Privacy policy.

1. Who we are

This website is run by AI PROTECH LTD, trading as Ai Protech, which installs security, audio-visual, networking and smart-home systems across London and the M25. We are the "data controller" for the personal information in this policy: we decide why and how it is used.

For any privacy question, email info@aiprotech.co.uk or call 07464 394439. We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer, as the law does not require one for a business like ours.

This policy follows the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. "Legal ground" means the lawful basis those rules require for each use of your information.

2. Who this policy covers

• Visitors to this website, including people who use the live chat.
• Customers and anyone who asks us for a quote, books a job, buys from our shop or contacts us.
• Customers who use our customer portal.
• People whose details a retailer gives us so that we can install something they bought (section 13).
• Engineers who work with us and people who apply to (section 14).
• Trade partners and the people who work for them (section 15).

3. The information we collect

When you visit the website

• Which pages are viewed, the site that sent you to us, and whether you use a phone or a computer. These page-visit statistics do not identify you.
• If you accept analytics and advertising cookies (section 9): technical details of your visit such as your internet (IP) address, device and browser, and the advert or link that brought you here. If you then send an enquiry, the advert reference is saved with it so we know which advertising works.
• Standard technical logs kept for security, which include internet addresses.

When you ask for a quote or send an enquiry

Your name, mobile number, email address (optional on most forms), the address of the job, the service you want, your answers to the short questions on the form, any notes, and how you would like us to reply. To find and confirm your address as you type it, the address text (not your name or contact details) is checked with an address lookup service.

If you email us, we use the details in your email in the same way and keep a copy of it with your job. For business customers we also keep the company name, billing address, accounts email address and any order number you give us, to run the job and for our invoicing records.

When you book, pay or order from our shop

The details above plus your preferred dates, the package or items you chose, and a delivery address for shop orders. Card payments are handled by our payment provider. We never see or store your card details. The provider tells us whether the payment went through, the amount, a reference, and the name and email on the payment.

When you use the live chat

The chat is answered by an AI assistant run by a third-party provider. It reads your messages to reply and to pick out the details we need: your name, contact details, postcode and the service you want. Once you have given these, it passes them to our office as an enquiry. We do not keep the rest of the conversation after you close the chat.

While we do your job

• Job details: your contact details, the site address, access notes (such as parking or a gate code), the agreed work and price, dates, messages and invoices.
• Confirming your address: we may send you a link to confirm the address before a visit. On that page you can choose to share your phone's location so the engineer finds the right door. It is saved with the job. This is optional.
• Engineer on the way: when the engineer is coming to you, you may be able to see their position on a map until they arrive. This is the engineer's location, not yours.
• Photos: engineers photograph the work area before they start and the finished installation. These photos can show parts of your home or premises.
• Sign-off: at the end you confirm the work with your name and signature. We keep these, with any comment, in a completion report that also includes the address, the photos and the engineer's notes.

When you use the customer portal

Your login email, name, phone number, how you prefer to be contacted, your marketing choice, saved addresses and access notes, messages to the office, complaints you raise, and the feedback and ratings you leave.

Reviews

Feedback you leave in our customer portal stays private unless you tick the box allowing us to show it on this website. If you do, we show your rating and comments with your first name, surname initial, postcode area, the service and the month. The office checks every review first, and you can untick the box at any time to remove it.

Reviews you post publicly on an online review site are held by that site. We show our overall rating from it, and we may copy a public review onto this website with the reviewer's public display name, rating, comments and the month it was posted. Ask us and we will take yours off our website; it stays on the review site.

What we do not collect

We do not ask customers for dates of birth, health details or other sensitive information. Please do not include these in messages unless needed for the job. We do not record phone calls.

4. Why we use it and our legal grounds

• Reply to your enquiry and give you a quote or survey date

  Information used: Contact details, job address, service, notes

  Legal ground: Taking steps at your request before a contract

• Book, carry out, sign off and invoice your job, and keep you updated

  Information used: Job record, photos, sign-off, payment status

  Legal ground: Performance of our contract with you

• Take payment and prevent fraud

  Information used: Payment amount, payer name and email, payment reference

  Legal ground: Contract; legal obligation

• Keep accounts, meet tax rules, and deal with warranty, insurance or legal claims

  Information used: Job, invoice and payment records, photos and sign-off

  Legal ground: Legal obligation; legitimate interests

• Remind you about an open quote and ask for a review after a completed job

  Information used: Name, email address or mobile number, service

  Legal ground: Legitimate interests. Every message tells you how to stop them (section 10).

• Send occasional offers and news

  Information used: Name, email address

  Legal ground: Your consent; withdraw it at any time

• Answer the live chat, read emailed enquiries so we can set up the job, and help us draft replies and job descriptions

  Information used: Chat messages, emails, enquiry and job details

  Legal ground: Legitimate interests; contract once you are a customer

• Count visits to our pages

  Information used: Page address, referring site, phone or desktop (no personal identifiers)

  Legal ground: Legitimate interests

• Measure our advertising, and let Google show our adverts to people who have visited this site

  Information used: Cookie data, the advert or link that brought you here, whether you sent an enquiry or made a booking

  Legal ground: Your consent, given in the cookie banner

• Show reviews on this website

  Information used: Portal feedback: rating, comments, first name, surname initial, postcode area, service, month. Public reviews: display name, rating, comments, month

  Legal ground: Your consent (portal feedback); legitimate interests (reviews already posted publicly)

• Keep our website and systems secure

  Information used: Technical logs, internet (IP) address

  Legal ground: Legitimate interests; legal obligation

• Handle complaints, privacy requests and legal matters

  Information used: Your correspondence and records

  Legal ground: Legal obligation; legitimate interests

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have checked that the use is what you would reasonably expect and does not override your rights. You can ask us how we reached that view.

5. Automated and AI tools

We use AI tools from third-party providers to answer the live chat, help us draft replies and job descriptions, suggest scheduling, and check completion photos for obvious problems. A person makes every decision about your job, your price and your payment. No decision with legal or similarly significant effects on you is made by an automated system alone. Our providers process the information only to return the result to us and do not use it to train their systems.

When you email us, our office may use an AI tool to read the email and pick out your contact details, the addresses and the work you need, so we can set up the job. A person checks every detail before a job is created, and the AI tool does not make decisions about you.

6. Who we share it with

We never sell personal information. We share it only with:

• Our engineers, employed or self-employed, who see the job details they need to do the work: your name and contact details, the address, access notes, the agreed work and price, and the job photos.
• A retailer that booked us for you, who sees the progress of that job and the completion report (section 13). If you booked us directly, no retailer sees your details.
• Third-party service providers that run parts of our business for us: website hosting and data storage, email delivery, card payments, address lookup and maps, scheduling and calendars, office email, AI tools, accounting software, and website and advertising measurement (only with your consent). They act on our instructions and must keep your information safe. A few, such as our payment provider and our advertising measurement provider, also use some of it for their own purposes, such as fraud prevention, under their own privacy policies.
• Messaging apps, when you contact us that way or ask us to reply that way, and when our office or engineer messages the mobile number on your job (for example an address-confirmation link, an arrival time or a review request). The messaging app handles those messages under its own privacy policy.
• Professional advisers such as our accountants, insurers, banks and solicitors, when needed.
• Authorities such as HMRC, the police or a court, where the law requires it or to protect someone's safety.
• A buyer or successor if our business is sold or restructured, under the same protections.

You can ask us for more detail about the third parties that handle your information.

7. Where your information is kept

Our main systems store your information in the United Kingdom. Some third-party providers may handle it in the European Economic Area or the USA. When that happens we make sure it is protected to the UK standard: either the UK government has approved the destination as safe, or our contract with the provider includes the UK's official data transfer terms. Ask us if you want details.

8. How long we keep it

We keep information only as long as we need it, then delete or anonymise it:

• Enquiries and quotes that do not become a job

  How long: 12 months after our last contact with you

• Jobs, bookings, shop orders, invoices and payment records, including job photos, sign-off and completion reports

  How long: 6 years after the end of the financial year of the last transaction

• Locations saved on a job: the one you choose to share when confirming your address, and where the engineer was when they sent the arrival time and when they arrived

  How long: Kept with the job record (as above)

• The engineer’s live position on the way to you

  How long: Removed after 24 hours

• Live chat conversations

  How long: Not kept once the chat is closed; an enquiry it creates follows the enquiry rule above

• Customer portal account

  How long: While you use it and up to 12 months after your last job, or sooner if you ask

• Complaints

  How long: 6 years after the complaint is closed

• Review requests

  How long: 2 years; a request not to be asked again is kept so that we honour it

• Marketing consent and opt-outs

  How long: Until you withdraw consent, plus a record that you did

• Page-visit statistics

  How long: 26 months

• Technical and security logs

  How long: Usually 30 to 90 days

• Backup copies

  How long: Overwritten automatically, or deleted within 90 days

We may keep records longer if a complaint, claim or legal requirement needs them. Periods for engineers, applicants and trade partners are in sections 14 and 15.

9. Cookies

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. Analytics and advertising cookies are set only if you choose Accept in our cookie banner. Until then they are not loaded. You can change your choice at any time from "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page, and the site works fully without them.

• Your cookie choice (ours)

  What it does: Remembers whether you accepted or declined analytics and advertising cookies

  Lasts: 6 months

• Analytics cookies (Google Analytics), only if you accept

  What it does: Count visits and show which pages are read

  Lasts: Up to 2 years

• Advertising cookies (Google Ads), only if you accept

  What it does: Show which adverts lead to an enquiry, a call or a booking, and let Google show our adverts to you on other sites after your visit

  Lasts: Up to 13 months

• Campaign reference (ours), only if you accept

  What it does: Remembers which advert or link brought you here, so it can be saved with an enquiry

  Lasts: Until you clear your browser or decline cookies

• Payment security cookies (Stripe), on payment pages only

  What it does: Help prevent card fraud

  Lasts: Up to 1 year

• Practical storage (ours)

  What it does: Keeps your quote form answers if the page reloads, your shop basket, and your portal sign-in

  Lasts: Until you send the form, close the tab, or sign out

Google and Stripe are the third parties that set cookies on this site. How Google uses information from sites that use its services is explained at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can control the adverts Google shows you at myadcenter.google.com. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings; you would then need to sign in to a portal again.

10. Emails and marketing

• Job messages (confirmations, appointment and arrival updates, sign-off links, invoices) are part of doing your job and are always sent.
• Quote reminders: if you asked for a quote by email and we have not heard back, we may send up to two short reminders about that quote. Reply "stop" and we will send no more.
• Review requests: after a completed job we may ask you once, by email or by a message to the mobile number on your job, for a review, and never more than once a month. Tell us and we will not ask again.
• Offers and news are sent only if you ticked the marketing box in the customer portal or on our trade account form. Untick it or reply to any email to stop.
• We do not send marketing by text message, and we never share our mailing lists.

11. How we protect it

Information is encrypted when it travels to and from our systems and when it is stored. Access is limited to the people who need it: customers see only their own records, engineers see only the jobs we give them, and our staff have individual logins. Photos, documents and reports are kept in private storage. Card details are handled only by our certified payment provider. We check our systems regularly and keep backups.

If a security incident is likely to put you at risk, we report it to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours, as the law requires, and tell you directly if the risk to you is high. No system is completely secure; if you think your information has been misused, tell us straight away.

12. Your rights

You can ask us to:

• give you a copy of the information we hold about you;
• correct anything that is wrong;
• delete it, although we may need to keep job and payment records for the periods in section 8;
• limit how we use it while a question is resolved;
• send the information you gave us to you or another company in a common format;
• stop using it where we rely on legitimate interests, including reminders and review requests;
• withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on it (cookies, marketing, showing your portal feedback), without affecting what happened before.

Email info@aiprotech.co.uk with "Privacy request" in the subject, or call 07464 394439. We may ask you to confirm who you are. We reply within one month (up to three for a complex request, and we will tell you if so), and there is normally no charge.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, 0303 123 1113.

13. If a retailer booked us for you

Some retailers book us to install equipment their customers bought from them. If so, the retailer gave us your name, phone number, address, access notes and possibly your email address. We use them to arrange and carry out the installation and to keep you updated. Our legal ground is legitimate interests: ours and the retailer's in completing the installation you ordered. The retailer can follow the job and receives the completion report (with the photos, your name and your signature) under its own privacy policy. Everything else in this policy, including your rights, applies to you.

14. Engineers and job applicants

Applicants: we collect the details on the Work With Us form (contact details, skills, experience, qualifications, right to work, business and tax details, how you want to be paid, and any CV or certificates you upload) to assess your application. Legal grounds: steps you ask us to take before a possible contract, and our legitimate interest in finding suitable, qualified engineers. If we do not take you on, we delete it 6 months after our decision unless you ask us to keep it.

Engineers: we also hold your profile, rates, the areas you cover, vehicle, emergency contact, pay records, bank details, and the documents we must check (photo ID, right to work, insurance, qualifications and DBS certificate). Your DBS certificate is criminal-records information, which the law protects more strictly. You choose to upload it, and we use it with your explicit consent to decide whether we can send you into customers' homes. You can withdraw that consent, although we may then be unable to offer you work. Your location is shared only when you choose to, for example by sending an arrival time or turning on live sharing, and never in the background. Where you are when you send an arrival time and when you arrive is saved on the job and kept with the job record (section 8); the customer can see these points on the job map. Customers see your first name, and your live position only while live sharing is on; live positions are removed after 24 hours. Your profile photo can be viewed by anyone who has its link, so choose one you are happy to share.

For engineers, we keep pay and tax records for 6 years after the financial year in which you last worked with us, ID and right-to-work copies for 2 years after you stop, your DBS certificate copy for 6 months after we check it, and the rest of your file for 12 months after you stop. Legal grounds: our contract with you, legal obligations, legitimate interests in safety and quality, and your consent for the DBS certificate.

15. Trade partners

For a trade account we collect your business details, the contact details of the people who deal with us, your acceptance of our trade terms and your marketing choice. Your portal shows your orders, invoices, job progress and completion reports. We keep applications that are not approved for 12 months, and account and transaction records for 6 years after the last transaction. Legal grounds: our contract with your business and legitimate interests in running the account.

16. Other things you should know

• Children: our services are for adults and businesses, and we do not knowingly collect information about anyone under 18.
• Systems we install: footage and data from CCTV and smart systems are stored on your own equipment or account, not by us. Once installed, you are responsible for using them lawfully; we are happy to advise.
• Other people's details: if you give us someone else's details (such as a tenant or site contact), please let them know and point them to this policy.
• Information from other sources: besides retailers (section 13) and the payment confirmation from our payment provider (section 3), we copy some reviews that people have posted publicly (section 3).
• Other websites we link to have their own privacy policies.
• You do not have to give us your information, but without your contact details and address we cannot quote for or carry out work.

17. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows the current version. If a change significantly affects how we use portal customers' information, we will tell them by email first.

18. How to contact us

Ai Protech (AI PROTECH LTD)
Email: info@aiprotech.co.uk
Phone: 07464 394439