Privacy policy

Privacy policy statement - April 2023

Hughes Electrical Ltd is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. We take care to protect the privacy of our customers and users of our products that communicate online with us via the website and social media platforms. We have therefore developed this privacy policy to inform you of the data we collect, what we do with your information, what we do to keep it secure as well as the rights and choices you have over your personal information. We will let you know which entity will be the ‘controller’ of your personal data when you purchase a product or service with us. Hughes Electrical Ltd is the controller of and is responsible for our website. By browsing or using our website, you agree to this policy governing its use. If you do not accept this policy, then you must not use our website.

We promise: 

• To keep your data safe and private.
• Not to sell your data.
• To make it easy for you to manage and review your marketing choices at any time.
• To delete your data if it is no longer required.
  
  
  

How we use your information 

All personal data that we obtain about you will be used in accordance with current data protection laws and this privacy policy. We, or third-party data processors acting on our behalf, will process your personal data as follows. As necessary, to perform a contract with you, we will use the following information:

Your name and contact details 

• To deliver your orders.
• Send order updates by text, email or by telephone.
• Sending you information by email or post about new products and services – we will only send you this with your consent.
• For fraud prevention.
• For customer service and product support.
• For training purposes.
  
  
  

Your date of birth information 

For product rental and finance applications as well as fraud prevention.

Your payment information 

We do not store credit/debit card details on our servers. These are processed directly by the credit card processing company Barclays Merchant Services on their secure Smartpay payment system. PayPal and Amazon Pay will use tokenisation, which means that the primary account number is replaced with a series of randomly generated numbers called the token. These tokens can then be passed through the Internet to process the payment without actual bank details being exposed.

Your contact history with us 

For customer service and support. 

Purchase history and saved items 

• What you’ve bought and what you’ve stored in your basket for another time. 
• To remember your wish list. 
• To provide customer service, support and to deal with returns. 
• To comply with legal obligations about looking after your data, to prevent and detect fraud against either you or the Hughes group.
  
  
  

Visitors to our website 

When someone visits hughes.co.uk, we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Sharing your information 

We will not sell or rent your personal data to a third party including your name, address, email address. However, in order to fulfil your order or service we will share it with:

• Payment service providers.
• Delivery companies such as Manufacturer home deliveries, Amazon Shipping, DPD, Arrow XL, APC, Hermes and Star Transport.
• Companies that provide services selected by you such as SKY UK and POP.
• Professional service providers, such as marketing agencies, advertising partners and website hosts who help us run our business.
• Online review platforms such as Reevoo and Trustpilot.
• Gift card provider’s such as Gift Cloud.
• Credit reference agencies, finance companies, law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies.
• Manufacturers when spare parts are sent to you or for warranty purposes.
• Service engineers or technicians repairing products in your home or work premises.
• We may provide third parties with anonymised information and analytics about our customers and, before we do so, we will make sure that it does not identify you. We also anonymise and aggregate personal information (so that it does not identify you) and use it for purposes including testing our IT systems, improving our website and to develop new products and services. We also share this information with third parties. 
• Insurance companies such as Domestic & General Insurance PLC
  
  
  

Other companies within the Hughes Group

We may from time to time share your personal data with other companies within the Hughes Group, to help us to provide services to you. These companies are:
Hughes Electrical Ltd
Hughes TV and Audio Ltd
Hughes Rental Ltd
Washco Ltd
Solent Laundry Solutions Ltd
Goodman Sparks Ltd

Each of these companies have their registered address at Mobbs Way, Lowestoft, NR32 3AL and are bound by the terms of this privacy statement to comply with our group data protection policies.

Marketing messages

We will only send you marketing messages if you consent for us to do so. You can stop receiving marketing messages from us at any time. You can do this:

• Through your online account.
• By clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any email.
• By emailing privacy@hughes.co.uk or by writing to Hughes, Mobbs Way, Lowestoft, NR32 3AL.

Once you do this, we will update your profile to ensure that you don’t receive further marketing messages. Please note that we will update our systems as quickly as we can but you may still get messages from us while we process your request. Stopping marketing messages will not stop communications in regards to orders or customer-related issues. We also engage in online advertising to keep you aware of what we’re up to and to help you find our products.

Our customers are free to opt out of the special Rewards club offers and promotional electronic marketing we provide at any time. This can be done by simply clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of our emails. You can also choose to unsubscribe from our email communications by logging in to your account and updating your preferences in the 'Overview' section. To find our more about our Rewards club, please click here.

Online advertising 

Like many companies, we target Hughes banners and ads to you when you are on other websites and apps. We do this using a variety of digital marketing networks and ad exchanges. We also use a range of advertising technologies like pixels, ad tags, cookies, and mobile identifiers, as well as specific services offered by some sites and social networks such as Facebook’s Custom Audience service. The banners and ads you see will be based on information we hold about you, your previous use of Hughes or on Hughes banners/ads that you have previously clicked on.

Cookies 

We use cookies on our website. For more information on cookies and how to remove them, please see our cookie policy here.

Klarna 

In order to be able to offer you Klarna’s payment options, we will pass to Klarna certain aspects of your personal information, such as contact and order details, in order for Klarna to assess whether you qualify for their payment options and to tailor these options to you. You can find general information on Klarna here. Your personal data is handled in accordance with applicable data protection law and in accordance with the information in Klarna’s privacy policy.

Your information 

We will keep your information for either as long as you have an account, as long as is needed to be able to provide the services to you or for as long as is necessary to provide product-related services. Unless otherwise required by law, your data will be stored for a period of 7 years after our last contact with you before being deleted. If required to meet legal or regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, or enforce our terms and conditions.

Your rights

• The right to be informed about how your personal information is being used.
• The right to access the personal information we hold about you - Access Request Form
• The right to request the correction of inaccurate personal information we hold about you.
• The right to request that we delete your data or stop processing it or collecting it, in some circumstances.
• The right to stop direct marketing messages and withdraw consent for other consent-based processing at any time.
• The right to request that we transfer or port elements of your data either to you or another service provider.
• The right to complain to your data protection regulator — the Information Commissioner’s Office.
  
  
  

For more information about your privacy rights 

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) regulates data protection and privacy matters in the UK. They make a lot of information accessible to consumers on their website and they ensure that the registered details of all data controllers, such as ourselves, are available publicly - you can access them here. You can make a complaint to the ICO at any time about the way we use your information, however we hope that you would consider raising any issue or complaint with us first. Your satisfaction is extremely important to us and we will always do our very best to solve any problems you may have.

How long we retain your data 

We retain a record of your personal information in order to provide you with a high quality and consistent service. We will always retain your information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and will never retain your information for longer than is necessary. Unless otherwise required by law, your data will be stored for a period of 7 years after our last contact with you, at which point it will be deleted.

Transfer of personal data outside the UK  

Although we are based in England, we may transfer your personal information to a location (for example, to a secure server) outside of the United Kingdom, if we consider it necessary or desirable for the purposes set out in this notice. In such cases, to safeguard your privacy rights, transfers will be made to recipients in which an “adequacy decision” applies. This is a decision from the ICO confirming that adequate safeguards are in place in that location for the protection of personal data or will be carried out under standard contractual clauses that have been approved by the ICO as providing appropriate safeguards for international personal data transfers.

Changes to our privacy statement  

If significant changes are made to this statement, we will make it clear on our websites or via customer email so that you so that you are able to review the changes before you continue to receive marketing messages from us.

How to contact us

 If you want to exercise your rights, make a complaint or just have questions regarding the privacy statement, then please contact us by emailing privacy@hughes.co.uk. Alternatively, you can write to us at: 

Hughes Privacy Team
Hughes Mobbs Way
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR32 3AL 

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Find out on their website how to report a concern here.