Privacy Policy   

Privacy Policy

Wincham Accountants Limited. (“we”) have created this privacy policy to demonstrate our commitment in protecting personal information/data and providing you with information about how we handle it. This privacy policy applies to activities and transactions in which you engage, and data gathered, on the companies4u.com and companies4u.co.uk websites, and all email communications between Wincham Accountants Limited (collectively, the "Site"). Please review this privacy policy regularly as we may modify it from time to time. This privacy policy was last revised on 1st March, 2006. Each time you visit the Site or provide us with information, by doing so you are accepting the practices described in this privacy policy at that time.

Your IP address and demographic information

Like most websites, each time you visit the Site, we may automatically collect your IP address and other broad demographic information. In order to administer and optimize the Site for you and to diagnose problems with our Site, we use your IP address to help identify you specifically in some cases and to gather broad demographic information about you.

Cookies

Like most Websites, the Site may use cookies to keep track of your activity and any transactions on the Site and to enhance your experience on the Site. We may also use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests, to save your password, and if you choose, to save other personal and financial information so you do not have to re-enter it each time you visit the Site. Third party advertisers and partners on the Site may also place or read cookies on your browser. If you wish to disable these cookies, the "help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how. However, if you set your browser to disable cookies, you may not be able to access certain areas on the Site and may have a restricted experience. We strongly recommend you allow cookies.

Information We Collect From You

In order to operate the Site and to provide you with information about products or services that may be of interest to you, we may collect "personal information" (i.e. information that could be used to contact you directly (without using the Site) such as full name, postal address, phone number or email address), "financial information" (i.e. credit card numbers or passwords) or "demographic information" (i.e. information that you submit, or that we collect, that is neither personal information nor financial information; this may include, but is not limited to, post/zip code, postal code, home town, gender, username, age/birth date, purchase history information, browsing history information, searching history information, registration history information, and the content of communications between you and the Site.

Information Other Websites Collect From You

On the Site, we may place links to other Websites operated by other parties. Some of these other Websites contain our brand names and trademarks and other intellectual property that we own; others do not. When you click on these links and visit these other Websites, regardless of whether or not they contain our brand names, trademarks and other intellectual property, you need to be aware that we do not control these other Websites or these other Websites’ business practices, and that this privacy policy does not apply to these other Websites. Consequently, the operators of these other Websites may collect different kinds of information about you, and may use and disclose that information in different ways than we would if it were collected on the Site. We encourage you to review their privacy policies and remind you that we will not be responsible for their actions.

How We Use Personal Information

We use your email address and your other personal information to help us efficiently operate the Site, to contact you in connection with transactions and other activities on the Site (including, but not limited to, confirmation emails or important news that could affect your relationship with Companies4U). These types of communications, are known as "Operational Communications." In some cases, Operational Communications may also contain commercial messages, such as banner ads and special offers.

We also use personal information to send you newsletters, information, offers and other promotional materials for Companies4U or third parties’ goods or services. These types of communications are known as “Marketing Communications”. We attempt to send you offers that are of value and relevance to you, such as discounts, exclusive offers or special event information. By registering and/or transacting with the site, you are opting in to recieve these kinds of communications.

To operate the Site, including processing your transactions and supporting your activities on the Site, we may share your personal information with our agents, representatives, contractors and service providers so they can provide us with support services such as authorization of credit card transactions, email origination, receipt or support services, customer relationship management services, order fulfilment and sweepstakes/competitions and promotional fulfilment. We require these entities not to use your information for any other purpose.

By purchasing, registering, making reservations for, products or services offered or sponsored by third parties on the Site, or electing to receive communications (such as emails, magazine subscriptions or off-line communication) or electing to participate in competitions, sweepstakes or other programs (such as discount or rewards programs), offered or sponsored by third parties on the Site, you consent to our providing your personal information to those third parties. Those third parties may use your personal information in accordance with their own privacy policies. You will need to contact those third parties to instruct them directly regarding your preferences for the use of your personal information by them. Additionally, you agree that we may use and disclose all such information so submitted to such third parties in the same manner in which we are entitled to use and disclose any other information you submit to us.

In some cases, we may enter into a relationship with another company in which we prominently display their brand name or trademarks on pages of the Site and even re-brand entirely pages of the Site. These pages are known as "Partner Pages” or “Partner Page" and these companies are known as “Partner Companies” or Partner Company”. If the page on which you submit information is a Partner Page, or was accessed by clicking on a link on a Partner Page, then we may share your personal information with the associated Partner Company. Partner Companies may use your personal information in accordance with their own privacy policies. You will need to contact Partner Companies to instruct them directly regarding your preferences for the use of your personal information by them. Additionally, you agree that we may use and disclose all such information so submitted to such Partner Companies in the same manner in which we are entitled to use and disclose any other information you submit to us. Some Partner Pages may contain an action tag (also known as a Web Beacon or a 1 pixel .gif file) that a third party, such as the advertising company Double Click, Inc, may use to read cookies that it, or its clients, may have placed on your browser at other (non Companies4U) web sites before your visit to the Site. This technology is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements on such other Websites that promote Partner Pages. Further, Double Click, Inc, or such other third parties, may use the information collected through this technology to learn more about your visits to this Site and other Websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

Any third party with whom we are allowed to share your personal information is authorized to use your personal information in accordance with our contractual arrangements with such third parties and in accordance with their own privacy policies, over which we have no control, and you agree that we are not responsible or liable for any of their actions or omissions. Those who contact you will need to be instructed directly by you regarding your preferences for the use of your personal information by them.

Our Security Precautions

The Site has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Where appropriate and used our secure server software is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure commerce transactions and Site protection. We encrypt all of your personal and financial information as it travels over the Internet and we store your financial information on our servers in encrypted form. Your information may be transferred to and maintained on computer networks which may be located outside of the state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction in which you reside, and the country or jurisdiction in which these computer networks are located may not have privacy laws as protective as the laws in your country or jurisdiction.

The Site is also protected against unauthorised access using the latest security hardware, software, devices and 'firewalls'.

Changing our Privacy Policy for Previously Gathered Information

If at any point we decide to use particular personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify users by way of an email or by providing 14 days notice on the Site. Please note that we will continue to have the right to change our privacy policy and practices, and how we use your personally identifiable information, without notice, as described in the first paragraph of this Privacy Policy, provided that such changes shall only apply to information gathered on or after the date of the change.

If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy, the practices of the Site, or your dealings with the Site, you can contact us at customerservice@companies4u.com. You can also send us postal email to: Privacy Officer, Legal Department, Wincham House, Greenfield Farm Trading Estate, Congleton, Cheshire. CW12 4TR.