Privacy notice
Effective from when the quote and order system goes live. Last updated: 13 May 2026.
What this is
We're a family-run electrical wholesaler in Kilkenny, trading since 1977. To quote you for a part, ring you back about an inquiry, or deliver a panel to site, we need a few details — your phone number, your name, sometimes your delivery address. We don't sell your data to anyone, ever. This page explains what we hold, why we hold it, and how to ask for it back.
What we collect
When you ring us, message us on WhatsApp, send us a photo of a part, or open a trade account, we record:
- Your name (or trading name)
- Your phone number
- Your email address
- Your delivery / billing address
- The content of messages you send us (text, photos, short voice notes)
- Order history once you start buying — what you bought, when, how much
Why we collect it — lawful basis
Legitimate interest
If you message us on WhatsApp or send us a photo of a part you need, we record the message so we can answer it. That's "legitimate interest" under GDPR Article 6(1)(f) — you've asked us a question, we need your phone number and what you sent to give you a useful answer. The interest is balanced: we don't use that data for anything outside answering your inquiry.
Contract
Once you accept a quote and we start the order, the lawful basis becomes "contract" under Article 6(1)(b). To deliver the goods and invoice you, we need your name, your delivery address, and (for trade accounts) your bank or card details on file. Without those we can't fulfil the contract.
Legal obligation
Irish VAT law (Revenue Commissioners) requires us to keep invoice records for six years from the end of the accounting period they relate to — call it seven years in practice. That's "legal obligation" under Article 6(1)(c). Invoices are the one category we can't delete on request.
How long we keep it
- WhatsApp inquiry text + photos — 90 days from your last message, then auto-deleted. Long enough that we can find context for a follow-up the same season; short enough that old conversations don't sit on a server forever.
- Voice notes — 30 days. We transcribe the audio to text for the staff member answering your inquiry, then delete the audio file. The transcript follows the 90-day rule above.
- Customer profile (name, phone, address, preferences) — kept while your account is active. If you stop trading with us and ask us to delete, we delete the next working day. Otherwise we'll do a tidy-up of dormant accounts every 24 months.
- Quotes you didn't accept — 12 months. Useful if you ring back six months later asking "what did you quote me for those LED panels?"
- Invoices and order records — seven years from issue. Revenue Commissioners' obligation; we don't have a choice on this one.
- Agent persona notes (small preferences our staff have learned from chatting with you, like "prefers I call before 10am") — deleted immediately if you opt out, or with the rest of your profile on erasure.
Who else sees your data — processors
To run KEW, we use a small number of third-party services. They each see only the slice of your data they need to do their job, and none of them are allowed to use it for their own marketing.
- Google Cloud (Vertex AI) — processes the text and voice of your WhatsApp messages so we can suggest stock, write quotes, and reply. EU region (Belgium). Google's standard EU processing terms apply.
- Resend — sends transactional emails (quote PDFs, order confirmations, statement notifications). EU region.
- Slack — used internally by us to handle your inquiries. Your message content is mirrored into a private Slack channel where our staff reply.
- Meta (WhatsApp Business) — the channel itself. We don't host WhatsApp; Meta runs it.
International transfers
Everything we process runs in the EU. Google Cloud and Vertex AI both sit in europe-west1 (Belgium). Resend sends from EU infrastructure. Slack hosts our workspace under the EU data-residency option. Meta WhatsApp Business is governed by Meta's standard EU processing terms — the channel itself runs on Meta's infrastructure, and Meta apply the Standard Contractual Clauses where any technical hop touches the US.
We don't transfer your data to anywhere outside the EU/EEA for our own purposes. If a processor's terms change and that becomes untrue, we'll update this page and email anyone with an active account.
Your rights — and how to use them
Under GDPR, you can ask us to:
- Show you what data we hold about you (right of access)
- Correct anything that's wrong
- Delete it all (right of erasure / "right to be forgotten") — see below
- Stop processing your data for a particular purpose
- Take your data and move it somewhere else (data portability)
Right of erasure — how to use it
The fastest way is to email info@kew.ie with the subject "Erase my data" — we run the delete the next working day and confirm by reply. Invoices we have to keep for 7 years for VAT (legal obligation), but everything else goes.
Cookies + tracking
The cookie banner at the bottom of the page is run by CookieYes through Google Tag Manager. Strictly-necessary cookies (the ones that make the site work) are on by default; everything else — analytics, marketing — is off unless you opt in.
When you do opt in, we use:
- Google Tag Manager — the container that loads the other tags. It doesn't itself read your data.
- PostHog — anonymised product analytics (which pages load, where the navigation breaks). Self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics. EU region.
- Meta domain verification — a single static meta tag that lets us run a WhatsApp business profile under kew.ie. Doesn't track you.
No advertising pixels. No retargeting. No data sold to ad networks. If you change your mind, click the "cookie settings" link in the footer at any time.
Who we are — and how to complain
Kilkenny Electrical Wholesale Ltd, 44 Hebron Road Industrial Estate, Kilkenny, R95 HW20.
If you don't like how we're handling your data, your route of redress is the Irish Data Protection Commission: dataprotection.ie.