The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into place on 25th May 2018 implements how organisations collect, record, store and use an individual’s personal data. The basis of this legislation is to strengthen individuals rights over their personal data, and ensure organisations process the said data in a fair and transparent manner.
VBS Direct Ltd is committed to respecting your privacy, protecting your personal data and complying with all data protection legislation. This notice is intended to clearly inform you of how we will manage your personal data; and advise you about your privacy rights as well as to how the law protects you. VBS Direct may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. It is important that you visit and read the content of this page regularly to make sure you are updated with any changes and that you agree to its terms. You may also need to keep us informed whenever your personal data changes during your relationship with us, to keep your data accurate and up-to-date.
Please be aware, that by using our website, you’re agreeing to be bound by our 'Privacy Policy'.
Who are we?
VBS Direct Ltd (Company Number: 7295136) is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as “VBS Direct”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice.
Our full details are:
Full name of legal entity: VBS Direct Ltd
Email address: admin@vbsdirect.co.uk
Postal Address: VBS Direct Ltd, Unit 6 Whitchurch Business Park, Shakespeare Way, Whitchurch SY13 1LJ
Any change in the Data Compliance Officer or other amendments to the above contact details shall be notified by way of updated revisions to this Privacy Policy.
Any questions regarding this 'Privacy Policy' and our privacy practices should be sent by email to admin@vbsdirect.co.uk or by writing to our registered address.
How and why we collect information from you?
We seek to acquire information about you when you use our website for contact us by phone. This includes; when you contact us through our website, when you purchase products and services from our website, or if you register to receive information from us.
Whenever we request personal information from you on our website we will always aim to reasonably explain why we are collecting the information and refer you to this policy for more comprehensive detail.
Please note, we do not collect or store personal data about you supplied or obtained from any 3rd party sources. Any data we store is only that which we have collected from you directly.
What type of information is collected from you?
Your personal data is any information about you as an individual, which you can be identified from. This does not include anonymous data in which identity information has been removed.
We may collect the following information:
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Identity Data – Name (First Name, Last Name), and Occupation/Job Role
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Contact Data – Address, e-mail address, phone numbers, Post Codes
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Technical Data – IP addresses, last login, location
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Usage Data – Information on how you use our website
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Marketing and Communications Preferences – your preferences in receiving marketing and communication from us.
How do we collect your personal data
Phone Enquiry / contact forms
When you contact us about our products and services we will request personal details such as your name, telephone number, email address, IP address, the pages you have visited on our website and where applicable, the company for whom you work.
Newsletters
When you request to receive our newsletter service we will request personal details such as your name, your email address, IP address, the pages you have visited on our website and where applicable, the company for whom you work.
Online orders / purchases
When you order products and services through our website we will request personal details such as your name, telephone number, email address, IP address, the pages you have visited on our website, billing address, delivery address, credit / debit card details*1 and where applicable, the company for whom you work.
Direct Transaction – we collect your data when you process transactions with us such as;
Account Registration – creating an account to process orders and other transactions
Using our Contact Form or emailing us – we collect your data from the contact form or the emails you send us.
Download – downloading brochure, catalogue and flyers
Subscription – subscribing to publications or services
Registration – registering to webinar or training courses, or submitting an entry to our prize draws and competition
Automated Interaction – we may collect technical data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns when you visit our website. Your data may be collected using cookies, pixels, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive your personal data from various third parties with whom we have partnerships or publicly available sources.
Please note, that when processing e-commerce transactions, if you fail or refuse to provide such information, then we may not be able to fulfil our contractual obligations to you.
*1We do not generally take credit card payment from our clients and such informtion is not held by us. We can allow payment via paypal invoice but your card information is not held by us, it is collected by third party payment processors, who specialise in the secure online processing of credit/debit card transactions. For further information on this, please read 3rd party representatives working on our behalf or in association with'.
How is your information used?
We may use your information to:
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Respond to your enquiries
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Process online orders that you have placed with us (products, services, or membership)
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Carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us
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Seek your views or comments on the services we provide
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Notify you of changes to our service
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Send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you
How long do we keep your information?
If you purchase any products and services from us, then under UK tax law we are required to keep your basic personal data (name, address, contact details) for a minimum of 6 years after which time it can be erased on your request. We will hold your personal information on our systems indefinitely for marketing purposes or until you notify us that you no longer wish us to do so, unless your request contradicts our statutory obligations.
Who has access to your information?
As stated before, your privacy is important to us. That's why we will not, under any circumstances, sell or rent your personal information to any third parties. In addition, we will not share your information with third parties for their specific marketing purposes.
3rd party representatives working on our behalf or in association with:
In order to respond to your enquiries, deliver products and services or to send your newsletters, we may need to pass your information to our 3rd party service providers. In all circumstances, we will remain the controller of your data and our 3rd party service providers will be processors of your data.
For example, if you purchase products and services through our website or by phone, your payment will be processed by a 3rd party payment processor such as a bank, paypal or a currency exchange company such as Moneycorp who specialises in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. Your order would also be delivered by a 3rd party service provider (Royal Mail, Parcel Force, DPD, UPS etc).
For example, if you subscribe to our newsletter service, your personal data may be processed by a 3rd party email processor such as MailChimp who specialise in the delivery of email newsletter services.
When we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is absolutely necessary in order to deliver the service. We also have contracts in place with all '3rd Party Service Providers' that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes.
Restricting marketing communications
It's important that you are aware that you have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive marketing information or service notifications from us.
If you have previously given us consent to process your personal data and send you marketing information, you can withdraw this consent at any time by unsubscribing or contacting us directly. We will aim to cease the delivery of all marketing communications to you immediately on receipt on your objection or un-subscription.
How you can access, update and delete your information?
Accessing your data
You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you. You can request a copy of this data at any time by contacting us directly. We will, where possible, always supply your personal data in a convenient and transferable format within 30 days.
Updating your data
Your personal data probably changes all of the time, and the accuracy of your information is important to us. Therefore, if your details do change, or the information we hold becomes inaccurate or out of date, please let us know by contacting us directly and we will rectify your data.
Deleting your data
If you would like us to delete or erase your personal information from our systems, then where possible (if not required for statutory or contractual requirements) we will do so within 30 days and provide confirmation that your data has been removed from our systems. To request that your personal data is erased from our systems, please contact us directly.
Transferring your information outside of Europe
In order to complete some forms of communications or service delivery, we may need to pass your information to service suppliers who are registered outside the European Union (“EU”). For example, this may occur if we use the US based newsletter emailing service provider MailChimp.
By submitting your personal data, you’re agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing. When transferring your information outside of the EU, we take steps to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected.
Security precautions
VBS Direct is committed to ensuring that your information is secure and free from unauthorised access or disclosure. We have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect, process and store online.
In the event that the security of your personal data is compromised, we will notify the Information Commissioner’s Office within the 72 hour time limit. We will also notify you if it is likely that the breach will result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms.
Our website is protected with 128 Bit SSL encryption. This means that any information we collect from you via our website is protected and secure. When you are asked for any personal data on our website, you will see a lock icon in your browser, ratifying that your data is secure.
Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
In the unlikely event of our systems and your data being breached, then we will notify you within at least 30 days including full details of what parts of your personal data have been compromised.
Profiling
In order to better improve our products, services, marketing and website experience, we may analyse your personal information to create a profile of your actions, interests and preferences. Where applicable, we do this so that we can tailor your experience on our website and contact you with more relevant information specific to your needs.
Examples of this may include:
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Profiling your previous points of interest on our website and automatically tailoring the messages and images you see when returning to our website
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Profiling your interests in our products and services and automatically sending you tailored marketing communications or newsletter variants
Please be aware, that at no point is automated profiling used to assess your credibility or eligibility for contractual approvals or legal decision-making.
Use of 'cookies'
Please be aware that our website uses cookies. If you haven't heard of 'Cookies' before, they are small pieces of information sent by a website and stored on your hard drive.
As you interact with our website, VBS Direct Ltd may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser of the hard drive of your computer if you agree.
Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. You will be asked to provide your consent for us to use cookies on every visit to our website.
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, be aware that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not properly function.
We use 'Cookies' to collect statistical data about your browsing actions and preferences. For example we may use cookies to store your language preference on our website. Please be aware that our 'Cookies' do not identify you as an individual, until you have contacted us through our website.
It is possible to configure or completely switch off 'Cookies' by changing your browser preferences. For more information on how we use cookies and how you can change your preferences, please visit our dedicated 'Cookies policy#39; page.
Links from us to other websites
In order to provide you with further information or additional reference points, our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations.
Please be aware, that we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of your information which you provide whilst visiting other websites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Complaints procedure
In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal information is being processed by the Company, or how any query or concern has been handled, you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’), the supervisory authority in the United Kingdom (available at www.ico.org.uk We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO.
Review of this Policy
We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated in October 2021.