Privacy Policy

Introduction & General Terms

This document (“Privacy Policy”), in combination with the Cookie Policy and Competition rules make up our commitment to protecting personal information we hold about our customers, prospective customers, newsletter subscribers, competition entrants, website users or any other data subject whose personal information we hold. Personal information as outlined in this policy is being processed by ihousestone Holdings Limited (“we”, “our”, “us”, “ihousestone”). In the event of any part of ihousestone either being sold or going into receivership, we reserve the right to continue to share your data to third parties in accordance with the latest preferences you have provided. You will be informed should any change of ownership occur, and the new owner will manage your personal information preferences.

Our Commitment to you

We are committed to managing & safeguarding your personal information in accordance with current legislation and best practice. Our aim is to be responsible, relevant and secure when using your data. Whenever you provide personal information we will treat that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We will process the personal information you have supplied to us to conduct and manage our business to enable us to give you the most appropriate marketing, information, service and products and provide the best and most secure experience. These are what we consider to be our ‘Legitimate Interests’. We endeavour at all times to keep your data accurate and secure, and to honour your data preferences with regard to receipt of direct marketing e.g. postal communications, email, mobile messaging and telephone calls.

We operate websites that may contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, and are also likely to use cookies, and we therefore urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit when visiting these websites, which may also be collected by cookies. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

We may use third party suppliers to provide part of our service to you. In some circumstances these providers may be based in countries outside the European Economic Area whose laws provide for a different standard of protection for your personal information than that provided under UK Law. In such circumstances:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission. For further details, see European Commission: Adequacy of the protection of personal data in non-EU countries.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe. For further details, see European Commission: Model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries.

If you would like further information about the specific mechanism, used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA please contact: call@ihousestone.com

Your personal data will not be disclosed to state institutions and authorities except if required by law or other regulation. Before we release data on this basis, we will ensure that the information is being provided to a genuine and properly authorised investigation.

We reserve the right to revise or amend this Privacy Policy at any time to reflect changes to our business or changes in the law. Where these changes are significant we will endeavour to email all of our registered users to make sure that they are informed of such changes. However, it is your responsibility to check this Privacy Policy before each use of the Website.

Who we are

ihousestone helps consumers buy with confidence. We bring together experts in every field to provide our readers with in-depth, authoritative buying advice, on everything from lawnmowers and TVs to broadband and phone contracts.

What Data we collect

When you send us information, talk to us over the phone, submit an online form or when you visit one of our websites, we may collect both pseudonymous data about you.
When we talk about data we mean any information that can identify you as an individual, such as your name and postal address. Pseudonymous data doesn’t identify you as a person but it might be used in aggregate, for instance when you participate in a survey or when we analyse audience interaction with our products and services.

Data you provide to us

When you participate in, access, purchase, sign up to or apply for any of our products, services, activities or online content, such as newsletters, competitions or events – we receive personal information about you. This can consist of information such as your main personal information (e.g. your name, date of birth and contact information), financial information (e.g. your income, credit rating), information about your profession or work, information about your family and other relationships, as well as information collected about your use of our services (such as when you enter our sites and how long you stay on them).

Data we buy from a third party

We occasionally purchase data from third party suppliers. The data we purchase is primarily business data. Business data may include but not be limited to a business email address, business job title and business postal address. Such a purchase may result in you receiving communications from ihousestone regarding your business sector or business interests without you having directly supplied your information to us. We keep clear records of the data suppliers and provide an unsubscribe option at every contact. If you have any queries concerning the use of business data we hold about you please email call@ihousestone.com

Data we collect through your use of our websites

We may collect information about how you use our websites or other content online, and the device(s) you use to access the services. This includes collecting unique online identifiers such as IP addresses, which are numbers that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet. Anonymous data will be recorded for the purpose of reporting web traffic statistics, advertisement ‘click-throughs’, and/or other activities on our sites. We may receive information about you from any third parties we may partner with through the use of cookie technologies to personalise advertisements for goods and services (please see Online Advertising below for further information). To opt out of receiving advertisements tailored to your interests by our partners, visit the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance at http://youronlinechoices.eu/

For detailed information on cookies we use please see Cookies and how we use them as well as our Cookie Policy.

How we use your data

We may use the information you share with us and the information we collect through your use of our sites in the ways described below and as described at the time of capture.

Competitions & Prize Draws

We will use the details you have shared to manage your entry to any competition or prize draw. This may include your name, e-mail address and telephone number. We shall use such information to notify you if you are the winner. Your data will be retained for the period of the competition only, and will not be added to any marketing lists unless you have consented to this, and will only be shared with a third party where they were named at the point of data capture and you explicitly agreed to the sharing of your data or where they are a third party who we have appointed to manage the delivery of your prize.

Newsletters

We will use the details you have shared to send you the newsletter to which you have subscribed. We will not add them to any marketing lists, unless you have consented to this. We will provide a way for you to unsubscribe on every newsletter we send to you. Details you share with us for the purpose of newsletter subscription will never be shared with a third party.

Events

We will use the details you have shared to manage your registration and entry into our event. This may include contact via telephone, email, SMS and post with information relating to the event you have registered to attend. Your data will not be added to any marketing lists unless you have consented to this, and will only be shared with a third party where they were named at the point of data capture and you explicitly agreed to the sharing of your data or where they are a third party who we have appointed to manage the delivery of the event.

Customer Services

We will use the information you provide to deliver customer services related to your purchase and to respond to inquiries or requests that you direct to us. Your data will not be added to any marketing lists unless you have consented to this, and will only be shared with third parties where we have appointed them to manage specific aspects of your customer care.

Research

We may use the information you provide to invite you to participate in surveys and focus groups about our products, advertisers and services. Participation is always voluntary and the answers you provide are anonymous and aggregated to support our learnings and inform changes we can make to improve our products and services. Your data will not be added to any marketing lists unless you have consented to this and were informed at the point of capture and will only be shared with third parties where we have appointed them to manage research activity on our behalf.

Occasionally we get paid by commercial partners to carry out research on their behalf. In this situation, the data we share with them will be anonymous however we may share your personal data with specific commercial partners where they were named at point of capture and where you agreed to the sharing of your personal data with them.

Direct Marketing

We may use the details you share with us to send you offers and promotions by email, post, telephone or SMS wherever we have legitimate interest grounds to do so and where you have not objected. We will provide a way for you to opt-out of receiving marketing promotions both at the time of data capture and every time we contact you thereafter. You can also email call@ihousestone.com to request your details are suppressed from all promotional campaigns. We won’t use your personal data for marketing purposes at all if you’ve told us not to.

Demand Generation

We may use the details you share with us to send information to you through email, post, phone, SMS and other channels. We’ll send you relevant assets or content we feel would be of interest to you. Our trusted partners and clients from across our brands may also want to share offers, information, and services with you that they feel would be of particular interest. At all stages you’ll be able to opt out of our processing of your data.

Legitimate Interest

We may process your personal data on the basis of a legitimate interest after carefully considering the balance between your rights and the benefit of the purpose for which we intend to use your personal data. These legitimate interests may include: –

• Promoting similar products or services, via direct marketing activity, that we have identified may be of interest to you based on your history of interaction with us and where you have not opted out of receiving such information.
• To manage suppression and unsubscribe requests received from you.
• To invite you to participate in research surveys about our products or services to help us improve these.
• For statistical and data analytics so we can improve the products and services offered to you.
• To personalise and improve our services to you by using insight regarding your purchase or communication history with us.
• To identify and prevent fraudulent behaviour.
• Using your data to help find similar audiences through the use of Facebook’s audience function and Google customer match
• Identifying usage trends and determining the effectiveness of our campaigns to improve targeted advertising.

Whenever we process data for these purposes we will ensure that we always keep your personal data rights in high regard and take account of these rights.

Cookies and how we use them

“Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing a website. We use cookies for a number of reasons:

Strictly Necessary Cookies – These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information

Performance Cookies – These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.

Functional Cookies – These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.

Targeting Cookies – These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social Media Cookies – These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
For more information on how we use cookies please read our Cookie Policy.

Analytics

The ihousestone website uses Google Analytics as its primary solution for tracking website visits, interactions and events. ihousestone uses website analytics data to help improve the way we deliver content and online experiences to visitors.

For full details on how Google processes your data please visit: https://support.google.com/analytics/topic/2919631?hl=en&ref_topic=1008008

Online Advertising

The ihousestone website shows advertising to users. A certain amount of this advertising is tailored to the individual user, as practice known as “Online Behavioural Advertising” which uses cookies to discover general information about the pages you visit. This keeps many of our websites and services you use free of charge. Our advertising delivery systems and partners use the limited information available to it to serve adverts to you, which it believes are relevant. It does not collect personal information such as your name, email address, postal address or telephone number.

From time to time, ihousestone may share this aggregated data with our advertising partners. This could mean that when you are on other websites you are served advertising based on your behaviour on the ihousestone website or you may be served advertising based on your behaviour on other sites.

Behavioural retargeting is another form of Online Behavioural Advertising that enables us and some of our advertising partners to show you adverts based on browsing patterns and interactions with the site away from our sites. For example, if you have visited the website of a car dealership you may start seeing adverts from that same dealership site displaying special offers or showing you the products that you were browsing. This allows companies to advertise to website visitors who leave their website without making a purchase.

If you want to opt out of receiving Online Behavioural Advertising this does not mean that you will no longer receive advertising when you are using our sites. It just means that the advertising you see will not be customised for you. If you would like more information about online behavioural targeting and how to opt out of it, please visit www.youronlinechoices.com or you can also visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/

Our websites uses JavaScript to detect the use of ad blocking extensions for web browsers, we do not store any information on users’ devices and do not process any personal data.

Links to third party websites

When you click on advertisements or links on any of our sites, you will leave that site and go to a third-party site, which is outside of our control. When we place an advertisement on one of our sites, it does not signify that we are endorsing that advertiser’s product or service. We do not accept responsibility for content, have no control over and our Privacy Policy does not apply to these companies, sites or content and if such third-party sites collect personal data, we cannot control how this data is processed, stored or used. We advise that you read their data collection statements, which accompany any registration and their Privacy Policies before you submit your personal information

Using our websites from outside the UK

We use servers located in the EEA to store data. When you submit your details and in whichever country you are situated you agree to the data being transferred to the EEA and processed under the terms of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) including any implementing data protection legislation in the UK. If you are not in agreement please do not add your personal details on the website. ihousestone makes no representation or warranty that the content and materials on the Website are appropriate or available for use in locations outside of the United Kingdom. Those who choose to access the Website or use the services from other locations do so on their own initiative and at their own risk, and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent applicable.

How we keep your personal data secure

ihousestone ’ security policies, rules and technical measures have been implemented to protect your personal information from unauthorised or improper use and from accidental loss.

All our employees and data processors that have access to, and are associated with, the processing of your personal information are legally obliged to respect the confidentiality of your data and are bound by contract to do so.

Note that some of our websites provide forums and commenting facilities where you can post information. When you do so, be aware that other visitors may collect any information you make public.

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.

Who we share your personal data with

ihousestone has formed partnerships with a variety of carefully selected companies that we share data with in order to carry out the activities described in the section How we use your data.

Audit and verification

We may also have to share your personal data with third parties whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Privacy Policy.

How long we keep your personal data for

We will hold your personal information on our systems only for as long as required to provide you with the products and/or services you have requested.

Where you sign up to receive email marketing from us we will retain your e-mail address after you ‘opt-out’ of receiving emails in order to ensure that we continue to honour and respect that request. To unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time, please click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any marketing email and update your account preferences. You may also contact us to inform us if you do not wish to receive any marketing materials from us.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see ‘Your rights’ below for further information.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Personal Data – Your rights

Under the GDPR including any implementing data protection legislation in the UK you have the rights shown below:-

• Your right to be informed
• Your right of access
• Your right to rectification
• Your right to erasure
• Your right to restrict processing
• Your right to data portability
• Your right to object
• Your rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Right of Access

You may, at any time, request access to the personal data that we hold which relates to you (you may have heard of this right being described as a “subject access request”).

Please note that this right entitles you to receive a copy of the personal data that we hold about you in order to enable you to check that it is correct and to ensure that we are processing that personal data lawfully. It is not a right that allows you to request personal data about other people, or a right to request specific documents from us that do not relate to your personal data.

You can exercise this right at any time by writing to us using the contact details set out below and telling us that you are making a subject access request. You do not have to fill in a specific form to make this kind of request.

Your Right to Rectification and Erasure

You may, at any time, request that we correct personal data that we hold about you which you believe is incorrect or inaccurate. You may also ask us to erase personal data if you do not believe that we need to continue retaining it (you may have heard of this right described as the “right to be forgotten”).

Please note that we may ask you to verify any new data that you provide to us and may take our own steps to check that the new data you have supplied us with is right.

Further, we are not always obliged to erase personal data when asked to do so; if for any reason we believe that we have a good legal reason to continue processing personal data that you ask us to erase we will tell you what that reason is at the time we respond to your request.

You can exercise this right at any time by writing to us using the contact details set out below and telling us that you are making a request to have your personal data rectified or erased and on what basis you are making that request. If you want us to replace inaccurate data with new data, you should tell us what that new data is. You do not have to fill in a specific form to make this kind of request.

Your Right to Restrict Processing

Where we process your personal data on the basis of a legitimate interest (see the How we use your data section of this Policy which explains why we use your personal data) you are entitled to ask us to stop processing it in that way if you feel that our continuing to do so impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms or if you feel that those legitimate interests are not valid.

You may also ask us to stop processing your personal data (a) if you dispute the accuracy of that personal data and want us to verify that data’s accuracy; (b) where it has been established that our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where we no longer need to process your personal data (and would otherwise dispose of it) but you wish for us to continue storing it in order to enable you to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Please note that if for any reason we believe that we have a good legal reason to continue processing personal data that you ask us to stop processing, we will tell you what that reason is, either at the time we first respond to your request or after we have had the opportunity to consider and investigate it.

You can exercise this right at any time by writing to us using the contact details set out below and telling us that you are making a request to have us stop processing the relevant aspect of your personal data and describing which of the above conditions you believe is relevant to that request. You do not have to fill in a specific form to make this kind of request.

Your Right to Portability

Where you wish to transfer certain personal data that we hold about you, which is processed by automated means, to a third party you may write to us and ask us to provide it to you in a commonly used machine-readable format.

Because of the kind of work that we do and the systems that we use, we do not envisage this right being particularly relevant to the majority of individuals with whom we interact. However, if you wish to transfer your data from us to a third party we are happy to consider such requests.

Your Right to stop receiving communications

For details on your rights to ask us to stop sending you various kinds of communications, please contact us.

Your Right to object to automated decision making and profiling

You have the right to be informed about the existence of any automated decision making and profiling of your personal data, and where appropriate, be provided with meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing that affects you.

Exercising your rights

If you wish to exercise any of these rights or simply wish to find out what information, if any, we hold that relates to you, you must make your request in writing by sending an email to call@ihousestone.com or a letter to The Privacy Team, ihousestone

You can help us to process your request quickly by providing us with information that will help us identify records we hold that relate to you. For example your name, address, email address, telephone number, subscriber id or in the case of information captured via cookies, the IP address of the device you have used.

Contact our Data Privacy Team

If you have an enquiry or concern about the contents of our Privacy Policy or our handling and use of your data, please email the Privacy Team on call@ihousestone.com or send a letter to The Privacy Team, ihousestone. If you are not satisfied with our response to your enquiry or concern, you may wish to contact the Information Commissioner via their website

If we decide to change our Privacy Notice we will post these changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and in what circumstances we disclose it.

Important Information for California Residents

This section applies only to California residents. It describes how we collect, use and share Personal Information of California residents in operating our business, and their rights with respect to that Personal Information. For purposes of this section, “Personal Information” has the meaning given in the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which is defined as any information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer, household, or device, but does not include information exempted from the scope of the CCPA, namely:

• Publicly available information that is lawfully made from federal, state, or local government records
• Deidentified or aggregated consumer information
• Medical information or protected health information governed by California and federal health information privacy laws
• Clinical trial information subject to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (the Common Rule)
• Personal information regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Personal information that we collect, use and share

Summarized in the table below are the categories of Personal Information we may collect about you over the past twelve (12) months, depending on how you interact with us. The following table also describes how we collect and use such categories of information.

We will share the Personal Information collected from and about you over the past twelve (12) months as mentioned above for various business purposes. The table below shows the categories of information that we may share with third parties and the categories of those parties.

Glossary – statutory categories of personal information (as defined by the CCPA)

Your California privacy rights

As a California resident, you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases we may decline your request as permitted by law.

– Information – You can request the following information about how we have collected and used your Personal Information during the past 12 months:

• The categories of Personal Information that we have collected
• The categories of sources from which we collected Personal Information
• The business or commercial purpose for collecting and/or selling Personal Information
• The categories of third parties with whom we share Personal Information
• Whether we have disclosed your Personal Information for a business purpose, and if so, the categories of Personal Information received by each category of third-party recipient
• Whether we’ve sold your Personal Information, and if so, the categories of Personal Information received by each category of third-party recipient

– Access – You can request a copy of the Personal Information that we have collected about you during the past 12 months.
– Deletion – You can ask us to delete the Personal Information that we have collected from you.
– Opt-out of sales – If we sell your Personal Information, you can opt-out. In addition, if you direct us not to sell your Personal Information, we will consider it a request pursuant to the CCPA and California’s “Shine the Light” law to stop “selling” your personal information or sharing your personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We may share your Personal Information with third parties in the following circumstances, which California law classifies as a “sale” of your Personal Information:

• Supplying your data to third parties with your express consent (e.g. where you opt in to receive third party marketing or where you have requested to be contacted by a third party)
• Supplying your data to list brokers (but only where you have consented to be contacted by third parties)
• Using services that help deliver interest-based ads to you and may transfer Personal Information to business partners for their use. Making Personal Information (such as online identifiers or browsing activity) available to these companies may be considered a “sale” under the CCPA

– Opt-in – We do not knowingly target users under 16 years of age, but if we know that you are younger than 16 years old, we will ask for your permission (or if you are younger than 13 years old, your parent’s or guardian’s permission) to sell your Personal Information before we do so.
– Non-discrimination – You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination. This means that, unless otherwise permitted by the exceptions listed in the CCPA, we will not penalize you for exercising your rights by taking actions such as denying you services; increasing the price/rate of services; decreasing service quality; or suggesting that we may penalize you as described above for exercising your rights.

How to exercise your California rights

You may exercise your California privacy rights by emailing call@ihousestone.com quoting “California Privacy Rights – [insert name of ihousestone brand]” in the subject header and stating which right(s) you wish to exercise.

Right to opt-out of the sale of your Personal Information for internet and mobile users (online third parties): If you do not wish for us or our third party partners (such as advertising networks) to sell your personal information to others, please click on the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link in the footer of the relevant website. If you access this site and/or app from other devices or browsers, or clear your cookies on your devices or browsers, you will need to indicate your preferences again from those devices or browsers.

Right to opt-out of the sale of your Personal Information for subscribers (offline third parties): If you want to opt-out of all offline third party sales, please email call@ihousestone.com quoting “California Privacy Rights – [insert name of ihousestone brand]” in the subject header and state which right(s) you wish to exercise.

We will need to confirm your identity and California residency to process your requests to exercise your information, access or deletion rights. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf, subject to proof of identity and authorization. In order to confirm your identity, we will need you to provide us with certain information, such as your customer number, address, ZIP code, last 4 digits of your credit card number if you are a subscriber and your name and email address if you are a non-subscriber.

We have no obligation to honor your request if we cannot verify your identity or residence. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.