1. Who we are
The controller of the personal information described in this policy is Bristol Heating [LEGAL ENTITY OR SOLE TRADER NAME, IF BRISTOL HEATING IS A TRADING NAME] [COMPANY NUMBER, IF A COMPANY]. Being the controller means we decide how and why your information is used.
Our address is St Nicholas Street, Bristol, BS1 [FULL POSTCODE]. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number [ICO REGISTRATION NUMBER].
Bristol Heating arranges quotes and installations for homes in Bristol and the South West. We are not an installer and we are not Gas Safe registered. Gas work is carried out by Gas Safe registered engineers from our partner panel, who are registered in their own right. Oil work is carried out by qualified oil heating engineers from our partner panel.
2. How to contact us
For any question about this policy or your personal information, including data protection requests, email help@bristolheating.co.uk or write to us at St Nicholas Street, Bristol, BS1 [FULL POSTCODE].
We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer because the law does not require us to.
3. The information we collect
3.1 Quote tool (gas, LPG, oil boilers and air conditioning)
You can use our boiler quote tool and see guide prices without giving us your name or contact details. As you go through the steps, we ask about your home and your heating, for example:
- what you need (a new boiler, boiler and radiators, or a full system)
- your fuel type (gas, LPG or oil)
- your postcode, so we can check we cover your area
- your property type, number of bedrooms (optional), number of radiators and number of bathrooms
- your current boiler type, whether your radiators have thermostatic valves, your water pressure, whether you want the boiler moved, and where the flue comes out
- for air conditioning: the type of each room, its size, how much sun it gets, which floor it is on, distances to the outdoor unit and fuse board, and whether you have a spare way in your fuse board
If you choose to send us your quote or book a survey, we also collect:
- your name
- your phone number
- your email address
- anything you add in "Anything else we should know?"
- the boiler or package you picked and the guide price shown
- whether you ticked the optional box agreeing to hear from us about offers and servicing reminders, and if so when, the wording you agreed to and the channels (email, phone, text)
Your quote answers are kept in your browser's session storage while you move between steps, so you do not lose your progress. They are only sent to us when you submit the form.
3.2 Boiler servicing interest form
Boiler servicing is not live yet. If you register your interest, we collect your name, email address, phone number (optional), postcode, boiler fuel (gas, LPG, oil or not sure), what you need (for example a routine service or a fault) and any notes you add, such as boiler make, age or faults. Registering is not a booking.
3.3 Contact form
If you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address, phone number (optional), postcode, what your message is about and your message.
3.4 Emails and photos
If you email us, we keep your email address, your message and anything you attach. We may ask you to send photos of your current boiler, flue, pipework or rooms by email to help with a quote. Our website forms do not accept file uploads. Please only send photos of the areas we ask about, and avoid including people or personal documents in them.
3.5 How you found us (attribution)
If you accept analytics and attribution in our cookie banner, our website saves a small record in your browser's local storage (called brhq_attr). It holds the page you landed on, the website that referred you, the date and time, and any campaign codes in the web address (for example utm_ tags or advertising click identifiers such as gclid). If you then submit a quote, this record is sent with it so we can tell which adverts and pages lead to enquiries. If you reject, it is not stored or sent, and the quote tool still works in full. The record expires after 90 days. See our Cookie Policy for more detail.
3.6 Technical information
When you visit our website, our hosting provider automatically processes technical information such as your IP address, browser type, device type, the pages you request, and the date and time. This is needed to deliver the website and to protect it from attacks and misuse. Our forms also include a hidden "honeypot" field to help block spam.
Our website's fonts are served from our own website. We do not use a third-party font service. We do not currently use analytics, advertising pixels, session recording or live chat tools on this website.
3.7 Information from others
If a partner-panel engineer surveys or carries out work for you, they may tell us about the outcome, such as whether a survey happened, the confirmed price, the installation date and any complaints, so we can manage our panel and look after you.
We do not buy mailing lists and we do not collect special category information (such as health information) on purpose. Please do not include it in notes or messages unless it matters for the work, for example a vulnerability that means you need an urgent visit. If you do tell us, we will use it only to arrange the work and will rely on your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
4. Why we use your information and our lawful basis
| What we do | Information used | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Show guide prices and work out a quote | Quote answers, postcode | Legitimate interests: providing the quote tool you are using. Where you go on to ask for a quote, steps taken at your request before entering into a contract |
| Respond to your quote request, ask follow-up questions and arrange a survey | Contact details, quote answers, notes, photos you send | Steps taken at your request before entering into a contract |
| Pass your request to a partner-panel engineer (see section 5) | Contact details, postcode, quote answers, notes, photos | Steps taken at your request before entering into a contract, and our legitimate interests in arranging the work you asked for |
| Manage a job that goes ahead, including complaints | Contact details, job details, correspondence | Contract, and legitimate interests in looking after customers and our panel |
| Record boiler servicing interest, plan the service and tell you when it is available | Servicing interest form details | Legitimate interests: understanding demand and telling you about the service you asked to hear about. This is a service message, not marketing |
| Send you offers and servicing reminders by email, phone or text | Name, email, phone, marketing consent record | Consent (see section 10) |
| Answer contact form messages and emails | Contact details, message | Legitimate interests in answering enquiries; steps before a contract where your message is about work |
| Understand which adverts and pages lead to enquiries | Attribution record (brhq_attr) | Consent, given through our cookie banner. You can withdraw it at any time using Cookie settings in the website footer |
| Keep the website secure, stop spam and fix faults | Technical information | Legitimate interests in running a safe, working website |
| Keep business, tax and accounting records | Records of fees, invoices and payments | Legal obligation |
| Deal with legal claims | Any relevant records | Legitimate interests in defending or bringing legal claims |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have balanced our interests against yours and think you would reasonably expect us to use your information in these ways. You can ask us for more detail about this balancing and you can object (see section 9).
You do not have to give us your details. If you do not, we cannot send you a quote, arrange a survey or reply to you.
5. Who we share your information with
We do not sell your personal information.
Partner-panel engineers. When you send a quote request, we offer the job to one installer from our partner panel at a time until one accepts. Installers who are offered the job see only the job details they need to decide, without your contact details. We share your contact details only with the one engineer who accepts, so they can arrange your survey and installation. That engineer is an independent controller of the information they receive: they decide how to use it for surveying, quoting, carrying out the work, meeting Gas Safe or other regulatory requirements and keeping their own records, and they handle it under their own privacy notice. We will give you the name and contact details of the engineer who accepts your job.
Service providers who act for us (processors). These suppliers handle information only on our instructions and under contract:
- website hosting, security, content delivery and email: CloudNext
- our customer and lead records are kept in our own internal database system (MySQL), hosted on [CONFIRM WHERE, e.g. CloudNext UK]
Others. We may share information with our professional advisers (such as accountants, insurers and lawyers), with the police, regulators, courts or other authorities where the law requires it, and with a buyer or successor if our business or website is sold or reorganised.
6. International transfers
We aim to keep your information in the UK. [CONFIRM DATA LOCATION for CloudNext hosting, email and the internal database.] If any of our suppliers process personal information outside the UK, we make sure there is a lawful safeguard in place, such as UK adequacy regulations or the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum. You can ask us for a copy of the relevant safeguard.
7. How long we keep your information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Quote answers in your browser (session storage) | Until you close the browser tab, or until you submit the form |
| Quote requests and enquiries, including photos you send | 60 days after your quote is calculated, unless one of the exceptions below applies |
| If you accept a quote from a panel engineer | Until 60 days after your installation is complete |
| If you agree to marketing | The contact details we need for marketing are kept until you withdraw your consent. We will review this, and ask you to confirm you still want to hear from us, at least every [24 MONTHS] |
| Boiler servicing interest registrations | 60 days after you register, or until we launch the service and tell you about it if that is sooner [ASSUMPTION: confirm] |
| Contact form messages and emails | 60 days after our last reply, unless they relate to a quote or job, when the rules above apply |
| Financial records of fees and invoices, if we issue them | As long as tax law requires, generally 6 years [CONFIRM WITH ACCOUNTANT] |
| Attribution record in your browser (brhq_attr), only if you consent | 90 days, or until you withdraw consent |
| Your cookie choices (brh_consent cookie) | 6 months |
| Hosting and security logs | [PERIOD SET BY HOSTING PROVIDER, typically 30 to 90 days] |
When we no longer need information, we delete it securely or anonymise it. A partner-panel engineer who receives your details keeps them under their own privacy notice.
8. How we keep your information safe
Our website uses HTTPS encryption. Access to enquiries is limited to people who need it to do their job. Our hosting provider applies security protections to the website. We only share contact details with the partner-panel engineer who accepts your job.
9. Your rights
You have the right to:
- be informed about how we use your information (this policy)
- access the personal information we hold about you
- rectification: ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete
- erasure: ask us to delete your information
- restrict how we use your information
- data portability: ask for information you gave us in a reusable format, where we rely on consent or contract
- object to how we use your information (see below)
- withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it
Your right to object. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object to our use of your information. We will stop unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, or we need the information for legal claims. You can object to direct marketing at any time and we will always stop.
Some rights only apply in certain circumstances. To use any of them, email help@bristolheating.co.uk. We will respond within one month, which may be extended by up to two months for complex requests. There is usually no charge. We may need to check your identity first.
The partner-panel engineer who accepts your job is responsible for the information they hold, so you can also contact them directly.
10. Marketing
We only send marketing, such as heating offers and servicing reminders, if you have agreed to it. When you send a quote, you can tick an optional box to agree to hear from us by email, phone or text. The box is not ticked for you, and you can still get your quote without ticking it. We record when you agreed, the wording you agreed to and the channels you chose.
You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, replying STOP to a text, telling us on the phone, or emailing help@bristolheating.co.uk. Every marketing message will include an easy way to unsubscribe.
If you register interest in boiler servicing, we will tell you when the service is available because you asked us to. That is a service message. We will only send you wider offers or reminders if you have also agreed to marketing.
11. Automated decisions
We do not make decisions about you using only automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects. Our quote tool works out guide prices automatically from your answers, but a confirmed price is always given by a person after a survey. Out-of-area postcodes are flagged but you can still continue.
12. Children
Our website and services are for adults arranging work on their homes. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you think a child has given us information, email help@bristolheating.co.uk and we will delete it.
13. Cookies and similar technologies
For information about the cookies and browser storage we use, see our Cookie Policy.
14. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please contact us first at help@bristolheating.co.uk so we can try to put things right.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):
- Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
- Phone: 0303 123 1113
- Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
15. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time, for example if we add a new tool or change how our partner panel works. We will change the "Last updated" date at the top and, where changes are significant, tell you by email if we have your details and the change affects you.