AIBU to think I shouldn't have to give an email address to get a receipt?

They’re fibbing. I always say no in New Look and they give me a paper receipt.

I had an awkward interaction with a woman in River Island because I said I needed a receipt as it was a gift so eventually after speaking to a manager she gave me the paper receipt without taking my email.

It’s just a sly ploy to get your data via marketing dressed up as saving the environment.

if they say it’s impossible to give you a paper receipt, carry around a small blank notepad in your bag and ask the manager to write you a receipt by hand.

JD has gone completely paper free too.
It is irritating.

I don't like email receipts but surely the one advantage is that they are easier to find than paper ones as you can search the name of the shop

I came here to say the same thing! I hated the whole email receipts at first but now it’s great! They all go in to one email account so I don’t have to rummage through old carrier bags!

Just create a new email address - something like receipts12345@[your domain name]

Rather nerdily I have my own domain name. I give out unique email addresses to each shop and each day. For example newlook20250422@mydomain so I can tell which shops have sold on my details.

I prefer an email receipt as I always have it if I need it but there should always be an option to have a paper receipt.

i would be Talking to the Manager and then contacting their board members very sternly about Digital Exclusion an that it often amounts to ageism.

I've had the "we don't do paper receipts" in places and that is one of my go-to points. I will now include their use of plastic bags (if they have them) if they try the "sustainability" route, alongside the emissions coming from all those massive cloud servers.

But in effect it just means i don't use that shop.

Yes there is.

Any VAT-registered business must by law provide you with a receipt if you ask for one.

There have been numerous occasions where I have insisted on a paper receipt. I was once buying teabags and milk at the co-op for work and their receipt printer wasn't working. I made them hand write a VAT receipt out so I could claim it back from work. It is a legal requirement to give you a receipt.

Your not wrong
Annoys me as well

Unfortunately staff are now directed to not allow paper. Even if you ask.

I was told I couldn't have any form of receipt if not via email, warned that if I needed to return I wouldn't be 'allowed' to, and informed darkly 'okay don't have one: but next time, you WILL be asked for one'. It was almost laughable. I did contact head office who confirmed you can have a paper receipt so if anyone has similar issues I highly recommend refusing the purchase, and contacting head office to report. They are absolutely taking advantage of people to get personal details for marketing purposes.

God I've had this time and time again, and New Look are one of the worst offenders for it. Even if you ask for paper they often refuse, or say if you don't give your address you lose your right to return. However I contacted them and they clarified that although they prioritise email receipts, you can have a paper one if you prefer. So just keep saying 'paper please, I don't have an email'. If they continue to refuse ask for a manager. If the manager doesn't follow policy then take a photo of the item being purchased or say you'll take a photo of their point of sale screen, and screenshot the banking transaction. Frankly at that point you have to wonder if their clothes are so magical they're worth all of this stress. I don't go there anymore as a result.

They don't even ask usually now, they just point the till screen at you and direct you to enter your personal details. It's absolute insanity.

You don’t have to, you can just ask for paper.

You could tell them you're happy to be emailed the receipt (it could potentially be very useful if you lose receipt and need to take something back) but that you don't want any marketing material. They have to remove that option if you've said no.

Imagine on trying to return the item and you can't find the email among hundreds. Nightmare. I WANT A PAPER RECEIPT!!!
i stood my ground in New Look and demanded to see manager and I said I won't be buying unless I get a paper receipt

They aren’t allowed under GDPR rules to collect email of under 13 without parental consent so if DD was just buying it by herself then they could get in big trouble.

also they need to provide their privacy policy too if they want to collect data so ask for that and say no marketing. Then when you get marketing emails you can inform ICO

They are data harvesting and they will sell on your details. Nothing to do with being paperless. You have a right to a paper one. Stand up for yourself and they have to give you one. Not everyone has an email address.

New Look went through a period where it was email receipt only, but I saw they had reintroduced the paper option again. I can’t be doing with the dad of email receipts, I’m old school!

I was told in a peacocks that I couldn’t exchange an item if I didn’t provide an email
they just point blank refused so I had no choice but to provide it but won’t shop there again just because this policy is so ridiculous

I always so no to email receipts mainly because I have a long surname with multiple variations of spelling it and I can’t be arsed standing there phonetically spelling my name

Just do what I do, tell them you don't have an email address and they have to give you a paper receipt

I hate going in our local one because I vaguely know some of the staff and I feel stupid when they get really arsey with me when I request a paper receipt, especially when we've been chatting pleasantly beforehand.
My mum got flustered at the till over Christmas buying for my daughter too, I didn't like that at all.
If they're so keen to save the planet, why still give plastic bags?