- Erick, 27, was not allowed to bring his brother to Dortmund Safari Zone because he did not play the game, even though Erick needed help to participate
- Niantic support did not initially offer any help
- After Reddit outreach, Niantic responds with assistance
A user by the name of u/Skitttloeier posted a thread to the r/PokemonGO subreddit with a story about a relative of theirs.
This user's brother, named Erick in the post, is a 27-year-old Pokemon GO player who is "autistic/mentally handicapped". After learning about the Pokemon GO Safari Zone taking place in Dortmund, Erick entered the raffle to participate and won a ticket.
Unfortunately for Erick, who needed his older brother to assist him in participating, his brother was not allowed to purchase a ticket due to not being a Pokemon GO player. Tickets were only able to be purchased for players who won the raffle, or who were at Great or Best Friendship level in-game with someone who won.
Skittloeier reached out to Niantic Support for help but there seemed to be nothing they could do.
After the Reddit thread was posted, u/NianticIndigo, a well-known representative of the company who runs Pokemon GO, reached out with this message:
/u/Skittloeier , we truly apologize for this negative customer service experience. Our agent misspoke and didn’t handle this situation with the sensitivity and consideration that it deserves. I’ll flag this with the team and we’ll be in touch with you soon. For the future, we’ll make sure we train our agents to appropriately handle situations like this.
Following this response, the Reddit thread was edited to include an email response that gave instructions on how to get Erick's caretaker into the event. Problem (hopefully) solved!
