1. Introduction

1.1 We are TutorGenius (referred to as “we”, “us” and “ TutorGenius”) and we are committed to protecting and respecting Your privacy when You are visiting any website maintained by us including without limitation the website at www.tutorgenius.co.uk and our social networking pages (together the “Website”), as we may publish and operate from time to time or communicating electronically with us.

1.2 Capitalised terms not otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy shall have the meanings given in the Terms and Conditions.

1.3 This policy (together with the Terms and Conditions which can be found at the bottom of the Website) explains what types of personal and non-personal information we collect when You use the Website and the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that You provide to us, will be processed by us.

1.4 Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. By disclosing your personal information to us by using the Website and speaking to us over the telephone, you consent to the collection, storage and processing of Your personal information as stated in this policy.

1.5 TutorGenius uses the personal information we collect from You to provide our service to You. We will not rent, sell or share your personal information with any other company for its own marketing purposes without your consent except where mentioned in this policy.

1.6 For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is TutorGenius.

2. What personal information do we collect?

2.1 We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information:

(a) if you register as a user of the Website, you will be asked to complete a form which will require You to provide some or all of Your name, address, email address, telephone number and other relevant information including without limitation your preferences, interests and educational background;

(b) When you contact us by email or telephone or through any contact form provided on the Website, we may ask you to provide some or all of the information set out in paragraph (a) above;

(c) we may collect, store and use information about Your computer, mobile device or other item of hardware through which You access the Website and Your visits to and use of the Website (including without limitation Your IP address, geographical location, browser/platform type and version, Internet Service Provider, operating system, referral source/exit pages, length of visit, page views, website navigation and search terms that You use);

(d) if you access the Website through a social networking profile, we may collect, store and use the details of that social networking profile and any information contained therein in order to populate any forms You might wish to complete on the Website; and

(e) the results and certificates of any Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, carried out by a Tutor or us. Such results will be kept for as long as a Tutor remains registered with us and for 12 months thereafter.

2.2 We may also ask you to complete surveys and give feedback that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.

2.3 Online payments are processed by third party service providers. TutorGenius does not receive any credit or debit card information except for the name of the cardholder, the billing and shipping address, the transaction reference, date and time, the card type and the amount received. TutorGenius not receive any other card details such as the Card Number, Security Code or Expiry Date.

3. How do we use personal information?

3.1 We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

(a) to manage and administer the Website;

(b) to improve Your browsing experience by personalising the Website;

(c) to enable You to use the Website;

(d) to meet our contractual obligations to you;

(e) to comply with any legal or statutory requirement;

(f) to send You newsletters and other relevant and targeted promotional communications;

(g) to deal with enquiries, complaints and feedback from You and our service providers;

(h) to provide third parties with statistical anonymised information about our users;

(i) to send You emails offering You to take part in a survey and/or give feedback; and

(j) to analyse and improve the services offered on the Website.

3.2 TutorGenius may collect information about users who visit the Website and aggregate this information for statistical purposes. We use the information collected to help us understand more about our users and how the Website is used in order to provide our users with a better service.

3.3 Occasionally, a Student may send a Tutor correspondence that they feel may be of interest to them, either electronically or by other means. The Tutor may opt out of receiving such correspondence.

4. When might we disclose personal information?
Except to the extent required by any applicable law or governmental or judicial body, we will not disclose Your personal information to any third party other than a service provider to whom we are required to disclose personal information in order for them to provide their services to us or as required to enable us to enforce our rights under the Terms of Service. Where we believe that a criminal offence may have been committed by a Tutor, we may disclose personal information to the police or other law enforcement agencies.

5. Newsletters and other promotional communications
If you wish to subscribe to any newsletter published by us or wish to receive other targeted and relevant promotional communications from us or other carefully chosen affiliates, we offer you the option to “opt-in” to this service. If you change your mind and wish to stop receiving any such communications, please either email us at info@bigfoottutors.com or click the “unsubscribe” link in any email from us.

6. Our use of cookies and web beacons

6.1 Cookies are text files stored, either on a temporary or persistent basis on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies are used for authenticating, session tracking and maintaining specific information about the use and users of the Website.

6.2 The data collected by cookies is anonymous. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer’s hard drive by searching for files with “cookie” in it and deleting them. In addition, if you want to stop cookies from being stored on Your computer, You can edit Your browser settings so that cookies are blocked. Unfortunately, if You block cookies You may not be able to use the full functionality of the Website. For more information about cookies, please visit: www.allaboutcookies.org.

6.3 Web beacons consist of a small string of software code that represents a graphic image request on a page or email. There may or may not be a visible graphic image associated with the web beacon and often the image is designed to blend into the background of a page or email. Web beacons can be used for many purposes – including site traffic reporting, unique visitor counts, advertising auditing and reporting, and personalization. Web beacons used by www.bigfoottutors.com collect only anonymous data.

6.4 In order to improve the Website and the services we offer you, we may use (temporary and persistent) cookies, authorized third parties cookies, web beacons and/or other technologies to collect non-personally identifiable data. This non-personally identifiable data helps us to track browsing behavior, to create specific or tailor-made offers or advertisements, and to monitor and record the visits and use of the Website.

6.5 In order to understand how people use the Website and for marketing analysis and quality improvement purposes, we (and/or third party service providers) may collect, record, process and use on an anonymous basis certain information (including the total number of transactions, viewed pages, referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp information and details like the number and location of mouse clicks on a given page, mouse movements, scrolling activity and the search words You use while being on and using the Website).

6.6 If you register with us or if you continue to use the Website, You agree to our use of cookies.

7. Security
TutorGenius continually tries to keep all information secure from unauthorised access by using SSL encryption on sensitive data. However, transmission over the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so any information you submit is done so at your own risk.

8. Where we store your personal data

8.1 The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

8.2 All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers.

8.3 We take the security of your personal data very seriously. In particular we use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that appropriate security measures are in place to protect your personal data. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure and so we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted through the Website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

9. Links to third party websites
The Website may include links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the content of third party websites. Please ensure that prior to using any such website, You have read and understood its Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. These documents will govern Your rights and obligations when using the relevant third party website.

10. Your rights
The Act gives you the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us at info@bigfoottutors.com.

11. Access to information
The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you.

12. Data protection act 1998

12.1 TutorGenius complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 as follows:

(a) Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully. TutorGenius will ensure that data is obtained fairly, and will make reasonable efforts to ensure that data subjects are told who the data controller is, what the data will be used for, for how long the data will be kept and any third parties to whom the data will be disclosed. In order for processing to be fair and lawful, data which is not sensitive personal data will only be processed by TutorGenius if at least one of the following conditions, set down in the Data Protection Act 1998, has been met:

(i) Personal data shall be obtained only for a specified and lawful purpose or purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or purposes.

(ii) TutorGenius will ensure that data which is obtained for a specified purpose is not used for a different purpose, unless that use is done with the consent of the data subject, permitted under the Data Protection Act.

(iii) Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed. TutorGenius will not collect personal data which are not strictly necessary for the purpose or purposes for which they were obtained.

(iv) Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. TutorGenius will take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of personal data which it holds, and will take steps to correct inaccurate data when requested to do so by a data subject.

(v) Personal data processed for any purpose shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose. TutorGenius will ensure that personal data are not kept for longer than is required by the purpose or purposes for which the data were gathered. TutorGenius may retain certain data indefinitely for research purposes (including historical or statistical purposes), as permitted under the Data Protection Act, subject to the conditions laid down in the Act for this type of processing.

(vi) Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Data Protection Act. TutorGenius will ensure that personal data are processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Data Protection Act. These rights include the right to appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken to prevent the unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and the accidental loss, destruction of or damage to personal data.

(vii) TutorGenius will take steps to ensure the security of personal data which are held electronically and in manual form, to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of data to third parties, and loss or damage to data that may affect the interests of data subjects. TutorGenius will also ensure that data processors provide an appropriate level of security for the personal data which they are processing on TutorGenius ‘s behalf.

(viii) Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

(ix) TutorGenius will not transfer data outside the European Economic Area unless the transfer would be permitted under the Data Protection Act.

13. Changes to our privacy policy

We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Policy. Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.