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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 14 July 2025

AM Studios (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a web design and development studio operated by Aston and Michael McIlroy, based in the United Kingdom. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data when you use our website at amstudios.org.uk or engage our services.

We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Data We Collect

We collect the following personal data when you use our site:

  • Contact details: your name, email address, phone number, and business name — provided when you submit a project enquiry or questionnaire.
  • Project information: your answers to our website questionnaire, including budget, timeline, and design preferences.
  • Payment data: deposit payment details processed securely via GoCardless. We do not store card numbers — GoCardless handles all payment processing.
  • Portal data: login codes and session tokens used to authenticate your client portal access.
  • Chat data: messages you send to our AI chat assistant on the website, which may include information about your business.
  • Technical data: IP address, browser type, and pages visited, collected automatically for security and analytics purposes.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

  • To respond to your enquiry and provide you with a quote.
  • To deliver our web design and development services.
  • To process deposit payments via GoCardless.
  • To provide you with access to your client portal.
  • To communicate with you about your project.
  • To improve our website and services.
  • To comply with legal obligations.

3. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data under the following legal bases:

  • Contract: processing is necessary to fulfil our contract with you (your project).
  • Legitimate interests: responding to enquiries, improving our services, and keeping our systems secure.
  • Legal obligation: retaining financial records as required by HMRC.
  • Consent: for any marketing communications (we will always ask first).

4. Data Sharing

We share your data only with trusted third parties who help us deliver our services:

  • GoCardless — payment processing (UK/EU). Their privacy policy is at gocardless.com/privacy.
  • Resend — transactional email delivery (e.g. your login code).
  • Vercel / Neon — website hosting and database infrastructure.
  • OpenRouter / AI providers — powers our chat assistant (messages may be processed to generate responses).

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described above. Specifically:

  • Enquiry and project data: 3 years after project completion.
  • Financial records: 6 years, as required by HMRC.
  • Portal session tokens: 30 days.
  • Login codes: deleted immediately after use or expiry (10 minutes).

6. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Access the personal data we hold about you.
  • Rectify inaccurate data.
  • Erase your data (the “right to be forgotten”), subject to legal obligations.
  • Restrict processing of your data.
  • Data portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.
  • Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at info@amstudios.org.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Cookies

Our website uses cookies. Please see our Cookie Policy for full details.

8. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. These include encrypted connections (HTTPS), secure session management, and access controls on all systems containing personal data.

9. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. Continued use of our website after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact

For any privacy-related questions, contact us at: info@amstudios.org.uk