Privacy Policy

Learn more about our how we use customer information and how we keep it secure

Overview
Data Protection Officer
Data we process
Special personal information
If you do not provide the personal information we need
The bases on which we process personal information about you
Information we process because we have a contractual obligation with you
Information we process with your consent
Information we process for the purposes of legitimate interests
Information we process because we have a legal obligation
Complaints about content on our website
Information relating to your method of payment
Communicating with us
Complaining
Cookies
Personal identifiers from your browsing activity
Our use of re-marketing
Information we obtain from third parties
Data may be processed outside the European Union
Your duty to inform us of changes
Access to your personal information
Removal of your information
Verification of your information
How you can complain
Retention period for personal data
Compliance with the law
Review of this Privacy Policy

Overview

This privacy notice aims to inform you about how we collect and process any information that we collect from you, or that you provide to us. This Privacy Policy was published on 18th May 2024. It covers information that could identify you (“personal information”) and information that could not. In the context of the law and this notice, “process” means collect, store, transfer, use or otherwise act on information. It tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. We are committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. Our policy is not just an exercise in complying with the law, but a continuation of our respect for you and your personal information. We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of all information you provide to us, and hope that you reciprocate.

Our policy complies with the Data Protection Act 2018 (Act) accordingly incorporating the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The law requires us to tell you about your rights and our obligations to you in regards to the processing and control of your personal data. We do this now, by requesting that you read the information provided at https://www.knowyourprivacyrights.org. Except as set out below, we do not share, or sell, or disclose to a third party, any information collected through our website.

Data Protection Officer

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for ensuring that our policy is followed. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our DPO Mr G Robertson at sales @ essentialsolar.co.uk.

Data we process

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you. We have collated these into groups as follows:

Your identity includes information such as first name, last name, title and other identifiers that you may have provided at some time.
Your contact information includes information such as a postal address, email address, telephone numbers and any other information you have given to us for the purpose of communication or meeting.
Your financial data includes information such as your payment card details.
Transaction data includes details about payments or communications to and from you and information about the products and services you have purchased from us.
Technical data includes your internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website. This is used for analytical purposes only.
Marketing data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us; communication preferences; responses and actions in relation to your use of our services.
We may aggregate anonymous data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Anonymous data is data that does not identify you as an individual. Aggregated data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal information in law because it does not reveal your identity.
For example, we may aggregate profile data to assess interest in a product or service advertised on our website.
However, if we combine or connect aggregated data with your personal information so that it can identify you in any way, we treat the combined data as personal information and it will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

Special personal information

Special personal information is data about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data. It also includes information about criminal convictions and offences. We do not collect any special personal information about you.

If you do not provide the personal information we need

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform that contract. In that case, we may have to stop providing a service to you. If so, we will notify you of this at the time.

The bases on which we process personal information about you

Information we process because we have a contractual obligation with you

When you buy a product or service from us, or otherwise agree to our terms and conditions, a contract is formed between you and us. In order to carry out our obligations under that contract we must process the information you give us. Some of this information may be personal information. We may use it in order to:

verify your identity for security purposes
sell products to you
provide you with our services
provide you with suggestions and advice on products, services and how to obtain the most from using our website

We process this information on the basis there is a contract between us, or that you have requested we use the information before we enter into a legal contract. We shall continue to process this information until the contract between us ends or is terminated by either party under the terms of the contract.

Information we process with your consent

Through certain actions when otherwise there is no contractual relationship between us, such as when you browse our website or ask us to provide you more information about our business, including our products and services, you provide your consent to us to process information that may be personal information. Wherever possible, we aim to obtain your explicit consent to process this information, for example, by asking you to agree to our use of cookies. We continue to process your information on this basis until you withdraw your consent or it can be reasonably assumed that your consent no longer exists. You may withdraw your consent at any time by instructing us via telephone, letter, email or through the online contact form on this website. However, if you do so, you may not be able to use our website or our services further.

Information we process for the purposes of legitimate interests

We may process information on the basis there is a legitimate interest, either to you or to us, of doing so. Where we process your information on this basis, we do after having given careful consideration to:

whether the same objective could be achieved through other means
whether processing (or not processing) might cause you harm
whether you would expect us to process your data, and whether you would, in the round, consider it reasonable to do so

For example, we may process your data on this basis for the purposes of:

record-keeping for the proper and necessary administration of our business
responding to unsolicited communication from you to which we believe you would expect a response
protecting and asserting the legal rights of any party
insuring against or obtaining professional advice that is required to manage business risk
protecting your interests where we believe we have a duty to do so

Information we process because we have a legal obligation

Sometimes, we must process your information in order to comply with a statutory obligation. For example, we may be required to give information to legal authorities if they so request or if they have the proper authorisation such as a search warrant or court order. This may include your personal information.

Complaints about content on our website

If you complain about any of the content on our website, we shall investigate your complaint. If we feel it is justified or if we believe the law requires us to do so, we shall remove the content while we investigate. Free speech is a fundamental right, so we have to make a judgment as to whose right will be obstructed: yours, or that of the person (who may be an employee of The Solar Outlet Ltd or one of our authorised service providers) who posted the content that offends you. If we think your complaint is vexatious or without any basis, we shall not correspond with you about it.

Information relating to your method of payment

We take the following measures to protect your payment information:

We do not keep your payment information so as:
- a) to prevent the possibility of our duplicating a transaction without a new instruction from you;
- b) to prevent any other third party from carrying out a transaction without your consent
Access to your payment information (that you provide to us verbally or in person) is restricted to authorised staff only.
Payment information is never taken by or transferred to us through our website. At the point of payment, we enter your payment information (you provide to us verbally or in person) into a secure page of a reputable payment service provider (Worldpay or similar vendor).
Your payment information is not retained by us (either digitally or hard copy).

Communicating with us

When you contact us, whether by telephone, through our website or by e-mail, we collect the data you have given to us in order to reply with the information you need. We record your request and our reply in order to increase the efficiency of our business. We keep personally identifiable information associated with your message, such as your name and email address so as to be able to track our communications with you to provide a high quality service.

Complaining

When we receive a complaint, we record all the information you have given to us. We use that information to resolve your complaint. If your complaint reasonably requires us to contact some other person, we may decide to give to that other person some of the information contained in your complaint. We do this as infrequently as possible, but it is a matter for our sole discretion as to whether we do give information, and if we do, what that information is. We may also compile statistics showing information obtained from this source to assess the level of service we provide, but not in a way that could identify you or any other person.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser when you visit any website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience and the website owner with statistics about how you use the website so that it can be improved. Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely. Your web browser should allow you to delete any you choose. It also should allow you to prevent or limit their use. Our website uses cookies. They are placed by software that operates on our servers, and by software operated by third parties whose services we use. When you first visit our website, we ask you whether you wish us to use some of these cookies. If you choose not to accept them, we shall not use them for your visit except to record that you have not consented to their use for any other purpose. If you choose not to use cookies or you prevent their use through your browser settings, you will not be able to use all the functionality of our website. We use cookies in the following ways:

To enable certain functions of the Service
To provide analytics
To record the action of a submitted contact form

We provide more information about the cookies we use in our cookie policy.

Personal identifiers from your browsing activity

Requests by your web browser to our servers for web pages and other content on our website are recorded. We record information such as your geographical location, your Internet service provider and your IP address. We also record information about the software you are using to browse our website, such as the type of computer or device and the screen resolution. We use this information in aggregate to assess the popularity of the webpages on our website and how we perform in providing content to you.

Our use of re-marketing

Re-marketing involves placing a cookie on your computer when you browse our website in order to be able to serve to you an advert for our products or services when you visit some other website. We may use a third party to provide us with re-marketing services from time to time. If so, then if you have consented to our use of cookies, you may see advertisements for our products and services on other websites.

Information we obtain from third parties

Although we do not disclose your personal information to any third party (except as set out in this notice), we sometimes receive data that is indirectly made up from your personal information from third parties whose services we use.

Data may be processed outside the European Union

Our websites are hosted in the United Kingdom. We may also use outsourced services in countries outside the European Union from time to time in other aspects of our business. Accordingly data obtained within the UK or any other country could be processed outside the European Union. For example, some of the software our website uses may have been developed in the United States of America or in Australia.

Your duty to inform us of changes

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes.

Access to your personal information

At any time you may contact us to review or update personally identifiable information that we hold about you. After receiving the request, we will tell you when we expect to provide you with the information, and whether we require any fee for providing it to you.

Removal of your information

If you wish us to remove personally identifiable information, you should contact us to make your request. This may or may not limit the service we can provide to you.

Verification of your information

When we receive any request to access, edit or delete personal identifiable information we shall first take reasonable steps to verify your identity before providing this information. This is important to safeguard your information.

How you can complain

If you are not happy with our privacy policy or if you have any complaint then you should tell us via email, telephone or online contact form. If a dispute is not settled then we hope you will agree to attempt to resolve it by engaging in good faith with us in a process of mediation or arbitration. If you are in any way dissatisfied about how we process your personal information, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This can be done via the ICO website. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about your concern before you approach the ICO.

Retention period for personal data

Except as otherwise mentioned in this privacy notice, we keep your personal information only for as long as required by us:

to provide you with the services you have requested;
to comply with other law, including for the period demanded by our tax authorities;
to support a claim or defence in court.

Compliance with the law

Our privacy policy has been compiled so as to comply with the law of every country or legal jurisdiction in which we aim to do business. If you think it fails to satisfy the law of your jurisdiction, we should like to hear from you. However, ultimately it is your choice as to whether you wish to use our website.

Review of this Privacy Policy

We may update this privacy notice from time to time as necessary. The terms that apply to you are those posted here on our website on the day you use our website. We advise you to print a copy for your records. If you have any question regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.