Data Protection, Privacy & Cookie policies

GDPR and ePR

This privacy policy sets out how The Knitted Bear Company uses and protects any personal information that you give when you use this website or buy our products. We respect and protect your privacy. If we ask for information that enables you to be identified when using our websites, we will only use it in accordance with this privacy statement.

The GDPR and ePR gives specific rights to people with regard to their personal data and duties to those collecting and processing it as follows:

For those collecting data (us):

– the data must be collected lawfully and transparently
– it must be used only for the reason stated for its collection
– data collection should be limited to that necessary data for the stated purpose
– data must be kept accurate and up to date
– data must only be stored as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected
– data security and integrity must be maintained

Individuals providing data (you) have the following rights:

– the right to be informed of the data held
– the right of access to that data
– the right to rectification of any incorrect data
– the right to erasure
– the right to restrict processing
– the right to data portability
– the right to object; and
– the right not to be subject to automated decision-making, including profiling.

This means that we will request explicit consent for the collection and holding of personal data and for processing it for specific purposes, as described below.

We may collect the following information:

– name
– contact information, including email address and telephone number
– geographic information like an address and postcode
– legally required information such as business VAT numbers
– past order history
– other information such as where you heard about us
– product reviews and feedback on our service

We collect the information in order to provide you with a better service and products, in particular for the following reasons:

– to provide you with the goods and services you have ordered from us
– internal record keeping and accounting, including legal obligations such as VAT numbers
– to improve our products and services
– if you consent, we may use your email address to contact you with news or promote new products, special offers or other information we think you may find interesting

If you create an account in our online shop this will enable you to place orders more quickly.

If you sign up for our newsletters, this is done directly into the Mail Chimp database so we rely on their confirmed compliance for this, and check it regularly.

If you follow us on third party platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, you will be relying on their data protection and not ours.

Managing your information

We do not pass any information we collect to anyone else for any purpose with the following exceptions:

– to our delivery partners (DPD, Royal Mail, Parcel Force) solely for the purpose of effecting delivery of your order.

– to specific third parties such as Mail Chimp in order to deliver our newsletters, and we check with them that the data is secure and used only for the stated purpose

– where legally obliged to do so

We undertake impact assessments for any new information streams or processing methods.

We normally store most information electronically in our computer system, which has encryption, anti-virus and malware protection measures, and back-up facilities. Some information is stored remotely in the cloud.

Some information such as past orders, is additionally stored in paper format and we do store this for as long as possible to make it easier to discuss future orders with customers. Normally we will not destroy this paper or electronic information unless and until notified by you that it should no longer be kept as we know that some of our customers rely on this for future orders even after a gap of several years. We will not give past order information to anyone other than the specific customer unless requested to do so by that customer.

We will normally archive information on people who have not been in touch with us for six years and destroy information on people who have not been in touch with us for more than ten years unless we are legally obliged to retain it.

Transactions using bank information

Where we receive payments in our online shop, we use secure payment services provided by WorldPay and Stripe, so that all your data is protected by their systems. We are obliged to undertake regular monitoring to comply with the PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) system run by banks and payment processors to ensure this.

We do not accept any payment information by email or post so please do not send it to us. If you wish to make a phone payment we process either directly onto our machines from your instructions or immediately shred the information once it has been successfully used. This does mean that you will have to give us this information every time you wish to undertake a transaction in this way.

We can also receive payments via BACS, which is quick and secure. Our bank details will be provided on request.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that the information you give us is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures that safeguard and secure any information we collect on-line.

As keeping information about you secure is important to us, the website uses SSL encryption, or a comparable standard, for data transmission.

If we become aware of a data breach we will inform the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and also notify anyone we believe may have been affected.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file stored by your browser that is used to hold information related to your visit to our website. It may include shopping basket items and data that help us analyse web traffic.

Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

Overall, cookies help us provide a better website. They enable us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept them, but if you prefer you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. But this may prevent you taking full advantage of the website.

We use the information collected from these cookies to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. This information is used for statistical analysis purposes only. It is then removed from the system.

If you are unsure of how to disable cookies we suggest visiting the aboutcookies.org website which offers guidance for most modern browsers.

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites that you may find of interest.  Please note that once you have used these links to leave our site, we do not have any control over the other website.  We can not, therefore, be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide while visiting other sites not governed by this privacy statement.  Please exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

 – Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, tick only the boxes for which you are giving consent

 –  If you have previously agreed the use of your personal information to receive our newsletter but wish to unsubscribe from it you may do so by using the link provided in any of our newsletters.  Alternatively, let us know in writing, or email us at mail@theknittedbearcompany.co.uk.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required to do so by law.

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR 2016/679. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to us at Furze Products, 28/29 Carlton Terrace, Portslade, East Sussex, BN41 1UR, UK.  We are obliged to respond within a month

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write or email us as soon as possible.  We will correct any incorrect information as soon as we can.

You may ask us to remove all or part of the information about you and we will do so, confirm to you that we have done so and then hold a record to show that we have done this, which will therefore include your name and contact details for legal compliance reasons.If you wish to have any part of the information we hold about you removed please write to us at the above address.

Amendments

If we change this policy, which we may do occasionally, this page will be updated as appropriate. So to ensure that you are happy with any changes, you should check this page from time to time. This policy is effective from 16 April 2018.