Privacy Policy & Cookies
This privacy policy explains what we do with the information that you give us and sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you or that you provide to us via this website (the “Site”) will be processed by us. It was last updated in May 2012. For the purpose of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”), the data controller is – The Really Useful Group of Companies.
If at any time you have a question about anything contained in this privacy policy or a general query on privacy please do not hesitate to email us or contact us at:
The Data Protection Compliance Officer
The Really Useful Group of Companies
17 Slingsby Place, London
WC2E 9AB
Tel: +44 (0)20 7240 0880
We reserve the right to make changes to the Privacy Policy from time to time. Any such changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted to the Site and, where appropriate, through e-mail notification.
Contents
* Information that we collect from you and why we collect it.
* Use of your information
* How do we look after your information?
* When do we give information you provide to us to other people?
* Links to third party websites
* Your rights
* Children under 13 years old
* Cookies
* International use
Information that we collect from you and why we collect it
We collect a variety of information from you in order to help us provide a better service to you. This includes:
1. Membership registration information that includes personal details that enables you to have ‘access all areas’ and us to provide you with information on products, services or events and other information we think you might like. Please make sure your registration details are correct and up to date at all times so that we can provide you with this information efficiently and so that we can comply with our obligations to keep your information accurate and up to date. You do not have to give us any information if you do not want to but you may not get the full benefit of the Site if you leave certain pieces of information out of the registration form.
2. We may collect information that you provide to us by filling in other forms on the Site, including information at the time of subscribing for a particular service, purchasing a product, entering a competition or posting content to the Members’ Pages. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with the Site.
3. If you participate in our Site by providing content, putting messages on our forums or bulletin boards or on your profile you should be aware that you are disclosing information to anyone else who might happen to be visiting such forum, bulletin board or profile. This means that others can get hold of any information that you give in these areas and you may get messages from people who you don’t know. Materials and information that you post to the Site are stored on our servers for the purposes of making such materials and information available via the Site.
4. You are responsible for your information on the internet and we advise you to be selective about what information you post on the Site or that you provide to other users. Make sure that you are careful when you visit our Site from a shared computer or in a public place like an internet cafe.
5. Competitions: From time to time we may hold competitions in connection with our content or products, or in partnership with one or more of our partners, as part of which, we may request contact information from you when you enter. We will use the information you provide to administer your entry to the competitions and for other purposes to which you consent at the time you give us your personal details. If we offer competitions which are run or sponsored by third parties, we may share the information we obtain from you with them. If that is the case, then we will notify you that we are sharing your personal information with such partner at the point where we collect it and you will be able to choose whether to participate in the applicable competition.
6. Information about you, from e-mails or letters that you send to us. For example, if you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
Use of your information
The Really Useful Group of Companies will only use your information for the following purposes:
1. to ensure that content from the Site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
2. to provide you with information about our products, services and events that you request from us or which we feel may interest you where you have given your permission for us to contact you;
3. to provide you with information about third parties’ products, services and events that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have asked or consented to be contacted for such purposes;
4. to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so;
5. to provide customer service in relation to your use of the Site, to deal with enquiries and complaints relating to the use of the Site and to notify you about changes to our service;
6. to administer your membership account and enable us to provide you with access to all parts of the Site and to enable you to download information and materials from the Site;
7. where you have submitted information to forums, bulletin boards or on your Profile, to display to other users your username and any other information that you have submitted and to enable other members of the Site to contact you;
8. to administer, support, improve and develop our Site;
9. to monitor your compliance with our Terms of Use;
10. to send you general communications, such as information about the services provided to you by us at that time;
How do we look after your information?
We make sure that all the information we hold on you is processed in accordance with the DPA.
We employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. We will retain your information for the duration of your membership of the Site and for a reasonable period afterwards or as long as the law requires or permits.
We will store all the personal information you provide, including your login details, on our secure servers. All electronic transactions you make to or receive from us will be encrypted using SSL technology.
Data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, and whilst we try our best we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.
You are responsible for keeping your password and user details confidential.
When do we give information you provide us to other people?
Other than as expressly set out in this Privacy Policy, or as otherwise required or permitted by law, we never give your information without your consent to anyone outside The Really Useful Group of Companies, or any websites affiliated with our Site.
We may disclose your personal information to:
1. carefully selected third parties to contact you about products, services and events which may be of interest to you, where you have asked or consented to be contacted for such purposes;
2. any third party to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to provide you with any service to which you have subscribed via the Site;
3. any person to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to enforce our rights under this Privacy Policy; and/or
4. any purchaser (or prospective purchaser) of some or all of the shares or business of The Really Useful Group of Companies (or its subsidiaries, parent companies or any other subsidiaries of such parent companies) or any purchaser of the Site;
5. occasionally, the law will require us to provide information about you to third parties.
Where we disclose your information to third parties we require their compliance with the DPA and under contract we require that they keep your information safe and secret.
We never directly disclose your information to advertisers but we may show you the advertisements of advertisers you might be most interested in bearing in mind what we know about you from your registration information and we do give advertisers information where you are not identified such as how many people have clicked on their advertisements. This may also include information about your demographics and particular interests, however they will never know who you are.
Links to third party websites
The Site contains links to websites and microsites that are operated by third parties. We do not control those websites and microsites and as such this Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites and microsites. Please consult the terms and conditions and privacy policy of those third party websites and microsites to find out how they collect and use your personal data and to establish whether and for what purpose they use cookies.
Advertisements contained on our Site operate as links to the advertiser’s website(s) and as such any information they collect by virtue of you clicking on that link will be collected and used in accordance with the privacy policy of that advertiser.
Your rights
You are entitled to see the information held about you and you may ask us to make any necessary changes to ensure that it is accurate and kept up to date. If you wish to see the information we hold about you, please contact us in writing:
The Data Protection Compliance Officer
The Really Useful Group of Companies
22 Tower Street, London
WC2H 9TW
We are entitled by law to charge a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you. We are also legally obliged to request you to provide us with identification so that we can be certain that you are entitled to receive the requested data.
You may request us to cease sending you any marketing information at any time by notifying us in writing or alternatively each marketing email sent to you will contain an easy, automated way for you to cease receiving marketing emails from us, or to change your expressed marketing permissions. If you wish to do this, simply follow the instructions at the end of any email.
You may request us to cease processing your data at any time and if we are required to cease such processing we will. Please note that if you withdraw your consent to certain types of processing described above we may be unable to maintain your membership of the Site.
Please contact us if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated at any time.
If you have received unwanted, unsolicited emails sent via this system or purporting to be sent via this system, please forward a copy of that email with your comments to online_team@reallyuseful.co.uk for review.
Children under 13 years old
Notice to Children
If you are under 13 years old we cannot let you register with us until your parents or guardians give us written permission. You can still use other parts of our Site but you are not allowed to fill in any forms. Ask your parents or guardians to read this notice and get in contact with us.
Notice to Parents
We do not allow children who tell us they are under 13 to register with us unless we have parental or guardian consent. Please clickhere to send an email with your child’s name and email address and confirmation that they may provide us with their details. Nor can we let them buy merchandise from us if we are aware of their age and suggest that you make any transactions on their behalf.
As a parent or guardian you can tell us at any time if you wish to withdraw your permission – click here to let us know your wishes.
We never give out details on children under 13 except to fulfil the action requested if that requires us to disclose personal details to an outside supplier and then only under strict contractual terms which protect the information our suppliers are processing on our behalf.
Cookies
Cookies are small files of information which are stored on your computer Websites you visit ask your computer to store this information and retrieve it from your computer to retrieve information on purchases you’ve made or are making online, or to automate the process of logging on to our site. Cookies are not capable of exchanging any other information from your computer than the cookie itself.
Cookies broadly can be organised into four categories:-
1. Strictly Necessary
These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the Site and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies services you have asked for, like shopping baskets or e-billing, cannot be provided.
2. Performance Cookies
These cookies collect information about how visitors use the Site, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how the Site works.
We may use them to study things such as places on our Site where you visit and which bits of our Site you like best.
As mentioned above, we may use an analytics service provider for website traffic analysis and reporting. This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help analyse how users use the Site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the Site (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the Site, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. By using this Site, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
By using the Site, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.
3. Functionality Cookies
These cookies allow the Site to remember choices you make (such as your name, language or region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. For instance, a website may be able to provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by storing in a cookie the region in which you are currently located. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.
For instance we will use cookies to store your password so that you don’t have to keep filling in a registration form every time you want to log in.
We may use the information we obtain from the cookies in the administration of the Site, to monitor traffic, to personalise the Site for you, to improve the Site’s usability.
By using the Site, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.
4. Targeting/Advertising Cookies
These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the Site operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. Quite often targeting or advertising cookies will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organisation.
We may also use them to make sure that any advertisements on our Site aren’t always the same when you visit each time and that you see advertising which you might like more than others. If you click on an advertisement to go through to an advertiser’s site, they may also use cookies and we don’t have any control over what they use their cookies for.
Where we set these types of cookies on the Site we will obtain your consent directly from you.
If you do not want to receive cookies you will need to adjust your computer settings to stop them being used but you may find that our Site may not function properly or is slower. For more information on how to disable cookies, please consult the “Help” section of your browser.
For more information regarding cookies please review http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
International use
Our servers are situated in the UK, and when you submit your details and in whichever country you are situated you agree to the data being transferred to the UK and processed under the terms of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 which stem from European Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC respectively. If you are not in agreement please do not add your personal details on the Site.
We may need to transfer your data outside the UK (and possibly to places outside the European Economic Area) and by using the Site you consent to us transferring any such data in this way. However any company outside the EEA to whom we transfer data is contractually bound to protect your personal data.