Privacy Policy

This is the privacy notice of localtips.net. In this document, "we", "our", or "us" refer to localtips.net.

We regret that if there are one or more points below with which you are not happy, your only recourse is to leave our website immediately!

We are providing this website as a free service, to help users share their experiences with other users and to post places / businesses they feel may be of help to other users.

We also ask you to read our terms and conditions before continuing browsing our website for any purpose.

Introduction

  1. This is a notice to inform you of our policy about all information that we record about you. It sets out the conditions under which we may process any information that we collect from you, or that you provide to us. It covers information that could identify you (“personal information”) and information that could not. In the context of the law and this notice, “process” means collect, store, transfer, use or otherwise act on information.
  2. We take seriously the protection of your privacy and confidentiality. We understand that all visitors to our website are entitled to know that their personal data will not be used for any purpose unintended by them, and will not accidentally fall into the hands of a third party.
  3. We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of all information you provide to us, and hope that you reciprocate.
  4. Our policy complies with UK law accordingly implemented, including that required by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
  5. The law requires us to tell you about your rights and our obligations to you in regards to the processing and control of your personal data. We do this now, by requesting that you read the information provided at knowyourprivacyrights.org
  6. localtips.net contains hyperlinks to external websites owned and operated by third parties mainly the places & businesses posted by the owner or authorised employees of those places. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those other websites, and we encourage you to read their privacy statements. They will govern the use of their website and of any personal data you provide when visiting those websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.
  7. Except as set out below, we do not share, or sell, or disclose to a third party, any information collected through our website.

The bases on which we process information about you

The law requires us to determine under which of six defined bases we process different categories of your personal information, and to notify you of the basis for each category.

If a basis on which we process your personal information is no longer relevant then we shall immediately stop processing your data.

If the basis changes then if required by law we shall notify you of the change and of any new basis under which we have determined that we can continue to process your information.

1. Information we process because we have a contractual obligation with you

When you create an account on our website, to post a place or business profile, or otherwise agree to our terms and conditions, a contract is formed between you and us.

In order to carry out our obligations under that contract we must process the information you give us. Some of this information may be personal information.

We may use it in order to:

  • 1.1. verify your identity for security purposes
  • 1.2. provide you with access to manage your business / place profile
  • 1.3. provide you with facility to post reviews
  • 1.4. provide you with suggestions and advice on services and how to obtain the most from using our website

We process this information on the basis there is a contract between us, or that you have requested we use the information before we enter into a legal contract.

Additionally, we may aggregate this information in a general way and use it to provide class information, for example to monitor our performance with respect to a particular service we provide. If we use it for this purpose, you as an individual will not be personally identifiable.

We shall continue to process this information until the contract between us ends or is terminated by either party under the terms of the contract.

2. Information we process with your consent

Through certain actions when otherwise there is no contractual relationship between us, such as when you browse our website or ask us to provide you more information about our facilities, our products and services, you provide your consent to us to process information that may be personal information.

Wherever possible, we aim to obtain your explicit consent to process this information, for example, by asking you to agree to our use of cookies.

Sometimes you might give your consent implicitly, such as when you send us a message by e-mail to which you would reasonably expect us to reply.

Except where you have consented to our use of your information for a specific purpose, we do not use your information in any way that would identify you personally. We may aggregate it in a general way and use it to provide class information, for example to monitor the performance of a particular page on our website.

We continue to process your information on this basis until you withdraw your consent or it can be reasonably assumed that your consent no longer exists.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by login to your account and delete your details and all businesses / places you have posted under this account. However, if you do so, all listings will not be available to potential customers.

3. Information we process for the purposes of legitimate interests

We may process information on the basis there is a legitimate interest, either to you or to us, of doing so.

Where we process your information on this basis, we do after having given careful consideration to:

  • whether the same objective could be achieved through other means
  • whether processing (or not processing) might cause you harm
  • whether you would expect us to process your data, and whether you would, in the round, consider it reasonable to do so

For example, we may process your data on this basis for the purposes of:

  • grant you access to your account, manage your account and delete your account.
  • responding to unsolicited communication from you to which we believe you would expect a response
  • protecting and asserting the legal rights of any party
  • insuring against or obtaining professional advice that is required to manage our risk
  • protecting your interests where we believe we have a duty to do so

4. Information we process because we have a legal obligation

We are subject to the law like everyone else. Sometimes, we must process your information in order to comply with a statutory obligation.

For example, we may be required to give information to legal authorities if they so request or if they have the proper authorisation such as a search warrant or court order.

This may include your personal information.

Specific uses of information you provide to us

5. Information provided on the understanding that it will be shared with a third party

Our website allows you to post information with a view to that information being read, copied, downloaded, or used by other people.

Examples include:

  • 5.1. place / business details
  • 5.2. posting a review for one or more places / businesses
  • 5.3. tagging an image
  • 5.4. clicking on an icon next to another visitor’s review to convey your agreement, disagreement or thanks

In posting personal information, it is up to you to satisfy yourself about the privacy level of every person who might use it.

We do not specifically use this information except to allow it to be displayed on places / business profiles for example your name next to a review.

We do store it, only for the purpose of display on pages on this site, and we do not use your details for any other purpose than it was originally requested, post a place business or review.

Once your information enters the public domain, we have no control over what any individual third party may do with it. We accept no responsibility for their actions at any time.

Provided your request is reasonable and there is no legal basis for us to retain it, then we will agree to your request to delete personal information that you have posted by login to your account and delete all information related to you and our businesses or reviews.

6. Complaints regarding content on our website

Our website is a publishing medium. Anyone may register and then publish information about himself, herself and their place or business.

We attempt to moderate user generated content, but we are not always able to do so as soon as that content is published.

If you complain about any of the content on our website, we shall investigate your complaint.

If we feel it is justified or if we believe the law requires us to do so, we shall remove the content while we investigate.

Free speech is a fundamental right, so we have to make a judgment as to whose right will be obstructed: yours, or that of the person who posted the content that offends you.

If we think your complaint is vexatious or without any basis, we shall not correspond with you about it.

7. Sending a message to our support team

When you contact us, whether by telephone, through our website or by e-mail, we collect the data you have given to us in order to reply with the information you need.

We record your request and our reply in order to increase the efficiency of our website.

We do not keep any personally identifiable information associated with your message, such as your name or email address.

8. Complaining

When we receive a complaint, we record all the information you have given to us.

We use that information to resolve your complaint as you would expect a response.

We may also compile statistics showing information obtained from this source to assess the level of service we provide, but not in a way that could identify you or any other person.

Use of information we collect through automated systems when you visit our website

9. Cookies & Google AdSense

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer's hard drive by your web browser when you visit any website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience and the website owner with statistics about how you use the website so that it can be improved.

Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely.

Your web browser should allow you to delete any you choose. It also should allow you to prevent or limit their use.

Our website uses cookies. They are placed by software that operates on our servers, and by software operated by third parties whose services we use.

If you choose not to use cookies or you prevent their use through your browser settings, you will not be able to use all the functionality of our website.

We use cookies in the following ways:

  • 9.1. to track how you use our website
  • 9.2. to keep you signed in to our site in order to manage your account
  • 9.3. Google analytics, you can read more about this Cookies
  • 9.4. Google AdSense: Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website.
  • 9.5. Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings. Alternatively, visitors and users of our website may opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.

10. Personal identifiers from your browsing activity

Requests by your web browser to our servers for web pages and other content on our website are recorded.

We record information such as your geographical location, your Internet IP address.

We use this information in order to display results relevant to your country.

If combined with other information we know about you from previous visits, the data possibly could be used to identify you personally, even if you are not signed in to our website.

Disclosure and sharing of your information

11. Information we obtain from third parties

Although we do not disclose your personal information to any third party (except as set out in this notice), we sometimes receive data that is indirectly made up from your personal information from third parties whose services we use.

No such information is personally identifiable to you.

12.Data may be processed outside the European Union

Our websites are hosted in United Kingdom

Data is only processes in the UK, however the website includes businesses / places details of locations in the UK, USA and Canada.

We use the following safeguards with respect to data transferred outside the European Union:

  • 12.1. based on user IP we display information relevant to users in the above countries.
  • 12.2. places and businesses information is displayed as you intended for it to be displayed.

13. Access to your personal information

  • 13.1. At any time you may review or update personally identifiable information that we hold about you, by signing in to your account on our website.
  • 13.2. We do not keep any other information other than those included in your account.
  • 13.3. You can access your information by login to the website, under your account you can update or delete any information the website has in which you have provided when you signed for an account.

14. Removal of your information

If you wish us to remove personally identifiable information from our website, you may do so by login to your account.

This may limit the service we can provide to you.

15. Verification of your information

When we receive any request to access, edit or delete personal identifiable information we shall first take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you access or otherwise taking any action, such as validating your email address when you request login details you my have forgotten. This is important to safeguard your information.

16. Use of site by children

  • 16.1. We do not provide services for children, nor do we market to children.
  • 16.2. If you are under 18, you may use our website only with consent from a parent or guardian

17. Encryption of data sent between us

We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to verify our identity to your browser and to encrypt any data you give us.

Whenever information is transferred between us, you can check that it is done so using SSL by looking for a closed padlock symbol or other trust mark in your browser’s URL bar or toolbar.

18. How you can complain

  • 18.1. If you are not happy with our privacy policy or if have any complaint then you should tell us by email. Our address is admin [ at ] localtips.net
  • 18.2. If a dispute is not settled then we hope you will agree to attempt to resolve it by engaging in good faith with us in a process of mediation or arbitration.
  • 18.3. If you are in any way dissatisfied about how we process your personal information, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office. This can be done at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

19. Retention period for personal data

Except as otherwise mentioned in this privacy notice, we keep your personal information only for as long as required by us:

  • 19.1. to provide you with the services you have requested;
  • 19.2. to support a claim or defence in court.

20. Compliance with the law

Our privacy policy has been compiled so as to comply with the law of every country or legal jurisdiction in which we aim to do business. If you think it fails to satisfy the law of your jurisdiction, we should like to hear from you.

However, ultimately it is your choice as to whether you wish to use our website.

21. Review of this privacy policy

We may update this privacy notice from time to time as necessary. The terms that apply to you are those posted here on our website on the day you use our website. We advise you to print a copy for your records.