The protection of your personal data is particularly important to us. Before you use our services, we would like to inform you about how we collect, process, and use your data. Please take note of the following statement in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG).

Customer Data
We collect, store, and process your customer data for the complete handling of your purchase, including any potential warranty claims, for our service operations, customer communication, technical administration, and exclusively for our own marketing purposes. Your personal data will only be transferred to third parties if this is necessary for the fulfillment of the contract or if you have given your prior consent. As part of order processing, service providers engaged by us (e.g., parcel services, freight carriers, banks) receive the data necessary for order and payment processing. Any transferred data may only be used by the service providers for the purpose of fulfilling the contract. Any other use of the data is not permitted and does not take place.

Supplier Data
We collect, store, and process supplier data for the complete handling of our purchasing process, including any later warranty claims and for our service operations. Your personal data will only be transferred to third parties if this is necessary for the fulfillment of the contract or if you have given your prior consent. As part of purchasing processes, service providers engaged by us (e.g., parcel services, freight carriers, banks) receive the data necessary for processing purchases. Transferred data may only be used for contract fulfillment purposes. Any other use is not permitted and does not take place.

Logistics Service Providers
To ship your order, we provide logistics service providers with the personal data necessary for delivery. These service providers process your data on our behalf and in compliance with data protection regulations, as well as the required security and due diligence measures under the GDPR and BDSG.

Credit Check
In the event of a purchase on account or payment via direct debit, we transmit certain data to selected service providers who carry out a credit check. The data transmitted to these companies include your first and last name, address, and date of birth. The service providers verify whether there are any negative creditworthiness indicators and determine your individual “score value.” This score value enables an assessment of the risk of possible payment defaults using mathematical-statistical methods, including address data.

We currently use the following service provider:
Creditreform, beDirect GmbH & Co. KG
Carl-Bertelsmann-Str. 105-107
33311 Gütersloh, Germany

Independently of this, we also transmit personal data regarding claims and payment experiences to Creditreform within the legal framework. This also applies to other personal data concerning possible non-contractual behavior, insofar as this is permissible after balancing all interests involved. Creditreform stores and transmits this data to its contractual partners within the EU internal market in order to provide information for assessing the creditworthiness of natural persons.

You may obtain information from Creditreform regarding the data stored about you. Further information about Creditreform’s information and scoring procedures can be found at:

https://www.creditreform.de/info-center/qualitaetsfaktoren/creditreform-bonitaetsindex.html

Credit Insurance
In the event of purchases on account or agreements on direct debit payments, we may take out credit default insurance. For this purpose, we transmit personal data to our service provider. The service provider processes your data on our behalf and in compliance with GDPR and BDSG requirements, including the necessary security and due diligence measures.

Collection of Outstanding Receivables
Your personal data may also be used to collect outstanding receivables, provided we have your authorization to do so.

Collection of Overdue Receivables
In the case of overdue receivables, we commission debt collection agencies that process your data on our behalf and in compliance with GDPR and BDSG requirements.

Telephone Orders
During our business hours, you may place orders by telephone through our service representatives. We store and process the personal data necessary for handling your purchase, including any warranty claims and our service operations. We do not pass this data on to third parties without your consent.

Gröner-Schulze Customer Account
We collect, process, and use the personal data collected during the ordering process exclusively for establishing, executing, and processing purchase and service contracts concluded with us through our webshop.

On our website, you may create a personal customer account for the online shop. Within your customer account, you can store your personal information and conveniently shop in our online store. We also provide convenience features such as displaying your order and return history.

To create a customer account, we require your first and last name, email address, postal address including country, telephone and fax number for possible order-related inquiries, and a password of your choice. Your email address also serves as your login credential. After successful registration, you will automatically receive a confirmation email. In the personal section of your account, you can update your personal data at any time and voluntarily add further information.

Newsletter
If you wish to subscribe to the newsletter offered on our website, we require a valid email address and information allowing us to verify that you are the owner of the provided email address and consent to receiving the newsletter. Additional data may be provided voluntarily. We use this data to send the newsletter and optimize its content. The information is not shared with third parties.

For sending the Gröner-Schulze newsletter, we use the software “Mailchimp.” Mailchimp processes your personal data solely on behalf of and under the instructions of Gröner-Schulze GmbH. Compliance with these data protection provisions and necessary security measures is contractually guaranteed.

You may revoke your consent to the storage of your data, your email address, and its use for newsletter distribution at any time via the “unsubscribe newsletter” link included in every newsletter.

Contact Form
If you send us inquiries via the contact form, your details from the inquiry form, including the contact data you provide there, will be stored and processed for the purpose of handling your inquiry and any follow-up questions. We do not pass this data on to third parties without your consent.

Catalog Orders
If you request printed catalogs via our website, we require personal data for delivery purposes. The data you provide will be stored and processed for sending the catalog and for any follow-up inquiries. We do not pass this data on to third parties without your consent.

Catalog Mailings and Your Right to Object
We reserve the right to use your first and last name and postal address for our own advertising purposes, e.g., to send interesting catalogs by post. This serves to safeguard our legitimate interests in advertising to our customers in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR.

You may object at any time to the storage and use of your data for these purposes by sending a message to info@groener-schulze.com

Returns of Goods
We offer you the option on our website to print a return and complaint form in order to submit complaints and request returns for purchased goods. For processing complaints and possible follow-up questions, we require personal data. Your data will be stored and processed for handling the complaint and any related inquiries. We do not pass this data on to third parties without your consent.

Event Registration
For events such as seminars, workshops, roadshows, and trade fairs, we offer registration via our website or by email. For your registration, possible follow-up questions, and invoicing where applicable, we require personal data. Your data will be stored and processed for handling the registration and related inquiries. We do not pass this data on to third parties without your consent.

Facebook Plug-ins (Like Button)
Our website integrates plug-ins of the social network Facebook, provided by Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. You can recognize Facebook plug-ins by the Facebook logo or the “Like” button on our website. An overview of Facebook plug-ins can be found at:

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/

When you visit our pages, the plug-in establishes a direct connection between your browser and the Facebook server. Facebook thereby receives the information that you have visited our website with your IP address.

YouTube
We use YouTube components (videos) in enhanced privacy mode on our website. The provider is YouTube, Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, a company of Google Inc.

When you access a page containing an embedded video, a connection to the YouTube servers is established and the content is displayed via communication with your browser. According to YouTube, in “enhanced privacy mode,” data is only transmitted to YouTube servers, particularly which pages you visited when viewing the video.

If you are logged into YouTube at the same time, this information will be associated with your YouTube account. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account before visiting our website.

Further information about YouTube privacy can be found at:

https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/

Job Offers
We regularly publish current job vacancies for Gröner-Schulze GmbH on our website. You may apply for any position by email. The data and documents you submit are treated confidentially and are subject to the strict requirements of the GDPR and BDSG, especially regarding your rights as a data subject.

Links to Third-Party Websites
Our website contains links to websites of our suppliers. We have no influence on compliance with data protection regulations on those websites. Therefore, this privacy policy does not extend to those websites.

SSL Encryption
For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as inquiries you send to us as the website operator, this website uses SSL encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the browser address line changing from “http://” to “https://” and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

When SSL encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Server Log Files
We automatically collect and store information in server log files that your browser automatically transmits to us. These include:<
– Browser version
– Referrer URL
– Hostname of the accessing computer
– Time of the server request

This data is not merged with other data sources. Storage is limited in time and serves solely to defend against hacking attacks. The company’s interest in protection is balanced against the user’s personal rights. We reserve the right to subsequently review this data if concrete indications of unlawful use become known.

Sessions
While you are logged into our shop, your username, client IP address, and login time are recorded. This is done to prevent misuse. Storage is temporary and ends when you log out.

Cookies
This website and some web analysis, remarketing, and retargeting tools used by us utilize cookies. Cookies are small text files stored on your computer by your browser. Cookies do not damage your computer and do not contain viruses.

Cookies help make our services more user-friendly, effective, and secure. Most of the cookies we use are “session cookies,” which are automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognize your browser on your next visit and, for example, allow shopping carts to persist across sessions.

You can configure your browser to notify you when cookies are set and allow cookies only in individual cases, exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general, and activate automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

Google Analytics
This website uses functions of the web analysis service Google Analytics. The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Google Analytics uses “cookies,” which are text files stored on your computer that enable analysis of your use of the website.

The information generated by cookies about your use of this website is generally transmitted to and stored on a Google server in the USA.

IP Anonymization
We have activated IP anonymization on this website. This means your IP address will be shortened by Google within EU member states or other states party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before transmission to the USA. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there.

On behalf of the operator of this website, Google uses this information to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports on website activity, and provide other services related to website and internet usage. The IP address transmitted by your browser within the framework of Google Analytics is not merged with other Google data.

Objection to Data Collection
You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent future collection of your data on this website: Disable Google Analytics.

More information on how Google Analytics handles user data can be found in Google’s privacy policy:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de

Demographic Features in Google Analytics
This website uses the “demographic features” function of Google Analytics. This allows reports to be generated containing statements about the age, gender, and interests of website visitors. This data comes from Google’s interest-based advertising and visitor data from third-party providers. This data cannot be assigned to a specific person.

You can deactivate this feature at any time through the ad settings in your Google account or generally prohibit the collection of your data by Google Analytics as described above.

Rights of Data Subjects
The GDPR strengthens your rights as a data subject. These are listed below.

Right of Access
You have the right at any time to receive free information about your stored personal data, its origin and recipients, and the purpose of data processing. To arrange details regarding access, inspection, or copies of your personal data, please contact our data protection officer in writing.

Right to Rectification
You have the right at any time to have inaccurate personal data concerning you corrected or incomplete personal data completed. If you have registered through our website, you may of course make these changes yourself. Alternatively, contact our representatives or the controller in writing.

Right to Erasure
We will delete your personal data immediately:
if you withdraw your consent to lawful processing and no other legal basis for storage exists,
if you object to processing,
if the data is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed,
if processing is unlawful for other legal reasons.

During the period in which your objection is being reviewed, your data will be blocked. You may revoke your objection at any time by written consent.
Please contact our data protection officer or the controller in writing for this purpose.
Deletion of data within statutory retention periods is not possible.

Right to Restriction of Processing
You have the right to request restriction of processing of your personal data if:
you contest the accuracy of your personal data, for a period enabling us to verify the accuracy,
processing is unlawful but you oppose erasure and instead request restriction of use,
we no longer need the personal data for processing purposes, but you require it for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims,
you have objected to processing and it has not yet been determined whether our legitimate grounds override your interests.
You may revoke the restriction at any time by written consent. Please contact our data protection officer or the controller in writing.

Right to Data Portability
You have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us or to have it transmitted to another controller. To coordinate secure data transmission and file formats, please contact the controller in writing.

Right to Object
You have the right at any time to object to the creation of user profiles and to the processing of your personal data insofar as the processing is based on your consent.

We will stop processing your personal data unless compelling legitimate grounds override your interests, rights, and freedoms.

If your personal data is processed for direct marketing purposes, you naturally have the right to object to such processing at any time.

Controller
The controller responsible for the collection, processing, and use of your personal data within the meaning of the GDPR and BDSG is:
Gröner-Schulze GmbH
Sarirstraße 5
12529 Schönefeld
Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 30 68 29 54-0
(Monday to Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.)
Fax: +49 (0) 30 68 29 54-54
Email: info@groener-schulze.com

Data Protection Officer
Appointed Data Protection Officer of Gröner-Schulze GmbH:
Mr. Jan Hoffmann
Gröner-Schulze GmbH
Sarirstraße 5
12529 Schönefeld
Germany

For data protection-related matters, please send an email to:
datenschutz@groener-schulze.com

Further Questions
If you have further questions that this privacy policy could not answer, or if you would like more detailed information on a specific point, we will be happy to answer your questions. Please contact our data protection officer.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to update this privacy policy from time to time.