Mahua Moitra warns Decathlon 'it's violation of privacy laws'
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New Delhi: Retail stores, whether it is online or offline, asking personal credentials such as mobile phone number and email of customers has become common practice in India with an intention to build a data catalogue.
When the same was caught up with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, she raised her voice to tell "Decathlon, it is illegal and violation of privacy laws and consumer laws asking customers mobile phone number and email address."
She shared an incident on Twitter where she said she went to the French sporting goods retailer-Decathlon store in Delhi's Ansal Plaza, where they insisted on her providing a personal phone number to close the purchase.
She then took the matter to Twitter on the spot on which a top lawyer at the Supreme Court asked her do not share her number with Decathlon, instead he wanted the store to reconfigure their system.
Mahua also shared the screenshot of the reply she got from the lawyer, in which he had also shared his experience with Lenskart with a note that these retail chains have configured their system in this way to trap the customer.
"I ran into the same problem with Lenskart (an eyewear retail chain) and refused to give my mobile number. I spoke to their head manager, and finally he put in some random employee's mobile number," the screenshot read.
Mahua said that she usually buys goods from Decathlon stores in the UK, and they never ask their customers for mobile numbers; they ask for email addresses if a person wants a paperless receipt. "So clearly only the Indian arm wants to fool customers here. Not nice @Decathlon_India," she added.
Customers should know that it is not mandatory that one should provide phone numbers on stores or online retail chains insistence and retail outlets have no right to insist a customer to provide it.