Halfords in Inverness said they could only give me an electronic receipt, requiring my email address of course.

Surely this cant be legal?

As it was only some microfiber cloths i just declined the receipt in this instance.

I bought some stuff in the Swansea one two weeks ago and they gave me till receipts as well as asking if I wanted an email.

Why would it not be legal. If the shop is happy to take an electronic receipt or a printout of an electronic receipt as proof of purchase in the event you’re taking something back then that is all that matters surely? They give you the option of generating a paper receipt if you a specific original hard copy for some reason. The shop will have adequate records to establish if the purchase is genuine as they have to be able to validate any paper receipts too, they’re not exactly the most difficult things to forge if you wanted to.

No legal right to a receipt. You can always ask and most will do but there’s nothing enforceable about it. It’s actually a far better way of doing it IMO emailing receipts, ever had somethin break after a few months and you can’t find the receipt? Not a problem if it’s on email!

Well what if you dont want to give Halfords your email address? I was under the impression that you sometimes required a receipt for warranty issues etc?

If thats not the case then fair enough, but i dont agree with only being able to get a receipt if you give them an email address.

I think it’s a good thing. I don’t see the point in being given half a tree every time I buy a Mars bar. Even if you don’t want actually a receipt it still automatically prints and then goes straight in the bin. It’s terribly wasteful.

Conversely, if I need to find a receipt for something I bought last year, email is considerably easier to search than looking for a scrap of bloody paper that might be in the house somewhere.

I was under the impression that you sometimes required a receipt for warranty issues etc?

You don’t require a receipt for warranty purposes, but you may require proof of purchase. Receipts are handy for proving that, of course, but it’s not the only means.

It would be difficult for them to argue that you hadn’t bought Halfords Microfibre Cloths from Halfords, for a start off (though you could’ve stolen them I suppose).

what if you dont want to give Halfords your email address?

Have you ever bought anything online ever? Not really seeing the difference between giving it in a shop and submitting it on halfords.com TBH.

If it bothers you, you could always create a different email account solely for somewhere to send electronic receipts. That’d be even easier to search in. I use different email addresses for online shopping and personal correspondence anyway, then I don’t get my real email bogged down with mailing lists from companies I once bought a box of screws from five years ago.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/apr/10/topshop-receipt-email-address

Hmmm

Given 11% of adults in the UK have never used the internet I don’t see how it can be acceptable to only give electronic receipts.

And what if someone pays cash and doesn’t have email? No proof of purchase at all.

The store will have a record, make a note of the date.

They just want your email. They get passed onto ‘Approved Partners’ 🙄
Just a way to spam your inbox 😉

I don’t see the point in being given half a tree every time I buy a Mars bar.

Half a tree 🙄

For the millionth time, stop exaggerating.

Offering it as an option fine, imposing it as the only option (becoming more and more common) is taking the piss especially when it’s a face-to-face cash transaction.

The primary motives are to save money/time on receipt rolls, receipt producing tills and to harvest as many customer details as possible, for marketing purposes. Notice how you always have to opt out of marketing bullshit and sales staff never mention the option to do so! A first world stormy teacup for sure, some don’t mind but some do!

Often the problem is in the way the sales person asks for it. I bought a pair of socks in a sale, £2, and the young girl got really stroppy when I refused to give my email address.

what if you dont want to give Halfords your email address?

Then don’t give it, problem solved, nobody is forcing you to hand it over.

If you really want a paper receipt then ask them to write you one, I doubt they’d refuse.

The primary motives are to save money/time on receipt rolls

Thing is, it doesn’t really save time does it?

The receipt is just a print of the information already entered to the shops EPOS/ECR – for most systems it doesn’t take any extra time to generate a print of that.

If they want your e-mail address, you have to spell it out and the cashier has to type it in correctly. Its another action not previously needed.

Only reason I can see to do that is obtain information for marketing purposes.

Better yet set-up a new email account solely for the use of receipts, as has been said – it’s a much easier way of keeping hold of them then trying to remember where you left that bit of paper 6 months ago (if you’re organised enough that you file them all away you’re organised enough to cope with a second email account…)

You should take those microfibre cloths back and get a refund asap. I bought a pack and they’re the worst, least absorbent, most useless microfibre cloths I’ve ever had the misfortune to use.

And yes, it took about a minute for the cashier to correctly listen to me a spell out my email address.

Yeah, I usually make a point of discussing this kind of thing with the poor sales assistant, VERY politely for a good ten minutes if I can get away with it. Guy at WH Smith at the airport lost his temper with me and his supervisor removed him from the counter, apologised to me and gave me my paper for free. Result.

I think e-mailed receipts are the best thing since sliced bread. I could never be bothered to keep track of paper versions, and 99% of shops I’ve probably either bought online from or signed up for something else anyway.

Data harvesting? Oh come on, it’s just an email address, so use a disposable one if you’re bothered – or just use a Gmail one where you get a very efficient spam and marketing filter (can’t remember the last time I saw either of those in my main inbox despite using the same address for almost everything)

Halfords in Inverness said they could only give me an electronic receipt, requiring my email address of course.

Unless their receipt printer was down then somebody may be telling porkies.

They just want your email. They get passed onto ‘Approved Partners’

You can opt in or out of marketing at the till just like you can online.