Privacy Policy

We have a lot of fun at Talking Balloons. We also take our responsibilities to our customers seriously.

To continue to provide the highest quality of service to our customers, it is necessary to make use of personal data.

Getting a parcel to the right place requires an address. Responding to an enquiry means using an email address or phone number. Receipts and invoices help us to pay our taxes.

According to the law in the UK/EU - these things make us a "data controller".

For peace of mind, or if you're just curious, here is a detailed breakdown of how we go about our duty to keep your information out of the hands of spammers and miscreants:

Contact Form

Lawful basis for processing: Legitimate interests

It is in both the visitor’s and Talking Balloons interests that the message is safely received by Talking Balloons. Therefore we must keep a copy of the message so it can be retrieved in the event of an email failure.

Objective for processing: The message details are stored in the database for 1-2 months to ensure messages can be retrieved should there be a failure with email.

Lawful basis for processing: Legitimate interests

In the event that newsletter type services are requested by means of voluntary "opting in", Talking Balloons may send out information relating to services, events and products from time to time.

Objective for processing: To keep subscribers up to date with the latest in product availably and offers of potential interest. Also to inform of planned or unplanned outages - or anything that may impact the services provided by Talking Balloons.

GDPR Individual Rights

Right to be informed
All information regarding GDPR can be found in this Privacy Policy.

Right of access
If you would like to have access to a copy of the data this website holds relating specifically to you, please email marketing@talkingballoons.com with your request. Your data will be provided free of charge within one month of receiving your request.

Right of rectification
If you would like us to rectify any of the data this held on this website relating specifically to you, please email marketing@talkingballoons.com with your request. We will rectify the data free of charge within one month of receiving your request.

Right of erasure
If you would like us to remove any or all of the data held on this website relating specifically to you, please email marketing@talkingballoons.com with your request. We will remove the data free of charge within one month of receiving your request. Please note, this may not be possible if the data is essential to services we are contractually obliged to provide you with. We will inform you if this is the case.

Right to restrict processing
If you would like us to restrict the processing of any data held on this website relating specifically to you, please email marketing@talkingballoons.com with your request. We will restrict processing of your data free of charge within one month of receiving your request. Please note, this may not be possible if the data is essential to services we are contractually obliged to provide you with. We will inform you if this is the case.

Right to data portability
If you would like to have access to a copy of the data this website holds relating specifically to you, please email marketing@talkingballoons.com with your request. Your data will be provided in CSV or Word File format free of charge within one month of receiving your request.

Right to object
For any mass communication you receive from us, you can opt-out immediately using the opt-out link provided. However, if you feel there is any other processing of your data you would like to object to, please email marketing@talkingballoons.com with your request. We will terminate any further processing of your data immediately and free of charge.

Rights related to automated decision making including profiling
This website does not make use of any automated decision making or profiling.

Your Rights

You have the right to access any personal information that Talking Balloons processes about you and to request information about:

What personal data we hold about you
The purposes of the processing
The categories of personal data concerned
The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
How long we intend to store your personal data for
If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source

If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information and the right to be informed about any automated decision-making we may use.

If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.

Sharing and Disclosing Personal Information

We do not share or disclose any of your personal information without your consent, other than for the purposes specified in this notice or where there is a legal requirement. Talking Balloons uses third parties to provide the below services and business functions; however, all processors acting on our behalf only process your data in accordance with instructions from us and comply fully with this privacy notice, the data protection laws and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

Designated Accountant to Talking Balloons
For the purposes of bookkeeping, accounts, tax returns where applicable and invoicing to our customers. They act in the capacity of a processor on our behalf. The only information we provide is your name, address and email address and invoice values.

Website Hosting
Our website is hosted on a level 1 PCI compliant, secure data centre that is owned and managed by Shopify Inc. Our website includes storage of email addresses only which are used for the purposes of newsletters. The website also collects IP addresses linked to each user account as either a website login user, or newsletter recipient.
We do not sell any of the data that is collected by the website (or by any other means).

Designated Accountant to Talking Balloons
For the purposes of order or enquiry fulfilment, third party involvement may be required from time to time to enable us to provide the required services. We endeavour to keep the details passed along to third parties to a minimum.

Safeguarding Measures

Talking Balloons take your privacy seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place, including

Strong password protected entries
Restricted access to only limited personnel
Firewalls on hosted applications
Malware and anti-virus protection systems on computers

Transfers Outside the European Union

Talking Balloons utilise some products or services (or parts of them) that may be hosted/stored in the US and/or Canada, which means that we may transfer any information which is submitted by you through email outside the European Economic Area ("EEA") for the below purposes:-

Dropbox: For the purposes of storing and sharing documents with our customers and to collaborate on projects. Only participating customers are provided with access to the relevant folders. Only the names of the participants are included in documents.
Folders with accounting information or any other personal data is held in non-shared folders.

Microsoft OneDrive & SharePoint: For the purposes of storing and sharing documents with our customers and to collaborate on projects. Only participating customers are provided with access to the relevant folders. Only the names of the participants are included in documents. Folders with accounting information or any other personal data is held in non-shared folders.

Microsoft Exchange: We use a Microsoft Exchange server for transmitting personal messages to data subjects. These are often in the form of electronic mail which uses SSL, TLS and Password level security features. Email clients used in the business include Microsoft Outlook and mail client apps such as Apple Mail and Android Gmail.

Therefore, when you send us an email, the personal information you submit may be stored on servers which are hosted in the US. Where this is the case, we will take steps to ensure that those providers use the necessary level of protection for your information and abide by strict agreements and measures set out by Talking Balloons to protect your data and comply with the relevant data protection laws.

Consequences of Not Providing Your Data

You are not obligated to provide your personal information to Talking Balloons, however, as this information is required for us to provide you with our services as well as legitimate interests, we will not be able to offer some/all our services without it.

How Long We Keep Your Data

Talking Balloons only ever retains personal information for as long as is necessary and we have strict review and retention policies in place to meet these obligations. We are required under UK tax law to keep your basic personal data (name, address, contact details) for a minimum of 6 years after which time it will be destroyed.
Where you have consented to us using your details for direct marketing, we will keep such data until you notify us otherwise and/or withdraw your consent.

Special Categories Data

Owing to the products, services or treatments that we offer, Talking Balloons does not collect or process sensitive personal information.

Lodging A Complaint

Talking Balloons only processes your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.

If you have any questions - please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on 01246 270555 or at hello@talkingballoons.com

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