GDPR

This page is all about the GDPR, what is it, why you should care, what we do with it, how to complain about it, why has the internet browsing experience been ruined by it and all that jazz.. Any questions about it just drop us an email.

What is GDPR?

In short the General Data Protection Regulation is a set of rules laid out by the EU (so probably might change in the future?). The rules are basically there to disclose any use or collection of data that a company might take about you.

Why should you care?

In the past if you ever gave your data to any company they were supposed to follow the data protection act. However when you would sign/agree to the companies conditions there would often be small print saying that you allow them to hand it about and use it how they see fit. GDPR seems to have refreshed everyones knowledge on following Data Protection and made it so companies have to prominently show how they will use your data.

So you should care about how people use your data or you will end up with phone calls from ‘Insurance’ companies asking “Hi have you been involved in a car accident in the last 10 years?”. (this is a joke, as we all know this still happens and we can never stop it)

What data do we take/keep and how do we use it

Record Card
So obviously, we have to take some of your details…

Pets Name : Obviously we need to know who you are bringing to us
Year you pet was Born : So we know what to expect, bouncing puppy or doddering old timer
Breed : Are you bringing an Old English or a Chihuahua, we need to know what we are scheduling for
Colour of your dog : If you bring 3 ShihTzus it helps us differentiate them or just helps us remember your dog
Your Name : This helps us remember who you are, find the record card, and also makes it a little more pleasant if we call you by your name rather than ‘Oi!’
Telephone numbers : We need a way to remind you of your groom, to contact you during the groom if anything crops up, to let you know when to collect your dog.. basically we might need to communicate with you so this facilitates that. If you have a partner or house number you would also like to give us we can take that as well.
Medical Details of your Dog : Please don’t worry about what we might think, just answer honestly. These are merely so we know how to handle your dog while its in our care. If it’s not vaccinated then we don’t let it play with other doggos, if it has fleas fine we can get it straight in the bath for a de-flea bath etc. We just need to know
– Vaccinated regularly?
– Microchipped?
– Neutered/Spayed?
– Any fleas, ticks, mites, worms etc (parasites)?
– Ok with other dogs, or people?
– Allowed to have treats?
– Medicated shampoo, and is it your own?
– Any medical issues at all!! anything, even if its strange and completely random, just tell us.
Details about the groom : We need to know what it is you want us to do with your dog. Sometimes customers leave it to us so we write what we want.
Date : This is not really data we get from you, but rather just from farther time himself. We do record each day you are in with us and what we did on that day just for records sake.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WE MIGHT NEED FROM YOU
– Email Address : So we can email you any grooming schedules, or payment links if that is your preferred method of doing it.
– Home Address : We usually only want this from you if we are collecting/Dropping off your dog for you.
Most of this information is taken on the day of your first groom and we request you inform us of any updates to this information in the future if you continue to use our services.

We record the details on Record Cards (shown above). And we mean cards, not digital, real physical card! We store them in a chest with a lockable latch. They are out the way of the public and only our staff have access to them.

why don’t we use digital records?? well, because we take the cards to the table we would be working at, so we can refer back during the groom to what was previously done. If we did this with say tablet computers it could be 1) costly and 2) more costly when they break from clogging up with hair or getting bitten or wet or kicked about by a dog on the table. Also that would mean we need to be more digitally secure as well.

When you first call us we do collect your dogs name, breed, your name, mobile number, and sometimes email address and house address, depending on the service you are after from us. This information is stored Digitally within your calendar entery on a Google Calendar. (Click HERE to see Googles security details).

These details are accessed from a Windows PC that is kept up to date, along with Android phones/tablets. The links will take you to these manufacturers own GDPR details pages.

How long do we (Stacey’s Dog Grooming) keep your data?

Pretty simple, we will start to remove old details on the calendar after 6 years of your visit. This is mainly due to it making searching a lot harder if it brings up many previous years worth of appointments. The record cards we usually destroy if you have not been to us for roughly 3 years, This is more to free up space as it is likely you will not be returning to us. Should you decide to return to us after many years away then we would just have to start a new record card anyway as to many factors could have changed anyway. If you get a new dog because your previous one has passed, then it would need a new record card anyway, all new dogs get a new record card.

How do we destroy our/your data?

Destroying Data
We simply shred your record cards and dispose of the remains among the discarded dog hair and poo bags.. If we have a large number of record cards to dispose of we may burn them in a fire bin mainly for speed. It is unfortunate we are not more green but we have little paper/cardboard waste as it is.
We usually keep the calendar records, until the 6 years we previously mentioned is up, but if it is requested we remove them we would simply delete these off the google calendar, same for any contact details we would simply delete these.

Website…

So you have all probably noticed the internet browsing experience has been ruined by all this GDPR. Every website (including ours) has a popup when you first visit asking if you accept the agreement of cookies etc. But why?
The reason is, as mentioned before, Companies now have to let you know if they are using your data.
Our website has no login for customers, we don’t have any fields for you put any of your own data. But we do use ads on our site.
When your computer connects to our website it is also handing over some details about your previous buying habits. When you buy things or look at things online your computer makes a note of them, these notes are shared to websites so that who ever making the ads on the site can advertise the kind of things you are interested in.
This is called Targeted Advertising. Some see it as a good things, only seeing things they would be interested in. Some see it as a bad thing as the temptation to buy things is heightened when a clever algorithm is showing you the exact things it knows you want!!
So yeah, our site has adverts that it likes to target to you, done by google. When you visit our site, you are accepting that your advertising ID is being looked at. You can often decline or tailor these options on sites. We do allow you to only send the cookies that are functional for our site. But that should be none as there is nothing our site does. Accepting all will mean you are agreeing to targeted ads.

For more information on Cookies and how they work (it is a good idea if everyone knows this kinda thing) check this video someone made (not us).

Do we share your data?

In short no. Other than the website doing targeted ads, which you either agree to or disagree to. We don’t share your data with anyone. We post pictures of our grooms (your dogs) on social media, though you are agreeing to our terms and conditions when you leave your dog with us which includes sharing pictures of your dogs. We try not to include anyone’s actual name other than the dog unless you would like to be ‘tagged’ in them. If you wish the photos be taken down let us know and we will no questions asked. We have no interest in sharing your data with anyone, it is only in our possession for our own records to look back on so you can get a continued experience from groom to groom. The only exception to this would be if you requested to pass your details on to say one of our contacts, (eg: dog boarding, dog walking, IT tech support).

Your rights with this data?

Well there are 6 main rights with your data..

Companies must tell you what data they collect, how long they keep it, why they keep it (that’s what this page is doing now)
If you ever wish to see the data we have on you, you can request it (just drop us an email and we will show you)
Companies must erase your data if you request to be forgotten
Portability of data. If you wanted to visit another dog groomer, thats ok, we will be upset but we will gladly hand over your data so you can take it to another company. (we hand write the cards and wow we have bad hand writing so the other groomer might need to contact us to clarify)
You can restrict the way a company uses your information, it doesn’t really apply to us but it means you can choose how a company uses your data
You can always object the collection or use of your data
By law you can request a company shows you its process for data use if you think it is being used unfairly
How do you complain about it?
Our Data Protection Officer is Bob Dent.
All our contact details can be found on our ‘Find Us’ Page