Unfiltered Story #257611

(The following conversation takes place over email.)

Me: “Hi! I just wanted to check if your company has started shipping to New Zealand again?”

Rep: “Due to the recent implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we’re unable to ship any orders to customers within the European Union at this time or take credit cards from those countries. We appreciate your understanding.”

Me: “…”

(For those who don’t understand the ridiculousness of this statement, New Zealand is nowhere near Europe – we’re clear on the other side of the planet. Given this company USED to ship to New Zealand up until last year, I would have thought their reps would at least have a passing familiarity with our location. But, the worst part is that they continued to argue with me for several hours, even to the point of claiming that we’re part of the UK and thus UK laws apply to us, and refused to believe me when I explained that we’ve been an independent, self-governing nation for over a hundred years, much like Canada – who they do ship to. I wish I could take my money elsewhere, but they’re the only supplier in the world of a particular product that I need…)