This Privacy Policy explains how Heather's Place4Pets ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data when you visit our website, shop with us in store or online, sign up to our newsletter, contact us or use our services.
We are committed to handling your information fairly, transparently and in line with applicable UK and EU data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Please read this Policy carefully so you understand what we do with your personal data. This Privacy Policy should be read together with our Terms & Conditions and our separate Cookie Policy.
By using our website or providing your personal data to us, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy.
Effective date: 1 July 2024
Heather's Place4Pets is a long-established, family-run pet shop based in Middlesbrough. We offer a wide range of animals, pet food, accessories and pet care services, including dog grooming, claw and beak clipping, and local home deliveries.
For the purposes of data protection law, Heather's Place4Pets is the "data controller" of your personal data in connection with this website and our in-store and online activities.
Contact details:
Heather's Place4Pets
46 Borough Rd, Middlesbrough TS1 5DW, UK
Phone: 01642 243364
Email: office@heathersplace4pets.co.uk
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, you can contact us using the details above (see also the section "Contact Us About Privacy" below).
The type of personal data we collect depends on how you interact with us. We only collect what we need for clear, specific purposes.
Information you provide directly (for example when you contact us, place an order or use our services):
- Contact details such as your name, address, telephone number and email address.
- Order and purchase details, including items bought, delivery address, billing address and payment method (we do not store full card details).
- Account registration details, such as login email and password (stored in encrypted form).
- Service information, such as grooming or other appointment details and notes relevant to the service.
- Communication records, including messages sent via contact forms, email, phone or social media.
- Newsletter subscription details, such as your name and email address and your communication preferences.
Information we collect automatically when you use our website:
- Technical data, such as IP address, browser type and version, device identifiers, time zone setting, operating system and platform.
- Usage data, such as how you use our website, the pages you visit, click paths and time spent on pages.
- Cookie and similar technology data, in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
Information from third parties:
- Payment and transaction data from payment providers when you pay online.
- Delivery information from couriers and delivery services.
- Information from our IT and analytics providers that helps us understand how our website is used.
We do not intentionally collect special category data (such as health or religious information) or criminal offence data. Please avoid including such information in free text fields where it is not necessary.
We use your personal data only when we have a clear reason and a lawful basis to do so. Typical purposes include:
- Providing our products and services: to process and deliver your orders, manage payments, arrange collections, provide grooming and other services, and manage any special orders or home deliveries.
- Customer support and communication: to respond to your enquiries, provide updates or changes to your orders or appointments, and handle complaints or feedback.
- Account and relationship management: to create and maintain your online account, remember your preferences and keep your contact details up to date.
- Marketing and newsletters: to send you news, offers and pet care tips that may be of interest, where permitted by law and your preferences (see the section "Marketing Communications").
- Website operation and improvements: to operate, maintain and secure our website, and to understand how it is used so we can improve content, navigation and performance.
- Security and fraud prevention: to protect our business, website, customers and staff against fraud and other illegal activities.
- Legal and regulatory obligations: to comply with tax, accounting and other legal requirements, and to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each way that we use your personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on one or more of the following bases:
- Performance of a contract: where processing is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example to process and deliver your online order or provide a booked service.
- Legitimate interests: where we have a legitimate business interest that is not overridden by your rights and interests, for example to provide customer support, improve our website, prevent fraud or promote our services to existing customers in a proportionate way.
- Consent: where you have given explicit consent, for example to receive certain marketing communications or to use certain optional cookies. You can withdraw your consent at any time (see "Your Rights" and our Cookie Policy).
- Legal obligation: where we must process your data to comply with a legal duty, such as tax, accounting or consumer protection laws.
If we ever need to process your personal data for a new purpose that is incompatible with the original one, we will inform you and explain the legal basis before we start.
We only share your personal data with trusted third parties where this is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and we require them to keep your data secure and to use it only in accordance with our instructions and the law.
Typical recipients include:
- Payment service providers that process your payments when you place an order online or in store.
- Delivery and courier companies that deliver your orders or special orders to you.
- IT, hosting and website service providers that help us operate and maintain our website, email, booking tools or customer databases.
- Analytics and cookie service providers that help us understand website usage and improve performance, in line with our Cookie Policy.
- Professional advisers such as accountants, lawyers and insurers, where necessary for the services they provide to us.
- Public authorities where we are legally required to share data, for example to comply with a court order or law enforcement request.
If we are involved in a business sale, transfer or reorganisation, your personal data may be shared with parties involved in the process, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.
We do not allow our service providers to use your personal data for their own marketing purposes.
Some of our service providers or their servers may be located outside the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA). This means that your personal data could be transferred to and processed in countries that may have different data protection laws.
Where we transfer personal data outside the UK or EEA, we take steps to ensure that it is protected in a way that is consistent with UK and EU data protection standards. These safeguards may include:
- Using countries that the UK or European Commission has formally recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection; and/or
- Putting in place appropriate contractual protections, such as standard contractual clauses approved by the UK or EU authorities.
You can contact us if you would like more information about the specific safeguards that apply to your data.
Data security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include access controls, secure systems and regular monitoring of our online services.
While we do our best to protect your personal data, no website or transmission over the internet is completely secure. You can help keep your information safe by choosing strong, unique passwords for your online accounts and keeping them confidential.
Data retention
We keep your personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.
Retention periods vary depending on the type of data, but typically:
- Order and transaction records are kept for at least the period required by tax and accounting laws.
- Customer service and enquiry records are kept for a period that allows us to manage your query and any follow-up.
- Marketing contact details are kept until you unsubscribe or we determine that they are no longer up to date.
When personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to you.
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These are subject to certain conditions and exceptions, but in general include:
- Right of access: to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and information about how we use it.
- Right to rectification: to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- Right to erasure: to ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances (also known as the "right to be forgotten").
- Right to restriction: to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations.
- Right to data portability: to ask us to provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or to transfer it to another controller, where technically feasible.
- Right to object: to object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, and to object at any time to the use of your data for direct marketing.
- Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in the section "Contact Us About Privacy". We may need to verify your identity before responding.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns first.
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, to remember your preferences, to understand how the site is used and, in some cases, to show relevant content.
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They may be set by us (first-party cookies) or by third parties, such as analytics or advertising providers (third-party cookies).
We class cookies broadly as:
- Strictly necessary cookies that are required for the operation of the site (for example to remember items in your shopping basket).
- Performance and analytics cookies that help us understand how visitors use the site so we can improve it.
- Functionality cookies that remember choices you make, such as language or region.
- Advertising or targeting cookies (if used) that help deliver relevant content.
Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before using non-essential cookies. You can change your cookie preferences at any time and find more detailed information about the specific cookies we use in our separate Cookie Policy.
We enjoy keeping our customers informed about new products, special offers, in-store events and practical pet care tips. We will only send you marketing communications where we are allowed to do so by law and in line with your preferences.
This may include:
- Email newsletters and updates, where you have actively subscribed or where you are an existing customer and the law allows us to contact you about similar products or services.
- Occasional service messages that are not marketing, such as important updates about an order, booking or change to our terms or policies.
You are always in control of your marketing choices. You can:
- Click the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email we send; or
- Contact us using the details in the section "Contact Us About Privacy" to update your preferences.
If you opt out of marketing, we may still need to contact you with important service messages relating to your orders, bookings or legal rights.
Our website and services are generally aimed at adult customers and pet owners. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13 without appropriate consent.
If you are under 13, please ask a parent or guardian to contact us or place orders on your behalf. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child without appropriate consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete it as soon as possible.
Parents or guardians who believe that their child has provided personal data to us without consent can contact us using the details in the section "Contact Us About Privacy".
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes in our practices, our services or in applicable laws and guidance.
When we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to inform you, such as updating the date at the top of this page, highlighting the changes on our website or, where appropriate, contacting you directly.
We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.
If you have any questions, concerns or requests about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us using the details below:
Heather's Place4Pets
46 Borough Rd, Middlesbrough TS1 5DW, UK
Phone: 01642 243364
Email: office@heathersplace4pets.co.uk
To help us respond efficiently, please provide your name, contact details, a brief description of your query or request, and any relevant order or account information.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) or your local data protection authority, but we hope we can address your concerns directly first.