LEGAL INFORMATION

Virgin Media Business Privacy Policy

Introduction and purpose

Virgin Media Business respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the information it controls and meeting its data protection obligations.


This policy gives you detailed information on when and why we collect your information, how we use it, who we may share it with and how we keep it secure.  Please take a moment to read it so you know what choices and rights you have about the information we may ask you for or collect about you..  

Definitions

Virgin Media Business or VMB

means Virgin Media Business Limited and Virgin Media Wholesale Limited, whose registered addresses are at 500 Brook Drive Green Park, Reading, RG2 6UU.

We also refer to Virgin Media Business as weus and our.

O2 means Telefonica UK Limited whose registered address is 260 Bath Road, Slough, SL1 4DX.
Joint Venture Companies means Virgin Media Business, O2 and all other companies that are owned or controlled by VMED O2 UK Limited. VMED O2 UK Limited has its registered office at Griffin House, 161 Hammersmith Road, London, United Kingdom, W6 8BS.
You means the individual and identifiable person whose information we are using. 
VMB Business Services means the products and services provided by or otherwise made available by VMB or Virgin Media Wholesale Limited. For example for example Business Broadband, Managed Internet Access, Connecting Sites and VPNs, Phone lines and Systems, Mobile SIMs. 
JV Business Services Means the business products and services provided by or otherwise made available by a Joint Venture Company.
   

CONTROLLER

As a data controller Virgin Media Business processes personal data to operate its business, to manage relationships with individuals, to meet its legal and contractual obligations and to provide VMB Business Services to customers and their users. 

 

This policy applies to you as an individual, this may be because you have represented one of our customers or suppliers, or because you have interacted with us in person or with one of our websites or public systems. See: How we collect your information.


This policy does not affect any data protection provisions set out in our commercial agreements with customers. 

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH O2

Virgin Media Business and O2 are Joint Venture Companies and together we are supercharging the nation.

 

We may share your information with O2 (and vice versa) so that that we can integrate and operate the Joint Venture Companies and to offer you a wider choice of products and services. O2 will process the information we share with them as separate data controller. 

 

For information on O2 products and services and how O2 uses your information, please visit: www.o2.co.uk

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION

We collect information about you when you:
• order a VMB Business Service (whether via this website, over the telephone or with one of our field agents) on behalf of one of our customers;

• create and log in to your “Engage” or “My Bill” account on our website;    

• use a VMB Business Service;

• contact us by telephone, e-mail or post, to discuss VMB Business Services or to make a complaint;

• visit Virgin Media Business or Joint Venture Company websites, including speed and service availability checks in your area and different webforms (i.e. Call Back forms) or engage with one of our adverts, either on a third party site or our own;

• participate in competitions and other promotional activities we may run from time to time;

• your business contact details are widely available (e.g. business blogs, Linked In and other business directories and events); 

• occasionally, we also collect information about you from third parties like Companies House; credit reference, fraud and similar vetting agencies; and marketing agencies and business directory providers.

WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The type of information collected depends on the purpose and we will never hold more information from you than is necessary. The following details the types of information collected: 
 

  1. When you apply for and/or purchase a VMB Business Service, create an “Engage” or “My Bill” account on our website, or contact us with queries, we will ask you to give us the following information. Your:
      • name
      • email address
      • telephone number

  2. When you visit our websites, we use cookies (which are stored on your devices – your laptop, mobile phone, tablet etc.) to collect information about your use of our website.  This can include details of your domain name and IP address, operating system, browser version, cookie details and the website you visited before coming to our site. Please follow this link for all our cookie information.

  3. When you use a VMB Business Service we collect the following information about your use of those services:
    • Call data (i.e. your telephone number, inbound / outbound caller number, time and duration of the call, geo-location data, your device details);
    • Usage data (i.e. frequency, time and duration of service usage, data traffic (internet / minutes / SMS) used per month);
    • Billing data (your financial details, bills and it’s components);
    • Interactive data (apps usage data, websites usage / visits data).

  4. From time to time, to help us provide you with improved products and services, we might ask you to fill in a questionnaire, just so you can let us know how we're doing. When sending you a questionnaire we will ask you to provide us with the following information: name, account number, email address, telephone number.

  5. From time to time we acquire personal data from data providers and marketing agencies (such as name, surname, phone number) in order to get in touch with you for special offers and promotions if you’ve agreed so.

  6. From time to time we run campaigns and other promotional activities where you may provide us with your personal data (such as name, surname, email address, phone number) so we can in stay in touch with you for agreed purposes.

  7. Other ways we obtain information about you would include:
    • Credit Reference Agencies
    • Fraud Prevention Agencies
    • Market Researchers
    • Public Information sources
    • Marketing agencies and business directory providers 

HOW WILL WE USE THE INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT?

This section explains how we use the information we hold about you (i.e. what we do with it). 

 

We use the information we hold about you in several ways:

WHERE IT IS NECESSARY TO PERFORM OUR CONTRACT WITH YOUR ORGANISATION

  • To determine your organisation’s eligibility for a VMB Business Service or whether services are available in your chosen area;
  • To process orders for a VMB Business Service and to administer related bills;
  • To provide VMB Business Services and related support;
  • To provide you and your organisation with access to privileged areas of our online services (i.e. MyBill);
  • To send operational information about ordered VMB Business Services; 

WHERE YOU HAVE GIVEN US YOUR CONSENT

  • Where required by law we rely on your consent to tell you about VMB Business Services and JV Business Services, as well as related news and promotions – for example if you are a sole trader. We keep you informed by email, text, phone, text, or similar direct messages like app notifications 
  • To administer contests and competitions and personalise your visits to our online services.

Where we process your information on the basis of your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can do this by:

  • Writing a letter (see How do I contact you section of this
    policy);
  • Sending an email (see How do I contact you section of this policy);
  • Calling Customer Care (see How do I contact you section of this policy).

WHERE WE HAVE A LEGITIMATE INTEREST AND DO NOT CONSIDER YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE NEGATIVELY IMPACTED

  • To provide you with customer service messages concerning  your VMB account or VMB Business Services ;
  • To tell you about VMB Business Services and JV Products that we think will be of interest to you, as well as related news and promotions. We keep you informed by email, text, phone, text, or similar direct messages like app notifications. 
  • To enable us to gain customer insights and to review, develop and improve our products, services and special offers to ensure we are giving customers what they want;
  • To check your organisations credit information with credit rating agencies to guarantee payment of our services;
  • To analyse your organisations telephony and mobile internet data to prevent fraud.
  • To advertise VMB Business Services and JV Business Services, including using social media to help us grow our business.
  • To respond to any questions or complaints you may have regarding your VMB account or VMB Business Services.

WILL YOU DISCLOSE INFORMATION ABOUT ME TO THIRD PARTIES?

This section explains who we share your information with. We may provide information about you as follows:

 

  • To employees and field agents of Virgin Media Business to administer, and deal with any questions or complaints you have about any accounts, products and services provided to your company by Virgin Media Business now or in the future.
  • We may use aggregate information and statistics for the purposes of monitoring website usage in order to help us develop the website and our service and may provide such aggregate information to third parties, for example, content partners and advertisers. These statistics will not include information that can be used to identify any individual.
  • To search the files of a credit reference agency, where we will keep a record of that search, when your organisation applies for service. This is so that we can confirm your organisation’s eligibility for our products and services and guarantee a regular payment for those. We’ll continue to exchange information about your organisation with credit reference agencies on an ongoing basis, including about your organisation’s settled accounts and any debts not fully repaid on time. Credit reference agencies will share your organisation’s information with other organisations.  The identities of the Credit Reference Agencies and the way they operate are explained in more detail at https://www.equifax.co.uk/crain
  • Additionally, details of how you conduct your account with us may also be disclosed to the credit reference agency.
  • To the marketing agencies we work with when creating marketing campaigns, special offers and promotions targeted for your organisation.
  • We may share your information with our partner companies who provide your organisation with customer service on our behalf.
  • Our advertising partners, including social media advertising partners.  We share your email address with our social media advertising partners so they can match individuals to their social media accounts and to create advertising audiences. As a member of a social network audience you will see adverts for products and services from us and O2 that we think will interest you. To stop receive online advertising to your social media account you can turn off advertising using the relevant platform’s ad settings.

HOW DO YOU PROTECT MY DATA?

This section explains how we protect your information. 

 

Any information sent to us is protected using robust security methods. The methods we use are industry-standard, ensuring data is safeguarded whilst being sent over unprotected communications paths such as the internet. When it reaches us, we store it securely and only provide access to those authorised. Although we safeguard your personal information once received, Virgin Media Business cannot guarantee the safety of any personal information you transmit to us using online methods. 

 

Our security measures include:

  • Encryption of data where appropriate
  • Regular penetration testing of systems
  • Security controls which protect the entire Virgin Media Information Technology infrastructure from external attack and unauthorised access
  • Regular cyber security assessments of all service providers who may handle your personal data
  • Regular scenario planning and crisis management exercises to ensure we are ready to respond to cyber security attacks and data security incidents
  • Internal policies setting out our data security approach
  • Training for employees on security and privacy
We will never ask you for your Virgin Media Business identification, authentication passwords or PIN numbers directly associated with your Virgin Media Business account in any unsolicited phone calls or unsolicited emails. In accordance with our Terms and Conditions, you are responsible for keeping your password and PIN secure and we very strongly recommend you do not disclose them to anyone (unless you wish to authorise them to access your account and potentially incur charges on your account). 
 
Virgin Media Business processes public sector customers personal data in accordance with its contractual obligations and solely for the purpose of providing the contracted services and managing and administering the contract.
 
You use cookies but what exactly are they?
Cookies are small pieces of information stored by your internet browser on to your computer's hard drive. Like most website providers, Virgin Media Business uses cookies to enable us to make a link between you and the information you have provided to our website and therefore provide you with personalised content so that we can give you a better experience when you return. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, although you can choose not to. If you disable cookies from your browser you will not be able to create a shopping basket or place an order on this site. 
 

KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION

This section explains how long we will keep your information. 

 

We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for; such as any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the following:

  • amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data
  • the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data
  • the purposes for which we process your personal data
  • whether we can achieve those purposes through other means; and
  • the applicable legal requirements

Typically we will not keep contract related details for longer than 6 years following the termination of a contract; unless there are compelling reasons to retain for a longer period.  We keep your billing data for 7 years for tax purposes. 

 

Afterwards the data will either be destroyed or anonymised.

WHAT RIGHTS DO I HAVE OVER THE INFORMATION YOU HOLD ON ME?

This section explains the rights you have over the information we hold about you. 

 

You have the following rights regarding your information: 

 

  1. The right to be informed - you have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your information and your rights. This is why we’re providing you with the information in this Privacy Policy.

  2. The right of access - you have the right to obtain access to your information (if we’re processing it), and other certain other information (similar to that provided in this Privacy Policy). This is so you’re aware and can check that we’re using your information in accordance with data protection law.

  3. The right to rectification - you’re entitled to have your information corrected if it’s inaccurate or incomplete.

  4. The right to erasure - this is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ and, in simple terms, enables you to request the deletion or removal of your information where there’s no compelling reason for us to keep using it. This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions.

  5. The right to restrict processing - you have rights to ‘block’ or suppress further use of your information. When processing is restricted, we can still store your information, but may not use it further. We keep lists of people who have asked for further use of their information to be ‘blocked’ to make sure the restriction is respected in future.

  6. The right to data portability - you have rights to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services. E.g. if you decide to switch to a new provider, this enables you to move, copy or transfer your information easily between our IT systems and theirs safely and securely, without affecting its usability.

  7. The right to object - you have the right to object to certain types of processing, including processing for direct marketing (where we have relied on our legitimate interests). 

  8. The right to withdraw consent – you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time (where you have previously provided us with your consent to process your personal data). The withdrawal of your consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. 

To exercise any of these rights at, any time, you can just: Call our Customer Care team on 0800 052 0800 – enter your PIN if you have one.

 

Write to us at Managing Directors Office, Virgin Media Business, 1 Chippingham Street, Attercliffe, Sheffield, S9 3SE 

 

Email us at dpo@virginmedia.co.uk 

 

Contact us by email or live webchat by visiting our contact page

 

What if I use a link from this site to another site?

 

Please be aware that our site may provide access to other web sites by linking to them. We are not responsible for the data policies, content or security of these linked websites.

HOW DO I CONTACT YOU?

If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information you can: 

  • Call our Customer Care team on 0800 052 0800 – enter your PIN if you have one
  • Write to us at Managing Directors Office, Virgin Media Business, 1 Chippingham Street, Attercliffe, Sheffield, S9 3SE
  • Email us at dpo@virginmedia.co.uk
  • Contact us by email or live webchat by visiting our contact page

If you’re not satisfied with our response to your question or concern, or believe our processing of your information does not comply with data protection law, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Privacy Policy last updated 7 June 2022 but it will be updated regularly to ensure we stay on top of compliance requirements.