Data PROTECTION: now it’s personal… GDPR came into force on 25th May 2018, and we wanted to tell you how we use your data

Did you know?
There is a law all about cookies? Yup. There is. You can read more about it on the ICO website if you are inclined. It’s very boring, so if you are an insomniac do head over there.  They also have details of the rules for something called GDPR or “General Data Protection Regulations”. They are lengthy and boring. The short version is . . .
Every single day, every one of us generates a huge amount of data; be that on our phones, laptops or the paper trail that we create. GPDR is there to help your data to stay safe.

How TD Plumbing and Heating uses your information
My basic rule of thumb is “how would I feel if my information was treated like that?”

So whilst I do use contact details that you give me to send marketing information to you we give you ways to unsubscribe if you wish. We don’t share your name and email details and the like with other people. Our aim is to be the good guys.
If you send us an email, or if you use the ‘contact’ page you may wonder what happens to your details. Actually, it is very simple. In both cases we see an email from you in my inbox. We will reply to that email, if a reply is required.

What if you enquire about us doing some heating or plumbing work for you? In that case you go on my database and we will follow up with you as needed. And because we also use email marketing we will add you to my email list which sends you things such as your annual boiler service reminder and/ or any seasonal offers that may be relevant to you!

If you don’t want emails from us in the future just tell me when you first contact us or unsubscribe when we send you an email – there is always an unsubscribe link.

The official stuff
There are various headings that the Information Commissioner’s Office say should be in a Privacy Policy so here they are, and here are my answers to them.

What information is being collected?
We only receive the details you send to us. Usually details like name/address/email address/phone number, and of course things to do with your plumbing and/or heating requirements – address, dates etc . . .

Who is collecting it?
Us! TD Plumbing and Heating ONLY, We promise!

How is it collected?
There are a few places that you can get in to “our system”. You might phone us. You might email us. You might use our contact form. You might engage us to fit your bathroom or install your new central heating system.

You might fill in a form on another website that then sends us your information. In each case we only collect the details you send through to us. That’s usually details of your requirements so that we can talk to you about potentially installing your bathroom, fixing your radiator issues or upgrading your boiler.

We put this all into my Customer Relationship Management system – something called Pipedrive – and we use it to prompt us to do things like follow up with you, to send you contracts and so on. It actually reminds us to do things such as ask you for a review of our work, should you wish to engage us of course! Although we do try our best, this helps us to remember all the essentials!

Why is it being collected?
We keep data simply to help us to help you. If we didn’t have your phone number/name/address we couldn’t even contact you to talk about your boiler/pipes/bathroom in the first place.

How will it be used?
I’ve covered this in “how is it collected” above. Essentially we keep everything on our computer and our phones so that we can “deliver” on our promise to you. Without our Pipedrive system we wouldn’t be able to do such a smooth job.

Who will it be shared with?
Nobody, we promise!

What will be the effect of this on the individuals concerned?
Well other than us doing a smoother job for you, our valued customer, we can’t think of one!

Is the intended use likely to cause individuals to object or complain?
Not that we can see. If it were us we would expect my details to go into a system for any order we make. This is no different.

Once you become a client we hold financial data & add you to our CRM system
Once you start working with us, we’ll need to invoice you, so of course we’ll need to hold that information too. Again, this would never be passed on, and we’d remove this after 7 years if you were no longer a client. We keep our CRM data for as long as you’re a client. Should you decide to leave us, then we’d remove it after three months.

That’s the official stuff done
As we say we don’t share details that you share with us with anyone else. We hate it when it happens to us, and we will not sell/give your information away. “But Tom, I’m only on your site because you contacted me!” If that is the case then we were provided with your email address by somewhere like a leads generation site that you have visited, as a result you said that you were happy to be contacted by suppliers.

Or maybe you were at a networking event with us and handed us your card to contact you – in which case you’ve probably added us to your mailing list too!

If you do not want further contact with us please simply email us and we will take you off our list, or hit that unsubscribe link in the email.

Oh and if you look at our testimonials page you’ll see stuff written by other valued customers. If you are kind enough to send us a review, we are likely to put it up on our website and plaster it all over Facebook/Instagram/Twitter… it’s lovely when people thank us and we like to share that!

Warm Milk and Cookies
You have probably heard about cookies before. Like many other websites, the TD Plumbing website uses cookies. The ones we use are looked after by Google Analytics and Facebook. They are used to help us analyse how users use our site and/or telling us where they came from (was it a Facebook advert or a Google advert, for example).

We use Facebook for marketing and if you visit our website and have a Facebook user ID they will know (somehow – don’t ask us!). It’s just like if you visit Amazon and look at a pair of shoes and they miraculously appear elsewhere. We may appear on Facebook if you come here. Magic. Ditto Google. We do use Google adverts too.

The other cookies we use are Pipedrive ones in our email campaigns so that we know if our emails are even being looked at!

But I do not like cookies!
That’s fine by us. We use cookies only to find out how people use our site. If the vision of Big Brother worries you – turn them off. The site will still work.  It’s fairly easy – even my Antivirus/Firewall software has a tool for turning cookies off if we don’t want them these days, so there are plenty of ways of stopping the Google Analytics cookies should you wish.

Links to other sites
Of course, other sites that we have links to which are not in our control, and this privacy policy does not cover the links within this site that go elsewhere.
Where you do find links on this site they have been put there because we think they may have something of use to you.