Privacy Policy

Introduction

We are a company registered in England and Wales (registration number 14476547) under the name Group Hugs Inc Limited; the address of our registered office is Dejan Business Park, Second Avenue, Chatham, Kent, ME4 5AU. We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number ZB494876).

Group Hugs is committed to respecting the privacy rights of individuals who purchase our products. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, store and use personal data about you when you buy Products from us or otherwise provide your personal data to us. It provides you with details about the types of personal data that we collect from you, how we use your personal data and the rights you have to control our use of your personal data. Words used in this Privacy Notice have the same meaning as is attributed to them in the Terms of Use.

What personal information do we collect about you?

When you purchase a Product from Group Hugs, we will collect all of the following personal data about you, this is required in order to produce and deliver the purchased product:

  • name;
  • billing and delivery addresses, email address and phone number(s);
  • Payment Method (typically credit card or debit card) details;
  • your User Content (a Journal) which you consent for us to access and print once a purchase has completed;
  • correspondence with and from Group Hugs;
  • your preferences about receiving communications from Group Hugs;

In order to take advantage of some of our Services, you may need to supply us with the personal details of a third party (for example, their name and address if you wish to send a Product to them as a gift). We will not use this information for anything other than providing the Services for which the information was supplied.

How do we use your personal information?

Your personal data will be collected, processed, stored and used by us, and passed to and processed by our subsidiary and/or affiliated companies and other data processors acting under contract with us.
When you sign up to Group Hugs and agree to our terms and conditions, we need to process certain data that allows us:

  • to provide the service to you in accordance with our agreement;
  • to create personalised Products;
  • to associate your Product purchases, with you, and to verify your identity;
  • to process payments you make for Products;
  • to pass your Product order for delivery by third party deliverers engaged by us;
  • to provide customer support and improve your customer experience;
  • to contact you by email and mobile communication (such as text (SMS) and "push" notification) in relation to the products or services you have purchased.

For legitimate business reasons we may process your data for customer satisfaction and customer experience improvement purposes, such as by analysing data we hold about you. We would also use this data in connection with the prevention and detection of fraud and other crime.
Please note when you provide a phone number when ordering a Product, that the phone number will be provided to the deliverer of your order and may appear on your order's packaging to assist with the delivery process.

We automatically collect anonymous information about your use of Group Hugs. For example, we may automatically log which parts of Group Hugs you access, which web browser you deploy and the website from which you linked to Group Hugs. You cannot be identified from any of this information. It enables us to compile statistics about the use of Group Hugs, and to help target aspects of Group Hugs and advertising to you more accurately.

Disclosing your personal data

We will share the personal data we collect about you with our subsidiary and/or affiliated companies and data processors (data storers, printers, deliverers, and payment service providers) under contract with us. That includes organisations in the following categories.:

  • information technology (hardware and software) companies;
  • payment processing companies;
  • manufacturers;
  • delivery and courier services;
  • fraud prevention companies;

We do this in order to provide our service to you (printing and delivering the journal) and so they can keep a record of who has purchased products from them.

We will not share your data with any other categories of organisation without your permission unless:

  • we are legally entitled to do so (for example, pursuant to a court order or for the purposes of prevention or detection of crime or fraud);
  • we are in negotiations with a third party for the sale or purchase of any of Group Hugs's business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
  • Group Hugs, or substantially all of its assets, is acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by Group Hugs about its customers will be one of the transferred assets; or
  • we wish to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements to which you are party, or to protect our rights, property, safety, customers, or others.

Marketing preferences

We will send you service messages relating directly to your orders and purchases from Group Hugs (such as order and dispatch confirmation emails), and emails which notify you of changes to our Terms of Use, or to policies we apply under our Terms of Use. We will also send market research emails to ensure you're happy with our service.

We will automatically include you in marketing communications that relate to your purchase unless you choose to opt out. We won't bombard you and we'll never share your data with anyone for their marketing purposes.

You can unsubscribe from all marketing from a link in the footer of any marketing email received from us.

International transfers

Data will only be transferred internationally for orders that are to be shipped outside of the UK. We will only transfer personal data that we collect from you to third party deliverers in countries that are outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) for the purpose of delivering an ordered product. Please be aware that countries outside the EEA may not offer the same level of data protection as the United Kingdom; however, we always require that third party data processors deal with your personal data in accordance with this privacy notice. Any transfers are done in accordance with the standards laid down by the EU Commission and/or decisions of the European Court of Justice.

Data retention

The Journal will be held for 90 days from when the order is placed. We will retain other minimal data for 6 years for tax, anti-fraud and other purposes.

Your rights

You have the right to request:

  • Access to the personal data we hold about you, free of charge in most cases. Note that we reserve the right to charge a fee for any requests which are considered (at our sole discretion) to be complex or require gathering, redaction, and/or transmission of large amounts of data.
  • The correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete.
  • The deletion of the data we hold about you, in specific circumstances; for example, when you withdraw consent or object, and we have no legitimate overriding interest, or once the purpose for which we hold the data has come to an end.
  • Restriction of the use of your personal data, in specific circumstances, generally while we are deciding on an objection you have made.
  • That we stop processing your personal data, in specific circumstances; for example, when you have withdrawn consent, or object for reasons related to your individual circumstances.
  • That we stop using your personal data for direct marketing (either through specific channels, or all channels).
  • That we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data after you withdraw that consent.
  • You can contact us to request to exercise these rights at any time by email at [email protected]
  • If we choose not to action your request, we will explain the reasons for our refusal.

Your right to withdraw consent:

  • Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent.
  • In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal data.

Checking your identity

To protect the confidentiality of your information, we will ask you to verify your identity before proceeding with any request you make under this Privacy Notice.

If you have authorised a third party to submit a request on your behalf, we will ask them to prove they have your permission to act.

To discuss any of these rights, please contact [email protected].

Additionally, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection regulator. In our case, this is the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK. Details of how to contact them can be found at ICO.org.uk.

Security

We employ significant technical and organisational measures to guard against unauthorised or unlawful processing of your personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal data. We believe the measures implemented by our site reduce the likelihood of security problems to a level appropriate to the type of data involved.

We have security measures in place to protect our database of Users and access to this database is restricted internally.

Deceptive emails

We will never ask you to confirm the details of your Account or Payment Method by email or mobile communication. If you receive such contact, please do not respond to it directly. You are encouraged to report any suspicious emails purporting to have been sent by Group Hugs by emailing us at [email protected]

Updates to this notice

This Privacy Notice was last updated on 9th November 2023. Please check back regularly to keep informed of changes to this notice.

Contact us

If you would like to contact us about any aspect of this Privacy Notice please contact us at [email protected]

Cookies

Information about our use of cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. By visiting or using this site with your browser set to allow cookies, you are consenting to our use of cookies for the purposes set out below.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.

To make full use of Grouphugs.co.uk and to benefit from certain personalised features, your computer, tablet or mobile phone will need to be set up to accept cookies. The Grouphugs.co.uk website (like many other shopping websites) will not work when cookies are blocked.

The list below details the cookies used on grouphugs.co.uk. We have outlined who sets these cookies and their purpose.

CategoryPartyPurpose
FunctionalityGroupHugs.co.ukGroupHugs.co.uk uses these cookies to enable some basic functionalities to provide a basic experience on our website. Examples include keeping products you have added to your basket, your language preferences. The information collected through these cookies is only used for this purpose and is never shared or sold on to third parties.
Strictly necessaryGroupHugs.co.ukThese cookies are essential as they enable you to move around a website and use its features, such as accessing the checkout. The information collected through these cookies is only used for this purpose and is never shared or sold on to third parties.
Analytical/PerformanceGoogle AnalyticsGoogle Analytic use cookies to collect data that helps us understand how people are using the site and monitor any errors that users may be experiencing. We use this information to identify how and where we can improve the user experience. The data collected through these cookies is anonymous.
TargetingGoogle AdwordsGoogle Adwords use cookies to track our own paid advertising activity. We use the information collected by these cookies to help us determine where our ads will be most effective online. Each individual advertiser uses its own tracking cookies and the data taken is not confidential data or interchangeable.

Managing Cookies

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

Here's how to do it:

Google Chrome

  • In the settings menu, select 'show advanced settings' at the bottom of the page.
  • Select the 'content settings' button in the privacy section.
  • The top section of the page that then appears tells you about cookies and allows you to set the cookies you want. It also allows you to clear any cookies currently stored.

Mozilla Firefox

  • In the tools menu, select 'options' (MAC users, go to the Firefox menu & select 'preferences')
  • Select the privacy tab in the options box.
  • From the dropdown choose 'use custom settings for history'. This will bring up the options for cookies and you can choose to enable or disable them by clicking the tickbox.

Internet Explorer 6+

  • In the tools menu, select 'Internet options'.
  • Click the privacy tab.
  • You will see a privacy settings slider which has six settings that allow you to control the number of cookies that will be placed: Block All Cookies, High, Medium High, Medium (default level), Low, and Accept All Cookies.

Safari browser

  • In the settings menu / Safari menu, select the 'preferences' option.
  • Open the privacy tab.
  • Select the option you want from the 'block cookies' section.

All other browsers

For information on how to manage cookies via other browsers, please consult your documentation or online help files.

What happens if I disable cookies?

This depends on which cookies you disable, but in general our Site will not operate properly if cookies are off. In particular, note that you may be prevented from making purchases of Products if cookies are disabled.