Privacy Policy

Guitar Superstore / Pete Oakley Music is a UK musical instrument retailer. We sell our goods online as well as in our Burton on Trent shop. 

We take issues of privacy and data security very seriously.

At Guitar Superstore / Pete Oakley Music, we're committed to respecting your privacy. We believe that a business should use their customers information honestly, and only to provide customers with a better service and experience either by directly using data about the products you've looked at, so we can show you related products that we think you will like in the future, or indirectly, for us to monitor the performance of our website so that we can continually improve it for a better experience for all of our customers. We would not ask for this information if we could provide the same high-quality shopping experience without it.

This privacy policy explains out how Guitar Superstore / Pete Oakley Music collect and use any personal information when you use this website. We recommend that you read this in full before using this website or submitting any personal information to us, that way you know exactly what we will be doing with your information. 

Explaining the legal bases we rely on.

Consent: In specific situations, we will collect and process your data with your consent. For example when you tick a box to receive email newsletters.

When collecting your personal data, we'll always make clear to you which data is necessary in connection with a particular service.

Contractual obligations: In certain circumstances, we need your personal data to comply with our contractual obligations. For example, if you order an item for home delivery, we will collect your address details to deliver your purchase, and pass them onto our courier.

Collection of information

When do we collect your personal data?

• When you visit our website and use your account to buy products.
• When you make an online purchase and checkout as a guest to buy products.
• When you create an account with us.
• When you purchase a product in-store or by phone.
• When you engage with us on social media.
• When you subscribe to our mailing list.
• When you contact us by any means with an enquiry of any kind.
• When you ask a member of our team to email you information about a product or service.
• When you ask us to let you know when an item comes back into stock.
• When you enter prize draws or competitions.

What sort of personal data do we collect?

We collect personal information, such as your name, billing and delivery address, email address, phone number, purchase history, receipts and browsing behaviour. 

We store this information when you place your order with Guitar Superstore / Pete Oakley Music or submit your data to us using a web-form or signup form. 

Information gathered by the use of cookies in your web browser. Learn more about how we use cookies and similar technologies below.

It is always your choice whether you share such details with us. We will only ask for and use your personal data collected for recommending items of interest and to tailor your shopping experience with us. 

To deliver the best possible web experience, we collect technical information about your internet connection and browser as well as the country and telephone area code where your computer is located, the web pages during your visit, the ads you clicked on and any search terms you entered.

Your social media username, if you interact with us through those channels, to help us respond to your comments, questions or feedback.

Why do we collect your data?

We want to give you the best possible personalised customer experience. One way to achieve that is to get the richest picture we can of who you are by combining the data we have about you.

We then use this to offer you promotions, products and services that are most likely to interest you. 

Remember, if you choose not to share your personal data with us, or refuse certain contact permissions, we might not be able to provide the services you’ve asked for.

How we use your personal data?

To process any orders that you make by using our website. If we don’t collect your personal data during checkout, we won’t be able to process your order.

To respond to your queries, refund requests and complaints. Handling the information you sent enables us to respond.

To protect our business and your account from fraud and other illegal activities. This includes using your personal data to maintain, update and safeguard your account. We’ll also monitor your browsing activity with us to quickly identify and resolve any problems and protect the integrity of our websites.

To process payments and to prevent fraudulent transactions. We do this on the basis of our legitimate business interests. This also helps to protect our customers from fraud.

With your consent, we will use your personal data, preferences and details of your transactions to keep you informed by email, web, telephone about relevant products and services including tailored special offers, discounts, promotions, events, competitions and so on.

Of course, you are free to opt out of hearing from us by any of these channels at any time

To send you communications required by law or which are necessary to inform you about our changes to the services we provide you. For example, updates to this Privacy Notice, product recall notices, and legally required information relating to your orders. These service messages will not include any promotional content and do not require prior consent when sent by email or text message. If we do not use your personal data for these purposes, we would be unable to comply with our legal obligations.

To display a list of items you’ve recently looked at, or offer you recommendations based on your purchase history and any other data you’ve shared with us.

If you consent signup to our mailing list, we will periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided at the time you signed up.

How long will we keep your personal data?

Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we’ll only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. 

At the end of that retention period, your data will either be deleted completely.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We treat your data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it.

In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

We secure access to all transactional areas of our websites using 'https' technology.

Access to your personal data is password-protected and sensitive data such as payment information is encrypted to ensure that it is protected.

We regularly monitor our system for possible vunerabilites and attacks to further strengthen security.

Who do we share your personal data with?

We sometimes share your personal data with trusted partners.

For example delivery couriers, to deliver or return your orders, and with Google / Facebook / Instagram help us personalise our offers to you.

• We provide only the information they need to perform their specific services.
• They may only use your data for the exact purposes we specify in our contract with them.
• We work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected at all times.
• If we stop using their services, any of your data held by them will either be deleted or rendered anonymous.

What are your rights over your personal data?

You have the right to request 

• Access to the personal data we hold about you
• The correction of your personal data when incorrect
• That we stop using your personal data for marketing

How can you stop the use of your personal data for marketing?

There are several ways you can stop marketing communications from us:

• Click the unsubscribe link in an email communication that we send you. 
• Log into your web account and change your communication preferences.
• Email info@guitarsuperstore.com and ask that we remove your email address from our mailing list.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

GDPR

In May 2018, a new EU regulation comes into force - The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Simply put, GDPR raises the standards by which data privacy is measured. We take your privacy very seriously and as such makes every effort to abide by the new rulings of GDPR. We will never contact you for marketing purposes without your express permission. The terms of this privacy policy have also been rearranged to make them as clear and transparent as possible.

Cookies

Cookies are a tiny piece of data stored on your computer when you visit certain web pages, which we use to keep track of what you have in your basket and to remember you when you return to our site. So what are they and why do we use them?

Our cookies don't store sensitive information such as your name, address or payment details: they simply hold the 'key' that, once you're signed in, is associated with this information. However, if you'd prefer to restrict, block or delete cookies from our website, or any other website, you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the 'Help' menu of your particular browser (or your mobile phone's handset manual) to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

To order products on guitarsuperstore.com, you need to have cookies enabled, as we will need to place cookies in your device to enable the purchase to go through, such as to add your item to the shopping basket and then take those items to the purchase page. 

If you don't wish to enable cookies, that will mean that your experience of using the site will be impaired - as some of the cookies help us to identify and resolve errors for example, or determine relevant related products to show you when you're browsing.

Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

How do we use cookies

• Shopping Cart - when you add multiple items to your cart, a cookie is used to remember everything that you added. This is stored for a short period in case you want to return to our site later on to complete your order.
• Related products - A cookie is used to suggest a range of products that might be relevant to your interests, based on the content that you have viewed during your visit.
• Login - When you login, we set a cookie to keep you logged on, so you can checkout without having to re-enter your password. This is stored for only around 24 hours.
• Payment - When you pay for your order, cookies are required to retain your order details when you leave our website to process your payment in the encrypted environments that all of our providers have.
• Google Analytics - We use a service called Google Analytics to provide insight into how customers use our website. For example, we can see what the most visited products are, identify issues. We use this information to improve our customer experience, like showing you our most popular products, improving the speed of the website and providing content you want to read. This cookie stores no personal information about you and your personal browsing activity is anonymised, so cannot be monitored individually. Analytics cookies can be stored for up to around 30 days. This allows us to see how many users have returned to the site after an initial visit.
• Facebook - The embedded Facebook comments and Facebook Like buttons use cookies, set by Facebook, to determine whether you are currently logged into Facebook or not. These cookies are not used to collect data. We do not have access to this cookie data. Both of these services are hosted by Facebook on facebook.com. We also use Facebook Pixel. This involves a cookie which allows us serve adverts based on your browsing and purchasing behaviour on facebook.com. Your personal data is not shared in anyway, and the information is anonymised, so we cannot track your individual behaviour.