Barclays is facing criticism over adverts for paid “mystery shoppers” which suggested that people could pretend to be blind or deaf to test the services at the British bank’s high street branches.
The bank hired market research firm Ipsos to carry out testing at branches. The Barclays-branded instructions said candidates for the roles would ideally be blind or deaf, but also suggested candidates could “fabricate” conditions if necessary, for £45 a visit, according to the Mail on Sunday (MoS).
The National Federation of the Blind UK (NFBUK) said the bank should recruit genuinely blind people to test its systems.
Ipsos describes mystery shoppers on its website as “essentially an undercover agent posing as a regular customer to evaluate the quality of a service”. It offers small cash payments – generally between £5 and £40 – to customers to test the services of companies including NatWest, including under its Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank brands, and the Post Office.
While many of the adverts require some element of subterfuge – such as the mystery shoppers telling staff they were inquiring about a mortgage – Barclays went further with adverts for tests of services for blind and deaf customers.
According to the MoS, an instruction sheet provided to potential applicants for the blind customer role said: “You would ideally have a REAL visual impairment. However, you can fabricate this if needed.”
Shoppers were invited to tell staff members that their eyesight was “becoming increasingly blurry and/or spotty and the situation is not going to improve, so you are wondering how Barclays can help with your day-to-day banking”. The sheet asks for the shoppers to “provide your feedback from the point of view of a customer with a real vulnerability”.
Andrew Hodgson, a trustee of the NFBUK, said: “I do think it’s inappropriate, because only visually impaired people know the specific needs of visually impaired people.”
Hodgson, who is blind and uses a white cane, said blind people faced “all sorts of banking problems at the moment”. He said it was helpful for bank cards to use braille writing, with raised dots, as well as an indentation on one side to help orient the card. Accessibility of card reader machines and talking cash machines was also important, he said.
He added that the closure of bank branches across the country was not helping, as it meant many people had further to travel to access banking services. More than 6,000 UK bank branches have closed in the last decade.
A Barclays spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing all our customers with the best level of service. We seek direct feedback from customers, colleagues, charity partners and undertake mystery shopper exercises using a specialist company to identify areas for improvement.
“While we set out to find mystery shoppers with experience of impairments, we can do better and will look to do so immediately.”
Ipsos was approached for comment.
