Privacy Policy

We repair devices that people's lives are stored on. Phones with photos, laptops with years of work, storage media holding an entire administration. This privacy policy explains which personal data we process, what for, on what legal basis, who receives it and how long we keep it. It deliberately also covers the data held on your device, because in our line of work that is the most sensitive part.

1. Who the controller is

4Fixing is the controller for the processing described in this policy, except where it says below that we act as a processor.

• 4Fixing, Witte de Withstraat 114H, 1057 ZG Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• Chamber of Commerce number: 74516728
• VAT identification number: NL002464233B56
• Email: info@4fixing.com
• Telephone: +31 6 86475803

These are the same details as in Articles 1.1 and 1.2 of our General Terms and Conditions, and the same as on our quotes and invoices. We have not appointed a data protection officer, because we do not fall within the cases in which the GDPR requires one. For privacy questions you therefore reach us directly at the address above.

2. What this policy covers, and what it does not

Article 24.1 of the General Terms and Conditions says that 4Fixing processes contact, order, invoice, complaint and website-use data for its own business and legal purposes as described in its privacy notice. This is that privacy notice.

Article 24.2 says immediately afterwards what this page does not do: the privacy notice and cookie policy supplement these Terms but do not independently change the contractual scope or determine the parties' privacy roles. So if you read something here that appears to stretch or narrow your rights or our obligations under the General Terms and Conditions, that is not the intention and the Terms prevail. Who holds which role is determined under Article 24.3 according to the actual processing activity, not according to what a document would find convenient.

Cookies and similar technologies are not on this page. They are listed by name, retention period and provider in our cookie policy, and you can change your choice at any time through the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page.

3. The data on your device

This is the chapter that matters most at a repair business. A device you hand over to us can hold an enormous amount of personal information, and with Data Recovery access to stored data is not a side effect but the assignment itself.

3.1 Your files stay yours

We will not inspect the substantive content of your files except where technically necessary, authorised by you or required by law (Article 13.7). We do not read through your documents, photos or email to find out what they say.

3.2 When a technician does reach your files

4Fixing will take reasonable care to avoid unnecessary access to your data and will access data only where reasonably required for diagnosis, testing, repair, Data Recovery, transfer, delivery or another agreed service (Article 13.2). In practice these are the situations:

• we start the device to check that it works again, and in doing so see what is on the lock screen or the desktop;
• we test a repaired component that needs the software running, for example a camera, a microphone, a speaker or a touchscreen;
• we check whether the storage is recognised and whether the file system is readable;
• we carry out Data Recovery, where reading and copying data is the assignment;
• we transfer data at your request to another device or another medium.

For Device work, 4Fixing will minimise access and use need-to-know permissions. Personal data within a Device will be handled only as reasonably necessary for diagnosis, testing, repair, recovery, delivery, security and legal duties (Article 24.6).

For some services we never enter your account at all. When we repair a MacBook logic board we test up to the login screen and no further, as the MacBook Data Access page describes. If it turns out along the way that a repair does need access beyond that, we stop and ask you in writing first.

3.3 How we keep that access as small as possible

• we look only at what the fault touches, and not at the rest;
• we do not copy your files, except where making a copy is precisely the assignment, as with Data Recovery or a transfer you have asked for;
• 4Fixing limits access to Devices, credentials, recovered data and project systems to personnel and service providers who need access and are bound by appropriate confidentiality and security duties (Article 25.3);
• repair work advertised as performed in-house will be performed in-house unless you are informed and agree otherwise (Article 26.1). So no device carrying your data goes to a subcontractor without you knowing.

3.4 What you can do before handing the device over

You remain responsible for maintaining a current backup before handing over a Device where a backup is reasonably possible (Article 13.1). 4Fixing does not guarantee that data will remain intact unless a specific written guarantee is given (Article 13.5). So make that backup while you still can.

If you can do without certain files during the repair, delete them or move them elsewhere for the time being. That is not a condition of being served here, it is simply the easiest way to reduce how much data comes near us at all.

3.5 Credentials and access codes

Where possible, you should provide a temporary credential or limited test account. 4Fixing will not request or retain a credential that is unnecessary for the work (Article 13.3). For a number of repairs none of this is needed at all, and then we do not ask, as section 3.2 describes. Where we do receive a credential, these rules apply:

• we write a code only on the job sheet for that device, not in your customer file and not in our email;
• the code is deleted once the work is finished and the device has been returned, at the latest seven days afterwards;
• credentials and temporary working copies will be protected, access-limited and deleted or returned in accordance with the agreed purpose, the operational retention schedule and applicable law (Article 13.8);
• we advise you to set a temporary access code and to change it after the repair.

Never put passwords, payment details, health information or authentication codes in the free text field of the contact form or in an ordinary email. If you need to give us a code, do it in person or on the job sheet.

3.6 Where recovered copies end up, and for how long

With Data Recovery, data is read out and written somewhere, and that somewhere is working storage in our workshop in Amsterdam or the medium you give us for the purpose. We do not put recovered data into a cloud service and we do not send it by email.

4Fixing will not retain recovered data longer than necessary for delivery, verification, complaint handling or compliance with a legal obligation (Article 14.8). We apply thirty days after delivery for this, so that you have time to check that everything is usable before the working copy disappears. If you want us to delete it sooner, say so and we will do it right away. After delivery, you are responsible for creating and maintaining a secure backup (Article 14.8), because those thirty days are a checking window and not a backup.

3.7 Secure deletion

Working copies and recovered data are erased in a way that makes retrieval by ordinary means impossible, and the working storage used is then put back into service for the next assignment. Paper job sheets carrying an access code are shredded. We do not wipe a device you leave with us on our own initiative, not even if you take a long time to collect it: 4Fixing will not sell, recycle, erase or dispose of an unclaimed Device merely because a collection period has expired. Any such action will occur only after repeated reasonable contact attempts, a final written notice, expiry of a reasonable final period and compliance with applicable law (Article 16.5).

3.8 Who can reach the contents of devices

Only the technicians working on your device, and the owner of 4Fixing. We are a small business, so that circle is small and stays small. Each party will protect non-public technical, commercial, financial and personal information received in connection with the Agreement and use it only for the agreed purpose (Article 25.1). Everyone with access is bound by appropriate confidentiality and security duties (Article 25.3), and those obligations continue after the Agreement ends for as long as the information remains confidential or applicable law requires protection (Article 25.4).

3.9 If we come across unlawful material

We do not go looking for it. If, while carrying out the assignment, we do come across material that appears to be unlawful, suspected unlawful material may be handled as required by applicable law (Article 13.7). 4Fixing may refuse or suspend work where it reasonably suspects missing authority, fraud, unlawful content, infringement of intellectual-property rights, misuse of personal data, a security threat or another unlawful or materially unsafe instruction (Article 5.4). We do not report to an authority as a matter of routine, and we do not take that decision lightly. Nothing prevents lawful reporting to an authority, regulator, court or professional adviser (Article 25.5).

3.10 If something goes wrong with the data on your device

If something goes wrong on our side and personal data on your device falls into the wrong hands, is lost or is unintentionally altered, we will inform you without undue delay. Each party must notify the other without undue delay of a personal-data incident relevant to the other party's obligations and cooperate with lawful investigation, mitigation and notification duties (Article 24.7). So that duty runs in both directions.

We record the incident internally, assess whether it has to be reported to the Dutch Data Protection Authority and make that report within seventy-two hours where it does. If the incident is likely to result in a high risk to you, we will also tell you directly, in plain language and with what you can do yourself.

3.11 Business customers and the processor role

Where a Business Customer's device or system holds personal data about that customer's own clients, staff or contacts, we do not process it for ourselves but for that customer. Where 4Fixing processes personal data solely on a Business Customer's documented instructions, including through hosting, maintenance or technical support, the parties will enter into a data-processing agreement meeting Article 28 GDPR before that processing begins (Article 24.4).

That data-processing agreement will address the subject matter, duration, purposes, personal-data categories, data subjects, confidentiality, security, subprocessors, assistance, incident notification, return or deletion and audit information (Article 24.5). Where a third party acts as a subprocessor, the applicable data-processing agreement and GDPR requirements apply (Article 26.6).

We hold a standard template for this. Ask for it at info@4fixing.com and you will receive it before you hand the device over. A non-disclosure agreement is also possible, separately or alongside the data-processing agreement. Where contractual documents conflict, a signed data-processing agreement takes priority for personal-data processing (Article 3.3).

If you are a Consumer, none of this applies: we are simply the controller for the limited contact and repair file, and the data on your device stays yours. You do confirm that you own the Device and the data supplied to 4Fixing or have adequate authority from the owner to instruct the work (Article 5.1). That matters because a device often also holds data about other people, such as photos of family or messages from friends.

4. Our processing activities, one by one

Below, for each activity, is what data we process, what for, on what legal basis, who receives it and how long we keep it. All the retention periods are also collected in chapter 7.

4.1 Contact requests through the form on the website

• Data: name, email address, phone number if you fill it in, device type, model, your description of the fault, the language of the page and the time of sending.
• Purpose: answering your request and assessing whether we can help you.
• Legal basis: steps taken at your request before entering into a contract, or performance of that contract. If you write on behalf of a company, the basis is our legitimate interest in answering business enquiries.
• Recipients: Netsons, as the provider of the hosting and the mail environment.
• Retention: six months if no assignment follows, otherwise the request becomes part of the repair file.

Sending the form is an enquiry and not a repair order. An enquiry does not oblige 4Fixing to accept the assignment or reserve parts, capacity or a delivery date (Articles 4.1 and 4.2). An Agreement is formed only when you accept a Quote, Repair Confirmation or Statement of Work, give another clear written authorisation to proceed, or expressly ask 4Fixing to begin the agreed work (Article 4.3).

4.2 Repair enquiries by email, telephone or at the counter

• Data: name, contact details, and what you tell us about the device and the fault.
• Purpose: the same assessment, through a different channel.
• Legal basis: steps taken at your request before entering into a contract, or our legitimate interest in business enquiries.
• Recipients: Netsons for the mail environment. If you call, we process only what we note down ourselves, because we do not record calls.
• Retention: six months without an assignment, otherwise part of the repair file.

4.3 Quotes

• Data: name and contact details, device and model, description of the work, price or price basis, assumptions and timing.
• Purpose: giving you a written proposal stating the expected scope, assumptions, price or price basis, timing and specific conditions of the proposed work (Article 2.7).
• Legal basis: steps taken at your request before entering into a contract.
• Recipients: Netsons for sending it, and our accounting firm where the quote leads to an invoice.
• Retention: twelve months for a declined or expired quote, five years where an assignment follows.

4.4 Administration of accepted repair orders

• Data: the Device, its identifying details, visible condition, supplied accessories, the reported fault and your relevant instructions (Article 10.1), plus the approved work, the agreed amount or spending limit and the quality of the part used.
• Purpose: carrying out the assignment, and being able to show what was agreed and what was done.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, and our legitimate interest in holding evidence for a later claim.
• Recipients: none, except where chapter 5 says otherwise.
• Retention: five years after completion.

4.5 Communication during the repair

• Data: contact details and the content of messages about progress, part availability, hidden damage and fresh approvals.
• Purpose: keeping you informed, and requesting new approval where hidden damage or a materially different fault is discovered (Article 11.2).
• Legal basis: performance of the contract.
• Recipients: Netsons for the mail environment, and Meta where you choose WhatsApp yourself.
• Retention: part of the repair file, so five years after completion.

4.6 Invoices and statutory accounting

• Data: name, address where it belongs on the invoice, company details and VAT number for business customers, invoice lines, amounts and payment status.
• Purpose: invoicing and keeping the records the law requires us to keep.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, and compliance with a legal obligation.
• Recipients: our accounting firm, and the Dutch tax authority where the law requires it.
• Retention: seven years, the statutory tax retention period.

4.7 Device diagnosis

• Data: the technical condition of the device, error messages, measurements, and whatever becomes visible on screen during testing.
• Purpose: performing the technical procedures reasonably necessary to identify the fault, which may include opening the Device, disassembly, electrical testing, software diagnostics, component testing, charging tests and limited access to system functions (Article 10.3).
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, after you have approved the diagnosis.
• Recipients: none.
• Retention: the outcome goes into the repair file, temporary diagnostic files disappear at the latest seven days after the device leaves the workshop.

4.8 Serial numbers and device identifiers

• Data: serial number, IMEI or a comparable identifier, model and configuration.
• Purpose: matching the right device to the right file, ordering the right part, and being able to establish afterwards which device we worked on.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, and our legitimate interest in records that add up.
• Recipients: parts suppliers, and then only the model or the part number and not your name.
• Retention: five years, as part of the repair file.

4.9 Access codes and credentials for testing

• Data: the access code or temporary credentials you give us.
• Purpose: being able to test the device past the lock screen where the fault cannot otherwise be checked.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, limited to what the work needs (Article 13.3).
• Recipients: none. A code never goes to a third party and is not kept in our email.
• Retention: deleted once the work is finished and the device is back with you, at the latest seven days afterwards.

4.10 Incidental access to device content

• Data: whatever becomes visible during testing, such as a file name, a notification, or a photo in a gallery that opens to check the camera.
• Purpose: establishing whether the repair succeeded.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, within the limits of Articles 13.2 and 24.6.
• Recipients: none.
• Retention: none of this is recorded, unless it is directly needed for the repair file.

4.11 Data recovery

• Data: all data on the storage medium concerned, so potentially documents, photos, videos, email, contacts, project files, system data and backup files.
• Purpose: extracting data, making it technically readable, validating it to the agreed extent and delivering it to you (Article 14.2).
• Legal basis: performance of the contract. Where third-party data is present, that happens on your instruction and on your confirmation that you are authorised to give it (Article 5.1), and for business customers under the data-processing agreement described in section 3.11.
• Recipients: none. We do not outsource Data Recovery without informing you (Article 26.1).
• Retention: see the next section.

Data Recovery is a best-efforts technical service, and no preliminary statement about recoverability constitutes a guarantee (Article 14.1). Unless separately agreed, 4Fixing verifies readable transfer samples or agreed categories, not the substantive accuracy of every file (Article 14.6). That last point is also a privacy choice, because it means we do not open your files one by one.

4.12 Recovered files and temporary working copies

• Data: the copy of your data that comes into being during recovery.
• Purpose: delivery to you, and a short window in which you can check that it is usable.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, and our legitimate interest in a checking window so that a failed delivery can still be put right.
• Recipients: none.
• Retention: at the latest thirty days after delivery, sooner where you ask, and securely erased afterwards.

4.13 Warranty records

• Data: what work was carried out, which part was used, the date, and the term of the Commercial Warranty.
• Purpose: being able to assess a warranty claim. What the warranty covers is on our warranty page.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, and our legitimate interest in holding evidence.
• Recipients: the supplier of the part where we make a claim on it ourselves, without your name where possible.
• Retention: five years after the work is completed.

4.14 Complaint files

• Data: the Agreement, Device or project concerned, your description of the issue, the relevant dates, the requested solution and the supporting information reasonably available to you (Article 30.2).
• Purpose: investigating the complaint, and acknowledging it or responding substantively within 14 days (Article 30.4). The procedure is on our complaints page.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, and our legitimate interest in being able to defend ourselves.
• Recipients: our legal adviser and our insurer, only where a specific file calls for it.
• Retention: five years after closure.

4.15 Digital services enquiries and projects

• Data: contact details, company details, the requirements you describe, and the access a project needs.
• Purpose: preparing and carrying out an assignment for Digital Services, such as website design, domain administration, hosting, business email or maintenance (Article 2.6).
• Legal basis: performance of the contract.
• Recipients: domain registrars, hosting providers, email providers, content-delivery networks, analytics services, advertising services, certificate authorities, plugin providers and software platforms, to the extent the service depends on them (Article 26.2).
• Retention: the duration of the assignment, then as set by the data-processing agreement, and for the invoicing the statutory tax retention period.

We do not currently offer this service through the website, as there is no digital services enquiry form online. Articles 18 to 23 of the General Terms and Conditions do still apply to an assignment we agree separately.

4.16 Hosting and maintenance customers

• Data: the personal data held in that customer's system, plus the administrative data the maintenance needs.
• Purpose: delivering the agreed hosting, maintenance or technical support.
• Legal basis: here we are the processor and not the controller. We act on the customer's documented instructions, under a data-processing agreement meeting Article 28 GDPR (Article 24.4).
• Recipients: the subprocessors named in that data-processing agreement (Article 26.6).
• Retention: whatever the data-processing agreement sets, including return or deletion at the end (Article 24.5).

4.17 Website security and server logs

• Data: IP address, browser data, requested page, time and error messages in the ordinary web server log files.
• Purpose: keeping the website secure, stable and technically working, and countering misuse of the form.
• Legal basis: our legitimate interest, set out in chapter 8.
• Recipients: Netsons, as the operator of the server on which those log files arise.
• Retention: according to the criteria confirmed by Netsons: for as long as necessary to perform the hosting contract or comply with a legal obligation, after which the logs are deleted automatically. Netsons does not apply a fixed maximum period. Web and mail server logs can be requested through a formal procedure for up to 180 days; this is an availability window, not a guaranteed deletion period. See chapter 6.

The counter that protects the form against overload does not store your IP address. It keeps an irreversible cryptographic fingerprint of it plus a timestamp, and disregards anything older than ten minutes. That fingerprint is enough to recognise a repeat submission and too little to identify anyone with.

4.18 Recording your cookie choice

• Data: locally: which categories you allowed or refused, timestamps, the version of the cookie policy, the version and language of the banner, the control used, the previous choice and, after consent, a random proof number. Centrally we record only consents and later changes or withdrawals, with the same facts and our server time.
• Purpose: acting on your choice, and being able to provide verifiable evidence of positive consent.
• Legal basis: compliance with our legal duty to be able to demonstrate consent. No consent is needed for the storage itself, because that storage is strictly necessary in order to honour your choice.
• Recipients: 4Fixing and Netsons as our hosting processor. The central evidence contains no name, email address, IP address, user agent or form data. An initial refusal stays only in your browser.
• Retention: the choice in your browser for twelve months, and removed sooner if you clear the storage or the cookie policy changes version. The central evidence chain is removed 14 months after consent expires or is withdrawn, so at most approximately 26 months after the latest positive choice if it remains active for the full twelve months. After deletion, a copy may remain in the hosting provider's rolling backup for up to 31 days.

4.19 Website statistics through Google Analytics

• Data: data about your visit and an identifier assigned by Google. Besides pages viewed and duration we measure scrolling, outbound clicks, site search, video engagement, downloads and form interactions. Google collects metadata about location at city level and detailed device data alongside this.
• Purpose: understanding which pages are used, so that we can improve the site.
• Legal basis: your consent. Without consent the measurement code is not loaded.
• Recipients: Google.
• Retention: 14 months for event and user data, after which Google deletes it. The period starts again on new activity from the same visitor.

4.20 The map on the home page and the contact page, Google Maps

• Data: your IP address and browser data, which Google receives at the moment the map loads.
• Purpose: showing where our workshop is.
• Legal basis: your consent for external content. If you do not give it, the map stays an empty panel with a button and nothing goes to Google.
• Recipients: Google.
• Retention: determined by Google, since we do not receive this data ourselves.

4.21 WhatsApp

• Data: your telephone number, your profile name and the content of the conversation.
• Purpose: answering your question through the channel you chose yourself.
• Legal basis: steps taken at your request before entering into a contract, or performance of that contract. A WhatsApp message is an enquiry unless 4Fixing expressly confirms otherwise (Article 4.1).
• Recipients: Meta, which provides WhatsApp and processes the message traffic under its own terms.
• Retention: we delete the conversation at the latest six months after the last message, or sooner at your request. Where the conversation concerns an assignment in progress, the relevant part goes into the repair file.

The WhatsApp button on our site is an ordinary link. There is no Meta code on our pages and nothing goes to Meta as long as you do not click that button yourself. If you would rather keep Meta out of it, use email or the telephone.

4.22 Managing our email

• Data: everything arriving in and leaving our mailbox, attachments included.
• Purpose: conducting our correspondence and being able to find it again.
• Legal basis: performance of the contract, compliance with a legal obligation as far as records are concerned, and our legitimate interest in a workable archive.
• Recipients: Netsons as the provider of the mail environment.
• Retention: correspondence with no administrative value is cleared within two years, the rest follows the period of the file it belongs to.

5. Who we disclose data to

We do not sell personal data and we do not use it for third-party advertising. These are the parties that can receive data from us.

• Netsons, the provider of the hosting for this website and of our business email. Netsons processes personal data on our instructions in doing so. Chapter 6 sets out who supplies the hosting and where your data sits.
• Our accounting firm, for the bookkeeping and the tax returns. It receives invoicing data, not your repair file and never the contents of your device.
• Our legal and tax advisers, only where a specific file calls for it. The contractual text of this site was prepared by Pavan Geraedts Practice in an independent legal and GRC advisory capacity. That party is not a party to an Agreement between 4Fixing and a Customer and assumes no operational obligation under that Agreement (Article 1.4).
• Our insurer, where we report a loss connected with your assignment.
• Parts suppliers, for orders and warranty claims. They get the model or the part number, and your name only where there is no way around it.
• Google, for the website statistics and for the map on the contact page, and only after you have given consent for it. For part of the statistics data Google is not a processor acting for us but an independent controller, see chapter 6.
• Meta, where you choose WhatsApp as your contact channel.
• Competent authorities, such as the police, the tax authority, the Dutch Data Protection Authority or a court, where we are legally required to. Nothing prevents lawful reporting to an authority, regulator, court or professional adviser (Article 25.5).

6. Hosting, email and transfers outside the EEA

This website and our business email run in the Netsons hosting environment, which processes personal data on our instructions in doing so.

We asked the provider for these details in writing and received an answer on 23 August 2026. This is what was confirmed:

• the hosting is supplied under contract by Netsons S.r.l., established at Via Tirino 99, 65129 Pescara, Italy;
• the website and the mailboxes on this plan sit in a data centre in Milan, at Via Caldera 21;
• the backups sit in the same infrastructure in Milan and are kept for 31 days before they are overwritten;
• the only subprocessor for this plan is the operator of that data centre, also in Italy;
• remote support is provided from Italy, including the support that can reach the hosted data;
• a data-processing agreement applies to our contract and forms an integral part of it, together with a document on the technical and organisational security measures.

So everything to do with the hosting stays in Italy, and Italy lies within the European Economic Area. For the hosting and the email there is therefore no transfer to a country outside the EEA. We base that on the provider's written answer and not on the IP address the server responds from, which says nothing binding about it.

For the parties outside our hosting environment, the following applies. With Google, the Google Ads Data Processing Terms apply to our Analytics account, accepted on 15 August 2018. That account also has the option switched on to share data with Google to improve Google's products and services. For that shared portion Google acts as an independent controller under separate terms, likewise accepted on 15 August 2018, and not as a processor acting for us. Google states that it does not use that data for its own ad personalisation or ad targeting. Google and Meta may process data outside the European Economic Area, under the safeguards they describe for it in their own terms. Both only come into play after you choose them yourself, by giving consent or by clicking the WhatsApp button. Beyond that we disclose nothing to parties outside the European Economic Area.

7. How long we keep data

We keep data by category, not with one period for everything. Device data and credentials sit deliberately at the short end, invoices at the long end, because the law requires it.

• Unanswered or closed enquiries with no assignment: six months.
• Declined or expired quotes: twelve months.
• Accepted repair orders and repair confirmations: five years after completion, so that a claim or dispute can still be handled for as long as it can arise under Dutch law.
• Invoices and tax records: seven years, the statutory retention period.
• Warranty records: five years after the work is completed.
• Complaint files: five years after closure.
• Recovered data: at the latest thirty days after delivery, sooner at your request.
• Temporary diagnostic files: deleted once the device leaves the workshop, at the latest seven days afterwards.
• Access codes and credentials: deleted once the work is finished and the device is back with you, at the latest seven days afterwards, and never stored in the customer file.
• Server logs: these arise on Netsons servers in Italy. Netsons retains them for as long as necessary to perform the hosting contract or comply with a legal obligation and then deletes them automatically; it does not apply a fixed maximum period. Web and mail server logs can be requested through a formal procedure for up to 180 days. This is an availability window, not a guaranteed deletion period. The counter against form abuse disregards anything older than ten minutes.
• Record of your cookie choice: in your own browser for twelve months, and sooner if you clear it or if the cookie policy changes version. Central evidence of consent and later changes or withdrawals: 14 months after expiry or withdrawal, at most approximately 26 months after the latest positive choice; then up to 31 more days in the hosting provider's rolling backup.
• Digital services projects: the duration of the assignment, then as set by the data-processing agreement.
• Backup copies of the hosting environment: 31 days, after which they are overwritten. They sit in the data centre in Milan, see chapter 6.
• WhatsApp conversations: at the latest six months after the last message, sooner at your request. Where the conversation concerns an assignment in progress, the relevant part follows the repair file.
• Data held by Google: for the website statistics, 14 months, with the period restarting on new activity from the same visitor. For the map, determined by Google, since we do not receive that data ourselves.
• Email with no administrative value: two years.

Where a complaint, a warranty claim or a dispute is running, we keep the file concerned until it is resolved, even where the period above would expire sooner.

8. Legitimate interests and the balancing we apply

Where we rely on a legitimate interest, that comes with a balancing exercise against your interests and rights. These are the four cases, and the balance in each.

8.1 Keeping the website secure and available

Interest: preventing the form from being abused for spam or overload, and being able to trace faults. Necessity: without log files and without a counter, an attack cannot be told apart from ordinary traffic. Safeguards: the counter keeps an irreversible fingerprint of the IP address instead of the address itself, the window is ten minutes, no profile is built, and this data is never used for marketing. Balance: the intrusion is small and short-lived, while the interest affects every visitor, so that interest weighs more heavily here.

8.2 Answering business enquiries

Interest: replying to someone writing on behalf of a company, where the contract would be with that company and not with that individual. Necessity: without the contact person's name and email address there can be no reply. Safeguards: business contact details only, no enrichment from other sources, and the same short period as for other enquiries. Balance: you are expecting an answer to your own message, so this is not a surprise.

8.3 Keeping evidence for claims, warranty and disputes

Interest: being able to show what was agreed and what was done, and to defend ourselves. Necessity: a repair file without a history makes both your claim and our defence impossible to prove. Safeguards: the file holds the work and the device, not the contents of your files, and the period is five years rather than indefinite. Balance: this cuts both ways, because the same file also supports your warranty claim.

8.4 Keeping out abuse and unlawful instructions

Interest: not carrying out work that rests on missing authority, fraud or an unlawful instruction, as Article 5.4 permits. Necessity: that assessment can only be made on what we see and hear at intake. Safeguards: we do not actively search the contents of devices, and we record nothing about this unless there is cause to. Balance: it also protects the rightful owner of a device.

You can object to processing based on a legitimate interest. Chapter 10 explains how.

9. Which fields are mandatory, and what happens if you leave them blank

The contact form has four mandatory fields, plus one checkbox.

• Your name, so that we can address you and match the file.
• Your email address, because that is where we reply.
• The device type, because otherwise we cannot judge whether we repair it.
• Your description of the fault, because the whole assessment rests on it.
• The checkbox confirming you have read this privacy policy. A form should acknowledge that the Customer has read the privacy notice, and consent will be requested only where the relevant processing genuinely relies on consent (Article 24.8). So this checkbox is an acknowledgement and not a consent, because processing your enquiry rests not on consent but on your request itself.

If you leave one of those fields blank, the form is not sent and we receive nothing. There is no other consequence, because we keep no list of unfinished forms.

Your phone number is deliberately optional. We already have your email address, so making a second channel mandatory for every enquiry would ask for more data than the purpose needs. If you do fill it in, we use it only to call or message you about your enquiry.

Your device model is optional but helpful, because it often lets us say something about part availability straight away. Do not put passwords, payment details, health information or authentication codes in the free text field, because that field ends up in an ordinary email and that is not the right place for them.

10. Your rights

You have the following rights in relation to us.

• Access, a copy of the personal data we process about you.
• Rectification, having inaccurate data corrected and incomplete data completed.
• Erasure, to the extent we do not need the data for a live assignment, a dispute or a statutory retention duty.
• Restriction, pausing the processing, for example while your objection is being considered.
• Objection, to processing based on a legitimate interest, on grounds relating to your particular situation.
• Portability, receiving the data you provided to us yourself in a common format, to the extent the processing rests on consent or on a contract and is carried out by automated means.
• Withdrawing consent, at any time, and as easily as you gave it. For cookies that runs through the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page. Withdrawal works forwards and does not make the earlier processing unlawful.

Send your request to info@4fixing.com, or hand it in at our address. You do not have to explain why, except with an objection, because there your particular situation is precisely the ground.

10.1 The period within which you get an answer

We respond within one month of receiving your request. If your request is complex, or if we have several from you at once, we may extend that period by two months. We will tell you so within that first month, with the reason. This period is separate from the 14 days in Article 30.4, which apply to complaints about our services.

10.2 How we establish that it is you

We are not allowed to hand your data to someone else, so where there is doubt we first check who is asking. We do that as lightly as possible: usually by replying to the address already in the file, or by asking a question only you and we can answer, such as the invoice number or the fault you brought the device in for. You can also come by our address. We do not ask you to send a copy of your identity document.

10.3 Complaining about how we handle your data

Tell us first, so that we can put it right. You can also lodge a complaint at any time with the Dutch supervisory authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, at autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl. You have that right whether or not you came to us first. If your complaint is not about privacy but about the repair itself, our complaints procedure is the route.

11. No automated decision-making

We take no decisions about you based solely on automated processing that produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you. We build no profiles, we assess enquiries by hand, and we do not use your data to tailor prices to you.

12. How we secure data

Our workshop is locked and devices are not kept in the shop area. 4Fixing limits access to Devices, credentials, recovered data and project systems to personnel and service providers who need access and are bound by appropriate confidentiality and security duties (Article 25.3). Traffic to this website is encrypted, the form is protected against automated abuse, and recovered data sits on working storage that is erased after the agreed period. Complete certainty does not exist, so if you think you have found a weak spot in our site or our way of working, report it to us at info@4fixing.com.

13. Changes to this privacy policy

We update this policy when our way of working, our suppliers or the applicable rules change. The bottom of this page states which version you are reading and from when it applies. On a material change, for example a new recipient or a longer retention period, we raise the version number. This privacy policy carries its own version number, separate from that of the General Terms and Conditions, because it supplements those Terms without changing their contractual scope (Article 24.2). So a new version of this page does not amend your Agreement.

14. Contact

4Fixing
Witte de Withstraat 114H, 1057 ZG Amsterdam
Email: info@4fixing.com
Telephone: +31 6 86475803
Chamber of Commerce: 74516728
VAT: NL002464233B56

Privacy policy version 1.4, in force from 10 September 2026. This page supplements the General Terms and Conditions and does not change their scope (Article 24.2).