Privacy policy

01Who we are

This website, https://www.switchcore.co.za, is operated by Switchcore Electrical Distributors (“Switchcore”, “we”, “us”). For the purposes of POPIA, Switchcore is the responsible party for the personal information collected through this website.

You can contact us about privacy, including how to reach our Information Officer, by email at sales@switchcore.co.za or by phone on +27 64 549 2984.

02Information we collect

We only collect the information you choose to send us, plus a small amount of technical information needed to run and protect the website.

When you request a quotation

• Your first and last name, email address and phone number
• Your company name and, if you provide it, its VAT or company registration number
• Your province and city or town, and, if you choose, your industry
• Your preferred contact method, an optional “required by” date and any message you write
• The products and quantities in your request, and the page of our website you came from

When you send us a message

• Your first and last name and email address
• Your phone number and company name, if you provide them
• The type of enquiry, your message and, if your enquiry is about a specific product, which product

Technical information

• Spam and abuse protection: to limit how many forms can be sent in a short time, we record that a request was made from your IP address. The address is stored only as a one-way, scrambled value that cannot be turned back into your IP address, and only for the 15-minute protection window.
• Server logs: like most websites, the servers that host this website may automatically record standard technical details such as IP address, browser type, the pages requested and the time of the request, for security and to keep the website running.

Your quote basket

Products you add with “Get a Quote” are saved in your own browser’s local storage so the list is still there when you return. This list stays on your device and is not sent to us until you submit a quotation request. You can remove items at any time, or clear it by clearing your browser’s site data.

03What we do not collect

• We do not use cookies for tracking or advertising, and this website does not currently use analytics or advertising tools. If that changes, we will update this policy first.
• We do not take payments or ask for bank or card details on this website.
• We do not ask for special personal information (such as health, religion or biometric information) or for information about children.

04How we use your information

• To respond to your enquiry and to prepare and send the quotation you asked for
• To contact you about your request using your preferred contact method
• To keep a record of requests and enquiries we have received
• To protect the website and its forms against spam, abuse and fraud
• To meet our legal obligations

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not add you to marketing lists without your separate consent.

05Why we are allowed to use it

Under section 11 of POPIA we process your personal information because:

• you gave consent when you ticked the consent box on our forms;
• it is needed to take the steps you asked for before a possible sale, such as preparing a quotation;
• it is in our legitimate interest to keep the website secure and to keep proper business records; or
• the law requires us to.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.

06Who we share it with

We only share personal information where it is needed for the purposes above:

• Service providers that run this website and deliver our email, acting on our instructions and required to keep the information confidential and secure.
• Suppliers and manufacturers, only where this is needed to prepare your quotation, and limited to what they need (usually product and quantity details rather than your contact details).
• Authorities, where the law requires us to.

07Information sent outside South Africa

Some of our service providers, such as email or hosting providers, may store information on servers outside South Africa. When that happens we make sure, as section 72 of POPIA requires, that the information is protected to a standard similar to POPIA, for example through the provider’s contractual commitments.

08How long we keep it

We keep quotation requests and enquiries for as long as we need them to deal with your request and any resulting business, and for as long as the law requires us to keep business and tax records. After that we delete them or remove the details that identify you.

The scrambled values used for spam protection are only relevant for 15 minutes and are not used for anything else.

09How we protect it

• Information sent through our forms travels over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.
• Form submissions are stored outside the public part of the website, where they cannot be reached through a web browser, and access is limited to people who need it.
• Every form is checked on our server, and protected against automated spam and repeated submissions.

No website or system can be completely secure. If we become aware of a security compromise that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

10Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• ask whether we hold personal information about you, and ask for a copy of it;
• ask us to correct or delete information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete or that we are no longer allowed to keep;
• object to us processing your information on the basis of our legitimate interests;
• withdraw your consent at any time;
• not receive direct marketing you have not agreed to; and
• complain to the Information Regulator.

To use any of these rights, email sales@switchcore.co.za. We may need to confirm your identity before we act on a request.

11Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) through its website, inforegulator.org.za.

12Changes to this policy

We may update this policy, for example if we add new features to the website. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last changed.