Restaurant feedback tablets: can you refuse to give your phone number?

At a glance

Yes — a feedback tablet or QR form can’t make your phone number the price of leaving feedback. Under India’s DPDP Act your consent must be unconditional, so an unrelated demand can’t be bundled in, and feedback doesn’t need to identify you. A number you give for feedback can’t become a marketing channel without separate consent. You can leave it blank, give feedback without it, decline the marketing box, and use the Do Not Disturb (DND) list to stop the messages after.

Educational resource only. This explains your rights when a business makes your phone number a condition under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act); it is not formal legal advice.

On this page

• Can they make your number mandatory for feedback?
• What they can’t do with it afterwards
• How to handle the feedback device
• What you can do about it
• FAQ

The situation

You finish a meal and a tablet, or a QR code that opens a form, asks for your phone number and email before it’ll take your feedback — or to “claim” a discount. It looks like part of rating the food, but the number often feeds a marketing list you’ll hear from for weeks. Whether you actually have to give it is a fair question, and the answer is usually no.

Can they make your number mandatory for feedback?

No — feedback doesn’t need to identify you, and your consent has to be unconditional, so a number can’t be the price of leaving it. Your phone number is personal data, and the restaurant collecting it is a Data Fiduciary. Under the DPDP Act it must give a clear notice of why it’s collecting (Section 5), and consent must be free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous (Section 6). “Unconditional” is the load-bearing word: a business can require what a task genuinely needs, but rating a meal doesn’t require your contact details. So a device that won’t submit your feedback without a number is bundling in an unrelated demand — the number is for the marketing list, not the feedback.

What they can’t do with it afterwards

A number given for feedback can’t quietly become a marketing channel — that’s a separate consent, and the telecom rules back it up. If you do share your number, using it afterwards to push offers, loyalty messages, or “we miss you” texts is a new purpose that needs your specific consent — not a pre-ticked box on a feedback screen. Beyond the DPDP purpose limit, persistent promotional messages run into India’s telecom rules: you can register on the DND list and report unsolicited commercial communication. Data collected to hear your opinion isn’t a licence to market to you.

How to handle the feedback device

Give feedback without the number where you can, and decline the marketing.

1. Leave the number blank. Try submitting without it — many forms accept feedback without a contact field, and one that refuses is telling you what it’s really after.
2. Give feedback another way. Tell the staff or manager directly, or leave a review on your own terms — none of which needs you to join a list.
3. Decline marketing consent. Any “send me offers and updates” box should be separate and optional — leave it unticked.
4. Use a throwaway where a field is forced. If a genuine step (like claiming a one-time discount) truly needs contact, a secondary email limits the exposure.

What you can do about it

Refuse the unnecessary, and cut off the marketing that follows.

• Decline the number. Feedback doesn’t require it; you can rate your meal without handing over your contact details.
• Curb the messages. Register for DND and report unsolicited marketing texts and calls under the telecom rules.
• Escalate over-collection. If a business withholds a service purely because you won’t give an unnecessary number, or keeps marketing after you’ve said no, raise a grievance with it, and you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

FAQ

Can a restaurant force me to give my number to leave feedback? No. Feedback doesn’t need to identify you, and consent must be unconditional — so an unrelated number can’t be made the price of submitting it.

Why do the feedback tablets ask for it then? Usually to build a marketing and loyalty list, not because the feedback needs it. That’s a separate purpose you can decline.

They say I need it to claim a discount — is that allowed? A genuine one-time offer may need a way to reach you, but that’s narrow. It still doesn’t let them reuse your number for ongoing marketing without your separate consent.

Can they text me offers after I give my number for feedback? Only with your specific consent for marketing. Reusing a feedback number to push offers is a new purpose — and you can register for DND to curb the messages.

How do I stop the promotional messages? Register on the DND list and report unsolicited commercial communication under the telecom rules; you can also ask the restaurant to delete your number.