Privacy and Cookie Policy

Villeroy & Boch appreciates your interest in our website and takes your trust and privacy seriously. Because protecting your privacy is very important to us, we process the minimum of personal data necessary to allow you to shop our website easily and to deliver, improve upon and keep secure our service to you.

 

By using our service and/or registering an account you agree to have read and understood our Privacy & Cookie Statement as set out below.

To enable easy reading of this document, we have provided some simpler, nonbinding text in underneath most of the legal statements.

In the following we inform you about collecting and using of your data.  We collect and may use data for a variety of reasons:

 

(1)     Order & Service Fulfilment

(2)    Marketing, Promotions & Advertising

(3)    Internal Operations

(4)    Fraud Prevention, Security & Compliance

 

1  Controller and Contact Person

Responsible data controller in the context of this website is:

Villeroy & Boch AG
Saaruferstraße
66693 Mettlach
Germany

 

2  Contact Person for Data Protection

If you have any questions regarding the collection, processing or use of your personal data, in case of disclosure, rectification, blocking or erasure of data as well as in the case of revocation of granted consents please contact us per e-mail at: service.datenschutz@villeroy-boch.com.

 

3  Visiting our Website

You can visit our website without providing any personal information. We only collect technical data with no personal reference such as the name of your internet service provider, the website from which you are visiting us, the browser type, version and language including some other technical information or the name of the requested file. These data are technically required for offering our service and do not allow any conclusions to your person; we also record and process this information to improve our service.

 

The following outlines what we collect and share:  

For the purposes of providing you service and order delivery, a safe and convenient check out process, relevant marketing information and the best possible online shopping experience, we collect information from the following sources: information provided by you, transaction information, technology-enabled services, and information from third party sources.

The following are select examples of the types of information we may collect and share:

 

Information you provide:

When you place an order, complete an account profile, sign up to receive emails, or create a gift registry, we collect the information you provide. This may include: Name, Address (billing and shipping), Zip code, e-mail address, Telephone number(s), Cellular phone number(s), Credit card number(s), and Birth date. This information is shared with our partners necessary to provide you service, shipping and online shopping.  Providers include:

MyRegistry.com. For more information about how MyRegistry.com uses and protects your data, please visit https://www.myregistry.com/Info/Privacy.aspx  

Kount, our Fraud Protection Provider. For more information about how Kount uses and protects your data, visit http://www.kount.com/legal/privacy-policy.   

Cookies or information we collect enabled by technology:

When you visit our website or mobile application, we collect some information automatically. The following gives an overview and informs you of your choices regarding that data collection.

 

Cookies and Pixel Tags

A Cookie is a small piece of computer code sent by a website and stored on the hard disk of your computer. A pixel tag (also known as a tracking pixel) is an embedded image on a website that may track and register a user's website session visit or website activity. Some cookies exist and collect data only for as long as your browser is open, during a single session. These help manage items added to your shopping bag. Some cookies are persistent, which means they last from visit to visit, even if you close your browser.  These cookies, for example, help enable items in your cart to remain upon your return, provide an easier log in experience and in some cases personalize your shopping visit based on your interests.

Website Optimization Services We share data with Google Analytics to understand and optimize website performance and enhance site usability for our customers.

Advertising Villeroy & Boch uses third-party advertising companies to serve interest-based advertisements. These companies compile information from various online sources to match user profiles with ads we believe will be most relevant, interesting and timely based on that user profile.  We also advertise on social networks and with new technology companies that may serve ads to you based on your interests.  

To learn more about how these partners use and protect the data they may collect or to customize your preferences or opt out of ads being served by them based on your website activity, please see below:  

AdRoll: https://www.adroll.com/about/privacy

Bazaarvoice: http://www.bazaarvoice.com/privacy-policy/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/policy.php

Google: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/

HotJar: https://www.hotjar.com/privacy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/

Rakuten (formerly Linkshare): http://marketing.rakuten.com/affiliate-privacy-policy

Upsell It: http://www.upsellit.com/policy.jsp

Pinterest: https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/personalization-and-data

Yahoo Analytics: https://policies.yahoo.com/us/en/yahoo/privacy/topics/analytics/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/static?template=privacy_guidelines

You can choose to disable or block cookies in a variety of ways:

 

Refer to the Privacy Section in your Internet Browser’s Settings via the Help Button. Please note, you will be unable to purchase on Villeroy-Boch.com/shop if you disable cookies. 

To opt out of interest based advertising with the above partners, please visit their privacy information with the links provided.

To opt out of interest based tracking on your mobile device, turn off ad tracking within your device settings.

Please note that when you opt out of receiving ads that target you based on interests, you will continue to receive generic non personalized advertisements.

 

California Residents

Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, California residents who have an established business relationship with Villeroy & Boch may choose to opt out of our sharing your Personal Information with third parties for direct marketing purposes. If you are a California resident and (1) you wish to opt out; or (2) you wish to request certain information regarding our disclosure of your Personal Information to third parties for the direct marketing purposes, please send an e-mail to eservice@villeroy-boch-usa.comwith “Privacy Policy” in the subject line or write to us at:

 

Villeroy & Boch USA Inc.

3A South Middlesex Avenue, Monroe Twp.

08831 New Jersey

In addition, Villeroy & Boch does not monitor, recognize, or honor any opt-out or do not track mechanisms, including general web browser “Do Not Track” settings and/or signals.

 

4   Purchasing thru our Website

4.1  Customer Account

A free customer account offers you the possibility to benefit from all advantages of our website and is required for purchases. To create such customer account, you only have to enter your first and last name, your e-mail address as well as a password of your choice. The access to your thereupon created customer account is only possible after entering your personal password; therefore, you should always treat your access information confidentially and close the browser window once you have ended your communication with us, particularly if you share the use of the computer with other persons.

 

4.2  Email/Newsletter Subscription

When subscribing to the receive our email newsletter your email address will be used with your consent for our own advertising purposes until you unsubscribe from the newsletter. We employ a double -opt in which requires you to confirm your interest in receiving our newsletter by opening and clicking the first email we send to you.  If you do not click this email, per double opt-in procedure, you will not receive future emails You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

Customer Survey Emails: We may separately send surveys, via e-mail, to our customers in order to collect opinions and feedback about their shopping experiences. To opt-out of receiving survey emails you may use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any survey email.

 

4.3  Purchasing

Our website also offers the possibility of convenient purchases. The conclusion of contract requires the entry of your invoice address and possibly your delivery address if different as well as a telephone number. Furthermore, you have to choose between several payment options and possibly enter further data such as your credit card details. Without your explicit consent we solely use the data you provided to execute and process your order. If we advance the merchandise we might seek credit information based on mathematical and statistical methods for the protection of our legitimate interests. Your interests are taken into account in accordance with the law. Your personal data is transferred through the internet in an encrypted form during the ordering process. We secure our website and other systems through technical and organizational measures against loss, destruction, access, modification or distribution of your data by unauthorized persons. After the complete execution of the contract and the complete payment of the purchase price and unless you explicitly consented to the further use of your data, your data is blocked for further use and deleted once fiscal and commercial obligations have been fulfilled. We will store contract texts after conclusion and you can review such contracts through the link in the confirmation email.

5  Disclosure of Personal Data

We will only disclose personal data for the purpose of the execution of the order, for instance to group companies, logistics companies or payment providers, or if we are legally bound to do so.

6  Social Media Plugins

This website uses so-called "social plugins" offered the social networks Facebook, operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA, Twitter.com, operated by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and Google+, operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. These plugins are identifiable by the respective logos or text. Your visit to our website does not result in your browser automatically contacting servers of these services: The plugins are not active until clicking them. After clicking on them, you can use the plugins as intended, e. g.  make your actual recommendation with a second click. If you have activated social plugins, various data will be transmitted to the social network. This may include data mentioned above in Sec. 3. The providers of these services may trace your visit to our website if you are logged-in into these social networks while visiting our website. If you use the plugin's functions (e.g. clicking the "Like" button, submitting a comment), such information will also be transferred by your browser to the respective social networks and possibly be stored there. Please consult the privacy policies of these services for further information about how they collect, use and store your personal data.

7  Bazaarvoice

To enable product reviews by our customers and to survey their relevance to other customers, we use the services of Bazaarovice Inc, 10901 Stonelake Blvd Austin, Texas 78759, USA (www.bazaarvoice.com).

To conduct product reviews, we provide them with your email address to invite you to submit product reviews by email, but only if you have purchased a product on our website and have not objected to receiving product review invitations.

In order to record how visitors to our website take account of the product ratings submitted, so-called pixels, i.e. small image elements, as well as cookies are also integrated on our web pages. In addition, cookies are set when product ratings and product questions are submitted and called up in order to enable both services. Among other things, the product ID, the order ID and the user ID are processed as visitor data.
An assignment to you is only made via a randomly generated numerical value. A connection with directly personal data, such as your e-mail address, is not made.

You can find out more information about the visitor data processed here:
https://knowledge.bazaarvoice.com/wp-content/conversations/en_US/Collect/bvpixel.html#add-the-transaction-event

EU standard contractual clauses have been agreed with Bazaarvoice to ensure an adequate level of data protection when transferring personal data to third countries. The privacy policy of Bazaarvoice can be found here.

8  Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. Our website uses Google Analytics including the functions of Universal Analytics. Universal Analytics allows the activities on our website to be analyzed across devices (e.g., accessing it on a laptop and later on a tablet). This happens by assigning a pseudonym user ID to a user. However, no person-related data is shared with Google. Even when Universal Analytics adds additional Google Analytics functions, this does not mean that protection of privacy is reduced. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

In the event that you wish to avoid disclosure of any personal data, which could be shared through the tracing service of Google Inc. you are advised to make use of the deactivation-add-on as supplied by Google under “http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en". Additionally, you are also entitled to withdraw any pseudonym user profiles at any time for future effect, should these have been created.

Also, you can exercise your general right to object to the use of your data for advertising purposes at any time with effect for the future. In view of the discussion on the use of analytical tools with complete IP addresses, we would like to point out that this website uses Google Analytics with the extension "_anonymizeIp()" so that IP addresses are only processed further in abbreviated form to prevent them being linked directly.

9  Deletion of your Data and Right of Access

If your data is no longer necessary for the above purposes, it will be deleted. If it has to be stored on statutory grounds, it will be blocked. In this case the data is no longer available for further use.

According to statutory law you have a right of free access to your recorded data as well as, if applicable, a right of rectification, blocking or erasure of these data. Please contact the above-mentioned address for this purpose. 

10  Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy.

Version: 24.06.2021