Privacy, Cookies  &  GDPR 

Use of Cookies

We use cookies to administer our Website. We will not use cookies in combination with your Personal Information without your prior consent.


A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on your computer’s hard disk so that the website can remember who you are.


A cookie will typically contain the name of the domain from which the cookie has come, the “lifetime” of the cookie, and a value. If you have previously registered on the Website (i.e. the website at http://www.vinegarhill.co.uk) cookies will enable the Website to recognise you.


Cookies can help a website to arrange content to match your preferred interests more quickly and are used by most major websites. Find out more about cookies.


Two types of cookies are used on this Website: session cookies and persistent cookies.Session cookies are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser until you leave the Website. We use session cookies: 

  • to track the number of visits to the Website;
  • to compile anonymous statistics that allow us to understand how users use our Website such as details of the pages visited per session on the Website and the number of return visits to the Website (we cannot identify you personally in this way);
  • to enable basic personalisation of the Website;
  • to keep track of your current shopping session so that you may retrieve your shopping basket at any time;• within the user id sign in session for security, and;
  • to remember if a user has signed out. 

Persistent cookies remain in the cookie file of your browser for much longer than session cookies. We use one persistent cookie which is stored to enable the Website to determine whether you have been here and signed in previously.


This helps to authenticate you as a registered user, giving you access to your user profile and certain otherwise inaccessible areas of the Website


 You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings in your internet browser. However, you may not be able to use all the interactive features of the Website if cookies are disabled. Find out how to disable/enable cookies. 

Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Vinegar Hill. This policy explains how we handle and use your personal information and your rights in relation to that information. Under the GDPR of May 2018, Vinegar Hill Ltd is the controller of that information.Vinegar Hill (UK) Ltd (“Vinegar Hill”, “we”, “our” or “us”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. 


This Privacy Policy explains why and how we will use the personal information that we have obtained from you or others, with whom we share it and the rights you have in connection with the information we use. 


Please read the following carefully.This policy describes the way we handle and use the personal information that we obtain from all the different interactions you may have with us as a business, including when you visit our stores, social media pages or website currently located at www.vinegarhill.co.uk or when you contact us. 


Vinegar Hill Ltd is the controller in relation to the processing activities described below. This means that Vinegar Hill Ltd decides why and how your personal information is processed. Please see the section at the end of this policy for our contact and legal information.


We may need to update this Privacy Notice from time to time. We'll notify you of any significant changes, but you're welcome to check it whenever you wish. 

1. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

We receive personal information about you that you give to us, that we collect from your visits to our stores, Site, and social media pages and that we obtain from other sources. We only collect personal information which we need and that is relevant for the purposes for which we intend to use it.


INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU – IN STORE, ONLINE, BY PHONE, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND EMAIL: 


Your name, title and contact details (email address, telephone number, postal address); 


Any information you include in correspondence you send to us or in forms you submit to us at our stores or when using our Site or social media pages; 


Details of your orders and purchases; 


Your marketing preferences; 


The opinions and other information you provide when responding to customer surveys and product reviews; 


Any personal information included in your entries to competitions that we run; 


Your identification information when exercising the rights that you have in relation to our processing of your personal information (see further Your rights in relation to your personal information);


Details of any transactions between you and us; 


Your payment card details and, in relation to certain refunds, your bank account details; 


The frequency of your use of vouchers, shopping codes and gift cards; 


Footage of you on CCTV; 


When you visit our Site we automatically collect: 


The frequency of your voucher, shopping code usage; 


Details of your use of our Site namely traffic data, weblogs and statistical data, including where and when you clicked on certain parts of our Site and details of the webpage from which you visited it; 


The date and time you used our Site; 


The pages you visited on our Site and how long you visited us for; 


The website address from which you accessed our website; 


Cookie, pixels and beacon identification information (for more information please see our Cookie Policy). 

2. USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use your personal information for a variety of reasons when we believe we have a legitimate interest to do so and to process your personal information depending on the purposes of our use and the risks to your privacy. 


You will only receive email from us if we have obtained your contact details in the course of a sale or negotiation of our products or services, and you have subscribed to receiving such direct email from us. Of course, we will only use your contact details to send you marketing emails that are based on similar products or services that you purchased from us, and you will always have the opportunity to opt out at any time. We do not share your personal information with companies that would send their marketing to you. 


We use your personal information to contact you via email, online or by post (as you have indicated) with marketing information about our products, events, product launches, exciting offers and services.


You may choose to unsubscribe from receiving marketing information from us at any time. Please see Your rights over your personal information for further details. 

2.1 WHERE NECESSARY TO COMPLY WITH OUR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS

We will use your personal information to comply with our legal obligations: 


To keep a record relating to the exercise of any of your rights relating to our processing of your personal information. 


To take any actions in relation to health and safety incidents required by law. 


To handle and resolve any complaints we receive relating to the services and products we provide. 

2.2 WHERE NECESSARY FOR US TO PURSUE A LEGITIMATE INTEREST

We may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests as a business for the following purposes: 


Processing necessary for us to promote our business, brands and products and measure the reach and effectiveness of our campaigns; 


For analysis and insight conducted to inform our marketing strategies, and to enhance your visitor experience; 


To tailor and personalise our marketing communications based on your attributes; 


To fulfil and complete your orders, purchases and other transactions entered into with us; 


To contact you with targeted advertising delivered online through social media and other online platforms operated by other companies, unless you object. You may receive advertising based on information about you that we have provided to the platform or because, at our request, the platform has identified you as having similar attributes to the individuals whose details it has received from us. To find out more, please refer to the information provided in the help pages of the platforms on which you receive advertising from us; 


To send you an electronic communication if you have closed your browser with items in your shopping basket or requested information of interest; 


To send you electronic marketing information after you have purchased a product or service from us, made a purchasing enquiry or requested information of interest. We will only contact you with information about our own similar products and services, which we hope you will like. You have the right to object to us sending you this information at any time; 


To identify and record when you have received, opened or engaged with our Site or social media or other electronic communications (please see our Cookie Policy for more information); 


In some cases, we may use automated methods to analyse, combine and evaluate information that you have provided to us. We collect and analyse this information in this way so that we can deliver the most appropriate customer experience to you by tailoring and making relevant all our service and communications; 


Processing necessary for us to support you with your enquiries; 


To respond to correspondence, you send to us and fulfil the requests you make to us; 


Processing necessary for us to respond to changing market conditions and the needs of our Customers; 


To analyse, evaluate and improve our products and services so that your visit and use of our Site, social media pages and stores are more useful and enjoyable (we will generally use data amalgamated from many people so that it does not identify you personally); 


To undertake market analysis and research (including contacting you with customer surveys) so that we can better understand you as a customer; 


For product development purposes; 


Processing necessary for us to operate the administrative and technical aspects of our business efficiently and effectively; 


To administer our Site, and our social media pages and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, testing, statistical purposes; 


For the prevention of fraud and other criminal activities; 


To verify the accuracy of data that we hold about you and create a better understanding of you as an account holder or visitor; 


For network and information security in order for us to take steps to protect your information against loss or damage, theft or unauthorised access; 


To comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of your rights (for example where you have asked us not to contact you for marketing purposes, we will keep a record of this on our suppression lists in order to be able to comply with your request); 


For the purposes of corporate restructure or reorganisation or sale of our business or assets; 


For efficiency, accuracy or other improvements of our databases and systems, for example, by combining systems or consolidating records we hold about you; 


To enforce or protect our contractual or other legal rights or to bring or defend legal proceedings; 


To inform you of updates to our terms and conditions and policies; 


For other general administration including managing your queries, complaints, or claims, and to send service messages to you. 

2.3 WHERE NECESSARY FOR US TO COMPLETE ORDERS AND RUN COMPETITIONS

We will use your personal information where this is necessary for us to perform our contract with you or to carry out any pre-contract steps you’ve asked us to so that you can enter into that contract, for the following purposes: 


To process your payment card or bank details when taking payment for your orders or when providing a refund;


 To process, fulfil and complete your orders, purchases and other transactions entered into with us and deliver your order; 


To run our competitions and promotions that you enter from time to time and to distribute prizes;

2.4 WHERE PROCESSING IS IN YOUR VITAL INTERESTS

We will use your personal information where this is in your vital interest to notify you of any product recall issues.

2.5 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS:

If you have requested to receive marketing information from us, we may use your personal information to contact you by email, online or by post to notify you of special offers, promotions, competitions or new products and services. We try to adapt any marketing material that we send to you for example by notifying you of special offers or promotions that will be of relevance to you, apply to your interests and in your location (we do this by monitoring your browsing and online shopping habits and providing information on products you have viewed and related products). If you do not wish to receive communications from us, please inform us by using the unsubscribe link inside the email, by sending an email to info@vinegarhill.co.uk or by changing your profile settings from within your account.

3. DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION BY US

We only disclose your personal information outside our business in limited circumstances. If we do, we will put in place a contract that requires recipients to protect your personal information, unless we are legally required to share that information. Any contractors or recipients that work for us will be obliged to follow our instructions. We do not sell your personal information to third parties. 


We may disclose your information to our third-party service providers, agents and subcontractors (Suppliers) for the purposes of providing services to us or directly to you on our behalf, including the operation and maintenance of our Site, and social media pages. 


When we use Suppliers, we only disclose to them any personal information that is necessary for them to provide their services and only where we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it other than in accordance with our specific instructions. 

4. SECURITY AND LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

We take the security of your personal information seriously and use a variety of measures based on good industry practice to keep it secure. Nonetheless, transmissions over the internet and to our Site, and our social media pages may not be completely secure, so please exercise caution. When accessing links to other websites, their privacy policies, not ours, will apply to your personal information. 


We employ security measures to protect the personal information you provide to us, to prevent access by unauthorised persons and unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage.


We use Internet standard encryption technology ("SSL" or "Secure Socket Layer" technology) to encode personal data that you send to us when placing an order through the Site. To check that you are in a secure area of the Site before sending personal information to us, please look at the bottom right of your website browser and check that it displays an image of a closed padlock or an unbroken key. 


The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do everything possible to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any personal information during its transmission to us online. You accept the inherent security implications of using the internet and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security unless we are at fault. 


If you are using a computer or terminal in a public location, we recommend that you always log out and close the website browser when you complete an online session for your security. In addition, we recommend that you take the following security measures to enhance your online safety: When creating a password, we recommend use at least 8 characters with a combination of letters and numbers. We recommend you frequently change your password – you can do this by going to “My Account” and clicking “Change name, email or password”. Keep your passwords private. Remember, anyone you knows your password may access your account. Avoid using the same password for multiple online accounts. We will never ask you to confirm any account or credit card details via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from Vinegar Hill asking you to do so, please ignore it and do not respond. 


Our Site, and social media pages may contain links to other websites run by other organisations which we do not control. This policy does not apply to those other websites' so we encourage you to read their privacy policies. We specifically disclaim responsibility for their content, privacy practices and terms of use, and we make no endorsements, representations or promises about their accuracy, content or thoroughness. Your disclosure of personal information to third party websites is at your own risk. 

5. THE PERIODS FOR WHICH WE RETAIN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will not hold your personal information in an identifiable format for any longer than is necessary for the purposes for which we collected it. For certain purposes we retain your personal information indefinitely (e.g. to suppress marketing messages).

6. YOUR RIGHTS IN RELATION TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have the right to access any personal information that we hold that is about you, and you can request: 


What personal data we hold about you


The purposes of the processing


The categories of personal data concerned


The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed


How long we intend to store your personal data for


If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the sourceIf you believe that we hold any 

incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified. 


You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information and the right to be informed about any automated decision-making we may use. 


If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.

7. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

Please check this page regularly for changes to this policy. 


This policy was last updated on 17th September 2019.

8. CONTACT AND LEGAL INFORMATION

You can contact us with your queries in relation to this policy or for any other reason by post, email or by phone. 


Please email us at info@vinegarhill.co.uk or call us on 01789 415052 (Monday – Friday 9.00am to 10.00pm) 


 Vinegar Hill Ltd company registration number is 02278796 and registered office address is:


14 The Waterways, 

The Birmingham Road, 

Stratford-upon-Avon, 

Warwickshire, 

CV37 0AW