Search Professionals Ltd

Privacy Policy

Search Professionals Ltd. takes your privacy very seriously. We review our approach to data protection and privacy on an ongoing basis to ensure that the rights of individuals are respected and protected to the best of our ability at all times This privacy policy explains how we use any personal information that we collect about you.

Please read this privacy policy before using the website and our services.

In this privacy policy references to (“we” “us” and “our”) is Search Professionals Ltd. Search Professionals Ltd is incorporated in England with number 063990 and its registered office address is The Barn, 1 West End, Whittlesford, Cambridge, CB22 4LX, UK. We provide a quoting service through our website called tophomesecurity.org. References to “you” and “your” relate to the individual reading and using our website. For convenience we use the words “information” and “data” interchangeably. “Website” means “tophomesecurity.org”.

Definitions

Data means information stored electronically or in certain paper-based filing systems.

Personal data is any information relating to a person (a ‘data subject’) who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that person.

Data controller means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. Search Professionals (‘we’) is the data controller of all personal data used by our business for our own commercial purposes.

Processing means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data (whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure, dissemination, restriction, erasure or destruction).

Data processor means a person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller. Search Professionals is also a data processor of personal data used in our business for our own commercial purposes.

Contents

1. How our business works for you?
2. Your consent
3. What information do we collect about you?
4. Lawful basis for processing your data
5. How do we use your information?
6. How we protect your personal data?
7. Transfers of data
8. Data Retention Policy
9. What are my rights in relation to the personal data that you hold?
10. If you have a complaint
11. Changes to our privacy policy
12. How to contact us?

• 1. How our business works for you?

We endeavour to procure bespoke, free, no obligation quotes from alarm security companies to you when you make an enquiry via our website. This is a quote finding and introduction service which we provide for consumers and businesses; we do not provide the products and services that you may require ourselves.

We aim to provide you with a quote within 36 hours following your online completion of an enquiry through working in conjunction with companies who specialise in the delivery of alarm system quotes. The alarm system company we pass your details to will depend on your postal address area and specific requirements.

To be able to deliver suitable quotations to you we send your personal data and the details of your requirements to one potential alarm system company. This company will also be a data controller and processor of your personal data.

• 2. Your consent

You give us consent to use your personal information, as outlined in this privacy statement, when you manually enter information about yourself on our website and submit it as a request to receive our quote finding service. Without your consent we are unable to provide our quote finding service to you.

You may seek further information about the scope of your consent as well as vary or withdraw it under heading 9. “What are my rights in relation to the personal data that you hold?”

• 3. What information do we collect about you?

We collect personal data about you as follows:
Personal data entry via a Webform

To provide our quote finding service we will ask you to enter the following personal details:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email Address
• Telephone Number
• House Number or name
• Street
• Postal Code
  
  

You will also be asked for some further information (not personal data) to help us process your request for quotations as you go through our Webform.

Without this information we are unable to process your request.

Your electronic information
Your electronic information is obtained by us: (A) through the use of cookie devices lodged within your computer, (B) through information disclosed by your browser and (C) by features of your computer recognised and “remembered” by ours.

A) Cookies
Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. This also saves you from re-entering information when you return to the site.

Most web browsers can be set to: prevent you from receiving new cookies; notify you before accepting cookies or disable cookies altogether. Details about this can normally be found in the ‘Help’ facility provided with your browser.

If you do not want your visits to our website to be monitored in this way you can disable certain cookie functions as described below:

• • If you wish, you can usually adjust your browser so that your computer does not accept cookies. If you do this, you will still be able to browse around the site but certain functions will not be available.


• • Alternatively, you can adjust your browser to notify you when a website tries to put a cookie on your computer. How you adjust your browser to stop it accepting cookies or to notify you of them, will depend on the type of Internet browser programme you choose to use.

If your computer uses Microsoft Windows Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, you will need to follow these instructions after clicking onto this link www.allaboutcookies.org.

• • Go to the heading "Manage Cookies".
• • Click onto the option you prefer, either stopping cookies being installed, or notifying you of them.
  
  

From the list provided, click onto the programme, which your computer uses. If this is not shown on the list, click on the "help" heading on the bar at the top of this page, search for information on "cookies" - an explanation of how to delete cookies will appear, then follow these instructions.

A cookie consent pop-up appears on our home page when you first visit it. This enables you to select your preferences for the specific cookies that we use.

Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use all of the features we offer, you may not be able to store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.

B) IP Address
Your browser also generates other information, including which language the site is displayed in, and your Internet Protocol address ("IP address"). An IP address is a set of numbers which is assigned to your computer during a browsing session whenever you log on to the internet via your internet service provider or your network (if you access the Internet from, for example, a computer at work). Information so obtained, while necessary to the operation of and communication between computers may also allow you, as owner of the information, to be identified and thus may constitute personal data. Data protection law requires such information to be identified and, so far as is practicable, for informed consent to be given by you before the electronic information is passed from your computer to ours.

Your IP address is automatically logged by our servers and used to collect traffic data about visitors to our web sites.

We do not use your IP address to identify you personally but these logs may contain unique identifiable information left by your computer.

We use IP addresses for the following purposes:

• • To ensure that we are not receiving fraudulent registrations from the same IP address as evidence in the event of being challenged for sending unsolicited email. The IP address log would show that a registration took place on a given day.

• 4. Lawful basis for processing your data

We rely on your explicit consent to process your personal data. This means that we ask for your consent to the following use of your data:

• • To transfer the data to a data processor, where required, to enable a company to be selected for providing quotations for you


• • To forward the information that you enter to a company so that they may provide quotations and other services, that you request, for you


• • To communicate relevant Search Professionals marketing information using Platforms. See section 7. Transfers of Data which explains how we protect your data using pseudonymisation, if we do this.

We may also rely on the following other lawful bases, as required. These are detailed in the table below.

Processing purpose	Legal Basis For Processing
Obtaining alarm system quotations for you	Contractual necessity
To verify our contract with a quotation provider	Contractual necessity
To provide service related information	Contractual necessity
To comply with a legal duty	Legal obligation
To protect your vital interests	Vital interests
For our own (or a third party’s) lawful interests, provided your rights did not override these	Legitimate interests

You are not bound to enter into a contract with any supplier that provides a quotation to you and can unsubscribe from any communications related to your enquiry from them or us at any time.
See section 9. for more information on your rights regarding your personal data.

5. How do we use your information?

To help you to obtain bespoke, free, no obligation quotes from an alarm system company
We capture your details and use them to select one company that is able to provide you with a free alarm system quotation for your property. We pass your personal data to this company to enable this. We do this with your explicit consent.

About our selected alarm system companies

We pre-vet all companies that join our quote finding service as potential suppliers to our customers to ascertain, as best we can, that they will be suitable for your requirements and will keep your personal data safe. However, the final responsibility for determining suitability to supply the alarm systems, is with you, when considering the detailed quotation(s) provided.

We are constantly monitoring the companies that we have selected to ensure that our customers are receiving the best possible experience.

For marketing purposes

We may sometimes use Facebook, Google and other platforms (“Platforms”) to reach out to you with advertising for other products. We also use these Platforms to reach out to other people who might wish to use our alarm system quote finding service. See 7. Transfer of data - Custom and Lookalike/ similar audiences
We protect your data using pseudonymisation if we do this. This is explained in detail in Section 7. Transfers of data.

• 6. How we protect your personal data

Where is your data held?
We hold your data on secure servers within the EU/ EEA to enable us to provide our quote finding service to you

Keeping your details safe…
We take the security of your data very seriously from the outset. Our web address is HTTPS. (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) This is the protocol used to access a secure Web server. We use https:// as the prefix to our Web address rather than the common http://, so that your session is managed by a security protocol and the transmission of data is encrypted to and from the Web server.

Secure certificates (SSL Certificates) are in place. These are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organisation’s details. These allow secure connections from a web server to a browser. SSL is used to secure all transfers of your data.

Our server is protected by a firewall. Log in details are securely shared internally between employees.

Any personal data held in our servers is encrypted. If there are any security breaches, your data is encrypted and therefore secure.

Each company to whom we pass your information, in order to provide you with quotes, has contracted with us to keep your data safe and use it only for the provision of a quote and, if selected by you, to provide the products or services you require.

We always have contracts in place with any companies that we pass your details on to both to ensure that they will keep your data secure and that they comply with the rules of the EU GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation), which we also comply with.

It is important that you read any selected company’s privacy statement for their specific details on how they may use additional personal data that you provide to them. Our privacy statement only applies to the data that you have provided to us.

Please be assured that we will not use your details for direct marketing or pass your details to third parties, other than as described in this statement, without explicit consent from you.
Finally, please note that the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our very best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your information transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

• 7. Transfers of data

We comply with relevant data protection laws for all transfers of personal data.

• • Your data is initially collected on a Webform located on our web server in Germany.
• • When you click to proceed on our Webformit is securely transferred to data servers in Southern Ireland which is also in the EEA
• • Once a suitable company is selected to provide a quotations service to you, your data is securely transferred to their servers for this purpose
  

Whenever we transfer your personal data, 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 and from EU member states and EEA countries based on EUGDPR law.
  
  
• • We will only transfer your personal data to countries outside the EU member states and EEA countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission.

We always have signed contracts in place with all the companies that your details could be passed to, to ensure that they will keep your data secure and that they comply with the rules and principles of the EUGDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation) which we also comply with.

To create custom and lookalike/ similar audiences
We use Facebook, Google and other platforms (“Platforms”) to reach out to you with relevant adverts for other products. We also like to use these Platforms to reach out to other people who might like to use our quote request service.

We do this in two ways. In both cases, your data, along with other data, is used to create a custom audience and/or a lookalike/similar audience. Whenever an ‘audience’ is shared with a Platform, the data is first hashed which is a technique for pseudonymisation, meaning that any personal data within the ‘audience’ that could identify a person is replaced with an artificial identifier. This reduces the linkability of a dataset with the original identity of a data subject (you). We don’t share more data than we need to for the purpose of creating the ‘audience’.

Custom audience – A custom ‘audience’ is a list of existing users of our service (“Existing Users”). From time to time, we share this with Platforms. As explained above, the data is first hashed (pseudonymised). The Platform uses this ‘audience’ to show our Existing Users adverts for Other Products.

Lookalike/similar audience – A lookalike/similar audience is an audience created by the Platform. From time to time, we share with Platforms a hashed list of Existing Users. The Platform uses this list to find and create lookalikes – i.e. other Platform users who have similar characteristics to the Existing Users – to which it shows our adverts.

Transfers of data outside the EU/ EEA (European Economic Area)

We share your personal data within our business and with data processors who can find suitable product and service suppliers for you. Your data will then be used to enable suppliers to provide a quotation and potentially move towards a contract with you.

Some of these data processors and suppliers, that may offer products and services to you, may be based outside of the EU/ EEA.
Any transfers of data outside the EU/ EEA would be undertaken with the safeguards detailed above.

8. Data Retention Policy

We keep your personal data for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is being processed. This is to reduce the risk that it will become inaccurate, out of date or irrelevant.

We ensure that your personal data is securely disposed of when no longer needed.

9. What are my rights in relation to the personal data that you hold?

Your rights are embodied in the contract formed between us when you visit the website (as subsequently augmented when submitting your personal information and, if you are called, when speaking on the phone) and as contained in the EU General Data Protection Regulations 2018 – also known as EU GDPR.

You have a right to object to us processing your data for marketing purposes. You can notify of this by emailing us at privacy@searchprofessionals.co.uk. We will stop processing your data as soon as we receive your request.

Your rights as contained in the EU GDPR are as follows:

• • Information Right – you may require us to provide a more detailed explanation of how we collect, process and use your personal information
• • Personal Data Access Right – you may require us to provide an electronic copy of your data, free of charge
• • Personal Data Correction Right – you may require us to correct your personal information as held by us
• • Personal Data Erasure Right – you may require us to permanently erase the personal data that we hold about you
• • Data Processing Restriction Right – you may require us to stop using your data for particular purposes such as mailing or profiling
• • Data Processing Objection Right – you may require us to suspend using your data if for example it is incorrect or you simply wish to withdraw your consent
• • Data Portability Right – you may require us electronically to transfer your personal information to another supplier, for example to facilitate switching
• • Automated Decision-Making Right – you may require us not to make decisions about you relying solely only on a computer decision

Some of the rights are unlikely to be of practical use to you. For example, if you wish for a copy or correction or cessation of use of some or all of your personal data we, our suppliers and our other introducing companies are likely already to have eradicated it from our or their system given the short periods your data is retained and its limited use.

We process the personal data of individuals in the EU and EEA, and have appointed Ametros Ltd as our Data Protection Representative in these countries. If you have any questions or wish to exercise your legal rights in respect of your personal data, as detailed above, you may do so by:

• • sending an email to: gdpr@ametrosgroup.com
• • mailing your enquiry to Ametros Ltd. Unit 3D, North Point House, North Point Business Park, New Mallow Road, Cork, Ireland.

How else can we help?
Rights aside, if you have a change of heart and do not wish us to pass your information to potential suppliers or another introducing company please let us know immediately by email or, should we call you, during our phone conversation and we will remove your information from our and their systems.

You are not bound to enter into a contract with any supplier that provides a quotation to you and can unsubscribe from any communications related to your enquiry from them or us at any time.

If you have any questions or concerns over our use of your data please email privacy@searchprofessionals.co.uk

10. If you have a complaint

You have a right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority in your country if you are not satisfied with how we are handling any concerns that you have with your data. A list of EU Data Protection Authorities can be found here: https://dataprivacymanager.net/list-of-eu-data-protection-supervisory-authorities-gdpr/

We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the any supervisory authority so please do contact us at privacy@searchprofessionals.co.uk
in the first instance.

11. Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and any updates will appear on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated in December 2021.

12. How to contact us?

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you:
by email to privacy@searchprofessionals.co.uk

or write to:
Mr. S. Threlfall, Search Professionals Ltd., The Barn, 1 West End, Whittlesford, Cambridge, CB22 4LX