Privacy, Security & Cookies Policy

This explains what personal data we hold about you, how we collect this information and how we use it and may share it with any third parties.

www.portonaquapet.co.uk (“the Website”) is owned and operated by Porton Ventures UK Ltd. This policy, together with our Terms and Conditions, explain how may use information we collect about you, as well as your rights over any personal information we hold about you. Please read this policy and our Terms and Conditions carefully; by accessing the Website you confirm to have understood and agreed to them.

Information we collect about you

We will comply with the data protection principles when gathering and using personal information in a fair and transparent way, and we have a lawful basis for processing your data.

We collect information about you when you:

  • Visit the Website, and other sites accessible from the Website.
  • Register with and buy products or services on the Website.
  • Take part in promotions, competitions, customer surveys and questionnaires.
  • Contact us eg in writing, email or call customer services.

We may collect the following information about you:

  • Your name, address, contact telephone numbers and email address.
  • Bank Details, for processing payments.
  • CCTV at our store.
  • Details you provide us to pass on to third parties

We may supplement the information we collect about you with information we receive from other sources eg public registers such as the electoral roll. This allows us to assess the accuracy of the information we hold about you in order to send you relevant offers and information.

Using your information

Collecting your personal information helps us to better understand what you need from us. We use your information to:

  • To perform a contract with you, or to take steps to enter into a contract.
  • administer and operate your account.
  • process your orders.
  • tell you about important changes to the Website and our services.
  • understand your shopping behaviour to develop and improve our products and services.
  • manage promotions, competitions, customer surveys and questionnaires.
  • check and verify your identity, and prevent or detect crime. In performing checks your information may be disclosed to credit reference agencies, who may keep a record of that information. This is not a credit check and your credit rating will be unaffected.
  • To comply with a legal obligation to record personal data to account for evidence to the government via HMRC and our accountants.
  • For legitimate interest or those of a third party, but only if this does not go against your interest, rights or freedoms.

We may share your personal information across the business so they can provide you with relevant products and services. We may use and share anonymised information outside the business. However, we would like to reassure you that this never includes your personal information.

Keeping your personal information secure

Your information will be held at our head office, and third party agencies and service providers. We have taken measures to ensure that appropriate security for the information we hold and is GDPR compliant, which we can discuss with you on request.

We may also need to share some of your information third party agencies and service providers. The recipient of this information will be bound by confidentiality obligations and will also be GDPR compliant.

We limit access to your personal information within the business to personal with a genuine business need to know. Personal that process your information do so in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

Procedures are in place to deal with any suspected security breaches. We will notify you and any regulator of this where we are legally required to.

Marketing and research

If you agree, we may contact you:

  • with offers and information about products or services
  • with offers and information about partners’ products or services
  • for customer research eg to help improve our services

Of course, the choice is entirely yours, but if you say you do not want to receive marketing information from us this will prevent you from receiving great offers or promotions that may be of interest to you. You also have the option to opt out of any marketing from us at any time by either emailing us at info@portonaquapet.co.uk or following the opt out/unsubscribe link on our emails.
We use mail chimp as our email marketing automation platform. If you choose to receive marketing from us your information will be transferred to MailChimp in accordance with their Privacy Policy & Terms.

We like to hear your views to help us improve our service. From time to time, we may contact you to ask your opinions.

Payment & Security

We accept payments by Visa, MasterCard, Delta and Maestro.

We take security seriously therefore all areas of this website which involve your personal information or online payment processing use SSL encryption to keep your data safe.

We also use SagePay as our preferred payment gateway provider. SagePay are fully PCI compliant and secure. For further details on SagePay’s security and online shopping security please visit their website.

When purchasing online from us when you click the payment button at checkout, you will be sent to a secure page on SagePay. You will input your details directly into their secure and encrypted payment gateway and therefore we do not directly receive, retain nor store your payment or card details.

Disclosing your information.

We will never disclose your information to anyone outside the Business except where we have your consent; where we are required or permitted to do so by law; to other companies who provide a service to us; or any successors in title to our business.

Whenever we transfer personal information to countries outside the European Economic Area we will ensure that appropriate security measures are taken.

Other websites

The Website may contain links to other sites which are outside our control and not covered by this policy. The operators of these sites may collect information from you that will be used by them in accordance with their policy, which may differ from ours.

Accessing your information

Write to: Data Protection Officer (DPO), Porton Garden Aquatics & Pets, Porton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0LA if you would like to correct or request access to the information we hold relating to you or if you require further information. You also have the right to request that our DPO to erase your information (the ‘right to be forgotten’) in some circumstances.

How long we keep your information

We keep your information in paper format for an obligatory seven years and in accordance to HMRC and standard accountancy practices, and no longer than necessary.

Cookies

What is a cookie?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your personal computer, mobile or other device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device.

Persistent cookies – these cookies remain on a user’s device for the period of time specified in the cookie. They are activated each time that the user visits the website that created that particular cookie.

Session cookies – these cookies allow website operators to link the actions of a user during a browser session. A browser session starts when a user opens the browser window and finishes when they close the browser window. Session cookies are created temporarily. Once you close the browser, all session cookies are deleted.

Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improve the user experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.

You can find more information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu.

Cookies used on the Website

A list of all the cookies used on the Website by category is set out below.

Strictly necessary cookies.

These cookies enable services you have specifically asked for. For those types of cookies that are strictly necessary, no consent is required.

These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the Website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the Website. Without these cookies services you have asked for, like shopping baskets, cannot be provided.

Performance cookies.

These cookies collect anonymous information on the pages visited. By using the Website, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.

These cookies collect information about how visitors use the Website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how the Website works.

Functionality cookies.

These cookies remember choices you make to improve your experience. By using the Website, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.

These cookies allow the Website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsin
g activity on other websites.

Targeting or advertising cookies.

These cookies collect information about your browsing habits in order to make advertising relevant to you and your interests.

These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with our permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. Quite often targeting or advertising cookies will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organisation.

Behavioural advertising and online privacy.

A guide to behavioural advertising and online privacy has been produced by the internet advertising industry which can be found at www.youronlinechoices.eu. The guide contains an explanation of the IAB’s self-regulatory scheme to allow you greater control of the advertising you see.

Using browser settings to manage cookies.

The Help menu on the menu bar of most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. You can also disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on’s settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer.

However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of the Website’s essential features, we recommend you leave them turned on. For example, if you block or otherwise reject cookies you will not be able to add items to your Shopping Basket, proceed to Checkout. If you leave cookies turned on, remember to sign off when you finish using a shared computer.

Changes to our policy

This policy replaces all previous versions and is correct as of May 2018. We reserve the right to change the policy at any time.

Contacting us

If you have any queries regarding our privacy policy, please contact our DPO at info@portonaquapet.co.uk or by post at Porton Garden Aquatics & Pets, Porton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0LA