J. Privacy Notice
Plain-English summary: What personal information the Designer Platform uses, why it is used, who receives it and the rights available to customers.
1. Controller, scope and contact
Benchdogs Ltd, trading as Benchdog Tools, is the controller for personal information used to provide the Benchdogs Designer Platform unless another notice expressly identifies a different controller. Our company and address details appear in the Platform Terms. This notice covers the Cabinet Designer, future Designers, saved designs, Manufacturing Packs, Design Credits, campaigns, reseller claims, beta testing, administration and support. Privacy questions may be sent to hello@benchdogs.co.uk. The owner must confirm whether a dedicated privacy contact will replace this published address before production.
2. Information we use
We receive the Shopify customer identifier used to link your existing Benchdogs account and may receive your name, email and relevant account status. We process cabinet dimensions, configuration choices, saved designs, immutable revisions, manufacturing hashes, pack requests and entitlement records. Credit records include balances, purchases, awards, redemptions, reversals and their reasons. Relevant Shopify order references support payment, historical campaigns and credit reconciliation; we do not receive full payment-card details from Shopify.
For reseller claims we process the claim details and privately uploaded invoice or receipt evidence. For beta programmes we process invitations, access status, activity, test credits and feedback. Support and administration may include correspondence, screenshots, diagnostic details and staff audit events. Security and service logs may contain time, route, event type, session or request identifiers, approximate network/device information and error detail. Browser storage and cookies are described in the Cookie Notice.
3. Purposes and lawful bases
We use account, design, revision, credit, order and pack information to enter into and perform our contract with you: authenticate access, save designs, generate requested files, manage entitlements, record acceptances and provide support. We use transaction and accounting records to comply with legal obligations. We use proportionate audit, security, fraud-prevention, duplicate-claim and service-improvement information for our legitimate interests in operating a reliable and secure service, protecting customers and establishing or defending legal claims; those interests must be documented and balanced against individual rights.
Where a processing activity genuinely relies on consent—such as optional non-essential cookies or a separately requested marketing communication—you may refuse or later withdraw consent without affecting earlier lawful processing. Immediate digital supply is a contractual consumer-law acknowledgment, not privacy consent. Information necessary for account, claim or pack performance must be provided if you want that feature; without it we may be unable to complete the request.
4. Recipients and service providers
The Platform integrates with Shopify for the existing Benchdogs storefront, customer identity, orders and checkout. The staging architecture uses Render for application hosting and managed PostgreSQL database services, and private Amazon Web Services S3 object storage for generated files and claim evidence. Authorised Benchdogs staff and vetted contractors may access only what their role requires. We may disclose information where required by law, to protect legal rights, or during a properly controlled business transaction.
Provider contracts, exact processing regions, sub-processors and production arrangements must be verified before production publication. No unverified email, analytics or marketing provider is named in this draft. Cloudflare may support domain or network services, but its processing role and configuration remain an owner/contract review item.
5. International transfers
Some providers may process information outside the UK. Before production, Benchdogs must document locations and use an applicable adequacy regulation, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to approved standard clauses, or another lawful safeguard, together with any required transfer risk assessment. You may ask for information about the relevant safeguard. This draft does not claim a safeguard has been completed where it has not yet been verified.
6. Retention and account closure
We keep information only for as long as needed for the stated purpose, legal obligations, security and legal claims. Exact production periods for ordinary designs, issued packs, reseller evidence, support records and administrative logs remain owner decisions and are listed in the retention register. Credit ledgers, legal acceptances and immutable issued-pack evidence may need longer retention because they record contracts and transactions. On account closure we delete or anonymise information where appropriate and restrict retained records. We do not fabricate acceptance or transaction history for legacy activity.
7. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may ask for access, correction, erasure, restriction or portability of your personal information, or object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing. You may withdraw consent for future consent-based processing. Some rights have exceptions, including where records must be retained for legal obligations or claims. Contact us using the address above; we may need to verify identity.
You may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or by using its current contact routes. We would appreciate the opportunity to address the concern first, but that is not a condition of contacting the ICO.
8. Automated decisions, children and changes
The Platform performs deterministic eligibility, compatibility and duplicate checks, but this draft does not identify any solely automated decision producing legal or similarly significant effects without meaningful staff review. Rejected or held reseller claims can be reviewed by staff. The Platform is for adults and is not directed to children.
We version this notice and will communicate material changes before they take effect where required. A future Designer must be assessed for new data categories, purposes or risks before launch.