Mahua Moitra said Decathlon stores in the UK do not seek customer's personal details. (File photo)
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has said she was asked by Decathlon to provide her mobile phone number and email address to close a purchase deal, calling out the French sporting goods retailer for "violating privacy laws and consumer laws" by insisting on these personal details.
Ms Moitra said she had visited the Decathlon store in Delhi's Ansal Plaza, a popular shopping hub, to buy a pair of trousers for her father, but the store manager insisted that she give her contact details — like her mobile phone number and email address — to the store to make the purchase.
She refused and tweeted about the matter from the store.
The Trinamool Congress MP also shared a screenshot of a message she said she received from a "top lawyer at the Supreme Court".
The text asked her not to share her mobile phone number with Decathlon.
"Ask them to reconfigure their system," the lawyer said, sharing their own experience with the company.
"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 lawyer said, alleging that these retail chains have configured their system in this way to "trap the customer".
Ms Moitra, too, said the "sweet manager" at the Decathlon store put in his phone number to get her out of the store with the trousers. But she demanded from the retail chain to reconfigure their system.
Ms Moitra 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.
Most retail chains seek the contact details of their customers when finalising the payment to build a data catalogue. It's a business tool that is widely in use in India. However, it is not mandatory and retail outlets cannot insist on these details from a customer.