any other form of ID so that you don't have to be carrying your Birth Certificate around? It could do damage in the right hands as someone above has said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 (edited) Its the only ID I have got (its not the full birth cert, just the extract) No passport, No Medical card etc (they all got stolen ) Edited March 11, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrishY Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I bought hubby a boxed set of dvd's from woolies for christmas, when I got home no dvd's so i had to go all the way back again for them to put the dvd's in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 Recived an email from Woolworths today: On receipt of your e-mail I contacted the Store Manager to gain an in sight into the incident. He has spoken with member of staff involved and as is sometimes the case in these matters, there is a slightly different interpretation about the course of events, and although it is unfortunate, I don’t think we will resolve the situation in terms of gaining agreement between you and the store. Please be advised that our stores have a duty to ensure that we do not sell DVD’s to underage people and as such the staff have to be vigilant at all times. If at any time the staff has cause to doubt the age we can refuse the sale. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. I do hope that despite this unfortunate incident, you will not be deterred from shopping with Woolworth’s in the future. To which I relpyed: Being accused of forging my birth certificate is not acceptable. I will no longer be shopping from Woolworths in the future, until I receive some sort of compensation. Now they are saying: Thank you for your reply. Please be advised that we do not offer compensation only gestures of goodwill. However, as the store did not feel that you had adequate proof of age we feel that a goodwill gesture is not warranted on this occasion. Of course, we value all customers so it was sad to read that you no longer wish to shop with us. We hope that at some time in the future you may review this decision in which case we would welcome back your custom. Value all customers my a**! What more proof of age do they want! gah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 By asking for compensation, you've proved that it was not the an apology for being accused of forging a birth certificate, and rather some kind of gain you were after. You need to realise that a birth certificate is not an aceeptable form of ID, becuase it is not photographic - gone are the days when a birth certificate would be accepted in pubs or shops, precisely because they are one of the most forged items going. It doesn't mean the shop assistant was on a 'power trip' or being a 'jobsworth', did you stop to think that maybe, just MAYBE they were doing as they had been instructed to do by a manager, or *shock, horror* THE LAW? If they suspected you were too young to buy an age restricted product, (and yes, that includes DVDs and computer games) then by law, they have to get a PROPER proof of age, or they could end up with the sack. And some people work in shops, because THEY NEED THE MONEY, and can't afford to risk losing their job over some kid who can't prove his age? Head Offices send out under age shoppers specifically to test staff. Not everyone who works in a shop, be it Woolies, Asda, Tesco or your local corner shop, is as thick as *whatever* and out to try and make life hard for the customer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 I suppose you are right.... I was only asking for compensation to see if I would get any I was thinking these big companys would give out somthing as an apology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I suppose you are right....I was only asking for compensation to see if I would get any I was thinking these big companys would give out somthing as an apology. In your dreams Fred! Shona is right.....and so is the store, when they say that here are two very different versions of events etc. Put it down to experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubereglu Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 You'd be lucky to get compensation out of Woolworths Fred. They aren't making that much money and haven't for a while. Plus they treat their staff badly-my sister had a friend who worked for them and they mucked him around an awful lot. Judging by that they treat their customers badly too and obviously didn't see that accusing someone of forging their birth certificate isn't very nice or on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I used to work in an off-license to help fund my studying at uni, and we were only allowed to accept a passport, driving license, or something called a "Proove it!" card (the last being really obscure!). This was about 15 years ago. It didn't matter if someone could produce another form of ID that was totally convincing - thats all we could accept. You can get such enourmous fines as a retailer if you make mistakes, also publicity etc etc, that even if some customers got annoyed the impact of losing them was tiny compared to the potential impact of getting caught out selling to underage people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 It's not only the fines, if it concerns selling alcohol, the store could lose their liquor license. This happened not that long ago, I believe to a branch of Tesco - they appealed the decision, but for over a week they could not sell ANY alcohol in the store. Think of the losses involved (not that I have much sympathy with Tesco!) and next time you are queuing and the checkout assistant has to wait for a supervisor to check any bottles of wine through, this is why - they are just protecting their licence. It's not quite the same with DVDs, but I tend to agree with what others have said, Fred - probably the assistant didn't have great customer skills and could have phrased it better, but they will have a strict list of what is acceptable ID, and a birth certificate unfortunately doesn't prove anything. I don't know what is available in the way of photo ID if you are below driving-license age, but there must be something out there? It might be worth finding out (probably not from your local Woolworths, after this! ) what stores do find acceptable? Then you won't face this problem again. You definitely don't want to be carrying passports or birth certificates around, the risk of losing them is far too great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairy&cake Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I got asked for Id the other day in Asda for a 15 cert DVD, baring in mind, i had seth in the Trolley, paid with a Business banking card which said MRS on it. She said, 'got any I.D luv' I said: What???? ''got any i.d for the dvd'' [i didnt at the time, how stupid] So roshad to pay for it. Im 22 this year and most people think i look about 27. I think she was just being a jobsworth. chin up fred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I got asked for Id the other day in Asda for a 15 cert DVD, baring in mind, i had seth in the Trolley, paid with a Business banking card which said MRS on it. She said, 'got any I.D luv' I said: What???? ''got any i.d for the dvd'' [i didnt at the time, how stupid] So roshad to pay for it. Im 22 this year and most people think i look about 27. I think she was just being a jobsworth. chin up fred. Oh dear Laura - I wouldn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I think she was just being a jobsworth. AGAIN I must reiterate, staff in shops and supermarkets are, on occasion told to ID ANYONE who buys an age restricted product. My father (75) was ID'd by a slightly embarrassed assistant last year when he tried to buy a bottle of wine from his local Co-op, because the shop had been fined by the police the week before for selling an Certificate 18 DVD to an under-cover 15 year old. Believe me, getting attitude from incredulous customers, who can't believe they are being ID'd doesn't exactly make check-out operators fill with 'misplaced' feelings of superiority over the customer steaming at them over the till..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 AGAIN I must reiterate, staff in shops and supermarkets are, on occasion told to ID ANYONE who buys an age restricted product. My father (75) was ID'd by a slightly embarrassed assistant last year when he tried to buy a bottle of wine from his local Co-op, because the shop had been fined by the police the week before for selling an Certificate 18 DVD to an under-cover 15 year old. Frankly, I think this is absolutely ridiculous If somebody asked me for ID if I was buying a bottle of wine, I would not purchase the wine from that store. I am generally very polite and mild mannered but I would not stand for this kind of rubbish. Tessa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Problem with asking a 15 year old for id is there are limited ids available at that age. I remember having a similar problem. I didn't have a passport at the time and if I had there was no way my parents would have let me carry it around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Frankly, I think this is absolutely ridiculous If somebody asked mefor ID if I was buying a bottle of wine, I would not purchase the wine from that store. I am generally very polite and mild mannered but I would not stand for this kind of rubbish. Tessa. My point is, it's not rubbish - if a manager tells you to ID everyone for an age restricted sale, and you don't, then you get fired. Fines for staff and managers are huge, if they get caught selling to under-agers. It's as plain and simple as that. If less people tried to break the law, and buy these products illegally, then there wouldn't be a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessa the Duchess Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 My point is, it's not rubbish - if a manager tells you to ID everyone for an age restricted sale, and you don't, then you get fired. Fines for staff and managers are huge, if they get caught selling to under-agers. It's as plain and simple as that. If less people tried to break the law, and buy these products illegally, then there wouldn't be a problem. I understand your point about carrying out orders, and huge fines. I just think there is a HUGE difference in trying to work out if a mature looking 16yr old is over 18 or a young looking 21yr old (Laura) is over 15 in comparison with a 75yr old man buying a bottle of wine. I really pity any member of staff that has to ID obviously elderly people, the aggro they get must be really bad, but in my opinion totally understandable. Nothing personal against you Chookiehen, lie back down on your sofa Tessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I can understand shops/employees have rules (I work in customer service myself) but asking a grown adult for ID to buy a 15 cert CD is absolutely ludicrous and I agree with Tessa if someone asked me for ID at a till to buy wine (when im 30-something) I would go somewhere else and buy it! I feel sorry for the shop assistants having to ask, but the difference between asking a 14/15 year old and a 75 year old is huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
