Privacy Policy

This Privacy Notice will help you understand how we collect, use and protect your personal information.  If you have any queries about this Privacy Notice or how we process your personal information, please contact Tania Davidson by email at taniad@maslink.co.uk or by post at Tania Davidson, The Musician’s Answering Service, 19 Ranmore Road, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1HE.

This Privacy Policy will be reviewed regularly and where changes are made we will notify you of these changes. 

This document explains:

Who we are

“The Musician’s Answering Service Limited” (also referred to in this document as “MAS”) is the organisation responsible for the processing of your personal information.  Our office address is 19 Ranmore Road, Dorking Surrey, RH4 1HE and the company’s registered address is 3rd Floor, Chancery House, St Nicholas Way, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1JB.

The Musician’s Answering Service Limited is a registered data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998 (and subsequent General Data Protection Regulation due to come into effect on 25th May 2018). The person responsible for data protection is Tania Davidson, Managing Director. Our registration number in the Data Protection Public Register is Z8429896.

What information we collect about you

When you join MAS, enquire about membership, wish to check the availability of an MAS client or use our CV consultation service we will need to acquire some personal information from you in order to process your request. Generally this will consist of your name, email address, postal address, landline and/or mobile number depending on the activity.  If you do not wish to provide this information we may not be able to comply with our obligations in some circumstances so we will contact you to discuss the implications of that decision.

MAS clients may also be asked to provide us with additional personal information including, but not limited to, diary contents, date of birth, VAT number and bank details in the course of their membership.  Providing MAS with this information is optional and it will only be requested by MAS when it is required for them to successfully perform their duties.

If you are a member of MAS or use the service to make bookings, MAS will also hold information on your bookings and diary updates in order to provide its services.

Sensitive information

During the course of our duties MAS may become party to sensitive personal data, such as health information, racial or ethnic origins, sexual orientation and trade union membership.  This information will only be stored if it is necessary for delivering our services.

The information will not be stored for longer than is absolutely necessary. It will be held securely and accessible only to members of staff responsible for handling your diary.

How we collect information about you

Most of the personal information we hold about you is collected directly from you, for example:

• information provided when enquiring about or registering with the service
• information provided each time you interact with us by phone, text, email, letter or online during the course of us providing you with our services
• when you make enquiries or raise concerns with our team

In order to perform its services MAS will also receive information about your bookings from the other party involved and will always notify you when this occurs.

How we use your personal information

MAS will use your personal information for the following purposes:

• to provide our services and to deal with your requests and enquiries
• for administration and record keeping
• to send you information about MAS that may be of interest to you, such as seasonal opening times
• to send you offers of goods and services provided by MAS
• to forward information we have been asked to send to specific groups of clients, for example information we feel important and relevant to all players of a specific instrument
• to conduct market research and statistical analysis about the services MAS provides

Your personal information will not be subject to automated decisions.

Our legal basis for processing your personal information

There are three legal bases under which we may process your data:

Contract purposes

When you join MAS or ask us to check the availability of an MAS client you are entering into a contract with us. In order to fulfil this contract we need to process and store your data. For example we need contact details to keep clients and fixers informed about bookings or we may need to provide a client’s or fixers contact details as part of the booking process.

Legitimate business interests

In certain situations we collect and process your personal information for purposes that are in our legitimate organisational interests, for example to respond to enquiries about the service, provide our CV consultation service, keep you informed of services provided by MAS or conduct market research on the services we offer.  However we only do this if there is no overriding prejudice to you by using your personal information in this way.

With your explicit consent

For any situation where the two bases above are not appropriate, we will instead ask for your explicit consent before using your personal information in that specific situation. For example, we would never provide your contact information to a third party not known to MAS unless you had given us explicit consent to do so.

Who we share your personal information with

There are some circumstances in which we may disclose your personal information to third parties. These are as follows:

To other service users, associated organisations and agents for the purposes of providing MAS clients with a diary service.  Personal information such as your name, email address, postal address, landline and/or mobile number may be passed on to outside parties in the process of making diary bookings, unless you specify that this information be kept confidential.  If any other personal information about you is requested the information will only be passed on to third parties with your express permission.

Where we are under a duty to disclose it in order to comply with a legal obligation. For example, to government bodies and law enforcement agencies.

To third party service providers who support the operation of our business, such as IT / communications suppliers and debt collection agencies.  In these circumstances our suppliers are bound by the same data protection rules as MAS and are subject to contractual agreements with MAS to ensure compliance with Data Protection legislation.

By signing up to MAS clients agree to their name being added to its client list which is circulated to service users and posted on the company website.  Any further information circulated or posted on the website, such as CV’s, is done so at the request of the client and on the understanding that inclusion on the website means that the information provided is available in countries or jurisdictions which do not provide the same level of data protection as the UK.

MAS may also share information about ex clients who have received its ‘Young Professionals Offer’ or who have unpaid accounts with other UK diary services.

We will never sell or pass on your details to a third party for marketing purposes.

How long we keep your personal information

MAS will keep your personal information for a period of 3 years after providing our services or dealing with your enquiry.  We believe it is reasonable to retain our records for this length of time so that any queries about past work can be dealt with and any information required by clients or fixers for administrative / legal purposes can be requested from us.

When a client cancels their membership of MAS only their contact details and historic diary information will be retained for this period.  All other personal information will be immediately deleted from the MAS systems, unless we are required to keep it to fulfil our legal requirements.

Your rights regarding your personal information

You have the right to

• object to the processing of your personal information
• ask us to correct any information you believe to be incorrect
• ask us to delete the information we hold about you
• ask us to restrict how we use your information
• to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you in a format compatible with your computer system

If you would like to make any requests about your data or object to its processing, please contact Tania Davidson by email at taniad@maslink.co.uk or by post at Tania Davidson, The Musician’s Answering Service, 19 Ranmore Road, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1HE.

Please note that these rights may be limited by data protection legislation, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.

If you are not satisfied with how we are processing your personal information, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner.  You can find out more about your rights under data protection legislation from the Information Commissioner's Office website: www.ico.org.uk.

The security of your information

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure with us and with third parties who act on our behalf.  We take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information.

Your information is stored and processed on MAS systems or systems managed by suppliers to MAS, on secure servers.  All suppliers are bound by the same data protection rules as MAS and are subject to contractual agreements with MAS to ensure compliance with Data Protection legislation.  

Access to your personal information is strictly controlled and can only be processed by those who need it to perform their duties.  They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

Internet Cookies Policy

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier that is sent to your computer or mobile phone (referred to here as a "device") browser from a website's computer and is stored on your device's hard drive. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other websites. Many websites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows.

No cookies are used in the main pages of the MAS website. However, both the secure Client area and the MAS Online Diary System use one session cookie to track users from page to page. This is required for the login feature to work but is deleted once you close the browser. If you do not consent to the use of this cookie then please do not use these facilities.

However, the MAS website also contains links to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including cookies, and we recommend that you to review them.  MAS does not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of these websites is at your own risk.

More information about cookies, including how to block them and/or delete them, can be found at Managing cookies | aboutcookies.org.uk

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