Homebase Insurance Website Privacy Policy
Updated 06/01/05

Homebase Limited ("Homebase") a company incorporated in England, is an appointed representative of ARG Insurance Service Limited. Both are members of the Argos Retail Group ("the Group"). The Group ("we","us") also includes Argos Limited, ARG Card Services Limited, ARG Personal Loans Limited and their associated companies. A full list of companies is available upon request (see 'contact us' below).

The purpose of this statement is to set out how we use personal information that we may obtain about you. As a user of any services on this website and by using the Homebase Insurance website generally you agree to this use.

Use of your Personal Information

1. When you register and use this site you will be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details or other details required for the particular products you ask about. We will use this data to provide you with a quote and to fulfil our agreement with you.

2. We may use information that you provide or that is obtained by us as follows:
i. to register you with our website and to administer our website services;
ii. for assessment and analysis (e.g. market, customer and product analysis) to enable us to review, develop and improve the services which we offer and to enable us to provide you and other customers with relevant information through our marketing programme. We may use your information to make decisions about you using computerised technology, for example automatically selecting products or services which we think will interest you from the information we have. We may keep you informed of such products and services (including special offers, discounts, offers, competitions and so on), as well as products and services of other companies and organisations which we consider may be of interest to you, by any of the following methods:
a. E-mail
b. Telephone (including automated calls)
c. SMS text message and other electronic messages such as picture messaging
d. Post
e. Fax
f. or otherwise

We may also pass your details to carefully selected third parties so that they may contact you about their products and services. If you do not wish to receive information of such products and services, please tick the opt-out box provided when registering on this website;
iii. to administer any prize draws or competitions you may enter;
iv. as agents for insurers who provide insurance products;

3. We may supplement the information that you provide to us with information that we receive from third parties.

4. We may also monitor and/or record your telephone conversations to ensure consistent service levels, to prevent/detect fraud, and for training purposes.

Fraud Prevention

5. In order to protect our customers and us from fraud and theft, we may pass on information that we obtain about you from making identity checks and other information in our customer records, including how you conduct any account you may have with us, to other Group companies, other retailers and to financial and other organisations (including law enforcement agencies) involved in fraud prevention and detection, to use in the same way.

Disclosure of Your Information

6. We may give information about you to the following, who may use it for the same purposes as set out above:
i. to other companies in the Group;
ii. to employees, agents and any other appointed third parties of the Group to administer any accounts, products and services provided to you by the Group now or in the future;
iii. to the administrators and underwriters of this insurance and to any other companies and organisations whose products we provide to you, e.g. home and motor insurance, financial and travel services;
iv. appointed third parties who (on our behalf) profile your data so that we may tailor the goods/services we offer to your specific needs;
v. to other organisations for the administration of prize draws or competitions;
vi. to anyone to whom we transfer or may transfer our rights and duties under our agreement with you;
vii. if we have a duty to do so or if the law allows us to do so.

Cookies

7. Technologies exist on the Internet that help us to deliver customised visitor experiences. In particular, there is a technology called "cookies" which may be used by us to provide you with, for example, customised information from our web site. A cookie is an element of data that a web site can send to your internet browser, which may then store it on your system. Cookies allow us to understand who has seen which pages and advertisements, to determine how frequently particular pages are visited and to determine the most popular areas of our web site. Depending on the type of cookie we use, cookies also allow us to make our web site more user friendly, for example, permanent cookies allow us to save your password so that you do not have to re-enter it every time you visit our web site.

8. If you wish, you can usually adjust your browser so that your computer does not accept cookies. If you do this, you will still be able to browse around the site but the functions that allow you to add items to your trolley or access an existing account will not be available. Alternatively you can adjust your browser to tell you when a website tries to put a cookie on your computer. How you adjust your browser to stop it accepting cookies or to notify you of them, will depend on the type of internet browser programme your computer uses.

9. Please remember, cookies do not contain confidential information such as your home address, telephone number or credit card details. We do not exchange cookies with any third party websites or external data suppliers.

10. Your browser also generates other information, including which language the site is displayed in, and your Internet Protocol address ("IP address"). An IP address is a set of numbers which is assigned to your computer during a browsing session whenever you log on to the Internet via your internet service provider or your network (if you access the Internet from, for example, a computer at work). Your IP address is automatically logged by our servers and used to collect traffic data about visitors to our web sites. We do not use your IP address to identify you personally.

11. We only keep cookies for the duration of your visit to our website, except where you save your login name as referred to above.

Security

12. We will treat your personal data (as defined in the Data Protection Act) in accordance with all applicable data protection and privacy legislation and will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information. However, we cannot guarantee the security of any data you disclose on-line. You accept the inherent security risks of providing information and dealing on-line over the Internet and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security unless this is due to our negligence or wilful default.

General

13. You have the right to see personal data that we keep about you, upon receipt of a written request and payment of a fee. If you are concerned that any of the information we hold on you is incorrect or if you need to change any of your registered details, please contact us (see details below).

14. Please be aware that our site may link to other web sites which may be accessed through our site. We are not responsible for the data policies or procedures or the content of these linked web sites.

15. In carrying out the activities specified in this privacy policy, we may transfer data outside the European Economic Area to countries which may not necessarily afford the same level of protection regarding the use of your personal information.

Contact us

If you have questions about this Homebase Insurance Website Privacy Policy, or wish to access your personal data, please contact us at: Homebase Website Customer Services, Acton Gate, Stafford, ST18 9AR. Email enquiries@homebase.co.uk. For further information about this website please read our Homebase Financial Services Website Terms and Conditions.