1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE

Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how We are The Helpful collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you establish an account, browse or purchase goods or services from our Partners. 

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them. 

Please note, this website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

Controller

We are The Helpful (Company Number SC769063) is the controller and responsible for your personal data. This privacy notice is issued on behalf of We are The Helpful ("we", "us", or "our" in this privacy notice).

Contact Details

If you wish to contact us, please email help@wearethehelpful.com.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to the Privacy Notice and Your Duty to Inform us of Changes

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. Please review this privacy notice periodically for changes. This privacy notice was last updated on 14 August 2024.

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

Third Party Links

This website may include links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites, plug-ins and applications and we are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you and/or the recipient of the goods and/or services which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes [first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender].
• Contact Data includes [billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers].
• Financial Data includes [card details and bank account details used to process refunds].  We do not store or process your card details ourselves, they are processed and automatically stored via one of our contracted third party service providers. We encrypt your payment card details in your browser and securely transfer this data to our relevant third party payment provider to process a payment.
• Transaction Data includes [details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from our Partners].
• Technical Data includes [internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, 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]. 
• Profile Data includes your [email address and password, purchases or orders made by you, your feedback and testimonials.]
• [Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.]
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services. This includes your browsing patterns and information such as how long you might spend on one of our webpages and what you look at and for on our website, the page that referred you to our site and the click stream during your visit to our website, page response times and page interaction information (clicks you make on a page).

Other than as set out above, we do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, or trade union membership).

If you fail to provide personal data

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 the contract we, or our Partners, have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time. 

3. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Financial, Marketing and Transactional Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
• purchase products or services; 
• create an account on our website; or
• request marketing to be sent to you; or
• Provide testimonials or reviews; or
• give us feedback or contact us. 
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, and other similar technologies. 
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services.

4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you (outline in our terms and conditions).
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although:

• We will get your consent before sending direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below. 

[Marketing 

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Profile and Marketing and Communications Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us. You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by logging into your account on the website and checking or unchecking relevant boxes to adjust your marketing preferences or by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.

Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a product/service purchase or other transactions.]

Change of purpose 

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us. 

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above.

• Service providers who provide services including Stripe for payment processing. 
• Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, legal, insurance and accounting services.
• Regulators and other authorities to whom we are required to report in certain circumstances. 
• Partners / Sellers.  We will share your personal data (name, address, billing address, email, telephone and mobile  phone number as well as any personalisation details you've provided as part of your order) with a Seller with whom you have placed an order so that they can fulfil and manage your order as part of the sales process we provide under our Website Terms and Conditions. Any order placed is deemed to be an instruction from you to share your personal data in this way. The Seller will act as an independent data controller, on a stand-alone basis, and process your personal data in accordance with their own policies and security measures. We are not responsible for protecting your information when it is under their control, but you may exercise against such Seller all of the rights which you would otherwise be able to exercise against us as set out in this Privacy Policy.

When we share your personal data with a Seller, you should be aware of the following:

• The Seller (name and contact details) will be as identified on our site. You will be able to contact the Seller directly through our website with any questions or concerns (see website terms and conditions);
• The Seller will process your personal data and that of the recipient (including name, address , billing address, email and telephone number as well as any personalisation details if supplied by you) for the purposes identified above, namely to manage your order;
• In all other respects, the Seller shall be responsible for treating your personal data in accordance with Data Protection Laws including in the same way that we do as set out in Sections 9 and 10 below.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

7. DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. 

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8. DATA RETENTION

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.  

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. For example, homeopaths are required to retain consultation notes for at least 7 years.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see Request Erasure below for further information.

9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. You have the right to:

• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Please note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request. 
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest. There may be something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data's accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Please note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you. 
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. 

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.