We’ll only ask for and use your personal data collected for recommending items of interest and to tailor your shopping experience with us. Of course, it’s always your choice whether you share such details with us.
5. How and why do we use your personal data?
We want to give you the best possible customer experience. One way to achieve that is to get the richest picture we can of who you are by combining the data we have about you. We then use this to offer you promotions, products and services that are most likely to interest you. In the case of Owner's Club members, we’ll also offer you relevant rewards.
The data privacy law allows this as part of our legitimate interest in understanding our customers and providing the highest levels of service. Remember, if you choose not to share your personal data with us, or refuse certain contact permissions, we might not be able to provide some services you’ve asked for. For example, if you’ve asked us to let you know when an item comes back into stock, we can’t do that if you’ve withdrawn your general consent to hear from us.
Here’s how we’ll use your personal data and why:
- To process any orders that you make by using our websites. If we don’t collect your personal data during checkout, we won’t be able to process your order and comply with our legal obligations.
- To respond to your queries, refund requests and complaints. Handling the information you sent enables us to respond. We may also keep a record of these to inform any future communication with us and to demonstrate how we communicated with you throughout. We do this on the basis of our contractual obligations to you, our legal obligations and our legitimate interests in providing you with the best service and understanding how we can improve our service based on your experience.
- To protect our business and your account from fraud and other illegal activities. This includes using your personal data to maintain, update and safeguard your account. We’ll also monitor your browsing activity with us to quickly identify and resolve any problems and protect the integrity of our websites. We’ll do all of this as part of our legitimate interest.
- To process payments and to prevent fraudulent transactions. We do this on the basis of our legitimate business interests. This also helps to protect our customers from fraud.
- With your consent, we will use your personal data, preferences and details of your transactions to keep you informed by email, web, text, telephone about relevant products and services including tailored special offers, discounts, promotions, events, competitions and so on.
Of course, you are free to opt out of hearing from us by any of these channels at any time.
- To send you communications required by law or which are necessary to inform you about our changes to the services we provide you. For example, updates to this Privacy Notice, product recall notices, and legally required information relating to your orders. These service messages will not include any promotional content and do not require prior consent when sent by email or text message. If we do not use your personal data for these purposes, we would be unable to comply with our legal obligations.
- To display the most interesting content to you on our websites or apps, we’ll use data we hold about your favourite brands or products and so on. We do so on the basis of your consent to receive app notifications and/or for our website to place cookies or similar technology on your device.
For example, we might display a list of items you’ve recently looked at, or offer you recommendations based on your purchase history and any other data you’ve shared with us.
- To administer any of our prize draws or competitions which you enter, based on your consent given at the time of entering.
- To develop, test and improve the systems, services and products we provide to you. We’ll do this on the basis of our legitimate business interests.
For example, we’ll record your browser’s Session ID to help us understand more when you leave us online feedback about any problems you’re having
- To comply with our contractual or legal obligations to share data with law enforcement.
For example, when a court order is submitted to share data with law enforcement agencies or a court of law
- To build a rich picture of who you are and what you like, and to inform our business decisions, we’ll combine data captured from across our partners, third parties and data from publicly-available lists as we have described in the section 'What Sort of Personal Data do we collect?' We’ll do this on the basis of our legitimate business interest.
For example, by combining this data, this will help us personalise your experience and decide which inspiration or content to share with you. We also use anonymised data from customer purchase histories to identify trends in different areas of the country. This may then guide which products we display in particular stores.
6. Combining your data for personalised direct marketing
We want to bring you offers and promotions that are most relevant to your interests at particular times. To help us form a better, overall understanding of you as a customer, we combine your personal data gathered as described above. For this purpose we also combine the data that we collect directly from you with data that we obtain from third parties to whom you have given your consent to pass that data onto us.
7. How we protect your personal data?
We know how much data security matters to all our customers. With this in mind we will treat your data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it. We secure access to all transactional areas of our websites and apps using ‘https’ technology. Access to your personal data is password-protected, and sensitive data (such as payment card information) is secured by SSL encryption. We regularly monitor our system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks, and we carry out penetration testing to identify ways to further strengthen security.
8. How long do we keep your peronal data?
Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we’ll only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
9. What are your rights over your personal dat?
An overview of your different rights
You have the right to request:
- Access to the personal data we hold about you, free of charge in most cases.
- The correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete.
- For example, when you withdraw consent, or object and we have no legitimate overriding interest, or once the purpose for which we hold the data has come to an end (such as the end of a warranty).
- That we stop using your personal data for direct marketing (either through specific channels, or all channels).
- That we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data after you withdraw that consent.
You have the right to request a copy of any information about you that the Partnership holds at any time, and also to have that information corrected if it is inaccurate. To ask for your information, please email marketing@astonmics.com. To ask for your information to be amended, please update your online account. If we choose not to action your request we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal.
Your right to withdraw consent
Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent.
Where we rely on our legitimate interest
In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal data.
Direct marketing
You have the right to stop the use of your personal data for direct marketing activity through all channels, or selected channels. We must always comply with your request.
Checking your identity
To protect the confidentiality of your information, we will ask you to verify your identity before proceeding with any request you make under this Privacy Notice. If you have authorised a third party to submit a request on your behalf, we will ask them to prove they have your permission to act.
10. How can you stop the use of your personal data from direct marketing?
There are several ways you can stop direct marketing communications from us:
- Click the ‘unsubscribe’ link in any email communication that we send you. We will then stop any further emails from that particular division.
- If you have an account, log in into your MY ASTON account and change your preferences.
- Write to Aston Microphones Ltd, 3 Hunting Gate, Hitchin SG4 0TJ United Kingdom
Please note that you may continue to receive communications for a short period after changing your preferences while our systems are fully updated.
11. Contacting the Regulator
If you feel that your data has not been handled correctly, or you are unhappy with our response to any requests you have made to us regarding the use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
You can contact them by calling 0303 123 1113.
Or go online to www.ico.org.uk/concerns (opens in a new window; please note we can't be responsible for the content of external websites)
If you are based outside the UK, you have the right to lodge your complaint with the relevant data protection regulator in your country of residence.
12. Any questions?
We hope this Privacy Notice has been helpful in setting out the way we handle your personal data and your rights to control it. If you have any questions that haven’t been covered, please contact our Data Protection Officer who will be pleased to help you:
- Email us at marketing@astonmics.com
This notice was last updated on 27/04/2018