Privacy Policy – The Detective Experience

1. Who we are

Controller: CaseDog Ltd (company number 14641986) trading as The Detective Experience ("we", "us").

Registered office: 128 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX

For privacy enquiries, email contact@thedetectiveexperience.com.

2. Scope of this policy

This policy covers personal data processed via TheDetectiveExperience.com and related support channels in connection with our educational and mystery materials. As a UK-registered company, we comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Where we process personal data of individuals in the European Economic Area, we also comply with the EU GDPR. For our service terms, see the Terms & Conditions.

3. Data we collect

Account & purchase data: name, email address, role/context (educator, home user), school or organisation name (if applicable), billing details, and order history.
Communications: enquiries, support messages, and feedback submitted to us.
Technical data: IP address, device and browser information, pages viewed, and approximate location (via analytics).
Payment data: processed by our payment provider; we receive only limited metadata such as transaction ID and status and do not store full card details.

Special categories of data: We do not request or require special category or sensitive personal data. Please do not include such data in any messages or uploads.

4. How we use your data

Provide materials and manage accounts — to create your account, deliver purchases, and provide customer support. Lawful basis: performance of a contract and legitimate interests.
Payments and fraud prevention — to process transactions and detect misuse. Lawful basis: performance of a contract, legal obligation, and legitimate interests.
Service improvement and analytics — to understand how our content and services are used in order to improve them. Lawful basis: legitimate interests or consent, depending on the type of processing and your location.
Legal and compliance obligations — to meet tax, audit, and regulatory requirements and to respond to lawful requests from authorities. Lawful basis: legal obligation.
Optional marketing updates — if you opt in, we may send you news about our products and services. You may unsubscribe at any time. Lawful basis: consent.

5. Sharing & processors

We use vetted third-party service providers ("processors") for hosting, analytics, customer support, and payment processing. All processors are engaged under written data processing agreements and are authorised to process your personal data only on our instructions and for the purposes described in this policy. We do not sell your personal data to any third party.

6. Children's data

We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children (individuals under the age of 13, or under 18 in certain contexts) via our website. Our educational materials are purchased and delivered by teachers, schools, or other educators, and any personal data relating to pupils is managed by those institutions in accordance with their own data protection obligations. For home use, the responsibility for supervision and appropriate data handling rests with the purchasing adult.

If you believe that a child has submitted personal data to us directly, please contact us at contact@thedetectiveexperience.com and we will take steps to delete it promptly.

7. Cookies & analytics

We use essential cookies that are necessary for the operation of our website. We may also use analytics cookies to understand aggregate usage patterns and improve our services. Where required by law, we will request your consent before placing non-essential cookies, via a cookie consent banner. You may withdraw or change your cookie preferences at any time. For further details, please contact us.

8. Security

We implement technical and organisational security measures appropriate to the risk presented by our processing activities. These include encryption of data in transit, access controls, regular software updates, and a principle of least-privilege access for staff. No transmission of data over the internet is completely secure, and while we take all reasonable steps to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Data retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. As a general guide, account and order records are retained for up to six years following the end of the relevant financial year (in line with HMRC requirements and UK company law obligations). Support correspondence is typically retained for up to 24 months. Where data is no longer required, we delete or anonymise it securely.

10. Your rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification — to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure — to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction — to request that we limit the processing of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
Right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format where processing is based on consent or contract.
Right to withdraw consent — where we rely on consent as our lawful basis, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, please email contact@thedetectiveexperience.com. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request. We will respond within one month in accordance with our obligations under the UK GDPR.

11. International transfers

Where we transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with UK GDPR requirements. This may include relying on adequacy regulations made by the UK Secretary of State, using the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or another legally recognised transfer mechanism. Further details of the safeguards in place for any specific transfer are available on request.

12. Contact & complaints

Contact: contact@thedetectiveexperience.com

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance and we will do our best to resolve the matter. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection:

Website: ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

For the terms that govern your use of our site and materials, please see our Terms & Conditions.

13. Governing law & jurisdiction

This Privacy Policy and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. You agree that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such dispute or claim, subject to any applicable consumer protection laws that may entitle you to bring proceedings in your local jurisdiction.