SMS & Messaging — What You Need to Know

This notice is for customers of a trades business (for example, a plumber or electrician) who contact that business by text message, web form or voicemail. A link to this notice is included in the first automated reply you receive from the business.

Who is messaging you, and why

You are dealing with a trades business (e.g. "Mike's Plumbing"). That business uses messaging technology provided by NOWWORX Ltd to handle enquiries on its behalf. The business is messaging you because you contacted it, or it is following up on your enquiry or job.

Replies may be automated

To respond quickly, replies may be automated. The automated assistant always replies as the business (for example, "Mike's Plumbing here"). It never claims to be a human — and if you ask directly whether you're talking to a person or an automated system, it will tell you the business uses automated messaging and can have the owner follow up personally. It typically asks for a few details to help with your enquiry — your name, contact details (including an email address), the address the job is at, what the job is, and how urgent it is.

One practical tip: avoid sharing health or other sensitive personal details by text — if something sensitive matters to the job, call the business instead.

Calls and voicemails are recorded and transcribed

If you leave a voicemail, your message is recorded and automatically transcribed (turned into text) so the business can deal with your enquiry. The audio is deleted after 90 days; the written transcript is kept for longer so the business has a record of your enquiry.

How to stop automated messages

To stop automated messages, reply with any of these words (any capitalisation or spacing works):

STOP · STOPALL · UNSUBSCRIBE · END · QUIT · CANCEL · REMOVE · OPT OUT · OPTOUT · REVOKE

You can also simply tell the business — by phone, email or in person — that you don't want automated messages, and it must stop them.

Opting out suppresses all automated replies, follow-ups and review requests to your number, and the business will not start new text conversations with you on this number. If you text or call the business again, that re-opens the conversation and it can reply. You can also ask the business to switch automated messages back on at any time.

Who controls your information

The trades business is the data controller of your information — it decides why it is contacting you and what it does with your details. NOWWORX provides the messaging technology on the business's behalf and acts as its data processor; NOWWORX does not decide why you are being messaged. (NOWWORX separately screens outbound messages for abuse to protect message recipients — that limited screening is described in NOWWORX's Privacy Policy.)

To ask about your information, get a copy of it, correct it, or have it deleted, contact the trades business in the first instance. You can also contact support@nowworx.com and we will assist or route your request to the business. You also have the right to complain to the business about how it handles your personal data, and it must respond.

If you are unhappy with how your personal data has been handled, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): online at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, by phone on 0303 123 1113, or by post to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Other points

• Standard network message rates may apply — your mobile provider may charge you for sending texts in the normal way.
• This is not the trades business's own privacy notice. It explains the messaging technology only. The trades business is responsible for telling you, in full, how it uses your personal data.