Introduction

We take the security and privacy of customer information seriously, and we are committed to safeguarding your privacy online. As a business, A2Z Computing is built on the bedrock of building long term relationships with customers.

If you leave, we have failed. So we make every effort not to breech privacy and risk customer offence for short-term financial gain. Your data is about you, A2Z Computing, and how we work together. This guide describes how we collect, use and safeguard the information you provide us with when you use our online services.

Personal data is the information you supply that identifies you, for example, your name and address. Anonymous data is information that does not identify you personally, for example, the average length of visit to one of our sites is 10 minutes.

A2Z Computing’s primary reason for collecting personal data is to provide you with a more satisfactory and personalised service. We also collect data so that we can understand and identify our customers’ needs and habits, with the aim of making each online experience a better one. Personalisation is designed to save you time and effort, by providing a service tailored to your individual requirements. Understanding your needs means we are in a better position to meet them, and we can do this by looking at how you use our services.

Please take a moment to read our Privacy Policy, so you know what choices you have about the information we may ask you for. This policy may change from time to time, so please check back periodically.



What information do we hold and where do we get it from?

Information about your visits to our services:

A2Z Computing may gather data about what pages you visit within the service, how long you stayed on a page, and the route you took to navigate through the pages. This information helps us monitor the accessibility of our service, and what your needs might be. It also helps us to develop and improve our service generally, in direct response to customer requirements.

Purchase history:

A2Z Computing may collect information about your online purchases, in order to suggest other products and services which may be of interest.

Personal details:

When you register with A2Z Computing we collect personal details from you, including information such as your name and address. This helps us to build a customer profile, from which we can provide a personalised service, unique to you. The greater the information we have from you, the more personalised service we can provide.

We may also ask you for personal details at other times, for example if we run a market research questionnaire, competition, sweepstake or promotion. The majority of this data collection is not compulsory, however.

Your personal information may be obtained in any of the following ways:

Online registration
Online forms from time to time
By telephone recording (Interactive Voice Response, IVR)
By email or telephone
When dealing with an A2Z Computing customer services executive
Automatically by your internet browser
On Customer agreements
By post

Cookies:

Like many other online services, A2Z Computing may use ‘cookies’ to store and sometimes track information about you. A cookie is a small amount of data sent from the server, which is stored on your PC’s hard drive. Cookies may be used to customise your service and may allow you to sign-in.

You can set your browser to refuse cookies or ask your browser to show you when a cookie is being set up. Some services are only activated by the presence of a cookie and if you choose not to utilise this, a particular online feature may not work as intended.

Preferences:

A2Z Computing may ask you for information about your leisure interests and lifestyle. Again this is in an effort to provide a more personalised service for you, and the greater the information we have, the more able we are to do this.

Third Party Data:

In some cases, it may be necessary for A2Z Computing to search the files of a Credit Reference Agency, which may then keep a record of that search. Details of how you conduct your A2Z Computing account may also be disclosed to such agencies. This information may be accessed and used by others in assessing applications from you, and members of your household, and for occasional debt tracing and fraud prevention.



What does A2Z Computing do with your personal information?

Your Personal Information:

A2Z Computing will combine the different types of data held to create a membership profile for each customer. This helps us to provide you with a personalised service, most accurately suited to your needs. This is a continuing process as you continue to use our services, and is in direct response to the amount of information we are supplied with by you. The more information we have, the better service we can provide.

As well as using this information to customised our service to you, we may also make recommendations to you about products and services we think may be of interest. Selected advertising may also be made available to you for the same reason.

A2Z Computing may use the personal information you have provided for the purpose of administering your account, and for providing you with information about computers, training, Internet, and other A2Z Computing services. A2Z Computing may also disclose your personal information to its sub-contractors for this purpose. We may also analyse your call, billing, viewing, and interactive data to help us identify and tell you of savings and services most appropriate to you.

Anonymous aggregate reports:

A2Z Computing may provide reports to third parties, for example content partners and advertisers, as well as to A2Z Computing management to enhance the service. These reports will be anonymous summaries used to monitor the success of our content and advertising, and to help us develop a service in line with customer need. From our aggregate reports we can provide general information about our service, for example, ‘10,000 people clicked on an advertisement yesterday’, or ‘20% of our customers are over 40 years old’.



Who else gets to see your information?

We won’t pass on personal information to third parties unless we have your permission, or where we are required by law to disclose that information.

With your permission, A2Z Computing may give your details to third party organisations so they can contact you with recommendations for products and services. A2Z Computing may sometimes hold promotions with other companies. In this case, some of the data collected at this time would be shared with the sponsor. If so, you will be told about this before your data is collected.

If you request additional information from an advertiser or sponsor you will in effect be giving A2Z Computing permission to provide them with the personal details needed for them to fulfil your request.

We may offer you the choice of saving your credit card details on a secure site, instead of providing them every time you make a purchase online. This information is encrypted and made secure, but may be accessed by A2Z Computing, on behalf of A2Z Computing partners, when making a secure transaction.

From time to time, A2Z Computing may also ask you questions about your tastes and preferences. With your permission we might pass this information to A2Z Computing partners so they can customise their online services to meet your needs.



What choices do you have?

You have the legal right to object to your personal details being used for direct marketing purposes.

We give you the choice to opt-out of A2Z Computing supplying personal data to third parties. You can do this during the registration process simply by ticking the tick box provided, or by contacting us at any time.

You may set your PC to refuse cookies or ask your browser to show you when a cookie is being set up. Please refer to section 2 for more details on cookies.



Protecting children’s privacy

Safeguarding the personal information of children is very important to A2Z Computing.

Children should always ask a parent for permission before sending personal information to anyone online, and at A2Z Computing we encourage parents and guardians to spend time online with their children. Where A2Z Computing have reasons to believe that a user is under 18, we try to collect the minimum amount of personal information necessary for the effective operation of the service. A2Z Computing also endeavours not to share with third parties any personal information supplied by users believed to be aged under 18.

In addition, A2Z Computing aims not to send direct email offers to users who indicate they are aged under 18. No information should be submitted to, or posted on, A2Z Computing services by visitors under the age of 18 without the consent of their parent or guardian.



Looking After Your Data

A2Z Computing is committed to data security. We have implemented technical, managerial, and operational security, rules, procedures and measures, to ensure that your personal information is held within operating environments that are not available to the public. We take steps to guard against unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, destruction, and accidental loss of personal data. This includes rules for all A2Z Computing staff with access to the servers or databases that hold your personal information. Although we make every effort to create a secure environment for your personal information, A2Z Computing cannot guarantee the safety of any personal information you transmit to A2Z Computing online.

In any event, we will not ask you for your A2Z Computing identification and authentication passwords or PIN numbers in an unsolicited phone call or unsolicited email. You should not disclose your password or PIN to anyone.



When does the A2Z Computing privacy policy not apply?

Please note that this policy only applies to the collection and use of data by A2Z Computing and not to other companies, individuals, and organisations to which we provide links through our interactive services.

This privacy policy does not cover advertisers and content partners within our service who may also collect your personal details. These companies should also have their own privacy policies.

If you place any of your personal details on any services we might develop for chat, bulletin boards, emails, your personal home page or public profile page or any other publicly accessible page, then under these circumstances data will not be covered by this privacy policy.

A2Z Computing advises its customers to be cautious of providing their personal information, such as contact information like email address, postal address, telephone or name to organisations on the open web. Customers are advised always to read a web site’s privacy policy before submitting personal information.



Contacting us

If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information you can email us at info@a2z-computing.com. Please use this address to let us know of any experience with privacy problems you may have with any of the sites to which our services link.



If you want to learn more about your rights regarding personal data you should contact the Data Protection Commissioner’s office information line on 01625 545745 or visit their web site at http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/