Privacy policy
It is the policy of Policy Administration Services Limited ("we" "us" "our") to
take all necessary steps to respect your privacy and to ensure that personal
data which we hold about our customers, suppliers and all other individuals is
processed fairly and lawfully. We are committed to respecting your privacy and
to complying with applicable data protection and privacy laws. We will take all
necessary steps to implement this policy.
You can visit our websites without disclosing any personal information about
yourself (although please note that we may use cookies and collect other
non-personally-identifiable information about your browsing activity -
click here for more information). If you do submit personal
information, by ordering products or services, for example, you can be assured
that we will use your personal information only in accordance with this, our
Privacy Policy.
It is our policy to ensure that all relevant statutory requirements are met and
that our internal procedures are monitored periodically to ensure compliance.
We will implement and comply with the eight Data Protection Principles contained
in the Data Protection Act 1998 which promote good conduct in relation to
processing personal information.
We have provided this Privacy Policy to help you understand how we collect, use
and protect your information when you visit our websites and when you generally
use our products and services. We wish to help you make informed decisions, so
please take a few moments to read the sections below and learn how we may use
your personal information.
You should read this notice in conjunction with our website terms and conditions
of use and any separate terms and conditions issued with your insurance policy.
Personal information collection
We try to collect and use your personal information only with your knowledge and
consent, typically when you request and use products and services, make
customer enquiries, register for information or other services, request product
information, or when you respond to communications from us (such as
questionnaires or surveys).
The type of personal information we may collect could include, for example, your
name and postal address, date of birth, gender, telephone and fax numbers,
e-mail address, lifestyle and other information collected on registration or
through surveys. If you choose to provide us with personal information, it will
be used in support of the intended purposes stated at the time at which it was
collected, and subject to any preferences indicated by you.
Non-personally-identifying information
We may also collect non-personally-identifying information about your visit to
our websites based on your browsing (click-stream) activities. This information
may include the pages you visit and products and services viewed or ordered.
This information helps us to manage and develop our websites better, to provide
you with a more enjoyable, customised service and experience in the future, and
to help us develop and deliver better products and services tailored to your
individual interests and needs.
How will we use your information?
We may use your information for a number of purposes, including:
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Managing and administering your policy; delivering any services, products or
information requested by you; responding to complaints or policy enquiries;
verifying your identity when required (you may lose your password or security
information, for example, and we may then need to ask you for other information
by which you can be identified to protect your data from unauthorised access)
-
To undertake market and product analysis based on your use of our services and
products and to contact you with information about new developments, products,
services and special offers
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To supply you with the information, products and/or services which you order
and which will not be disclosed without your permission unless required by law
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To tell you about the products and services of carefully-selected third parties
and allow you to receive advertising and marketing information from those
selected third parties without passing control of your personal information to
the third party, for example, we may send you information with your bill, or
you may simply receive an advertisement on your personal webpage according to
any preferences indicated by you and/or according to your interests; this helps
us to make you aware of products and services that we may have
specially-negotiated for our own customers and which may be of individual
interest to you
-
Invite you to take part in market research and to inform you of goods and
services you may be interested in
-
You may be contacted by post, telephone, fax, and electronic means such as
mobile text message (SMS), e-mail, pager, WAP and the Internet (subject to any
preferences expressed by you)
You acknowledge that by providing data to us, you consent to the processing of
your data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. However, you can contact us
at any time to have your details removed from lists we use for direct marketing
purposes, to update your information, or to tell us how you would like to
receive information about our products and services, and/or those of third
parties - the choice is yours.
To update your marketing preferences, please email smn.enquiries@policyadmin.co.uk,
quoting your mobile number and postcode in the body of the e-mail, and tell us
what you want, for example stop receiving e-mails or SMS from us or if you have
previously objected to receiving information by post, but would now like to
change your mind and receive information in this way then just say, 'opt-in
post' in the subject header of your e-mail.
If you would prefer your details not to be used for this purpose, please write
to:
Data Protection Department,
Policy Administration Services Limited
PO Box 290
Crewe
Cheshire
CW1 6WY
When will we disclose your information to others?
We may disclose information about you, your policy and your mobile phone to
companies within our group of companies, subject to the terms, of this Privacy
Policy. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, "our group" means Policy
Administration Services Limited and any company or other entity in which Phones
4u Group Limited owns (directly or indirectly) more than 15% of the issued
share capital.
Please note that we do not sell or pass your personal information to third
parties (other than as set out in the paragraph above) unless you have given us
permission or unless it is necessary to deliver the products and services
ordered or used by you.
Whenever your information is disclosed or passed to a third party, we will
endeavour to ensure that your privacy is protected and we will monitor this on
an ongoing basis to ensure that we and such third parties comply in all
respects with the relevant data protection and privacy law.
We may co-operate with the Police and any other relevant regulatory authorities
or organisations in connection with any misuse or suspected misuse of the
products and/or services provided by us or the website and/or to comply with
our regulatory and/or legal obligations. If necessary, we may divulge
information about you for these purposes.
We endeavour to ensure that the attention of all our employees is drawn to the
data protection rules and procedures laid down by us from time to time. Our
employees have a duty to follow these rules and procedures and to co-operate
with us to ensure this policy is effective.
We have a responsibility to ensure that personal data dealt with in the course
of our business is handled in accordance with statutory requirements and
reasonable steps will be taken by all concerned to ensure that this duty is
observed.
We will take such measures as may be necessary to ensure the proper training,
supervision and instruction of all relevant employees in matters pertaining to
data protection and to provide any necessary information.
The person having overall responsibility for data protection will be the Data
Protection Compliance Officer, details of whom can be obtained from Customer
Service representatives by emailing smn.enquiries@policyadmin.co.uk
Access to your information
You have the right to ask for a copy of the data which we hold about you and you
can write to us at any time to obtain details of the personal information we
may hold about you.
Please write to:
Data Protection Manager,
Policy Administration Services Limited
PO Box 290
Crewe
Cheshire
CW1 6WY
Please quote your name and address, together with your mobile number. We would
be grateful if you could also provide brief details of the information you seek
as this helps us to more readily locate your data.
We will take all reasonable steps to confirm your identity before providing you
with details of any personal information we may hold about you.
We may charge £10.00 (ten pounds) to cover the administration costs involved.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small, numeric text file that is issued to your computer
automatically when you enter a website and which is stored by your browser on
your computer's hard drive. Cookies identify the computer, not the individual
user, to our server.
Cookies store some basic information which helps us to identify whether your
personal computer has visited our website before and if you have provided us
with some personalised information. So, for example, cookies make it possible
for us to identify registered website users without needing to ask for
registration details each time, and help us to welcome you by name if you have
provided this on an earlier visit.
Cookies themselves only record which areas of the website have been visited by
the relevant computer and for how long. So, for example, we might use cookies
to count the total number of unique users who are accessing our website over a
particular period of time, or to ensure that a visitor does not see a
particular advert or special message more than once.
What are the advantages of using cookies?
The use of cookies helps us to personalise and customise our service to you and
to make our systems more efficient. So, for example, cookies may enable us to
change our processes to make it easier for you to perform certain tasks.
Cookies contain no personal information, however, when combined with some
personal information that we have collected from you before, they allow us to
have your personal information available as you browse our website.
You can disable cookies or set your browser to alert you when cookies are being
sent, but if you choose to do so you may not be able to access parts of our
website. The cookies used by www.policyadmin.co.uk do contain your name, but do
not include details such as your address or phone number within them.
What do I need to do if I do not want cookies to be used?
If you wish, you can change your computer settings to notify you when a cookie
is issued or not to receive cookies at all.
For more information, please contact
www.allaboutcookies.org
Disabling cookies
If you do not wish to accept our cookies or Web Beacons you can decline cookies
and/or Web Beacons and/or refuse access to previously stored information by
using your Web Browser. The facilities within your Web Browser to allow you to
do this will vary from browser to browser but they may be found in the
"Privacy" or "cookies" section of the "Properties" menu of your browser. If you
require assistance in disabling cookies you should refer to the "help" menu
within your browser. Please note, however, that you may not be able to use all
of the interactive features of our website if cookies and/or Web Beacons are
disabled.
Third party cookies
We may use third-party advertising technology to serve our advertisements when
you visit our website and sites upon which we advertise. This technology uses
information about your visits to this website and the sites upon which we
advertise, to serve our advertisements to you. In the course of serving our
advertisements to you, a unique third-party cookie may be placed or recognized
on your browser. In addition, we may use Web beacons, provided by our
third-party ad server, to help manage and optimize our online advertising.
These Web beacons enable our ads server, on our behalf or on behalf of our
agent, to recognize a browser's cookie when a browser visits this site, and to
learn which banner ads bring users to our website. Our third-party ad server is
performing its functions on our behalf or on behalf of our agent, and we may,
directly or indirectly, instruct such ad server to enable other service
providers to receive information about our site related to our online
advertising.
Information security
We recognise that our customers are increasingly concerned about how companies
protect personal information from misuse and abuse and about privacy in
general. We are reviewing and enhancing our rules, technical, physical and
managerial procedures constantly to protect your personal information from
unauthorised access, accidental loss and/or destruction.
Please be aware that communications over the Internet, such as e-mails/webmails,
are not secure unless they have been encrypted. Your communications may route
through a number of countries before being delivered - this is the nature of
the World Wide Web/Internet. We cannot accept responsibility for any
unauthorised access or loss of personal information that is beyond our control.
Privacy support
We reserve the right to amend or modify this Privacy Policy at any time, and in
response to changes in applicable data protection and privacy legislation.
If you have any enquiry about our data protection and privacy policy or
practices, please write to:
Data Protection Manager,
Policy Administration Services Limited
PO Box 290
Crewe
Cheshire
CW1 6WY
Monitoring and/or recording of your communications
Monitoring or recording of your calls, e-mails, text messages and other
communications may take place in accordance with UK law, and in particular for
business purposes such as quality control and training, to prevent unauthorised
use of our telecommunication systems and/or websites, to ensure effective
systems operation, and in order to prevent or detect crime. Please visit the
following websites for further information:
www.dataprotection.gov.uk
www.dti.gov.uk