Privacy Policy

Privacy and Security

This page provides information about how we use the personal data and information that you provide during your use of the Smart Choice Appliances website and any communication (for example, telephone) made between us relating to such use.

Your Information and Why We Process It

The information we collect when you place an order with us includes your name, address, and telephone numbers. Additionally, through your product reviews, you may provide us further personal data, including family size, affluence, and gender. We may also collect technical information about your internet connection and browser, including the country and telephone code where your computer is located, the web pages viewed during your visit, the advertisements you clicked on, IP addresses, and browser storage for necessary purposes, such as persisting your basket.

We only collect, keep, use, or share your information for genuine business purposes, when you’ve approved us to do so, or when we’re obliged to do so legally. There are several reasons why we use your personal details:

• To process any order that you place on our website and arrange for its delivery.
• To ensure that our website is accessible to you, providing informative content tailored to your needs.
• To promote and advertise our products both on our website and elsewhere on the internet.
• To train our employees to ensure that we provide the best possible service.
• To record telephone calls for compliance and legal reasons.
• When you provide a review on our website.
• When you enter any of our competitions.
• To analyse problems with our website and improve its performance.
• To engage with you on any social media platform.
• To contact you regarding our services and products, and to verify your identity.
• For research, analysis, testing, monitoring, risk management, and administration purposes.
• For crime or fraud prevention purposes.

Secure Online Payments

At Smart Choice Appliances, we take your online security seriously. All transactions made through our website are processed using secure payment gateways such as Stripe and Shopify Payments. These industry-approved payment services utilise encryption and security protocols to protect your payment information. By using these secure methods, we ensure that your financial data is handled safely and is not stored on our servers.

Basis For Processing

Smart Choice Appliances must have a legal basis to process your personal data, as outlined in data protection legislation. We rely on the following bases:

Contractual

When you purchase a product on our website, it creates a contract between us. We need to process your personal data to fulfil our part of the contract. If you do not provide your details, we won’t be able to complete your order.

Legal

Sometimes, we are required to process your personal data for legal reasons, such as in the event of a product recall.

Legitimate Interests

We process your personal data based on our legitimate interests. We consider your interests and balance them against any impact related to such processing and your legal rights. Our legitimate interests include:

• Analysing and understanding your customer journey and behaviour to improve efficiencies and interactions.
• Calling you to discuss your delivery.
• Promoting and advertising our products both on our website and elsewhere on the internet.
• Analysing our website’s performance and solving any problems.
• Staff training.
• Personalising your shopping experience.

If you do not want us to process any of your personal data for legitimate purposes, you have the right to object. Please note that if you object, we may still continue to process your personal data in certain circumstances.

Consent

In some cases, we will ask whether you would like us to process your personal data. For example, if you would like us to notify you when an out-of-stock item becomes available or if you enter into a competition. If you provide consent, you may withdraw it at any time by contacting us.

When We’ll Contact You

We may contact you by telephone shortly after your purchase to discuss your delivery and ensure everything goes smoothly.

When You Contact Us

If you get in touch by email to ask a question about your order or our products, we’ll keep a record of your emails and our responses. This helps us resolve any problems and answer your query quickly and easily if you need to get in touch again. Your telephone calls to Smart Choice Appliances may also be recorded for training and regulatory purposes.

Information We’ll Share

We share your information only in limited circumstances:

• Where we’re obliged to do so (for example, a legal request).
• When we need to work with a third party or core service provider, such as a delivery service or IT service provider. Each provider is carefully selected, and we only pass on the information required for them to perform their service on our behalf; they cannot use your data for any other purpose.
• With our group companies who may provide us with services.
• With our insurance brokers or insurers for claims purposes.
• With third-party payment service providers (e.g., Stripe, Shopify Payments), which are industry-approved and ensure secure transactions.

We will never sell your information and will always comply with relevant data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Transfers To Third Countries

Smart Choice Appliances may transfer your personal data outside of the European Economic Area. This will only be as a result of our service providers being based outside of this area (e.g., cloud hosting service providers). We will always ensure that such providers are in a country that has been assessed to provide adequate protection to personal data by the European Commission, or if the service provider signs a contract with us which contains the relevant protections for you.

How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

We will only keep your personal data for as long as it remains necessary based on the reasons we collected it and to meet any legal requirements. For example, we retain personal data related to your purchases for a period of six years after your purchase, in line with legal requirements.

If you contact our customer service but do not place an order, we will keep your personal data for one month.

If you receive marketing emails and SMS from us and have not unsubscribed, we will continue to process your personal data for this purpose for a maximum period of four years. You may ask us to stop processing for this purpose at any time.

Your Rights

You have a set of legal rights regarding your personal data, which are designed to ensure that you control how your data is used. These rights include:

• The right to know what personal data we store about you (subject access request).
• The right to correct any inaccurate personal data.
• The right to object to direct marketing.
• The right to withdraw consent for any processing based on your consent.
• The right to request erasure of your personal data where it is no longer necessary.
• The right to request a review of any decision made using automated processes.

To exercise any of your rights, please contact us at [your email address].

Contacting The Information Commissioner’s Office

If you are unhappy with how we have dealt with your personal data or your enquiries, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can find more details at www.ico.org.uk.

Contacting Us

We are always looking for ways to improve your shopping experience and welcome your feedback. If you have any questions about how we use your personal data or if you’d like to amend your preferences or withdraw consent, please contact us at:

Email: [your email address]

Phone: [your phone number]