Decathlon has refused to sell products to an IAS officer from Karnataka because he refused to share his contact details with the store. The Bengaluru Decathlon store published an open letter to the customer after the IAS officer took the matter with the company.
The above-mentioned store, situated in Chikkajala, had declined to sell products to Captain P Manivannan, secretary, labour and information departments after he refused to share his contact details with the store. Manivannam then approached the company’s consumer affairs department and the local civic body BBMP regarding the issue, reported The Indian Express.
Manivannam said, “Shops cannot refuse service to the customers for just not sharing our contact details. I have reached the BBMP which grants the trade license to business about the matter. It’s not legal to deny service just because a customer refuses to share his/her contact details.”
Decathlon was quick to provide reasons after the IAS’ complaint, in an open letter, the store defended its stand by citing consumer court judgements against sellers on grounds of deficient service.
The company stood its ground in the letter, the letter read, “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.”
It added, “Therefore, under the Indian Contracts Act of 1872, we, unfortunately, will have to refuse sale to you purely for the reasons that we, as a company, don’t want to risk any liability on us.”
Manivannam countered Decathlon’s argument by saying, “As far as I know, there is no such law. Decathlon has taken umbrage under The Indian contract Act 1872 and says that unless we ‘agree’ and ‘enter into a contract’ with them to give our number, the company will not deal with us! Why would BBMP allow this on its denizens?” Manivannam had tweeted the letter.
The Twitter exchange between Manivannam and Decathlon was noticed by police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, he tweeted saying that the first step to stop cybercrime is top stop sharing contact details with shops and mall outlets. He tweeted saying, “Just refuse. Your number is sold as data. By giving your number you have opened your cyber doors to all.”
Reacting to the same, Decathlon issued a statement:
For us, our customers always come first. Customer safety and respecting their privacy is our utmost concern, while abiding by data privacy laws and data security. We do not send promotional or marketing messages to our customers without their explicit consent nor do we share data with any third parties. It is essential for us to collect our customer’s mobile number OR email ID at the time of billing to ensure we can reach out to them, if needed to proactively communicate with them on any critical information relating to user safety or in the rare instance of a product recall. Additionally, we have a liberal exchange/ refund policy for up to 90 days following a purchase even if they do not have the original invoice. All information collected at the time of billing is in adherence to the Information Technology Act, 2000.
