1. Who We Are

Shutters by Balaz is the trading name of Balaz Enterprise Global Ltd (Companies House: 16373292), a company registered in England and Wales at 44b Hackwood Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 3AE. We supply and install made-to-measure plantation shutters across Hampshire, Berkshire, and Surrey.

Data Controller: Balaz Enterprise Global Ltd (trading as Shutters by Balaz) — Companies House: 16373292
Email: [email protected] | +44 (0) 7821 964 286

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data when you use our website (shuttersbybalaz.co.uk) or contact us about our services. It is written in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal data:

Contact information: name, email address, telephone number, and postcode — provided when you submit a quote request or contact us directly.
Property information: window dimensions, property type, and installation preferences — provided as part of a quote request.
Order and payment information: if you purchase shutters via our website, your order details are processed through Stripe. We do not store full card details on our systems.
Communications: the content of emails, WhatsApp messages, or form submissions you send to us.
Usage data: anonymised information about how you interact with our website, collected via analytics cookies (only with your consent — see Section 5).

We do not collect any special category data (e.g. health, ethnicity, religion) and we do not collect data from children under 16.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

Purpose	Lawful Basis (UK GDPR)
Responding to your quote request or enquiry	Legitimate interests / Pre-contractual steps
Providing and fulfilling your order	Performance of a contract
Processing payments via Stripe	Performance of a contract
Sending order confirmations and service updates	Performance of a contract
Complying with legal and tax obligations	Legal obligation
Improving our website (analytics, with consent)	Consent

We will never sell your personal data to third parties or use it for unsolicited marketing without your explicit consent.

4. How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary:

Quote enquiries not resulting in an order: up to 12 months, then deleted.
Customer order records: up to 7 years, to comply with HMRC accounting requirements.
Email and message correspondence: up to 3 years, then deleted.
Analytics data: anonymised; retained for up to 24 months.

5. Cookies

Our website uses cookies. A cookie is a small text file stored on your device when you visit a website. We use the following types:

Cookie Type	Purpose	Consent Required?
Strictly necessary	Session management, security, and core site functionality. These cannot be disabled.	No
Analytics (Umami)	Anonymous, cookieless website analytics to understand how visitors use our site. No personal data is collected.	Yes
Payment (Stripe)	Required to process payments securely via Stripe Checkout.	No (functional)

When you first visit our site, you will be shown a cookie consent banner. You can accept or decline analytics cookies at any time. Your preference is stored in your browser's local storage. You can also clear cookies at any time via your browser settings.

6. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may process your data:

Stripe — payment processing. Stripe is PCI-DSS compliant. Their privacy policy is available at stripe.com/gb/privacy.
Umami Analytics — privacy-first, cookieless website analytics. No personal data or IP addresses are stored. Their privacy policy is available at umami.is/privacy.
WhatsApp — if you contact us via WhatsApp, your message is processed by Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd under their own privacy policy.

All third-party processors we use are either based in the UK/EEA or operate under appropriate data transfer safeguards (e.g. Standard Contractual Clauses).

7. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access — you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification — you can ask us to correct inaccurate data.
Right to erasure — you can ask us to delete your data where there is no compelling reason for us to continue processing it.
Right to restrict processing — you can ask us to pause processing your data in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability — you can request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Right to object — you can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent (e.g. analytics cookies), you can withdraw consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully.

8. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. Our website is served over HTTPS. Payment data is handled entirely by Stripe and never passes through our servers in unencrypted form.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us:

Balaz Enterprise Global Ltd (trading as Shutters by Balaz)
44b Hackwood Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 3AE
Companies House: 16373292
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0) 7821 964 286
Service area: Hampshire, Berkshire & Surrey, United Kingdom