Where did you get my number?
The short answer
Your business details are published somewhere public. A business listing, your own website, or the Companies House register. We collect details like that for businesses in a particular sector and area when a client asks us to, we check the numbers against the do-not-call registers, and we supply them to companies who want to ring you about business services.
We did not buy your details from a broker, and nobody gave them to us.
Why you have not heard from us before
Because we collected the information from public sources rather than from you. The law expects us to tell each business individually, and it also recognises that where that would take disproportionate effort, publishing the information instead can be appropriate. It requires anybody relying on that to publish. Our privacy notice is us publishing it.
You may disagree with that reasoning. If you do, the removal route below is free, immediate and permanent, and we will not ask you to justify it.
What we actually hold
- Your business name, telephone number, trading address and the kind of work you do.
- Your website address, and one page of your own website.
- If you are a registered company: the company number, when it was incorporated, information from your filed accounts, and the names of your directors, all from the Companies House register.
- If Companies House names nobody: a suggested name for who runs the business, worked out from your own website and public listings.
- A record of when we last checked your number against the do-not-call registers.
We do not hold email addresses. We do not collect them, store them or supply them. We hold nothing about anyone's private life and we do not build profiles of individuals.
How long we keep it
Thirty days. Every batch we collect has thirty days to live. At the end of it the data is deleted, whether it was supplied to anyone or not, and we keep a note recording that it happened. That note contains nothing personal. The deletion is automatic and is not something anyone has to remember to do.
How to stop it
Write to our removals address and say so. Any wording is fine, you do not have to give a reason, and it costs nothing.
You will get a reply. The outside limit is one calendar month and it is a limit rather than a target. What happens after you ask sets out each step.
If somebody has already called you
A batch already sent to a client cannot be recalled. From the moment you ask, you will never appear in another one, and that client is required by contract to honour your objection directly and to tell us about it.
Where to go if this does not satisfy you
You do not have to come to us first. You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113, at any time. Our complaints page sets out both routes to us as well.
Ask to be removed
Write to us and say so That is the whole process on your side.Or on paper, to CallWave, at the address published on the ICO's register of fee payers. Post is answered the same way and on the same clock.
What happens next
- We log it with the date and confirm to you in writing. Usually the same day. The outside limit is one calendar month and it is a limit, not a target.
- We delete you from the live data.
- We keep the minimum needed on a suppression list: your business name, and the telephone number, website address or company number.
Why step three exists, because it looks wrong at first
Deleting a record without remembering it means the next collection finds you all over again and supplies you again. Keeping the identifier is the only way to make sure that never happens.
The business name is kept beside it so that a person can read the list and check it is doing its job. We keep nothing else, nothing about anybody as an individual, nothing from the record we deleted, and we never use a suppression entry for anything except keeping you out.
How permanent it is
Permanent. It is not for a year and it does not need renewing. Every batch we collect from then on is checked against that list before it can be supplied to anybody, and the check sits on the single door into our results rather than being remembered at each step.
The one thing we cannot doA batch already sent to a client cannot be recalled. From the moment you ask you will never appear in another one, and that client is required by contract to honour your objection directly and to tell us about it. We would rather say that plainly than promise something we cannot deliver.
You do not have to ask us first
You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113 at any time. Our complaints page sets out the routes to us as well.
Make a complaint
By email
Write to our data protection address. Say what happened and what you would like done about it.
By post
CallWave, at the address published on the ICO's register of fee payers.
Answered the same way and on the same clock as email.
30 days The outside limit on acknowledging it In writing Every outcome, whatever it is Any time You can go to the ICO instead, or as wellWhat to put in it
Nothing formal is needed and there is no form. It helps if you can include:
- The business name and the telephone number the call came to.
- Roughly when it happened, and who called if you know.
- What you would like done. If the answer is simply "never again", say that and it will be treated as a removal request as well as a complaint.
What happens, and when
Acknowledged within thirty daysIn writing, and usually much sooner. That is a limit rather than a target.
Looked into without undue delayIncluding what was held, where it came from, when it was screened, and which client it went to.
The outcome written back to youWhat we found, what we have done, and what has changed if anything has.
Logged with its date and outcomeSo the clock can be checked afterwards, by us or by anybody entitled to ask.
If your complaint is about a call you received
Two things are worth knowing. We do not make the calls. Data is supplied to companies who call, and the duty under the calling rules sits with whoever dialled. But we can stop you appearing in another batch, which is usually the outcome people actually want. → ask to be removed
If you tell us who called you, we will also remind that client of the objection route they agreed to in writing before we supplied anything to them.
THE REGULATORYou can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time.
Directly, without contacting us first, and nothing is lost by doing so.
Onlineico.org.uk, which has a form for exactly this.
By telephone0303 123 1113.
What they will ask forRoughly what happened and when. They do not need you to have complained to us first.
What we do if they contact usAnswer, in full, and produce whatever is asked for. Every batch that has ever left carries a stated reason and a date.
The address: . You can also go to the ICO directly at any time: ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.
Your rights
To object to direct marketingAbsolute, free and immediate. Ask and you are out, permanently. This is the strongest of them: there is no balancing test and we cannot refuse it. It is also the one most people actually want. How to ask.
To see what we hold about youAsk, and we will tell you within one calendar month. Bear in mind that after thirty days the answer is usually nothing, because it has been deleted. If that is the answer, we will say so plainly rather than sending you an empty form.
To have it correctedIf something we hold about your business is wrong, tell us and we will put it right. In practice most corrections are a changed telephone number or a business that has moved.
To have it erasedSubject to one exception, which we would rather explain than bury: if you have asked not to be contacted, we keep the minimum needed to honour that. Deleting the record entirely would mean the next collection found you again and sold you again.
To restrict what we do with itWhile a question about it is being resolved. In practice this rarely arises, because the quicker answer is usually removal.
To complain to the regulatorDirectly, at any time, without asking us first. The Information Commissioner's Office is at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
1 month The outside limit on any request above Free All of them. There is no fee and no form No reason needed You never have to justify a removalHow to exercise any of them
Write to our data protection address, or on paper to CallWave at the address published on the ICO's register of fee payers.
Tell us in your own words which of the above you want, and enough detail to find your business. There is no form to fill in and no fee.
One thing worth knowing before you ask
Most of what we hold is information about a company, which is not personal data at all. It becomes personal data where a business is run by a named individual, or where a director is named. The rights above apply to the second situation. If you ask and it turns out not to apply, we will tell you that plainly rather than quietly doing nothing.
The right most people want is the first one, it takes a sentence, and we will never ask you why.