Privacy Policy

Who we are and how to contact us

We are Hinge & Fold (referred to as "Hinge & Fold", "we", or "us"). We are committed to handling your personal data responsibly and transparently. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information, as well as your rights regarding your data.

If you have questions or concerns about your data, you can reach us at info@hinge-fold.com.

If you believe your data is inaccurate or have any issues with how we process your information, please contact us. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK at any time. Their details are available at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

Updates to this privacy notice

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the “last updated” date and highlight any significant changes. If we make major changes to how we use your data, we will notify you directly. We encourage you to review this policy regularly to stay informed about how we protect your information.

Our legal basis for using your data

Data protection law allows us to collect and use your personal data for several reasons:

Contractual obligations

When you enter into a contract with us, we use your personal data to fulfil that contract. For example, we need your address to deliver and install your chosen products.

Legal compliance

Sometimes the law requires us to collect and share your data, such as reporting suspected fraud or criminal activity to law enforcement.

Legitimate interests

In certain situations, we use your data to pursue our legitimate business interests in ways you would reasonably expect and that do not impact your rights. For example, we may use your purchase history to send you information about products and services we think you’ll like.

What personal data is

Under GDPR and the Data protection Act 2018 personal data is defined as ‘any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual’. This will include facts and opinions about that person and any other information that we use to form an opinion or judgement about them. For example your name, address and telephone number are your personal data as they are facts about you as a person, as are notes made about you. Your shutter measurements are not your personal data as they are facts about your shutters, not about you, and we do not use them to form an opinion about you.

How and why we use personal data

At Hinge & Fold, we aim to give you the best possible experience. We combine the information we have about you to offer products, services, and promotions that are most relevant to you. This is part of our legitimate interest in understanding our customers and providing excellent service. If you want to change how we use your data, see the ‘What are your rights?’ section below. If you choose not to share your data or restrict certain uses, we may not be able to provide some services. If we plan to use your data for any purpose not listed here, we will let you know first.

Appointment confirmations

To help you book appointments, we may contact you by email, SMS, or phone to confirm your details. If you request a quote, we may follow up to see if you wish to place an order.

Brochures and samples

If you request a brochure or product samples, we use your information to send them to you.

Supplying goods and services

We use your data to manage your account and provide the goods and services you order, including sending documentation and helping with orders or refunds. Sometimes, we share your details with third parties (like couriers or fitters) to fulfil your order.

Payments

We may contact you for payment or share your details with third parties for debt collection. If you use a finance agreement, we will share your details with our finance partner.

Improving our operations

We use cookies and similar technologies to improve your experience and our products. For details on cookies and your choices, visit our website. We also use your data for market research and to ensure our services are safe, including detecting and preventing fraud or crime. If we suspect criminal activity, we may share your information with law enforcement.

Business improvements

We may use your data to improve our efficiency and service, and to analyse customer segments for future strategies. We may share your data with other companies in our group for these purposes.

Personalising your experience

We use your browsing and purchase history to personalise your experience and marketing. You can change your marketing preferences at any time. Blocking cookies may affect your ability to use our site.

Customer service and feedback

We use your data to respond to your questions and feedback, including on social media or live chat. We may invite you to participate in surveys or research, but participation is always optional.

Promotions and competitions

If you enter a promotion or competition, we use your data (with your consent) to manage your entry.

Service improvements

We use your data to monitor and improve our service, including analysing orders and feedback to identify areas for improvement.

Legal obligations

Sometimes we need to process your data to comply with the law, such as verifying your identity or sending legally required communications. We may also share your data with law enforcement if required.

Safety and crime prevention

We may use CCTV and other measures to keep our premises safe and deter crime.

When we collect personal data, and what data we collect

We collect personal data in a variety of situations, including:

When you request information or book an appointment

• Your contact details (name, address, email, phone number)

When you make a purchase

• Your contact details
• Purchase details (what you bought, when, installation address, payment info)

When you use our website

• Cookie data and device information (make, model, OS, IP address, browser, device ID)
• Browsing behaviour, referring site, products viewed, ad clicks

When we contact you

• Details of emails and digital communications you open or click
• Copies of documents you provide to verify your identity (e.g., passport, driving licence)

When you contact us (including social media)

• Information you provide in any communication (name, username, contact details, complaints, comments)
• Notes of conversations, emails, and interactions with our team

When you take part in promotions or surveys

• Your feedback, survey responses, and prize details

When you leave reviews

• Your comments and reviews

When you visit our premises

• Images captured by CCTV during your visit

Please keep your personal data up to date. You can find our contact details at the end of this policy or on our website.

How we protect your data

We take your data security seriously. We have strict policies and controls to prevent your data from being lost, misused, or accessed without permission. Our staff only access your data when necessary to do their jobs. We regularly monitor our systems for vulnerabilities and use security testing to keep your data safe. When we work with third parties, they are required to keep your data secure and confidential.

How long we keep your data for

We will not keep your personal data for longer than is necessary for the purpose or purposes that it was initially collected. At the end of that retention period, your data will either be securely deleted or anonymised, for example by aggregation with other data so that it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning. Some examples of retention periods are below:

• When you call our contact centre we may record the conversation, if we do this will be held for a maximum of 12 months unless the call is required for the resolution of an ongoing dispute.
• If you place an order with us we have to retain the details of the order, including your personal data, for 10 years to comply with our legal and contractual obligations. If the order included a warranty which was for a longer period than this, and you have registered that warranty with us, we will keep details of the warranty period and any associated personal data for the duration of the warranty period.

Who we share your personal data with

We will share your personal information with third parties set out below the purposes set out in the ‘How and why we use personal data?’ section above

Partners and Service providers

We apply the following policy when we share your personal information with external organisations We provide only the information they need to perform their specific services. They may only use your data for the exact purposes we specify in our contract with them. We work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected at all times. If we stop using their services, any of your data held by them will either be deleted or rendered anonymous. We work with carefully selected Service Providers that carry out certain functions on our behalf. These include, for example, companies that help us with technology services, storing and combining data, processing payments and delivering orders. We only share personal data that enable our Service Providers to provide their services. Some of the Service Providers we work with operate online media channels, and they place relevant online advertising for our products and services, as well as those of our suppliers and our Retail Partners, on those online media channels on our behalf. For example, you may see an advert for our products and services as you use a particular social media site or watch television through your pay TV account.

Other organisations

We may share personal data with other organisations not included in the list in the previous section in the following circumstances: if the law or a public authority says we must share the personal data; if we need to share personal data in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (this includes providing personal data to others for the purposes of preventing fraud and reducing credit risk); to an organisation we sell or transfer (or enter into negotiations to sell or transfer) any of our businesses or any of our rights or obligations under any agreement we may have with you to. If the transfer or sale goes ahead, the organisation receiving your personal data can use your personal data in the same way as us; or to any other successors in title to our business. Additionally, we will disclose your personal information to the relevant third party: In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets; If we are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets; or If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our customers, our regulator, or others. [This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and prevention of money laundering and credit risk reduction].

What are your rights?

Under General Data protection Regulation (GDPR) you have a number of rights. Some of these are complex and not all of the details have been included in our summaries below. Please read the relevant guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office on their website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/ for a full explanation of these rights. You have the right:

• To ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will inform you if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes;
• To ask us not to process your personal data where it is processed on the basis of legitimate interests provided that there are no compelling reasons for that processing;
• To request from us access to personal information held about you;
• To ask for the information we hold about you to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete;
• To ask for data to be erased provided that the personal data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, you withdraw consent (if the legal basis for processing is consent), you exercise your right to object, set out below, and there are no overriding legitimate ground for processing, the data is unlawfully processed, the data needs to be erased to comply with a legal obligation or the data is children’s data and was collected in relation to an offer of information society services;
• To ask for the processing of that information to be restricted if the accuracy of that data is contested, the processing is unlawful, the personal data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or you exercise your right to object (pending verification of whether there are legitimate grounds for processing);
• Where use of your personal data is based on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time.

If you wish access to a copy of your personal data held by us, please click here for details If you wish us to erase your personal data from our files please click here for details If you wish to no longer be marketed to please see the next section For all other enquiries about your rights please email our DPO at DPO@hillarys.co.uk

How to stop the use of your personal data for direct marketing

You can stop direct marketing from us in a number of ways:

• Click the ‘unsubscribe’ link included in all emails we send you. We will then stop any further emails from that particular division
• Reply to any SMS message following the instructions contained in the message. We will then stop contacting you via SMS for marketing.

Please note that you may continue to receive communications for a short period after changing your preferences while our systems are fully updated.

Appendix 1 – List of Data Processors

We may share your personal data with the following categories of service providers:

• Advertising agencies
• App developers
• Courier services
• Data Analytics companies
• Government bodies
• HMRC and the courts
• Hillarys Advisors and Sales Agents
• Insurance providers
• IT consultants
• IT service providers
• Legal Advisors
• Online review providers
• Payment providers
• Postal services
• Supplier Tracing and tracking agents