Customer Accounts & 'sensitive' information

Good morning all!

I've had rather a shirty message this morning from a customer stating that it is illegal to ask and store a Date of Birth when creating an account and ordering from us.

Now we've never had a complaint like this before and we merely use this information to clarify that the user is indeed over 18 or not a minor. That is all.

Has anyone else had any issues like this? or can anyone give me some advice on this? I dont really want to remove the DOB section from the create account page but if I do - could someone point me in the right direction please?

Many Thanks

....incidently - we are based in the UK....

It's not against the law here in the US.

That said, I have to wonder why you ask for DOB for a store that sells clothing. Seems like something that may annoy prospective customers (like me), without any meaningful upside.

BTW, your site is showing the red 'X' where your logo would be in IE.

Hi There

Thanks for the reply

The DOB part was merely to reinforce the fact that you are over 18 to use the site - but I can remove it if it is illegal to store this info - like this customer claims.

Is it straight forward enough to remove these fields from the create account page?

Also - thanks for the feedback with the red x - although I am not seeing this and im using IE7 - there is a test/development site on the server aswell - that has this issue.

Thanks again!

The DOB (and some other stuff) can be switched on and off in Admin - Configuration - Customer Details

I am of the opinion that it is NOT illegal to ask for DOB in the UK, and in fact, it may be "applauded" if a site offers "adult" material or alcoholic beverages for sale.

But as you are offering clothing only, some people may feel that your policy is a litte "heavy handed".

Bear in mind that (if you accept standard payment cards), such cards are issued only to bank account holders over the age of 18 anyway, so you may not need to ask customers to verify their age.

Thank you all for your replies!
I've disabled it for the time being - and had a look around into the legalities of things but cant find a great deal of information at first glance. The customer got really shirty about it - even using capitals to highlight ILLEGAL - so I'd like to double check things before I respond accordingly.

Thanks again all!
:clap::clap::clap:

Sometimes, a "shirty" message from the customer can win you a sale!

If they provided a phone number, give them a call and say how concerned you are about something which is illegal, and ask them how they know this so that it can help you get "legal". Ask them to refer you to specific legislation.

Act real polite and helpful...

THEN... ask them what they were after, and offer them a discount if they buy it from you...

Hi Schoolboy!
I like your style - I'm still searching though to find out if it is actually illegal.

He did buy from us (which is good!)- then a few hours later sent the email.

Nath

BigNath:

Hi Schoolboy!
I like your style - I'm still searching though to find out if it is actually illegal.

He did buy from us (which is good!)- then a few hours later sent the email.

Nath

I wouldn't waste your time researching it. Unless you sell adult items there is no need to store this info and it only acts as one more barrier for potential customers. If you are worried about age restrictions, simply update your Terms of Use with the appropriate info.