Last Updated: 23rd July 2024
Who we are
In this Privacy Policy, references to "we" and "us" are to Serious Brands Limited trading as Serious Readers, company number 2485587, registered office 15 Faraday Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP19 8RY. We are also known as the Data Controller for Serious Readers.
Serious Readers is committed to protecting your personal information and this Privacy Policy tells you how we collect your personal data, how we store it and how we use it. Everything we do with your data is lawful and in your best interests.
We ensure that we will only use your information in line with all the applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Our contact details are at the bottom of this privacy policy.
What data we collect
In order to fulfil your order (for example – the purchase of a light), we need to know certain personal information collected at time of order. The information we hold will consist of but may not be limited to the following: Title; Name; Address; Mailing Preference flags such as ‘Do not mail, or Do not email; Products purchased from us in the past including their cost; Telephone number if offered to us (this will only be used for matters relating to your order); email address if offered; Where we believe you heard about us from.
On requesting a brochure we will ask a number of questions which are used for the purpose of enabling us to recommend the most appropriate light to you now and in the future.
Our legal basis for processing
We will only use your data in the way you wish, and we will always respect your privacy.
We process your data under the following legal grounds: • The processing is necessary to meet contractual obligations into which you have entered, such as the placing of an order. • The legal justification for sending you marketing communications about products and news is because we have a legitimate business interest for your data to be used for this specific purpose.
You are in complete control of your data and can choose not to receive marketing communications.
See the section ‘How to manage your Marketing Preferences’ for more information.
Our Legitimate Business Interests
We process some of your personal information to enhance our services and deliver the best experience, known as 'Legitimate Interests'. This involves:
• Fraud prevention.
• Direct marketing and promotions.
• Referral marketing programs.
• Network and systems security.
• Data analytics.
• Enhancing or improving our services.
• Identifying user trends.
• Evaluating promotional campaigns.
While we might share this data with trusted suppliers, it's always processed considering your interests. You have the right to object to this type of processing; for details, refer to the 'Contact Details' section.
Direct Marketing Communications
We may use your data to enable us to send you post and emails with information about our goods and services that we believe may be of interest to you. Postal marketing communications from us will typically consist of latest offers and promotions of new products. Emails will typically consist of either the latest news on eye conditions and lighting technology or the latest offers and promotions of new products.
How to manage your Marketing Preferences
You may be receiving emails from us or catalogues from us and/or our trusted partners. If you’d like to stop receiving these then you can do so in a number of ways: Contact us (see contact details at the bottom of the page) Go online to https://www.seriousreaders.com/mail_opt_outs/new and you can change your preferences there. Note that once you have decided to opt-out of one or more of the three Marketing Preferences you can only opt back in by contacting us on 0800 028 1890. If you would like to stop all unsolicited postal communications, we suggest that you register with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS). MPS is a free service funded by the direct mail industry to enable consumers to have their names and home addresses in the UK removed from lists used by the industry. For more information or if you wish to register with the MPS please visit their website www.mpsonline.org.uk.
Your Rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulations you have the following rights:
• To ask us what personal data we hold about you. You have the right to ask us what personal information we hold about you, and to ask us to update, amend or delete any data that is incorrect or out of date. Please allow up to a month for us to provide you with the information. There will be no charge for providing this service.
• To correct or update your information. The accuracy of your personal data is important to us. You can correct/update your personal data, including your address and contact details at any time.
You have the right to ask us to delete the data we hold about you. We will look to act in the best interest of our customers and will not abuse our position of data controller. Our aim is to be as clear and transparent as possible and action any requests as soon as possible. Due to the nature of catalogue mailings, any amendments may take a few weeks to implement and occasionally you may receive marketing materials from us a short time after your request.
Profiling
We use data profiling in order to make the content of our communications to you more interesting and relevant. This means that you will only receive details of our very best offers that have been tailored with you in mind. It also allows us not to waste your time by sending offers that are unlikely to be of interest. You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing. This includes decisions based on profiling. If you choose to exercise this right, then you will no longer receive offers from us as we base our mailing list on our customers’ purchase history.
If you object to such automated decision-making based on your personal data, then please contact us.
Data Sharing with Third Parties
We may share your personal data with third-party services, including Google and Facebook, for advertising and analytics purposes. You can opt-out of this data sharing at any time by contacting us or using the opt-out options provided in our communications. For more information on how these third parties handle your data, please review Google's Privacy Policy and Facebook's Privacy Policy.
Data Cooperatives
To find new customers for our business, we are a member of three co-operatives of UK retailers that pool and share transactional information – the co-operatives are Conexance, Sagacity, and Epsilon Abacus (registered as Epsilon International UK Ltd), a company that manages the Abacus Alliance on behalf of UK retailers and charities. The participating retailers are active in the clothing, collectables, food & wine, gardening, gadgets & entertainment, health & beauty, household goods, home interiors, and travel categories. They share information on what their customers buy. Conexance, Sagacity, and Epsilon Abacus analyse the pooled information to help the retailers understand consumers’ wider buying patterns. From this information, retailers can tailor their communications, sending people suitable offers that should be of interest to them, based on what they like to buy.
Please note that Conexance, Sagacity, and Epsilon Abacus may transfer data outside the EEA. The transfer will take place in the presence of appropriate safeguards, including standard data protection clauses adopted by the EU Commission.
To view privacy policies of the three data co-operatives, click the following links: Epsilon Abacus, Conexance, Sagacity.
Who we share your personal data with
Your information will be passed to and used by the following third parties who help us deliver our services. These third parties comply strictly with our instructions and data protection laws and we put in place appropriate controls through contracts and ongoing monitoring to ensure they are complying with our policies and procedures:
• Credit card companies / PayPal who process your payments for your orders.
• Designated courier companies who will deliver your order to you.
• A mailing company so that we can send you postal mailings, where your name and address only will be provided to them.
• Epsilon Abacus, Sagacity, and Conexance (see earlier section on ‘Direct marketing Communications’).
• Mention-Me, who manage our refer-a-friend program. Click here for details about the Mention-Me program and data use.
• Google and Facebook for advertising and analytics purposes.
How long we keep your data for
We retain your information for as long as you hold an account with us. This enables us to maintain an ongoing relationship with you and allows us to service the orders that you place with us.
Credit card Security
Credit card details are encrypted after data entry and are not stored on our systems once used.
Klarna
In order to offer you Klarna's payment methods, we, in the checkout (if you elect to pay by Klarna) will pass your personal data in the form of contact and order details to Klarna, in order for Klarna to assess whether you qualify for their payment methods and to tailor those payment methods for you. Your personal data transferred is processed in line with Klarna's own privacy notice, which can be found here - https://www.klarna.com/uk/privacy/.
By using Klarna payment options, you accept and agree to Klarna's privacy policy and practices. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of Klarna and we encourage you to read their privacy policy before providing them with personal data.
Notification of Changes
Whenever our privacy policy is updated, the date of the most recent revision will be prominently displayed at the top of this page. For substantial updates, we will proactively inform affected customers through direct communication channels such as postal mail, email, or other appropriate methods. Minor updates may occur periodically, in which case we will simply update the policy and adjust the effective date accordingly.
Contact Details
You can contact us in a number of ways: Call our Customer Services team on 0800 028 1890. Email the Data Controller at datacontroller@seriousbrands.co.uk. Write to us at: Data Controller. Serious Readers 15 Faraday Road Aylesbury Bucks HP19 8RY Great Britain