Services & Support

Privacy Policy

Comet Group Ltd ("Comet", "us", "we") takes the protection of your online privacy seriously and this Privacy Policy sets out how we use and protect any personal information we obtain from dealings which arise from you using this website. Comet is not responsible for the privacy practices of any websites which may be linked from the Comet website, so please separately check their privacy policies.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time by updating this page so please check our Privacy Policy for any changes when you revisit our website. This Privacy Policy is effective from December 2011.

What personal information do we collect?

We ask for your personal information when you make a purchase in store, register with MyComet, sign up for promotions, offers or competitions, or to receive news, or when you fill in the personal details section of 'Your Basket' to make a purchase. Depending on which of these services you use, we may collect:

• your name and contact information including postal address, e-mail address and telephone number, even if you do not complete your purchase;
• details of any purchase orders that you place through the website, and any details we need for delivery, installation, appliance disposal, product service plan or product servicing as applicable;
• card payment details if making a purchase;
• details you provide when you contact us or make enquiries either generally or about any purchases you make with us;
• details of your visits to the website and the resources that you access; and
• information you provide if you report a problem with our website;

Even if you do not use these services, or for example, do not proceed with a purchase, we will still gather any personal details entered and information about your activity on the website to understand what parts of the website and what products you are interested in, so that we can improve our website and tailor our services to you. Further details are in the Cookies section of this Privacy Policy.

What we do with the personal information we collect?

Depending on how you engage with us, we may use your information:

• to facilitate your use of this website and the services available through it;
• when you purchase from us, to process your order, collect payment, enable you to track you order online, arrange delivery and for other purchase related services such as installation, disposal of your old appliance (as relevant), and product warranty (this may include contacting you by telephone, email or SMS to arrange, confirm or upgrade your delivery, installation or appliance disposal) and for ongoing customer service dealings including any faults or repairs or refunds;
• for internal accounting and regulatory purposes;
• for statistical analysis to assess our business performance and to improve our products and services;
• to improve and personalise your experience when you visit the website (See Cookies), and to keep you informed about other products and services you might be interested in (See Keeping You Informed); and
• to ask you from time to time if you would like to provide feedback on or participate in market research on our products and services. You do not have to participate in these if you do not wish.
• In order to conduct appropriate anti fraud checks. Personal information that you provide may be disclosed to a credit reference or fraud prevention agency, which may keep a record of the information.

Who do we share it with?

Please note that Comet is legally required to notify the TV Licensing Authority of any purchase you make of television receiving equipment. Please see www.tvlicensing.co.uk for more details.

If you take out an additional service plan with your purchase, Comet will share limited personal information with the service plan provider.

Comet may also disclose your personal information:

• if we use authorised service providers to perform certain services on our behalf, for example this might include providing IT support and maintenance, website hosting services, our direct marketing programme and for online payment services. We do not permit our service providers to share or to use such information for any other purpose and they are under strict obligations to keep your information secure;
• Trusted third party suppliers providing relevant products and services related to your Comet purchases (see Keeping You Informed)
• to the police, regulators, law enforcement or other government agency where the law requires this, where appropriate to prevent or detect criminal activity, or in connection with product safety, and otherwise to relevant third parties to protect Comet, its business, staff and customers; and
• to prospective or actual buyers in the event that Comet sells any of its business or assets so help ensure continuity of your customer relationship.

Keeping You Informed

We may from time to time contact or update you about products, services or offers that may be relevant to you.

This may include delivery, installation and appliance disposal options, and extended warranties, and other products and services related to your Comet purchases, some of which are provided by Comet and some by our trusted partners to whom we may pass on your details.

We or they may contact you about these by telephone, mail, email and SMS, using the contact details you provide and update us with, which we obtain or update with you in our dealings, or which we obtain or update from external sources. This may include telephone numbers which are registered by you or others with the Telephone Preference Service unless you have told us directly that you do not wish to be contacted for this purpose on a particular telephone number. By providing your details through the website, you are agreeing to this.

If you don't want to be contacted by post or telephone you can email us at dataremoval@comet.co.uk or write to us at the address in Your Rights. If you do so, please bear with us for a short time whilst we adjust our records. This usually takes up to 28 days but we try to do it sooner.

If you don't want to be contacted by email, please change from the 'yes' to the 'no' options when you first give your details online. If you choose 'yes' you can still change your mind later, Comet's marketing emails contain an easy means for you to unsubscribe.

Please note that Comet would not necessarily remove all your details from its records but would note and respect your changed marketing preferences.

Security and Storage

Whilst we have policies, rules and measures in place and try to take all reasonable steps to safeguard your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you provide online.

Cookies - What We Do

We use cookies for certain areas of our website. Cookies are files that store information on your hard drive or browser so that our website can recognise that you have visited the website before and which are used to facilitate access to the website, to tailor your experience of the website and to allow you to move through processes including the payment processes on the website. They make it easier for you to maintain your preferences on the website, and by seeing how you use the website, we can tailor the website around your preferences and measure usage of the website. We use cookies to:

• look at what items you have viewed so that you can use the product comparison and recently viewed items resources on the website;
• place advertisements for our products on other external sites. We do this by allowing visitor tracking providers to identify your visit to our website and the pages you have viewed whilst on it. This allows them to serve tailored advertisements to you on third party websites in their adserving network, based on the information they have collected whilst you were visiting our website; and
• look at your purchasing and browsing habits with us, including to track your wish list, favourites, and which products you place in 'Your Basket' on the website including where you did not proceed to purchase, and according to your marketing preferences (See Keeping You Informed), we may send you follow up contact by email, SMS, telephone or post regarding your abandoned purchase. We also use visitor tracking providers to collect information about your online activity on the website, such as the web pages you visit, the links you click, and the searches you conduct on the website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited. You can learn all about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies - Changing your Browser Settings

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies. You may delete or decline cookies by changing your browser settings. (Click "Help" in the toolbar of most browsers for instructions or review the cookie management guide produced by the Interactive Advertising Bureau – www.allaboutcookies.org.) If you do so, some of the features and services of the website may not function properly. Your continued use of the website will be treated as consent to the use of these cookies for the purposes described.

Will my personal data be transferred abroad?

If our services providers, or any third party to whom we transfer your personal information as referred to in this Privacy Policy, is located in a non-EU country that does not have comparable data privacy laws, we will put in place appropriate measures for the security and protection of your personal information.

Your Data Protection Rights

You may at any time upon written request and payment of the statutory £10 fee, ask if we hold your personal details and if so, subject to certain exceptions, be provided with a copy of them. If you would like to request this, please write, enclosing the fee, to:

The Director's Office, Comet Group Ltd, Criterion House, George Street, Hull, HU1 3AU.

You can also write to this address if you have any queries about how Comet handles your personal information or if you believe any information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete. We will amend this as appropriate.

You can also correct some types of information you have provided to us by signing in to your online account. You can also check out our Security and Privacy section on our FAQ page.

You can also request that your personal data is removed from our systems at the point of sale in a Comet store.

Alternatively, you can email our customer Information centre at dataremoval@comet.co.uk to request that your details be removed. When contacting us, please confirm your full name and address, and also the relevant e-mail address.