Customer Privacy Notice

SoreTech is a sole trader business based in the United Kingdom, providing website hosting and related IT services for small businesses and sole traders. This Privacy Notice explains how your personal data is collected, used, and stored.

Contact Details

SoreTech
6 St Francis Road, Langley, Southampton, SO45 1XU
Telephone: 07505 295 739
Email: [email protected]

What Information I Collect, Use, and Why

I collect and use personal information to provide and improve my products and services, manage client accounts, and fulfill legal requirements:

• Names and Contact Details: To communicate with you and manage your account.
• Email Addresses and Phone Numbers: For billing, account notices, and general correspondence.
• Pronoun Preferences: To ensure communications with you are respectful and inclusive.
• Account Access Credentials: To allow you to securely access your services or portal.
• Transactional Data: To process payments and maintain records for legal, accounting, and tax compliance.
• Hosted Client Data: For clients utilizing database services, SoreTech provides the secure server infrastructure and backups for the data you choose to collect.
• Agreement Replies and Onboarding Correspondence: To document your acceptance of service terms, preferences, and consent—ensuring accurate setup, legal compliance, and personalized service delivery.

Lawful Bases for Processing

Under UK data protection law (UK GDPR), I must have a "lawful basis" for collecting and using your personal information. I rely on the following bases:

• Performance of a Contract: Processing is necessary to fulfill my contractual obligations to you (e.g., providing managed hosting and development services).
• Legal Obligation: Processing is required to comply with UK statutory duties (e.g., HMRC tax and accounting laws).
• Consent: For optional features or preferences where you have actively agreed (e.g., specific updates or pronoun preferences). You can withdraw consent at any time.

Agreement Sign-Off Logging

When you accept a service agreement by replying to an email, I securely log your reply and archive a copy of the agreement snapshot for audit and legal reference. This process is handled entirely on SoreTech's self-hosted architecture—no third-party e-sign portals are involved.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have specific rights regarding your personal information. You can find more detail on these rights and exemptions on the ICO website:

• Right of Access: You can request copies of your personal information.
• Right to Rectification: You can ask me to correct or complete information you believe is inaccurate.
• Right to Erasure: You can ask me to delete your personal information, subject to statutory retention exceptions (e.g., tax records).
• Right to Restriction of Processing: You can ask me to limit how your personal data is used.
• Right to Object to Processing: You can object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Right to Data Portability: You can ask that I transfer the information you provided to another organization or directly to you.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact me using the details above. I will respond without undue delay and within one calendar month.

Where I Get Personal Information From

• Directly from you when you sign up for services, submit enquiry forms, or contact me.
• Publicly available business sources (e.g., your public website or domain directory).

Retention Periods

• Transactional Data: Retained for 6 years following the tax year to which it relates (HMRC compliance).
• Agreement Replies and Snapshots: Retained for up to 6 years following contract termination.
• Email Correspondence: Retained for up to 12 months unless linked to an active account or dispute.
• Inactive Accounts: Deleted or anonymized 12 months after account closure.

Who I Share Information With

I use trusted third-party "data processors" to handle specific operations on my behalf. These processors are contractually obliged to protect your data under UK GDPR standards:

• Cloudflare: Provides global content delivery, web security, DNS, and secure traffic routing.
• Stripe: Processes online payment transactions securely on my behalf (no card details are stored on SoreTech servers).
• SMTP2GO: Handles outbound transactional email delivery and form alerts to ensure inbox reliability.

How to Complain

If you have any concerns about my use of your personal data, please contact me directly first so I can resolve the issue. If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Notice Version: v1.1 (Updated: 29 September 2026)