Marks & Spencer

Mentally disabled people: WATCH OUT WHEN USING THE DISABLED TOILETS! This is a great place to shop. Everything is neatly organised and it's easy to get from one place to another. Because I have shopped here with my parents for the most of my life, what I'm about to mention won't affect my ratings, but it's very important to say because this is NOT fair on me or anyone who is disabled. As of 02/08/23, I went to Marks and Spencer with my Mum to buy a few things. We went to the toilets, and I wasn't expecting anything bad to happen. I am autistic, and I suffer with chronic pancreatitis (meaning I could have IBS-like effects such as diarrhoea). I am very anxious when I am using the toilets with anyone else, and I prefer to use the disabled as I can be by myself. When I was about to go to the disabled toilets (which literally says "not all disabilities are visible" or something along the lines), a staff member touched and moved me away, telling me that I can't go to the disabled toilets (due to the fact that I didn't "look" disabled). This made me VERY angry. While I acknowledge being in the wrong in terms of shouting, I do believe that it was justified, especially because I was being denied access to use the disabled toilets, as a disabled person, which was incredibly ableist (I don't like using isms, but they were denying me access because I wasn't physically disabled, clearly indicating an ableist action to mentally disabled people). Even after telling this person that I'm autistic, they insisted on calling a bunch of staff members, who literally surrounded me, and claimed I was being "scary". The only person who could influence them to leave me alone was my Mum, but imagine if I was alone, I would probably be kicked out of the store without letting me give my side of the story. Luckily, the staff left me alone (as they should have done in the first place) and let me use the toilets. After I was done, me and my Mum explained to the manager everything, and she fully understood, and even offered me a drink or something to eat at the cafe. While I was okay and continued shopping as usual, it was very kind of the manager to help us with this situation, she deserves far more credit than half of the staff who didn't even listen to us. Besides this incident, I have had no other issues, which is why I'm willing to let this slide as a one-time incident. However, if this happens again, I will be lowering my score. Staff should be trained to deal with disabled customers, mentally and physically, and I will not tolerate such discrimination that I faced today.

Went into M&S desperately searching for a dress shirt very last minute for an event and had the amazing pleasure of Hannah helping me find one. Hannah went above and beyond to find something in my size, not an easy task as I’m a little bigger than average. All the while keeping me and my partner chatting away about anything and everything. 10/10 customer service experience