Privacy Policy
This explains the practices of Time Well Spent Limited in collecting and using your information. We are committed to respecting and safeguarding your personal information data. We collect various types of your personal information through your use of our websites to process your requests and orders and because it helps us to understand your needs and shapes the way in which we interact and communicate with you about our products and services now and in the future. We have policies and procedures in place to protect your data when you send it to us, when we process it in order to provide you with the services you have requested or, where you have given us your permission to do so, to send you information that we think you’ll find interesting, and thereafter when we store your data on our secure servers. Time Well Spent Group Limited will be the Data Controller of any personal data we collect about you and we are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
What personal data do we collect?
Time Well Spent Group Limited collects both Personal Data and Anonymous Data when you send us information or when you visit one of our websites, order products, enter competitions, subscribe to our magazines, complete surveys or post comments on our forums or social media platforms. When we talk about Personal Data we mean any information that can identify you as an individual, such as your name and postal address. Anonymous Data doesn’t identify you as a person but it might be used in aggregate, for instance when you participate in a survey.
How do we keep it secure?
Our data servers are protected and our staff will treat your data with respect and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. When we ask another organisation to provide a service for us, we ensure that they have appropriate security measures in place. The internet is not a totally secure medium and you acknowledge and agree that Time Well Spent Group Limited shall not be responsible for unauthorised use, distribution, damage or destruction of personal data, except to the extent that we are required to accept such responsibility.
How do we collect and use your Personal Data?
We collect your details when you register on one of our websites; subscribe to our e-newsletter service; place an order on our website; search for a product; correspond with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise; participate in forums or other social media functions on our website, enter a competition or promotion.
With regard to each of your visits to our websites we may automatically collect the following information:
- technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
- information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time); products you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number.
We will be transparent about how we plan to use your data so that you have the choice whether or not to give it to us. We respect your preferences and will do our best to make sure that we keep our promises.
If you give us your consent to send you further marketing messages we may contact you from time-to-time with carefully selected offers and promotions from ourselves or from our network of carefully selected partners, from which you may always opt-out or unsubscribe. It is not our practice to contact you if you have made it clear that you do not wish to hear from us about our products and services.
We may need to authenticate your identity to provide you with access to subscriber-only services. We might also send you surveys or invite you to enter a competition or receive a newsletter, for instance. If you do not wish to participate you may simply decline our invitations.
Our iPad, Android and other “apps” may collect user data, which we use to learn about our readers and improve our apps.
To understand how our “apps” are used we may use the service of Google Analytics to provide us with anonymous statistical information about your use of our app(s).
Visitors can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising by visiting here https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/
We use this information for reporting purposes and to advertise online. Third-party vendors, including Google, may show your ads on sites across the Internet. We may use the cookies relating to Google Analytics together with third party cookies to inform, optimise and serve ads based on a user’s part visits to our websites.
Do we share your data?
Except as otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy or in the data collection statements that will always be visible when we collect your information and where we give you the opportunity to select your preferences, we may release your data to external companies that we use to process your orders, to supply you with a prize in the event you win a competition, or charge your credit card, for instance.
However, you expressly consent to the sharing of your Personal Data with those suppliers with whom we contract in order to provide services to you, otherwise we may not be able to provide the level of service that we know you’ll require.
If you send in a comment, we may post it on our site or use it as a testimonial without mentioning your full name or publishing any information that would identify you. Furthermore, in some circumstances we may display some of your information such as your username and age. Others may be able to see your personal data if you post any information on bulletin boards or forums and may be used to send you unsolicited communications over which we have no control.
We may share some of your information with advertisers, ad servers and ad networks to deliver targeted advertising both on our websites and on selected partner websites but this will not include any information, which directly identifies you. However, by interacting with or viewing an advert, you should be aware that the third party may make the assumption that you meet the targeting criteria used to display the advert.
These activities may involve the use of cookies and other similar technologies. To learn more or to see how you can opt out of targeted advertising, for more information please read our Cookie Policy below at the end of the Privacy Policy.
Please take care when using social networking sites to which we may invite you to join that you do not disclose anything that you might later wish to retract.
There are certain times when we may be legally required to disclose your data in good faith where it is required by law or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on us, or where we have a requirement to protect or defend the rights of Time Well Spent Group Limited or any users of our servers. We will always ensure that those requesting the information have the legal right to do so.
If another company should acquire any of our companies or our assets, including our database, that company will have the right of possession to the Personal Data collected by us and will assume the rights and obligations formerly attributable to us and will use the data in line with the terms under which you submitted it or as described in this Privacy Policy.
Other third party websites
Please note when you click on links and advertisements on any of our sites, you will leave that site and go to a third-party site, which is outside of our control and their data practices may vary from Time Well Spent Group Limited. When we place an advertisement on one of our sites, it does not signify that we are endorsing that advertiser’s product or service. If transferred to another site you should consult their data collection statements, which accompany any registration and their Privacy Policies before you submit your personal information. We do not accept responsibility for content, have no control over and our Privacy Policy does not apply to these companies, sites or content and if such third-party sites collect Personal Data, we cannot control how this data is processed, stored or used.
Cookies and how we use them
“Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing a website. Time Well Spent Group Limited uses cookies for a number of reasons:
- To provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our sites.
- For statistical purposes to track how many users we have and have often they visit our websites.
- We use organisation to collect anonymous user information so they can analyse how the website is being used and the number of visitors.
- We and our advertisers may use statistical cookies to track who has seen an advert and clicked on it.
- To show you adverts that you may be interested in and to control the number of time you see them and measures the effectiveness of the ad campaign.
- We may use ‘Flash’ cookies to store your preference for your media player. If we do not use them, it may not be possible for you to watch some video content.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies, but please be aware that for some parts of our sites to work, you will need to accept cookies. For more information please visit www.allaboutcookies.org and/or www.youronlinechoices.com
More information on cookies can be found in our Cookie Policy (below).
Our Apps
If you use any of our apps on your mobile device we will process the following information:
- Your location-You may decline this request, but this may mean that we cannot offer relevant services;
- Your device ID, this will be processed automatically;
- Your email address, if you create an account;
- Your age and gender, if you provide it.
Online Behavioural Advertising
We use an advertising service called online behavioural advertising (OBA). This allows us to deliver targeted advertising to the visitors of our websites. It works by showing you adverts that are based on your browsing patterns and the way you have interacted with the website. For example, if you have been reading a lot of car articles, you may be shown more adverts for cars. None of the OBA techniques used will collect personal information such as your name; email address, postal address or phone number. If you would like more information regarding OBA and how to opt out, please visit http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/
Logging in using social networking
If you login to our sites using a Facebook login or a Google login, you are granting permission to Facebook and or Google login to share your user details with Time Well Spent Group Limited. This will include your name, email address, date of birth and location which will then be used to form a Time Well Spent Group Limited identity. This will also allow Time Well Spent Group Limited and Facebook and/or Google login to share your networks, user ID and any other information you choose to share according to your Facebook and/or Google account settings. If you remove the Time Well Spent Group Limited app from your Facebook and or Google settings, we will no longer have access to this information.
Opting Out on Receipt of Email Marketing Communications
If you receive a marketing email from us, you will have the option to “opt-out” by clicking on the unsubscribe link provided at the bottom of each and every message we send you. Please be aware that this will not unsubscribe you from our service-based messages, such as subscription rewards and subscription reminders to fulfil your order.
Telephone and Mailing Preference Services
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) and the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) allow you to choose to opt out of unsolicited marketing. However, if you are registered on any of the preference services, which are general opt-out registers, you may still receive marketing communications from us if you have given us your consent previously or if you subsequently give us that consent.
Marketing to Children
We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 16 for marketing purposes.
Using our websites from outside the UK
Our servers are situated in the EEA and when you submit your details and in whichever country you are situated you agree to the data being transferred to the EEA and processed under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 which stem from European Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC respectively. If you are not in agreement please do not add your personal details on the website.
Can I find out what personal information Time Well Spent Group Limited holds about me?
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have the right to request a copy of what information we hold about you and you may ask us to make any changes that you consider necessary to make the information accurate. We charge £10 for information requests and require you to satisfactorily identify yourself to demonstrate your entitlement to view this data. If you want to apply to see the data we hold about you, please write to: The Data Protection Officer, Time Well Spent Group Limited, Macnab House, 14 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3BL.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy will be amended from time-to-time. If we make any important changes in the way that we collect, store and use personal data. So you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information. We may notify you by sending an email to your last known email address or writing to your last known postal address to direct you to the Privacy Policy if the changes are material. Our dispatch of a communication to you will, in any event, constitute notification. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use Time Well Spent Group Limited websites.
This Privacy Policy was updated in September 2024.