Privacy Policy

1.

Introduction  

1.1  

Vohkus Limited (“Vohkus”, “We” “Us” or “Our” in this privacy policy) is a company registered in England under company number 04142508. Our registered offices are located at Centurion House, Barnes Wallis Road, Segensworth, Hampshire, PO15 5TT.

1.2

For the purpose of this policy, Vohkus is the controller and responsible for your personal data. We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights (paragraph 17), please contact the DPO using the information set out in the contact details section (paragraph 21).

1.3

This website is not intended for children and We do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

1.4

It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice We may provide on specific occasions when We are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why We are using your data.

1.5

All data collected from you (for example, information provided by you by filling in forms) will be transmitted to servers where it will be processed.

1.6

This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

2.

Purpose  

2.1  

This privacy policy gives you information about how Vohkus collects and uses your personal data through your use of our website, including any data you may provide when you register with Us, sign up to Our newsletter, purchase a product or service or take part in a competition.

2.2

This privacy policy will also give you information about how We use information you provide to us through other means, for example through email contact or engagement.

2.3

Finally, this privacy policy will provide you with information about how We use personal data We collect from third parties.

3.

The types of personal data we collect about you  

Personal data means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which We have grouped together as follows:

3.1  

Identity Data includes first name, last name, any previous names, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.

3.2

Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.

3.3

Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.

3.4

Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from Us.

3.5

Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, device ID and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.

3.6

Profile Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses. 

3.7

3.8

3.9

We also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data which is not personal data as it does not directly (or indirectly) reveal your identity. For example, We may aggregate individuals' Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature in order to analyse general trends in how users are interacting with Our website to help improve the website and Our service offering.

If we are required by law, or under the terms of our contract with your company, to collect personal data and you do not provide it when requested, we may be unable to fulfill the contract we have or are attempting to establish. In such a situation, we may need to terminate our services, but we will inform you if this becomes necessary.

4.

How is your personal data collected?  

We gather data from and about you using various methods, including:

4.1  

Your interactions with us. You may give Us your personal data by filling in online forms or by corresponding with Us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes, but is not limited to, personal data you provide when you:

4.2

Automated technologies or interactions. As you navigate our website, we automatically gather Technical Data regarding your equipment, browsing behaviour, and patterns. This personal data is collected through cookies, server logs, and similar technologies. For more information, please refer to our cookie policy at this link.

4.3

Affiliates and Group Companies. We may receive personal data about you from Our affiliates and group companies for the purposes of group reporting, or to provide products or services to you.

4.4

Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:

5.

How we use your personal data  

Legal basis

We are legally required to have a valid reason for collecting and processing your personal data. We rely on one or more of the following legal bases:

5.1  

Performance of a contract with you: Where We need to perform the contract We are about to enter into, or have entered into, with you.

5.2

Legitimate interests: We may use your personal data where it is necessary to conduct Our business and pursue Our legitimate interests, for example to prevent fraud and enable Us to give you the best and most secure customer experience. We make sure We consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights (both positive and negative) before We process your personal data for Our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where Our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless We have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

5.3

Legal obligation: We may use your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that We are subject to. We will identify the relevant legal obligation when We rely on this legal basis.

5.4

Consent: We rely on consent only where We have obtained your active agreement to use your personal data for a specified purpose, for example if you subscribe to an email newsletter.

6.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data  

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of the most common ways We plan to use the various categories of your personal data, and which legal basis We rely on to do so. We have also identified what Our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

7.

Artificial Intelligence and Profiling

7.1

We may use artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning tools and other automated analytical technologies to help us better understand our customers, prospective customers and business contacts.

7.2  

These technologies may be used to analyse information we hold about you, including your contact details, interaction history, purchasing activity, expressed interests, publicly available professional information and engagement with our communications, in order to:

7.3

AI-assisted analysis is used to support human decision-making and is not used as the sole basis for decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

7.4

We rely on our legitimate interests to undertake this processing, namely to understand customer requirements, improve our services and provide relevant information about products and services that may be of interest.

8.

Direct Marketing

8.1

During the registration process on Our website, when you contact Us, or during your interactions with Us, when your personal data is collected, you may be asked to indicate your preferences for receiving direct marketing communications from Us via Email, SMS, telephone or post.

8.2  

We may also analyse your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view of which products, services and offers may be of interest to you so that We can then send you relevant marketing communications.

8.3

Additionally, We may provide marketing to you based on information We have collected from third parties; We process this data on the basis of our Legitimate Interest to developing Our business.

9.

Third-party marketing

We will get your express consent before We share your personal data with any third party for their own direct marketing purposes. However, We may share your personal data with Our affiliates and group companies to ensure we do not send you repetitive marketing emails.

10.

Opting out of marketing

10.1

You can ask to stop receiving marketing communications at any time by logging into the website and checking or unchecking relevant boxes to adjust your marketing preferences, or by following the opt-out links within any marketing communication sent to you or by contacting Us at mydata@vohkus.com.

10.2  

If you opt out of receiving marketing communications, you will still receive service-related communications that are essential for administrative or customer service purposes for example relating to order confirmations for a product/service warranty registration, updates to Our Terms and Conditions, or checking that your contact details are correct.

11.

Social Media

When interacting with Us on social media, your username and public-facing information are available for Us to view. You have the right to ask Us to delete this personal data, however, as the data is transferred from the social networks it may not be feasible for Us to fully delete the information.

11.1  

Facebook: Our website may use Facebook’s advertising service known as “Facebook lookalike audiences” if you have informed Facebook that you use Our platforms.  Facebook lookalike may allow Us to identify new potential customers and users of Our platforms and products on the basis that those new potential users share similar characteristics with you on Facebook, for example, on the basis that both users have “liked” the same Facebook pages.  We may therefore share your name and email address with Facebook if you have logged into the platforms via your Facebook account or have downloaded Our platforms onto your device through a Facebook advertisement. 

11.2

Twitter: Functions of the Twitter service are integrated on Our website.  These features are available through Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA.  When interacting with Us on Twitter, your username and public-facing information are available for Us to view and conversations or ‘Re-Tweets’ can be stored.  More information about the Twitter Privacy Notice can be found at https://twitter.com/privacy.

11.3

LinkedIn: This website uses a LinkedIn tracking code which uses cookies or similar technologies to track visitors of this website and gathers information about them related to their LinkedIn profile.  We use the information gathered to improve Our website functionality, user experience and content.  This data may be used to deliver customised content and/or promotions to users whose behaviour indicates that they are interested in such content and/or promotions.  More information about LinkedIn’s Privacy Notice can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.

12.

Change of purpose

12.1  

We will only use your personal data for the purpose for which We collected it, unless We reasonably consider that We need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact Us at mydata@vohkus.com.

12.2

If We need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, We will notify you and We will explain the legal basis which allows Us to do so or we will ask for your consent.

12.3

Please note that We may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

13.

Cookies

For more information about the cookies, We use and how to change your cookie preferences, please see Cookies Policy.

14.

Disclosures of your personal data

14.1  

We may share your personal data where necessary with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table Purposes.

14.3

AI-assisted analysis is used to support human decision-making and is not used as the sole basis for decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

14.4

We rely on our legitimate interests to undertake this processing, namely to understand customer requirements, improve our services and provide relevant information about products and services that may be of interest.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow Our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with Our instructions.

15.

International Transfers

15.1

We share your personal data within the SCC (Vohkus’ parent company) Group. This will involve transferring your data outside the UK to Our overseas offices across the globe.

15.2

We may transfer your personal data to service providers that carry out certain functions on Our behalf. This may involve transferring personal data outside the UK to countries which have laws that do not provide the same level of data protection as the UK law.

15.3  

Whenever We transfer your personal data out of the UK, We ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring that the following safeguards are in place:

16.

Data security

16.1

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, We limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on Our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

16.2

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where We are legally required to do so.

17.

Data retention

17.1

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes We collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if We reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to Our relationship with you.

17.2

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, We consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which We process your personal data and whether We can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

17.3

By law We have to keep basic information about Our customers (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for six years after they cease being customers for tax purposes.

17.4

In some circumstances you can ask Us to delete your data: see paragraph 8 below for further information.

17.5

In some circumstances We will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case We may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

18.

Your legal rights

You have a number of rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. You have the right to:

18.1  

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data We hold about you and to check that We are lawfully processing it.

18.2

Request correction of the personal data that We hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data We hold about you corrected, though We may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to Us.

18.3

Request erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances. This enables you to ask Us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for Us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask Us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where We may have processed your information unlawfully or where We are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that We may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

18.4

Object to processing of your personal data where We are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) as the legal basis for that particular use of your data (including carrying out profiling based on Our legitimate interests). In some cases, We may demonstrate that We have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your right to object.

18.5

You also have the absolute right to object any time to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (see paragraph 3 for details of how to object to receiving direct marketing communications).

18.6

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for Us to use or where We used the information to perform a contract with you.

18.7

Withdraw consent at any time where We are relying on consent to process your personal data (see the table in section 3 for details of when We rely on your consent as the legal basis for using your data). However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, We may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

18.8

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask Us to suspend the processing of your personal data in one of the following scenarios:

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please see paragraph 9.

19.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, We may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, We could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

20.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help Us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up Our response.

21.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take Us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, We will notify you and keep you updated.

22.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or about the use of your personal data or you want to exercise your privacy rights, please contact Our DPO in the following ways:

Email address: mydata@Vohkus.com

Postal address: Centurion House, Barnes Wallis Road, Segensworth, Hampshire, PO15 5TT

Telephone number: 03456473000

23.

Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact Us in the first instance.

24.

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes 

We keep Our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 3^rd June 2024. Historic versions can be obtained by contacting Us.

It is important that the personal data We hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep Us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with Us, for example a new address or email address.

25.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave Our website, We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

26.

Policy Review:

This policy will be reviewed annually to ensure we comply with the processing of employee personal data. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, or you have any questions about the privacy notice, please contact the DPO at mydata@vohkus.com.