Privacy Policy

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Who we are

Bedford Tea collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The personal information we collect and use

In the course of us providing products and services to you, we may collect the personal information that you provide. This information may consist of:
Name, address, phone number, delivery address, email address, credit card details and details of the items you’ve ordered, and online identifies such as cookies and IP addresses.

How we use your personal information

We use this information in a number of ways:
  • To ensure the smooth processing & delivery of your order, or to contact you if there is a problem with your order.
  • To allow us to make any subsequent visits you may make to our website as easy as possible, meaning you don’t have to resubmit certain information each time you shop with us.
  • To occasionally contact you should we have any offers or information related to the goods you purchased with us previously.
  • To trigger abandonment emails (e.g. to remind you if you have left something in your online basket). For account holding customers only. You are able to unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of the emails you receive.
  • To profile our customer database to help us improve our service and product range and to help us attract similar customers. This may involve working with third party analysis companies.
Our website may also use a website recording service which may record mouse clicks, mouse movements, page scrolling and any text keyed into website forms. Data collected by this service is used to improve our website usability. The information collected is stored and is used for aggregated and statistical reporting, and is not shared with anybody else.

Who we share your personal information with

We occasionally share your personal information with reputable third party providers who help us provide and offer products and services to you and who take the security of your personal information seriously.
We may transfer your personal information to third party providers located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to provide services to you, for example where you have asked us to deliver your product to an address outside the EEA.
We have in place appropriate contractual safeguards with those third party organisations that are designed to help safeguard your privacy rights and give you remedies in the unlikely event of a misuse of your personal information.

How long your personal information will be kept

We will hold your personal information for no longer than necessary but in any event no longer than 6 years after (i) you cease to be a customer (ii) our last communication with you (unless we are legally required or have a legitimate business interest to retain it. Reasons we can collect and use your personal information We rely on the following lawful bases: our legitimate interests, consent from you (if applicable) and for the purposes of concluding a contract with you as the legal grounds for collecting and using your personal data. Our legitimate interests are providing or offering our products or services to you.

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:
  • access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Policy is already designed to address
  • require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold
  • require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
  • receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations
  • object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing
  • object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you
  • object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information
  • otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances
For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.
If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:
  • email, call or write to us (see ‘How to contact us’ below)
  • let us have enough information to identify you e.g. name and email address,
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • let us know the information to which your request relates
Our customer’s privacy is of the utmost importance to us and we will never release your details to third party organisations for the purpose of marketing or communications without your prior agreement. Bedford Tea operates a positive OPT IN option for anyone choosing to receive marketing information from carefully selected third parties. You can opt in to receive third party information by accessing your account pages or by clicking here.
If you are an existing customer, we will occasionally contact you via email or mail about Bedford Tea products and services that we believe would be of interest and benefit to you. If you would prefer not to receive this information you can OPT OUT at any time by visiting your account pages or clicking the unsubscribe link in the email. To opt out of postal mailing contact us at contact@bedfordtea.com.
If you are an existing customer we will also contact you via email to let you know if you have left items in your basket that you have not purchased. If you would prefer not to receive this information you can OPT OUT at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email.

Cookies

When you access our website, we will use cookies. Cookies are tiny text files that identify your computer to us. This helps us personalise our website to your best interests. Without cookies we wouldn’t be able to recognise you, make recommendations, update you basket or allow you to automatically update previously added information. Cookies enable us to make any purchases you make on our website quicker and easier. Cookies cannot read any other information that may be stored on your hard drive or access any other information about you or people who may use your computer. Only Bedford Tea can access the information provided by these cookies. Please see our cookie policy for further information.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.
Bedford Tea use the latest Secure Server Technology to ensure that all data submitted through our website is protected to the highest standards.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption is used to ensure that all credit card and transactional information is secure. You can tell when the web page your using is secure as the letters ‘https’ will replace ‘http’ in the browser address window. You will also notice a yellow padlock appear either next to your browser address window or at the bottom of your browser window.

Verified by Visa and Mastercard® Securecode™

Bedford Tea also use Verified by Visa and Mastercard® Securecode™ services to ensure our payment cards are as secure as possible. These services help protect your card against fraudulent use online. If you forget your Verified by Visa or Mastercard® Securecode™ passwords, you will have to contact the service providers directly as this is not information that is available to Bedford Tea.

How to complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.
The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was last updated on 6 September 2019.
We may change this privacy notice from time to time. You should check this policy occasionally to ensure you are aware of the most recent version.

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.
If you wish to contact us please send an email to conact@bedfordtea.com, write to Customer Services 5C Theatre Street, Battersea, London, SW11 5NE, or call +44 (0)7378 352 986.

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).