Privacy policy: how we handle your data

This policy covers Best Rated Company (“we”, “us”), a free UK business directory run by Adrian, who also runs Bellwoods Removals & Storage in Huddersfield. It is written to be clear and honest, but it is not legal advice.

Businesses we list

For each business in the directory we hold its name, trade and town, phone number, email address, website, a short description, and, for Featured listings, any photos, opening hours, services and social links it gives us. Most of this is business information the business publishes itself, on its website or social pages, or gives us when it applies. For a sole trader or partnership, some of it is personal data.

We use it to show the listing and to run our three checks. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in running a directory that helps customers find local businesses, balanced against the business’s interests. We publish the website, the description and, unless the business asks us not to, the phone number. We do not publish the email address.

If we list a business that did not apply to us, we email it a confirmation link within a month, so it knows we hold its details and can approve the listing or have it removed straight away. A business can ask us to remove its listing at any time.

Our checks: phone calls and confirmation emails

• Phone calls. We ring the business’s phone number during working hours to check that it answers, whether or not the number is shown on its listing. A short recorded message asks the business to press 1 to confirm. We do not record the call: we keep only the result (when we rang, whether it was answered and whether 1 was pressed) with the check history, for as long as the listing exists and for no more than 12 months after it is removed. Checks made before October 2026 may also have a transcript of the greeting, kept the same way.
• Confirmation emails. We email a one-time link to the address on a listing. When the business approves or removes its listing, we record the answer, the time and the IP address it came from, as a record of the decision. When the link is first opened, we also note the time and IP address, so we know the email arrived. Our emails contain no tracking images.
• Online look-up. We read what is publicly available about the business, such as its website and public reviews, and keep short private notes. These notes are never shown on the site.

News emails

The application form has a box you can tick to get occasional news and offers from us by email. It is optional, it is never ticked for you, and it has no effect on your listing. We send news emails only to businesses that ticked the box or asked us for them, so a business we added to the directory ourselves does not get them. Our legal basis is your consent. Every news email has a link to stop them, and you can also reply and ask us to. We keep a record of when an address opted in or out, how, and the IP address it came from, as proof of the choice, for as long as the listing exists and for no more than 12 months after it is removed. Emails about your listing itself, such as the confirmation link, are not news emails: we send those whether or not you tick the box.

People who contact us

When you use a form on this site, we receive the details you enter, such as your name, business name, email, phone, website and message. These are emailed to us so we can reply, assess an application or make a change you ask for. An application to be listed is also kept on our server, so that we can add your business without typing it all again. We delete it 90 days after you send it. If we list your business, its details are then held with the listing, as described above. With an application we also record how you found us: your answer to “How did you hear about us?”, if you give one, and the website you came from and the first page of ours you opened, which your browser notes when you arrive. We use this only to see where applications come from, and it is kept with the application. Our legal basis is your request and our legitimate interest in running the directory.

The application form can read your website for you. If you give it your website address, we fetch that public page and an AI service reads its text to suggest your business name, phone number, email address, a description and the trade to list you under. You check and correct these before anything is sent. We keep a record of each look-up for 30 days: the address, what was suggested, and a one-way code made from your IP address, which changes every day and cannot be turned back into it. We use the record only to stop the look-up being misused and to show us what it suggested if you go on to apply.

To keep out businesses that are not in the UK, the application form also notes the country your connection comes from (as Cloudflare reports it) and the time zone your device is set to, and reads the phone numbers on the website you give us. These go with your application to us and are deleted with it. If they strongly suggest a business outside the UK, the application may be refused; you can still contact us and we will look at it ourselves.

If an application is refused because it is a kind of business we do not list, or because it is probably not a UK business, we block its website from applying again. If the same person is refused a second time, we keep their email address and their connection's IP address on a block list, with a small cookie in their browser, so that further applications are turned away. The email address and cookie are kept until we remove the block; the IP address for 90 days. Normal visitors are never given that cookie. If you think you have been blocked by mistake, contact us.

The forms on the List your business page use Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from automated spam. It runs in your browser while you fill in the form, usually without you doing anything, and passes Cloudflare technical details such as your IP address and browser. It does not set advertising or tracking cookies. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in keeping spam out of the directory. If the check fails, your form is still sent to us.

Visitors to the website

We use Plausible, a privacy-focused analytics service, to count visits and clicks, such as how often a listed business’s phone number or website is clicked. It does not use cookies and does not identify you. We also count, for each listed business, how many times its page is viewed and its phone number or website is clicked, so we can tell the business. To count each visitor only once a day, we use a one-way code made from your IP address and browser, which changes every day, cannot be turned back into either, and is deleted after two days. Our server keeps standard logs, such as IP addresses and the pages requested, for security. This website does not set advertising or tracking cookies.

Most pages have a box where you can ask our AI agent a question. When you use it, your question is passed to an AI service, which writes the answer from the pages of this website. We keep the question and the answer, so that we can see what people ask and improve the answers. We also record the IP address the question came from, to stop the box being misused, and delete it after 30 days. Please do not put personal details in a question.

Featured listings

If a business buys a Featured listing, we keep the billing name, billing email, dates and amounts for our accounts, for as long as the law requires.

Sharing

We do not sell personal information. We use trusted providers to host the website, deliver it and protect it from attack (Cloudflare, which every visit to this website passes through), send email and make verification calls. They process data on our behalf and are not allowed to use it for their own purposes.

How long we keep it

Listing details are kept while the listing exists. When a listing is removed, we delete its details and check history within 12 months, except anything we must keep for our accounts. Enquiry emails are kept only as long as needed to deal with your request and keep reasonable records.

Your rights

You can ask us what information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, object to us using it, or ask us to delete it. A business can approve or remove its listing through its confirmation link, or by emailing customersupport@bestrated.company. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email customersupport@bestrated.company.