Boots ban woman from London store for trying to exchange a hairbrush

Imagine doing everything right and still being punished. Now imagine you did everything right and someone fabricated a story to punish you. That’s what Sophie Kyei says happened to her at Boots Piccadilly in October last year.

A few weeks before the incident, Sophie had purchased a hairbrush from Boots Piccadilly, and not thinking anything of it she’d thrown the receipt away - as many of us do when we buy every day items. However the item broke quickly after purchase, and so she emailed Boots Customer Service explaining what had happened and asking if they could use her Advantage Card which she had used during purchase to provide a new receipt so she could exchange. The email back said unfortunately they wouldn’t be able to issue a replacement receipt, but that wouldn’t be a problem, she could just go back to the store, show them this email and reference number and she could get a refund or replacement. Which is what she tried to do on October 24th 2022, and what should have been a simple instead lead to stereotyping, racial profiling, and a ban from the store for Sophie.

When Sophie arrived at the store she first spoke to a member of the customer service team, showing her the phone screen with the email from Boots Customer Care. This team member, with Sophie’s permission, took the phone to a manager to check.

Despite the email making clear that Boots would not require proof of purchase, showing the email and reference number would be enough to get a refund or replacament, the manager said she wouldn’t be doing anything without proof of purchase. Confused, Sophie reiterated what the email from the company had said, and explained she didn’t have the receipt anymore. She did use her Advantage Card, which does keep a record of when you received points and how many - whilst it can’t be used as a receipt, it can be used to confirm a purchase was made.

Sophie says the manager insisted on proof of purchase and said if she wasn’t shown a bank statement, she wouldn’t be issuing a refund. Sophie reiterated that she didn’t want a refund, simply to exchange the faulty item for a functional one, and asked why the manager was being so difficult with her when the Boots Customer Care team had already approved this. She did however pull up a bank statement that proved her purchase, and was provided with her exchange. Sophie said that she would be making a complaint as the way she was treated made her feel like she was being suspected of trying to scam the store, and wondered if being made to show her bank statement was a breach of her privacy.

Speaking to The Black Project, Sophie said “They said that even with the email, I could have bought the brush anywhere and was trying to get them to replace it. I’m a customer service worker myself, I work across the street and was there in uniform, why would I do that? The way I was treated didn’t make any sense.”

3 weeks after making her complaint, Sophie hadn’t heard anything. She rang in to see what was happening and later that day received an email from the general manager Bani Choudhury saying that following on from her complaint, she is no longer welcome in the store. She alleges that Sophie had exhibited unacceptable behaviour on numerous visits to the store, making staff feel unsafe in their workplace. Sophie was stunned, she had no idea what was being alleged against her. She asked on numerous ocassions for them to expand, to explain, to give some context. They never acknowledged her requests. She then requested the CCTV footage of the date she knew she had been there, to see if it would give some clarity to the situation. They told her they do not have the technology to blur out other customers and colleagues in video, but they could provide her with all the stills. Of all the stills, none show her being intimidating or aggressive.

The store even went so far as to allege that the October 24th incident had gotten so out of hand that they had had to phone the Metropolitan Police on her. The Met, when asked to confirm this, said that they were struggling to see any reference to officers being called to that location on October 24th. The store and the Met police later confirmed to Ayokunle Oluwalana of My London News that the police never turned up as initially alleged.

Sophie has been told that Boots are “satisified with the outcome of their investigation” and will not be commenting on it further. They have never provided her with any evidence or context to what this investigation was about.

“I feel like I'm being punished for saying I'm going to complain and they've flipped it on me. I've worked in the area for eight years and have never had a problem in that store. Now, all my emails are being ignored by Boots. You can't just say these things about people and expect them to take it lying down. They are using the rhetoric of the angry Black woman to paint me as such yet you've not shown me any proof of this supposedly unsafe and aggressive behaviour.” Sophie said when speaking to My London News.

Sophie says she isn’t looking for compensation, she isn’t looking to be unbanned, all she wants is an apology and acknowledgment of the way she has been treated. Boots will not allow her to appeal the decision they’ve made, and she says the consequences of the accusations could have been far worse than they have been. She says she was seriously worried that they would contact her employer and that it could have resulted in her losing her job.

Boots have not yet responded to a request for comment.