Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Switchgear Limited (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and look after your personal data when you visit our website, register an account, make a purchase, or contact us.

2. The Data We Collect About You

We collect, use, and store the following types of personal data:

  • Identity Data: First name and last name.
  • Contact Data: Email address and telephone number.
  • Delivery Data: Billing address and delivery address.
  • Technical Data: Internet protocol (IP) address, browser type, time zone setting, browser plug-in types, operating system, and platform.
  • Usage Data: Information about how you use our website, products, and services.

Note on Payment Data: We do not directly collect, store, or process your credit or debit card details on our servers. All financial transactions are handled securely by our third-party payment processor, Worldpay.

3. How and Why We Use Your Personal Data

Under UK data protection law, we must have a valid lawful basis to use your data. We use your data for the following purposes:

  • To deliver services, goods, and process payments: We process your Identity, Contact, and Delivery Data to fulfil orders, manage accounts, and deliver packages. Your transaction details are shared securely with Worldpay.
    • Lawful Basis: Performance of a Contract.
  • To respond to enquiries: We process your Identity and Contact Data when you send us emails or correspondence.
    • Lawful Basis: Legitimate Interests (to run our business and support users).
  • To monitor and improve our website performance: We use Google Analytics to track how visitors move around our site and interact with content.
    • Lawful Basis: Consent (gathered via our cookie banner). [1]
  • Direct Marketing: If you explicitly choose to receive promotional updates (by actively ticking an opt-in box), we may contact you by email, SMS, or phone. You can opt out at any time by emailing enquiries@switchgearltd.co.uk.
    • Lawful Basis: Consent.

4. Sharing and Disclosing Your Data

We do not sell your personal data. We only share your data with trusted third parties necessary to run our business, including:

  • Worldpay: Our secure third-party payment gateway, to handle your payment details and prevent financial fraud.
  • Google LLC: Providers of Google Analytics, to help us analyse website traffic. (Data transferred to Google servers in the US is protected under standard contractual clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office).
  • Delivery and courier services to ship your orders.
  • Professional advisors, law enforcement, or regulatory bodies if required by law or a valid court order. 

5. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users and analyse site traffic through Google Analytics. Non-essential cookies (including Google Analytics tracking) are blocked by default until you give explicit consent through our cookie banner. You can change your preferences or opt out at any time. 

6. Data Security and Retention

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Typically, customer accounts and order history data are retained for 6 years following your last interaction with us to comply with UK financial and tax regulations. Google Analytics data is set to automatically expire after 14 months. 

7. Your Legal Rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your data:

  • Right of Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. This service is entirely free of charge.
  • Right to Rectification: You can request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to Erasure: You can ask us to delete your personal data under certain conditions.
  • Right to Object/Restrict: You can object to us processing your data, or ask us to restrict how we use it.

To exercise any of these rights, please email us at enquiries@switchgearltd.co.uk. We respond to all legitimate requests within one calendar month.

8. How to Complain

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint at any time with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us first.