Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has questioned the sports goods retailer Decathlon for violating privacy of consumers. Moitra on Thursday slammed the French-based Decathlon in a series of tweets after the shop insisted her to share her contact details to make a purchase.
Moitra visited the Decathlon store in Delhi's Ansal Plaza to buy a pair of trousers for her father for Rs 1,499 in cash. The store manager asked her to give her mobile phone number and email address in order to make the purchase. She, however, refused to share her details and tweeted the matter from the store.
"Want to buy my dad trousers for ₹1499 in CASH at @Decathlon_India Ansal Plaza & manager insists I need to put in my mobile number & email ID to purchase. Sorry @Decathlon_India you are violating privacy laws & consumer laws by insisting on this. Am at store currently," the TMC MP said in her tweet.
Moitra also shared a screenshot of a message she received from a "top lawyer at the Supreme Court". The lawyer asked her not to share her mobile phone number with Decathlon. "Ask them to reconfigure their system. I ran into the same problem with Lenskart and refused to give my mobile number. I spoke to their head manager and finally he put in some random employee's number. They have all configured their systems in a way as to trap the customer. They need to change their systems. Tech and data oligarchs want to enslave us," the lawyer's message reads.
Moitra said the store manager finally put his own number and got her out of the store.
She said Decathlon stores in the UK never ask their customers for mobile numbers and ask for email addresses if a person wants a paperless receipt. "So clearly only the Indian arm wants to fool customers here. Not nice," she tweeted tagging Decathlon.
Many people came in support of Moitra on Twitter sharing similar experiences they had to face from other retailers also.
In December 2019, top Karnataka bureaucrat Captain Manivannan had raised a similar complaint against Decathlon after it refused to sell products to him since he was not ready to share his personal details with the company.
Then the French retailer, in a letter to Manivannan, defended its stand citing the Indian Contracts Act of 1872.
"It is our company’s firm stance that we will not take the risk of selling to a customer who we cannot contact for any emergencies, or whose
purchase history is not recorded in our database," the letter read.
When Onmanorama contacted a Kerala officer of the Decathlon that time, he said the policy is based on the Technology Act 2000. He said it was necessary for the smooth implementation of the company's warranty and product return policies. Decathlon has not responded to the Moitra incident.