Privacy and cookies policy
Version 1.0 · Effective · Last updated
Who are we?
We are AP Education Services Ltd trading as “Tutorspot”. For privacy queries, you can contact us at support@tutorspot.co.uk. Other contact details are on our website.
What’s the point of this policy?
It tells you what to expect when we collect your personal information via our website. Please only use our service if you are completely happy with this policy.
Generally, the policy covers only information provided to us. If you give personal information to other people, such as payment providers or other websites, please check their privacy policies. See, e.g. the privacy policy of our payment provider Stripe. (Note that this payment provider may change.)
Might the policy change?
Yes. Please check it whenever you visit our website. We will assume you agree to the new version of the policy if you use the site after its effective date. We may also notify you of any changes by email or in-service message.
What do we collect?
Information which you upload to our service or otherwise give us such as:
your name and contact details;
other information provided when you register with us such as (in the case of tutors) profile photo, education and qualification details, identity documents and criminal records check certificates;
details about your transactions on our service;
information included in your profile or which you otherwise provide for display on our service or which you include in messages sent via our service;
contact or other information which you give or allow us to use for newsletters or other marketing; and
your communications with us.
Automated information about your use of our service such as: the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the internet, connection information such as browser type and version, information about your device including device-type and device identifier, operating system and platform, mobile network data, a unique reference number linked to the data you enter on our system, login details, the site from which you arrived at our service, details of your activity with date / time stamps including pages you visited and your searches / transactions.
The following information about you may be provided to us by other people:
Limited billing information sent to us by our payment provider for verification purposes e.g., your name, email address and billing addresses.
What’s our reason / legal basis for collecting the information?
Because it’s necessary to take steps at your request to enter into a contract with you and/or to perform such a contract, e.g., send service messages, process payments and fulfil orders. This applies to initial enquiries and to contact and transaction details as well as to profiles and other information which you provide for public display on our service.
Because it’s in our “legitimate interests”, e.g., to manage and improve our service including tracking usage patterns and preventing or detecting fraud or abuse. This applies to automated usage data.
Because you’ve specifically agreed on our service (e.g, by ticking a consent box). This applies to contact or other information which you give or allow us to use for newsletters or other marketing. You can withdraw permission at any time as explained on our service or by emailing us at the above email address.
If you supply us with someone else’s email address for a “Refer A Friend” or similar offer, to send a referral message to that person and we will then immediately delete it.
How long do we keep personal information?
Until you delete your account, which you can do by emailing us at the above email address.
We may hold on to some of your information for longer (typically up to six years) if reasonably needed for legal, regulatory or tax reasons, deal with disputes, prevent fraud or abuse and/or enforce our terms and conditions.
We will keep your information which we use only for newsletters or other marketing until you tell us to stop sending you such messages.
Do we send your information outside the European Union?
Your personal information which we collect is stored within the EU and is not transferred to any third countries except as follows.
Your personal information may be transferred to the US by the following companies certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which provides certain safeguards for your personal information: Google (analytics / advertising), Facebook (advertising), SendGrid (email delivery), Intercom (chatbot, email delivery, customer support).
What rights do you have?
If the legal requirements are met: To ask us for access to your personal information, to rectify it if there are mistakes, to delete or restrict its use in certain circumstances or to “data portability” or to withdraw any consent you’ve given (e.g. marketing).
You may also have the right to object to use of your personal information in certain circumstances.
If you have a complaint about how we are dealing with your personal information, please contact us via the email address above. If you are not happy with our response or think we are not handling your personal information in accordance with the law, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
For more information about your rights, visit the ICO’s website: www.ico.org.uk.