Privacy Policy
Introduction
Mech-Elec Wholesale Ltd (“we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data.
This privacy policy aims to give you information on how we collect and process your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you purchase a product or service.
It is important that you read this policy so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This policy supplements any other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.
This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
Important Information and who we are
Who we are
Mech-Elec Wholesale Ltd is the controller and responsible for your personal data.
How to contact us
We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our data privacy manager in the following ways:
- Email: sales@mech-elecwholesale.co.uk
Changes to the privacy policy
We keep our privacy policy under regular review and reserve the right to make changes or update this policy at any time. This version was last updated on June 26, 2024.
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 during your relationship with us.
Third-party links
Our website (mech-elecwholesale.co.uk) 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 and are not responsible for their privacy statements. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
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 which we have grouped together as follows:
- Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier and title.
- Contact Data includes postal address, billing address, email address and telephone numbers.
- Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
- Transaction Data includes details about payments from you and other details of products and services you purchase from us.
- Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, 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 username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
- Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
- Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
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, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
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 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.
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 and Financial Data when interacting with us. This includes personal data you provide when you:
- purchase our products or services;
- create an account on our website;
- request marketing to be sent to you;
- enter a competition, promotion or survey; 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, server logs and other similar technologies.
-
Third parties and publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
- Technical Data from analytics providers.
- Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services.
- Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources.
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.
- 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 or regulatory 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 third party 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.
| Purpose/Activity | Type of data | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
|---|---|---|
| To register you as a new customer |
(a) Identity (b) Contact |
Performance of a contract with you |
|
To process and deliver your order including: (a) Manage payments, fees and charges (b) Collect and recover money owed to us |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us) |
|
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy (b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services) |
| To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications (f) Technical |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences |
(a) Technical (b) Usage |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our Services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you |
(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business) |
Marketing
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.
Marketing and promotional offers from us
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile 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 may receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or if you have purchased goods or services from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing, in which case we may contact you based on our legitimate interests. You will be given an opportunity to opt out of our marketing in each case when we make contact.
Third party marketing
We will only, share your personal data with selected third parties for marketing purposes, or, permit them to send you marketing information about their products and services, with your express opt-in consent. Where you have consented, you may receive marketing from or about the applicable business(es) listed below:
- TheIPG Ltd
The third parties have their own privacy policies and we recommend you read and understand them, particularly where your personal data is shared with them.
Opting out
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you.
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, warranty registration, or other transactions.
Cookies
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the website may become inaccessible or not function properly.
Why do we use cookies and other tracking?
To do a few different things:
- to remember information about you, so you don't have to give it to us each time you visit
- to keep track if items you have added to your basket
- to help us understand how people are using our website, so we can make it better
How long do cookies last?
Some are erased when you close your web browser. Others stay longer, and are saved onto your device so that they’re there when you come back.
What cookies do you use?
Some cookies are always on when you visit us, and you can't turn them off unless you change your browser settings. We call these “necessary cookies”. We use them to make sure our website works correctly.
Bear in mind there are some other cookies out there from other companies. These “third-party cookies” might track how you use different websites, including ours. For example, you might get a social media company’s cookie when you see the option to share something. You can turn them off via your web browsers settings.
Our website makes use of the following cookies:
| Cookie | Validity | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| hdcms-session | 30 days | Necessary to track your progress through our website, including shopping basket contents |
| cookiepolicy | 1 year | Necessary to record your dismissal of our privacy notification bar |
| _ga, _gat, _gid | 2 years | Third-party website analytics cookies to monitor aggregate usage of our website so that we can monitor and improve performance |
| __tawkuuid | 2 months | Third-party chat service cookie to enable our live chat system to work |
| __stripe_mid | 30 days | Third-party payment provider cookie necessary for our payments system payments |
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.
Disclosures of your personal data
We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in section 4 above.
Service providers acting as processors (and sub-processors) based in the UK, EU and US (where subject to EU-US Privacy Shield) who provide IT and system administration services, and managed email and marketing services.
Professional advisers acting as independent controllers, including lawyers, accountants, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the UK who provide legal, accounting, banking, insurance and consulting services.
Specific third parties such as TheIPG Ltd.
Third parties to 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.
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.
International transfers
Some of the external third parties we use are based outside the EEA (including the UK) so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the EEA and the UK. Whenever we transfer your personal data in this way, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
- 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.
- 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.
- Where we use providers based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of the Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between Europe and the US.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA and the UK.
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.
Data retention
We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
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, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
Your legal rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:
- Request access to your personal data.
- Request correction of your personal data.
- Request erasure of your personal data.
- Object to processing of your personal data.
- Request restriction of processing your personal data.
- Request transfer of your personal data.
- Right to withdraw 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 could 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 could 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.