Privacy Policy

Who we are

This website is run by 1st Fix Ltd, trading as 1st Fix UPVC, of 31 Albert Dr, Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE9 6EH. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy, which means we decide how and why it is used.

If you have any questions about this policy or your information, call us on 0800 047 2610 (Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:30pm) or write to us at the address above.

The information we collect

When you send us an enquiry

Our contact form asks for your name, phone number, email address and details of the work you need. It also records which page of our website you sent it from. If you call us, message us on Facebook or book a survey, we also keep the details you give us, such as your address and the work we quote for.

When you visit our website

Like most websites, ours collects some technical information automatically, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages you visit. Some of this is collected by the services described below rather than by us directly.

How we use your information

• To reply to your enquiry, give you a quote and arrange a survey or fitting.
• To carry out the work you ask us to do and to honour our workmanship guarantee.
• To keep records we are required to keep, such as invoices for tax and accounting.
• To keep our website secure and working properly.
• To understand whether our online advertising is working (see Cookies below).

We do not sell your information, and we do not add you to marketing mailing lists.

Our legal basis

Under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) we must have a legal reason to use your information. We rely on:

• Taking steps at your request before a contract, and performing that contract: replying to your enquiry, quoting and carrying out the work.
• Legal obligation: keeping financial records.
• Legitimate interests: running and securing our website and understanding how people find us. We only rely on this where it doesn't override your rights.
• Consent: where the law requires it, for example for some cookies.

Who we share it with

We only share your information with companies that help us run our business, and only as far as they need it:

• Make.com (Celonis): processes our contact form so your enquiry reaches us. It is handled on Make's EU servers.
• Cloudflare: hosts this website and protects it from attacks, which means it processes technical information such as IP addresses.
• Google: provides the fonts and maps on our website and our advertising measurement (see Cookies below).

We may also share information if the law requires it, for example with HMRC.

Some of these companies are based outside the UK, including in the USA. Where your information is transferred outside the UK, it is protected by safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK-US Data Bridge or approved contract terms.

How long we keep it

We keep enquiry details for as long as we need them to respond to you and follow up on a quote. If you become a customer, we keep your details for as long as we need them to provide our guarantee and to meet our legal and accounting obligations, which is usually up to six years after the work is finished. After that we securely delete them.

Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small files stored on your device. When you first visit, we ask whether you're happy for us to use optional cookies. Nothing optional is set unless you click Accept, and you can change your choice at any time using Cookie settings at the bottom of every page.

Optional (only with your consent)

• Google Ads conversion tracking: tells us when someone who clicked one of our Google adverts goes on to contact us, so we can see whether our adverts work. It uses cookies set by Google. You can also control Google's advertising cookies at adssettings.google.com.
• Google Maps: the maps on our pages are provided by Google, which may set cookies when a map loads. Maps only load if you accept, or if you click "Show map" on a particular map.

Always on (needed for the website to work)

• Your cookie choice: we store whether you accepted or rejected in your browser, so we don't ask you on every page.
• Cloudflare: may set a strictly necessary cookie to protect the website from bots and attacks.
• Google Fonts: the text styles on our website are loaded from Google, which receives your IP address but does not set cookies.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The website will still work.

Our pages also link to Facebook and Google reviews. If you follow those links, those sites' own privacy policies apply.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct anything that's wrong;
• ask us to delete your information;
• object to, or ask us to limit, how we use it;
• ask us to move it to another organisation;
• withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

To use any of these rights, call us on 0800 047 2610 or write to us at the address above. We'll respond within one month. It's free unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive.

Keeping your information safe

Our website is served over a secure, encrypted connection, and we limit access to your information to the people who need it to deal with your enquiry or job.

Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please contact us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed.