Privacy & Cookie Policy


Instant Home Limited’s Privacy Notice

Welcome to Instant Home Limited’s privacy notice.

Instant Home Limited is one of the UK’s leading furniture hire companies and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice sets out how we treat your data when you enter into an agreement with us, sign up to receive our newsletter or visit our website (https://www.instanthome.co.uk/) and also provides information about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any agreement or other notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below.

  1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE
  2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
  3. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED
  4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA
  5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
  6. CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCIES
  7. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
  8. DATA SECURITY
  9. DATA RETENTION
  10. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
  1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE

Purpose of this privacy notice

Controller

Instant Home Limited is the data controller in respect of certain uses of your personal data (referred to as “Instant Home “, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice).

We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data privacy manager using the details set out below.

Contact details

Our full details are:

Full name of legal entity: Instant Home Limited

Name of data privacy manager: Suzanne Hubbard

Email address:  sue@instanthome.co.uk

Postal address: Instant Home Limited, Two Hoots Farm, Sawtry Way, Wyton, Huntingdon, Cambs PE28 2DY

Telephone number: (01480) 456368

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Instant Home Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to enter into consumer hire agreements as owner (FCA reference number 934685).

This privacy notice was last updated on 22 June 2022.

We may make changes to this privacy notice from time to time in order to ensure it complies with the law and is suitable for our business purposes. Any changes will be posted onto this web page (https://www.instanthome.co.uk/privacy-policy/) so please ensure you check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy notice. We will obtain your consent to any material privacy notice changes if and where this is required by applicable data protection laws.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

  1. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

  • Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender and information available to us in taking a copy of your passport;
  • Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers;
  • Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details;
  • Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of services you have used from us;
  • Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website;
  • Profile Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses;
  • Usage Data includes information about how you use our website and services and
  • Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of an agreement we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the agreement we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to hire furniture to you). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

  1. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

  • Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Financial Data and other data by entering into agreements with us, filling in forms, corresponding with us (whether by post, phone, email or otherwise) or through our website. This includes personal data you provide when you:
  • visit our website;
  • apply for or use our services;
  • subscribe to our service or publications;
  • request marketing to be sent to you;
  • enter a competition, promotion or survey; or
  • give us some feedback;
  • Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies;
  • Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
  • Technical Data from the following parties:
    • analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU; and
    • advertising networks based outside the EU;
  • Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services such as credit reference agencies, GoCardless and Monek based inside the EU; and
  • Identity and Contact Data from publicly availably sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside the EU.
  1. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  • where we need to perform the agreement we are about to enter into or have entered into with you;
  • where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; and
  • where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

See the table below to find out more about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data.

Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we will use your personal data, and which of the legal basis we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Purpose/Activity Type of data Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To register you as a new customer (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Financial

(a) Performance of an agreement with you

(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests including carrying out credit checks (see Credit Reference Agencies section)

To process and deliver your order including:

(a) Manage payments, fees and charges

(b) Collect and recover money owed to us

(a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Financial

(d) Transaction

(e) Marketing and Communications

(a) Performance of an agreement with you

(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us)

To manage our relationship with you which will include:

(a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy

(b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey

(c)  Giving you online access to your account with us

(a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Financial

(d) Transaction

(e) Profile

(f) Usage

(g) Marketing and Communications

(a) Performance of an agreement with you

(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation

(c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our services)

To enable you to partake in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Profile

(d) Usage

(e) Marketing and Communications

(a) Performance of an agreement with you

(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our services, to develop them and grow our business)

To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Technical

(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)

(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation

To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Profile

(d) Usage

(e) Marketing and Communications

(f) Technical

Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To use data analytics to improve our website, services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences (a) Technical

(b) Usage

Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Technical

(d) Usage

(e) Profile

Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our services and grow our business)

Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

Promotional offers from us

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which services and offers may be relevant for you.

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Third-party marketing

We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any company outside Instant Home for marketing purposes.

Opting out

You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time or by clicking on the unsubscribe function with each marketing message

Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a service purchase, service experience or other transactions.

Cookies

You can set your browser or use the cookies consent mechanism to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see below.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

  1. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above.

  • Internally: Your personal data will be used by our employees and contractors who are working on providing your services to you on a need-to-know basis.
  • Suppliers: This would include service providers who support our business including IT and communication suppliers and business support service providers to ensure our service runs smoothly.

Professional advisers: This would include lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.

  • Law enforcement bodies, regulators and other authorities: This is to comply with our legal requirements or adhere to good practices such as HM Revenue and Custom, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
  • Analytics service providers: This is so that we can provide the best experience to you and ensure that our services are constantly evolving to serve our customers’ needs. Google Analytics and Hotjar are examples of analytics service providers that we use.
  • Third parties: This is in the context of the acquisition or transfer of any part of our business or in connection with the business reorganisation. If a change happens to our business then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

  1. CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCIES
  • We conduct credit checks in order to determine whether or not to accept your application to hire furniture. We may also conduct credit checks while you are a customer.
  • We will share personal data about you, your directors and beneficial owners with the Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) and they will give us information about you. This information can include: name, address, date of birth, credit application details, details of any shared credit, financial history, fraud information, public information from sources such as the Electoral Register and Companies House.
  • We will use the information in order to decide whether or not to hire furniture to you, check that the information you have provided is accurate, to protect you and us from fraud, to help manage our relationship with you (including ensuring you are able to maintain your payments) and to trace and recover debts.
  • The three main CRAs are:

Experian (experian.com);

Equifax (equifax.com); and

TransUnion (transunion.com).

  • The CRAs have produced a Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN) which explains the use of personal data they receive and provides details on how you can find further information or complain about their use of your data.
  1. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

We may transfer your personal data outside the UK and European Economic Area (EEA) in our performance of services.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK or EEA, we ensure an appropriate degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

  • we will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK Government or the European Commission.
  • where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the UK Government or European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has with the UK or EEA.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA.

  1. DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

  1. DATA RETENTION

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

We typically retain information relating to quotations and our agreements with you for up to six years after our relationship with you has ended. We may retain Marketing and Communication Data for up to two years.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see Request erasure below for further information.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

  1. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please see below to find out more about your right to:

  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it;
  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us;
  • Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request;
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms;
  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it;
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you; and
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

 If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. No fee is usually required.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

COOKIE POLICY

The Instant Home website uses cookies – a small text file that is placed on your computer or electronic device when you access our website. This policy highlights what cookies we collect and why, and how you can opt-out of having cookies stored on your computer. 

This policy only applies to the Instant Home website. Should you leave our site via a link or otherwise, you will be subject to the policy of that website provider. Instant Home have no control over that policy or the terms of the website and you should check their policy before continuing to access the site.

Cookies control and disabling cookies

You can refuse the use of cookies by changing the settings on your browser or by clicking on the cookies consent mechanism. However, if you block certain cookies, such as strictly necessary cookies for the functioning of our website, you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.

You can use your browser to delete cookies that have already been stored. However, the steps and measures required vary depending on the browser you use. If you have any questions, please use the Help function or consult the documentation for your browser or contact its creator for support.

We use the following types of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website or to use a shopping cart.

Analytical or performance cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. This data is collected anonymously using Google Analytics. We also use cookies to enable us to use Google Translate. This is also anonymous and ensures our website is readable in all languages.

Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).

Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

What cookies do we use?

Cookie Name First Party or Third Party Purpose Expiry
Google Analytics _ga, _utmx Third Party We use Google Analytics. These cookies collect anonymous information including how many times you have visited the website, webpages you have viewed and the pages you have visited. It also collects information such as web browser, device type and location. We use this information to improve our website and digital marketing efforts.

 

You can find out more information, or install a browser plug in to prevent websites sending information about your website visit, here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245

 

Up to 2 years from date of first visit
Yandex Translate

 

yt-translate

 

Third Party We use Yandex Translate. These cookies may be set by Yandex who provide a free translation service to our website. Local storage is also utilised for remembering the chosen language N/A
Account PHPSESSID, wordpress_ First Party We use server-side session cookies to help keep you logged in to your account which are prefixed with ‘wordpress_’ or ‘wp-*’ e.g. ‘wordpress_test_cookie’. These cookies are used for account security and operational reasons and will usually only be set if you try to log in to your account on our website Session
Hotjar _hj* Third Party We use Hotjar to analyse how visitors interact with our website. Hotjar sets a number of cookies which are all prefixed with ‘_hj’ e.g. ‘_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress’

 

Up to 1 year from date of first visit

Managing cookies via browser

You can request your computer to stop accepting cookies at any time. Internet browsers provide settings that prevent your computer from accepting cookies, though please be aware that doing say can affect our, and other websites from working properly. Please see the following links for turning cookies off depending on your browser:

You can install a plug-in to prevent websites from sending information about you to Google Analytics. You can find more information about this here.

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.