Our privacy and cookies policy

What this privacy and cookie policy covers

This policy explains how the British Heart Foundation and all entities in the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Group:

• treat personal information that is collected on all BHF websites, including information relating to your past use of our websites and previous order details, and
• how we use cookies to provide services to you or to improve your use of our websites.

Personal information is information that can be used to identify you, such as your name, address, email address, phone number and so on, and which is not normally publicly available.

This policy only applies to websites owned or operated by entities in the BHF Group. So if a link on this website takes you to the website of a third party you should refer to the privacy policy relating to that website to understand how your personal information is managed by that third party or how they use cookies.

Information collection and use

Non- registered users

All BHF websites use cookies to help our websites work well and to track information about how people are using them. More information on cookies and how to control the cookies we use can be found further down the page. 

Registered users

• All BHF websites collect personal information when you register with them.
• The website you sign up to will collect information such as your name, email address and post code. Once you register with that website you will not be anonymous to us when you subsequently sign in.
• We collect and retain information about your transactions with us so that we can process your transactions and deal with future queries.
• Through the use of cookies, we will receive information from your computer such as your IP address (the unique number that identifies your computer when you use the internet) and we will record this information.
• We will use the information that we obtain for the following general purposes: to fulfill your requests for products and services, improve our services, contact you, conduct research and monitor the performance of our websites.

Information sharing and disclosure

The BHF and any entity in the BHF Group will never sell or share your personal information with any third party except:

• to provide the products or services you've requested from our site(s) where, for example, we use a separate company to deliver goods to you,
• when we have your permission,
• as part of any legal proceedings or regulatory investigation, or
• where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of any BHF website’s terms of use, or as otherwise required by law.

The BHF may share your information with other entities owned by BHF that act as fundraisers for BHF, sell BHF products or provide BHF information subject to your communication preferences.

Cookies

We use three different types of cookies to help our websites work well. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we may put on your computer. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of the website and this helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

The main categories of cookies that we use are:

1. Cookies that are necessary to run the site

Our sites use some cookies which are essential to keeping the site working and provide the services you need. These include cookies that enable you to:

• stay logged in for an entire visit to the site, or
• add things to a shopping basket and keep them there until you decide to check out.

2. Cookies which help us improve the site – analytics cookies and web beacons

We use cookies to help us see how people are using our sites. These are known as ‘analytics cookies’, ‘tracking cookies’ or  ‘web beacons’.
We use analytics cookies:

• to see what website content is popular and how people are using the site as they allow us to track users movement through our websites.  This type of information is amalgamated so that we can build up a picture of how the site is performing.
• to make sure we offer you a consistent service. For example, if we are testing new website content or we want to run a survey, we use cookies to remember what content you have seen or if you have already been asked to join the survey.

In addition, when we email you, we may place a tiny tag (also known as ‘tracking pixel’ or ‘web beacon’) on the email we send out. These do not collect any personal information, but they let us know how many people are opening and reading our emails so that we can choose more popular content.

The information we collect using analytics cookies is anonymous and does not involve collecting the name or address of any user. The analytics cookies that we use only operate through our websites so they and the data they collect are not shared with anyone else.

3. Cookies which help us get value for money from advertising

We occasionally use other types of cookies that can track how our advertisements perform.  These cookies will help us identify which advertisements resulted in a “click through” to the BHF website or someone downloading one of our advice sheets. 

A note about Youtube cookies

We have begun to embed our Youtube videos using the ‘Privacy-enhanced’ settings. This uses a cookie if the video is played. More information on this setting can be found here.

The cookies we specifically use when you visit our site

By continuing to use our website you will have been deemed to have agreed to our use of cookies subject to any preferences you may have indicated to us or any overriding browser settings you may have.

How you can control the cookies used and placed on your computer

We use analytic cookies from two providers – Google Analytics and Adobe Sitecatalyst. You can control our use of either or both of these by clicking on the following links. Please note that if you prevent the use of cookies using either of these systems, you will no longer be included in any tracking data from those tools across all sites (not just BHF websites). 

• Google Analytics
• Adobe Sitecatalyst

You can control the use and placing of any cookies on your computer through the settings you select on your internet browser. To do this, identify your internet service provider, click on the relevant link below and follow the instructions. 

PC or Mac browsers

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari OSX

Mobile browsers

• Safari iOS
• Android
• Blackberry
• Windows Phone

What will happen if you disable some or all of the cookies that BHF uses?

It would be impossible to use our online shop without cookies enabled, as the shopping basket function wouldn’t work. If you would prefer not to use our website, you can order goods by phone.

Call: 0845 246 4050 (Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm)

Your ability to edit and delete your account information and preferences

You can edit your BHF account Information, including your address and contact details at any time. You cannot directly change the name, address, contact details and other details of existing orders, but can contact the BHF to change order details if you need to.

Contact our customer care team.

We may send you certain service or administrative communications relating to the BHF website relating to your account, regardless of your opt-out preferences. If you cancel your BHF Account you will no longer be sent these messages.

If you place an order with the site, we will keep a record of your details as entered at the time of the order for as long as necessary to process your order and deal with any subsequent enquiries. 

Changes to this privacy policy

The BHF Group may update this policy at any time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address you have provided to us or by placing a prominent notice on our website(s).