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Nobel laureate 'Venki' not good enough to buy phone in UK
PTI, 3 February 2010, 01:43am IST

LONDON: Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was in for a surprise as he tried to buy an iPhone, putting down his first name as ``Venki''. British mobile phones major O2 did not find him ``credit-worthy'' enough to sell him the phone right away, leading to the scientist suspecting an element of racism behind the bizarre case.

Ramakrishnan, an Indian-American currently researching here, was forced to pay a three-month deposit of 325 pounds at the O2 store in Cambridge in December last year, when most applicants with good credit histories are not asked for a deposit.

Every contract with a new customer is subject to an automatic credit check, using credit reference agencies such as Equifax and Experian. The rating is then used by companies to offer or decline credit.

``I am actually slightly suspicious that there is an element of racism at play here as well, since I can't think of a logical reason why I should be denied credit,'' Ramakrishnan said. He told a newspaper that he was outraged in principle that the company should require the deposit from someone so completely credit-worthy — he had been given loans in excess of 200,000 pounds for his house in Cambridge.

However, Sarah Taylor, an O2 spokeswoman, said: ``I was dismayed to hear that Prof Ramakrishnan would suggest that this decision was in any way related to race.

``Whilst we are honoured to have a distinguished Nobel prizewinner among our customers, I can assure you that every customer is treated exactly the same regardless of their race, creed or colour and in accordance with the law.''

She added that the first name ``Venki'' created problems, but not in the way the Nobel laureate suspected. ``I believe there was a discrepancy in the spelling or shortening of the customer's name that meant we did not have access to all the information available on his file. It is the customer's responsibility to make sure that these details match.''

Ramakrishnan, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009, was asked to a pay a deposit when the credit check process did not return the expected score. He has since had an exchange of letters with the company, complaining against the treatment received.

According to him, when making purchases in the past, he did not have problems even when using his first name as ``Venki'' or using just his initial. ``It was my impression that the programs are capable of distinguishing nicknames, since the postcode/address/last name and date of birth match. I've often just used my original initial,'' he said.

Ramakrishnan is based at the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-5529409,prtpage-1.cms