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Privacy policy Which? is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our users while providing the highest possible quality of service.

Which? privacy policy

Welcome to the Which? Privacy Policy. By visiting the Which? websites and sharing information with us you agree to be bound by this privacy policy, so please read it.

1. Who we are

Both Which? Limited and the Consumers’ Association are registered as Data Controllers in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (Registration Numbers Z7154913 and Z6003023 respectively).

Further information about Which? Limited and the Consumers’ Accociation can be found on our Terms and Conditions page.

www.which.co.uk, www.whichcompare.co.uk, www.whichdigitalstore.co.uk, www.which-local.co.uk, www.switchwithwhich.co.uk, www.whichlegalservice.co.uk and all other Which? websites are operated by Which? Limited, and they are part of a larger range of products and services that we offer.

The terms "Which?", "we", "us", or "our", refer to the operator of the website you're in.

2 General

Which? is committed to safeguarding the privacy of users of our website.

We will only use the information that we collect about you lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and any other applicable regulations currently in force.

We will only pass your details to those companies who process data for us on your behalf, to ensure that we can fufill all our obligations to you. We ensure that these companies agree to very high standards of privacy and we are very fussy about chosing only those companies that can offer the high levels of data security which we require.

We will never pass your data details (email, address, or telephone, cookie details etc.) to any third parties for marketing purposes.

If you have any requests concerning your personal information or any queries about these practices, please contact us.

3 Security

We are committed to ensuring your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

4 Information collected

We collect the following information:

  • Where you contact us through enquiry and registration forms, we collect the details you provide to us (typically the personal details include your name, postal address and email address).
  • Where you visit this website, we collect information automatically about your visit. This information includes your IP address, domain name and browser used. The information obtained in this way (i.e. your browsing patterns) will be used to track visitor behaviour to provide us with statistics and to assist us in marketing our products and services.
  • Where you purchase a subscription to Which? Online or make an order with the Which? online shop, we will collect your payment details.
  • Where you submit a review, we collect the details you provide to us.

5 Use of personal information

We process personal information collected via our websites for the purposes of:

  • Providing a high quality service.
  • Processing, invoicing, collecting payment and fulfilling any orders you may have made.
  • Providing you with access to any subscribed content.
  • Conducting market research surveys.
  • Running competitions.
  • Providing you with information about products and services we offer (including updates and changes to services).
  • Building up marketing profiles, aiding strategic development and auditing usage of the site.
  • Providing you with information about our campaigns or for potentially contacting you for appearing in campaigns related media (with your consent).
  • Dealing with and responding to any queries you contact us about.

6 Contacting you

We or one of the third parties that processes data on our behalf may contact you in relation to an order you have placed if we need to discuss your order further. You may be contacted by post, telephone or email in relation to an order for a product or service.

As a result of ordering from us your name and address may be added to a Which? mailing list. One of your benefits as a member of Which? may be receiving our consumer email newsletter. Which? also offers a range of services and publications designed to keep you up to date on consumer issues and we'd like to contact you about these from time to time, as well as sending you our special promotions.

Generally we will contact you by post, but if you opt-in to our marketing, we may send you information about our products and services via email or telephone you. However, you can unsubscribe to such communications at any time.

If you would prefer to not be contacted in any of the above ways, please email us at editor@which.co.uk or write to Dept. DNP2, Which?, Castlemead, Gascoyne Way, Hertford, SG14 1YB with your written instructions and contact details.

7 Accessing and controlling your personal information

If you believe that we hold your personal data and you would like copies of any records that we hold, please write to us at CS Operations Management, Castlemead, Gascoigne Way, Hertford, SG14 1LH, making your request clear. We will then respond to you within 40 days. Please note that such a request will incur a fee of £10 to cover administration costs.

If you do not wish your personal information to be used by us in the ways stated in this Privacy Policy, then please notify us in writing by contacting us by email at editor@which.co.uk or at Dept. DNE, Which?, Castlemead, Gascoyne Way, Hertford, SG14 1YB.

8 Use of cookies

A cookie is a piece of text which is stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive.

A cookie helps us analyse web traffic or lets us know when you visit a particular site. We use the software of a third party company on our website to collect the data from a cookie on our behalf.

We use cookies when you access any Which? website to track patterns of behaviour of visitors to our site, to let us know when your browser is logged onto our website, to build up marketing profiles and understand browsing patterns or if you purchase something via our Which? online shop, because it enables us to speed up the buying process by allowing use of a shopping basket.

While our cookies, by necessity, contain some personal information, such as your name, email address, preferences and whether or not you are a customer of Which?, they do not contain or store information relating to your financial/credit card details. The information that is collected by the cookie will be used solely for tracking patterns of visitor behaviour to provide us with statistics and to identify groups of users to assist us in marketing our products and services.

If you log in as a subscriber and tick the ‘remember me’ box, we use a permanent cookie to store your username and password. This is so that you do not have to re-enter this information each time you return to which.co.uk. If you have ticked ‘remember me’ and then want to log out of which.co.uk, you will need to delete the cookie from your browser.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, though you can set most browsers to prevent this collection or access. If you do not wish to use cookies while accessing our websites, you can change the settings on your web browser to disable or delete cookies. Further information about cookies, including how to delete them, is available for Internet Explorer users, Firefox users and Safari users or alternatively visit allaboutcookies.org for more detailed advice on how to disable and enable cookies. If you disable your browser’s ability to set cookies, you may be unable to access some areas of the Which? websites.

Cookies are sometimes used by our shopping partners, who are non Which? companies, when you access their websites. You should be asked by the third party company when you access their website whether you agree to their use of cookies and your data for commercial purposes according to their privacy policy.

Which?'s use of cookies is fully compliant with all United Kingdom and EU data protection and data privacy regulations.

9 Third party opt-in policy

We do not make your data available to third party organisations for their marketing purposes.

10 Third party websites

Where in the course of using our website you are directed to a third party website, Which? shall not be responsible for that third party's compliance with data protection legislation. Please ensure you review the privacy policy and terms and conditions on any third party website prior to inputting any personal data via their website.

11 Information security over the internet

Transmission of data over the internet is not guaranteed to be completely secure. Third parties may be able to intercept or access your transmissions and/or private communications unlawfully. Which? makes every effort to ensure the integrity of your personal information which you provide to us but we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us.

12 Changes to this privacy policy

Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where necessary, notified to you by other appropriate means.

13 Contacting us

If you have any requests concerning your personal information or any queries about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.