Privacy Policy

👥 Who Does This Policy Apply To?

This Privacy Policy applies to:

• Private Customers
• Landlords
• Contract Customers

And anyone contacting, visiting, or using our:

• Websites
• Apps
• Booking Systems
• AI chat and fault triage

⚖️ Your Rights

You have certain rights concerning your personal data, including the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests. For more information, please see the "Your Rights (Detailed)" section below.

📋 Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

• Personal Identifiers: Name, title, postal and email addresses, postcode, IP addresses, serial numbers and contact telephone numbers.
• Service Addresses: Physical addresses where services will be performed.
• Access Information: Any access details required to provide services, such as security codes or key safe locations.
• Business Information: For corporate customers, this includes job title, business address, and business email address.
• Transaction Information: Payment details, reservation, and booking information.
• Customer Feedback: Any information you provide when communicating with us, including complaints and feedback.
• AI Chat and Support Information: What you type into our website AI chat or fault triage, together with the AI's replies, and relevant job or support information used by AI tools elsewhere in our systems so we can understand your enquiry and deliver the service.

We do not ask for health information and we do not need it to provide our service. You should not enter medical or other sensitive details; information about the appliance and the fault is enough. If you still mention something of that kind when you contact us, including in a call, email, or our AI chat (for example that a fridge is needed for medical reasons), that information will be processed as part of that conversation so we can deal with your request, including by the AI providers that process it. We will not use it for any other purpose.

We may also receive personal data about you from third parties such as:

• Corporate customers
• Public records (e.g., Companies House)
• Review websites
• Social media platforms
• Government and law enforcement agencies

⚙️ How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

1. To Fulfill a Contract

• Processing bookings and appointments
• Providing requested products and services at the specified service addresses
• Using access information to enter premises for service delivery
• Verifying your identity
• Processing payments
• Communicating with you about your bookings and services
• Providing customer support and handling complaints
• Using AI tools to understand your enquiry, identify likely faults, prepare for a visit, and provide customer support

2. Legitimate Interests

• Ensuring customer satisfaction and resolving disputes
• Protecting our business, employees, and premises
• Preventing and detecting fraud and other criminal activities
• Improving our services and business performance
• Conducting marketing and promotional activities (where consent is not required)
• Monitoring and analyzing usage of our websites and apps to improve user experience
• Recording calls for training and quality improvement purposes
• Using AI tools to assist our staff with customer support and service delivery
• Displaying anonymised booking activity on our website (e.g., "John from EH12 just booked an appointment") to illustrate recent service demand and enhance user trust. Only limited, non-identifiable data is shown.

3. Legal Obligations

• Complying with legal and regulatory requirements
• Responding to requests from government or law enforcement authorities
• Maintaining records for tax and accounting purposes
• Health and safety compliance, including recording any incidents or accidents

4. Consent

• Sending you marketing communications via email, SMS, or push notifications
• Using optional marketing and analytics cookies (essential cookies are required for website functionality and do not require consent)

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can manage your cookie preferences using the cookie consent banner or by contacting us.

5. Vital Interests

• Protecting your vital interests or those of another person in emergency situations
• Disclosing your personal data to emergency services when necessary

6. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling

We use AI tools, including our website chat, fault triage, and other support tools, to help understand enquiries, suggest likely faults or parts, and improve our services. These tools assist our team; they do not make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you without human involvement. Where automated processes could have such effects, human intervention is available, and you have the right to express your point of view and contest the decision.

🍪 Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience on our websites and apps. When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie consent banner where you can choose which types of cookies you accept.

Essential Cookies

Required for the website to function properly. These cannot be disabled.

Essential cookies are necessary for core website functionality, including:

• Session cookies: Enable the quote wizard and booking system to remember your selections as you navigate through the booking process
• Security cookies: Help protect against security threats and ensure secure connections
• Internal tracking: Allow us to track page visits and user interactions for website functionality and support purposes
• Browser storage (localStorage): Used to store essential UI preferences, such as your choice to hide notification banners temporarily. This storage is used only for website functionality and does not track you or share data with third parties.

These cookies and browser storage are essential because without them, features like online quotes, bookings, and user interface preferences would not work properly.

Analytics Cookies

Optional cookies that help us understand how visitors use our website.

If you choose to accept analytics cookies, we use:

• Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors use our website, which pages are most popular, and how users navigate through the site

These cookies help us improve our website, but the site will function fully without them if you choose to decline.

Managing Your Cookie Preferences

You can manage your cookie preferences at any time:

• When you first visit our website, a cookie consent banner will appear allowing you to choose which cookies to accept
• You can select "Accept All" to accept all cookies, "Essential Only" to reject optional analytics cookies, or "Save Preferences" to save your specific choices
• Your preferences are stored in your browser's local storage and will be remembered for future visits
• You can also manage cookies through your browser settings, though this may affect website functionality

If you have previously accepted cookies and wish to change your preferences, you can use the button below to reset your cookie preferences, or you can clear your browser's local storage manually.

Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies are set by third-party services that appear on our pages. We do not control these cookies. For more information about how these third parties use cookies, please refer to their respective privacy policies:

• Google: Google Privacy Policy and Google Cookie Policy

🔗 Data Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your personal data with:

• Service Providers: Payment processors, technology providers, insurers, and other professional service providers who assist us in delivering our services.
• AI Providers: We use third-party AI providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google (Gemini), to power our website chat and fault triage and to assist with customer support across our systems. They process relevant messages and job information on our behalf so we can respond and deliver the service. You should not enter medical or other sensitive details in those messages.
• Marketing Partners: Third-party marketing service providers and ad technology providers to deliver personalized advertisements.
• Analytics Providers: Third-party analytics providers to help us analyze website usage and improve our services.
• Legal and Regulatory Authorities: Government bodies, law enforcement agencies, and regulators as required by law.
• Business Transfers: Third parties in connection with any merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business.
• Samsung Electronics:
  • For Samsung warranty repairs, Samsung Electronics is the data controller. This means that Samsung determines how your personal data is handled and processed in relation to the warranty service.
  • The Samsung Privacy Policy will apply to the handling of your personal data for warranty-related services.
  • For all Samsung repairs, we will share the serial number of the appliance with Samsung for quality control.
  • For out-of-warranty repairs, your personal data may be shared with Samsung for surveys and part orders.

All data shared with Samsung is processed in accordance with our agreements with them and in compliance with UK GDPR.

🌍 International Data Transfers

Your personal data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside the United Kingdom, such as the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United States. When we transfer your data internationally, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), to protect your information.

🛡️ Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• Secure servers and firewalls
• Encryption of data in transit and at rest where appropriate
• Access controls and authentication procedures
• Regular security assessments and staff training

📁 Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data:

• CCTV Footage: Up to 31 days
• Call Recordings: Up to 5 years. In some cases we store the full recording of the conversation; in other cases we may store only the customer's side of the conversation, only the agent's side, or we may not store a recording at all.
• Marketing Data: Until you opt-out or 3 years since your last interaction with us
• Financial Records: 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to, for accounting and audit purposes
• Service Records: Up to 15 years to comply with legal obligations and for warranty purposes
• AI Chat and Support Records: Held with the related enquiry or job as part of our service records, for the same period
• Emails and Other Correspondence: Kept with the related job for the same period as service records. Correspondence not linked to a job is kept for up to 7 years
• Enquiries and Bookings That Did Not Go Ahead: Up to 2 years

In some cases, we may retain your personal data for longer periods if required by law or if necessary for legal proceedings.

✅ Your Rights (Detailed)

Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

1. Right to Access: Request access to the personal data we hold about you.
2. Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
3. Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances.
4. Right to Restrict Processing: Request limitation of how we process your personal data.
5. Right to Data Portability: Obtain and reuse your personal data across different services.
6. Right to Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
7. Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw your consent where we rely on it for processing.
8. Rights Related to Automated Decision-Making: Object to decisions made solely by automated means.

Making a Subject Access Request

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. This is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR).

To make a SAR, please contact us by email or post using the details in the "How to Contact Us" section below. To help us locate your records and respond promptly, please include:

• Your full name
• Your contact details (email address and/or telephone number)
• Information to identify your records, such as a booking reference, service address, or approximate date of your last appointment
• A clear description of the personal data you would like to access, or state that you would like a copy of all personal data we hold about you

We will respond to your request within one month of receiving it. If your request is complex or we receive multiple requests from you, we may extend this period by up to a further two months. We will let you know if an extension is needed and explain why.

Subject Access Requests are usually provided free of charge. We may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to act on a request only where it is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

We may need to verify your identity before releasing personal data, to ensure we do not disclose information to the wrong person. We will only request information that is necessary for this purpose.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided in the "How to Contact Us" section below.

📢 Complaints

If you have any concerns about how we handle your personal data, you have the right to raise a complaint with us directly in the first instance. Please contact us at helpdesk@lothiandomestics.co.uk and we will look into it.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or you believe our processing of your personal data does not comply with data protection law, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Website: www.ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

📧 How to Contact Us

For any questions, concerns, or requests regarding your personal data, please contact us:

Data Protection Officer: If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, you may contact our Data Protection Officer at helpdesk@lothiandomestics.co.uk.

📝 Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Any updates will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. If we make significant changes, we will notify you via email or a prominent notice on our website.

ℹ️ Additional Information

Additional Privacy Notices

We may provide additional privacy notices at the point of data collection or when we introduce new services.

AI Providers

We use third-party AI providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google (Gemini), to power our website chat and fault triage and to assist with customer support across our systems. Messages and relevant job information are processed by those providers on our behalf so we can respond and deliver the service. Please tell us about the appliance and the fault. You should not enter medical or other sensitive details.

Automated Decision-Making

We may use automated and AI-assisted processes to personalize your experience and improve our services. You have the right to request human intervention, express your point of view, and contest any decisions made through automated means.

External Links

Our websites may contain links to external websites operated by third parties. We have no control over the content and privacy practices of these websites.

Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children without parental consent.