Privacy

Please take the time to read the following important information:-

Our undertaking to you

Everyone at Firebond plc is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. The following information explains: how we use the information we collect about you, what information we send to you, how you can instruct us if you wish to limit the use of that information, our information gathering techniques, and the procedures we have in place to safeguard your privacy.

Data protection

Firebond plc has a current notification under the Data Protection Act 1998. Information will be shared within the Firebond Group and their authorized agents, suppliers and sub-contractors who use this to operate the site and/or provide services to you e.g. for credit card verification.

Information we collect from you and how we use it

When you visit our web site or contact us by telephone, we need to know your personal details and those of others involved in the intended transaction. This allows us to deliver the information about our products and to calculate the prices that apply to the transaction that has been proposed. We also need to know your E-mail address and contact details so that we can reply to you. If you wish to make a purchase we need to know your debit/credit card/ direct debit bank details. We gather this information as we process your enquiry. You are free to abandon your enquiry at any time. The relevant information is then used by us, suppliers, our agents and sub-contractors to maximize the effectiveness of our services and to increase the speed with which transactions are conducted. We may also use aggregate information and statistics for the purposes of monitoring how the site is used, in order to help us improve our service. We may provide such aggregate information to third parties. The statistics gathered do not include information that can be used to identify you as an individual. We will be careful not to provide any information about you to third parties that are not directly involved in the supply of the service or contract you are seeking, unless you have given us your express permission.

Information sent to you & your consent

To improve our service to you, and help you get the most out of the site, we would like to provide you from time to time with information on our products and services. This may include related information from third parties, information about new features or special services and products which we believe will be of interest to you. We give you the opportunity to opt in or out of this at the time of obtaining a motor quote on our web site or when making initial contact with us. You can also opt out by contacting us by telephone on 0870 444 0556 (existing customer enquiry), by writing to us at Firebond Plc, Salisbury House, Station Road, Cambridge, CB1 2JF, or by email on unsubscribe@firebond.co.uk is important to realise we may not be able to stop processing all your data in all the permitted ways immediately e.g. some time delay is required to implement instructions. We will need to keep records for contract processing and legal/VAT purposes for some time. Should you wish to change the details held on our records please contact us through our normal contact points as detailed on our home web page or correspondences to you. By submitting your information to us you consent to the use of that information as set out in this policy. We may also email you or make contact with you by post or telephone unless you tell us not to. Continued use of the service will signify that you agree to any such contact. Since the Internet infrastructure is global, the information you provide may be transferred outside the European Economic Area to countries that do not have similar data protection legislation governing the use of data as set out in this policy. However, we have taken the steps outlined above to try to ensure the security of your information in any event. By submitting your information you consent to these transfers.

Use of ’cookies’ and other information gathering techniques

We use cookies to automatically access your previously stored information when you log in to our web site in order to deliver a better and more personalised service and save you time and effort.

How we protect your information

As required by the UK Data Protection Acts of 1984 and 1998, we follow strict procedures in the storage and disclosure of information which you have given us, to prevent unauthorised access. For our web site we have put in place various security procedures with the intention of safeguarding your personal information, including secure server software (SSL) for encryption of your credit card information. Firewalls are used to block unauthorised traffic to our servers. The actual server is owned by Firebond.com Ltd, (A group company of Firebond plc) is securely located and accessible only by authorised personnel. If however you notice or are suspicious that there is a security problem please do notify The Security Officer at Firebond plc on 0870 444 0556 or by email to: securityproblem@firebond.co.uk or in writing to our usual address.

Links

If you are offered a link to another site by a hyperlink from this site Firebond plc wishes to make it plain and clear that we have no control over the content of any such third party sites. We are not and shall not be held responsible for any loss or damage however suffered, caused or alleged to have been caused, that results from use of such a link and subsequent use of any such third party resource service or information. The inclusion of such links does not mean or imply that Firebond endorses or approves of any material on such a linked site or that Firebond has any affiliation, relationship or connection with the operator of such a site. If you use such a link you do so at your own judgment and risk. You should proceed and evaluate any information or service offered on that basis. Any such site will be governed by the terms and conditions of its provider

Jargon explained

Browser - Short for Web browser, a software application used to locate and display Web pages. The two most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Both of these are graphical browsers, which mean that they can display graphics as well as text. In addition, most modern browsers can present multimedia information, including sound and video, though they require plug-ins for some formats

IP (Internet Protocol) - Abbreviation of Internet Protocol, pronounced as two separate letters. IP specifies the format of packets, also called datagram’s, and the addressing scheme. Most networks combine IP with a higher-level protocol called Transport Control Protocol (TCP), which establishes a virtual connection between a destination and a source. IP by itself is something like the postal system. It allows you to address a package and drop it in the system, but there’s no direct link between you and the recipient. TCP/IP, on the other hand, establishes a connection between two hosts so that they can send messages back and forth for a period of time.

IP Address - This is an identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Networks using the TCP/IP protocol route messages based on the IP address of the destination. The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be zero to 255. For example, 1.160.10.240 could be an IP address. Within an isolated network, you can assign IP addresses at random as long as each one is unique. However, connecting a private network to the Internet requires using registered IP addresses (called Internet addresses) to avoid duplicates. The four numbers in an IP address are used in different ways to identify a particular network and a host on that network. The InterNIC Registration Service assigns Internet addresses from the following three classes.* Class A - supports 16 million hosts on each of 127 networks * Class B - supports 65,000 hosts on each of 16,000 networks * Class C - supports 254 hosts on each of 2 million networks * The number of unassigned Internet addresses is running out, so a new classless scheme called CIDR is gradually replacing the system based on classes A, B, and C and is tied to adoption of IPv6

Cookie - A ’Cookie’ is a message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file called cookie.txt. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customized Web pages for them. When you enter a Web site using cookies, you may be asked to fill out a form providing such information as your name and interests. This information is packaged into a cookie and sent to your Web browser which stores it for later use. The next time you go to the same Web site, your browser will send the cookie to the Web server. The server can use this information to present you with custom Web pages. So, for example, instead of seeing just a generic welcome page you might see a welcome page with your name on it.

Web Server - This is a computer that delivers (serves up) Web pages. Every Web server has an IP address and possibly a domain name. For example, if you enter the URL http://www.firebond.co.uk/privacy.aspx in your browser, this sends a request to the server whose domain name is firebond.co.uk. The server then fetches the page named privacy.aspx and sends it to your browser. Any computer can be turned into a Web server by installing server software and connecting the machine to the Internet. There are many Web server software applications, including public domain software from NCSA and Apache, and commercial packages from Microsoft, Netscape and others.