On Thursday, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra picked up a fight with sporting goods retailer Decathlon India and accused them of violating privacy laws and consumer laws. She visited the store at Delhi’s Ansal Plaza to buy a pair of trousers for her father and refused to give in required details during the process of billing.
“Want to buy my dad trousers for ₹1499 in CASH at Decathlon_India Ansal Plaza and manager insists I need to put in my mobile number and email ID to purchase,” she tweeted on April 28 while she was at 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
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) April 28, 2022
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 that she was displeased by the insistence of the store manager to provide her mobile number to the store. She also stated that she had been shopping with the brand in the UK as well but was never asked for her mobile number. “I always buy stuff in the UK from Decathlon UK and they NEVER ask for mobile number only for the email if one wants a paperless receipt. So clearly only the Indian arm wants to fool customers here. Not nice Decathlon India”, she tweeted.
I always buy stuff in UK from @DecathlonUK & they NEVER ask for mobile num & only for email if one wants paperless receipt.
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) April 28, 2022
So clearly only Indian arm wants to fool customers here. Not nice @Decathlon_India
However, the store manager later put his mobile number and helped Moitra by issuing the bill in his name. Though impressed by the gesture of the store manager, Moitra continued to share her displeasing experience at the store.
She revealed that the manager helped her after she had received a text from one of the lawyers of the Supreme Court. The text read, “Do not give your mobile number to the store. Ask them to reconfigure their system. 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”.
Received this message from a top lawyer at the Supreme Court just now. The sweet manager finally put in his number & got me out of store (with dad’s trousers) But @Decathlon_India needs to reconfigure now. pic.twitter.com/Ez4OxGDuJJ
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) April 28, 2022
It is important to note that Moitra engaging in petty fights with the businesses in India could hurt the ‘Bengal is Business’ image posed by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on several occasions. Recently, the state held India’s first business summit after the COVID-19 period. The CM had invited all the prominent businessmen including Gautam Adani, Ambani, Sajjan Jindal, and Kumar Mangalam Birla to the two-day event.
Reportedly, the state of West Bengal has received investment proposals worth ₹3.42 lakh crores during the two-day business summit. “I am extremely happy to announce that we have received investment proposals worth ₹3,42,375 crores during the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2022. This business summit is expected to generate around 4 lakh jobs. It was a remarkable success,” Banerjee had said while speaking on the last day of the sixth BGBS. The summit has been a flagship industrial event of the Mamata Banerjee-led administration.
