Privacy Policy

01Data Controller

Anser is a trading name of TheABOOD Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales.

London, United Kingdom

TheABOOD Ltd is the data controller responsible for your personal data, except where we handle calls on behalf of a business, as explained below. For any question about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, contact us at contact@helloanser.com.

02Information We Collect

We collect personal data in these ways:

• Information you give us. Your name, email address, phone number, business details and anything else you provide when you become a customer, set up your receptionist, ask for a demo or contact us.
• Calls. When you call a number answered by Anser, or ask us to call you, we collect your phone number, the date, time and length of the call, a recording and a written transcript of the call, and the details you give during it, such as your name, your address and the reason for your call. Calls are recorded, and you are told so at the start of the call.
• Technical information. When you use our website or app, we and our hosting providers automatically collect limited technical information, such as your IP address, browser type, device type and log data.
• Connected calendars. See Connected Calendars and Google Data below.
• Information from others. A business may give us details of its staff and customers, and a caller may give us details of someone else.

You do not have to give us information, but we may not be able to help you without it.

03How We Use Information

We use personal data to:

• provide, maintain and improve the Services, including answering calls with our AI receptionist, taking messages and bookings, and sending call summaries to the business that was called;
• set up and manage accounts, verify identity and keep the Services secure;
• communicate with you about your account, your enquiries and changes to the Services;
• meet our legal obligations.

Our legal bases are: performing our contract with our customers; our legitimate interests in answering and recording calls to our own lines, responding to enquiries, and running, securing and improving the Services; compliance with the law; and your consent, where we ask for it. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object at any time. We do not sell personal data.

04Calls Handled on Behalf of Businesses

When a business uses Anser to answer its phone, we handle its callers’ information on that business’s behalf. The business is the data controller and we act as its data processor. We use call information only to provide the Services, such as answering the call, booking appointments and giving the business a record and summary of the call. Apart from the business itself, it is shared only with the service providers needed to deliver the Services, or where the law requires it. It is never sold and never used for advertising. If you called a business that uses Anser, you can raise any question or request about your data with that business, or email us and we will pass it on.

05Connected Calendars and Google Data

Connecting a calendar, such as Google Calendar, is optional and is done by the business owner. When you connect one, we receive the connected account’s basic details, such as its name and email address, and access to your list of calendars, your free and busy times and your calendar events. We use this only to see when you are free and busy, and to add, change or cancel the appointments your receptionist books for you. We store the account’s email address and the connection details that keep the link working, protected by the security measures described in this policy. Your Google data is handled only by us and by the service providers that run the booking feature for us, apart from the cases listed below.

Our commitments on Google data:

• We do not sell your Google data to anyone.
• We do not use your Google data for advertising, and we do not use it to target ads at you anywhere else.
• We do not use your Google data to train any AI or machine learning model.
• We only share your Google data where Google’s Limited Use requirements allow it: to provide the booking feature you asked for, where you have told us to, where the law requires it, or for security.

Anser’s use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We do not use data obtained through Google Workspace APIs to develop, improve or train generalised AI or machine learning models. If we ever want to use your Google data in a new way, or pass it to a new owner of Anser, we will ask for your consent first.

You can disconnect your calendar at any time in your Anser settings. Our access then ends and we delete the connection details we hold. Appointments already in your calendar stay there.

06Sharing of Information

We share personal data only with:

• the business you called, where we answered the call on its behalf;
• service providers that help us run the Services, such as providers of telephony, voice and AI processing, cloud hosting, email, calendar connections and payments, and only as far as they need it to do that work;
• regulators, courts or law enforcement, where the law requires it or where it is needed to protect our rights or the safety of others;
• a successor organisation, if Anser is merged, sold or restructured, under the same protections as this policy.

07International Data Transfers

Some of our service providers are located outside the United Kingdom, so personal data is processed outside the UK. Where a country is not covered by UK adequacy regulations, we rely on contractual clauses approved under UK data protection law. Email contact@helloanser.com for more information or a copy of these safeguards.

08Data Storage and Security

We keep personal data only for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this policy, or for as long as the law requires. Call recordings and transcripts are deleted automatically after a limited period. The record of who called a business, with the details they gave, is kept for longer as part of that business’s customer records. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse and unauthorised access. No system is completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security. If you would like to know how long a particular type of data is kept, email contact@helloanser.com.

09Cookies

Our app uses a small number of cookies: one keeps you signed in, one remembers your light or dark display preference, and a short-lived one secures a calendar connection. Our website uses cookie-free analytics to count visits. We do not use advertising cookies. If we ever add a cookie that needs your consent, we will ask first. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but parts of the Services may then stop working.

10Your Rights

Under UK data protection law, including the UK GDPR, you can:

• Ask for a copy of what is held about you.
• Ask for anything wrong to be corrected.
• Ask for it to be deleted.
• Ask for it to stop being used while a question about it is sorted out.
• Object to it being used.
• Ask for it to be sent to you, or to someone else, in a portable form.
• Withdraw permission, where you gave permission in the first place.
• Complain directly to whoever is responsible for it, and get an answer.
• Complain to the Information Commission (the ICO), whether or not you complained to anyone else first.

To use any of these rights, including deletion, email contact@helloanser.com and say what you want. You will get an answer within one month. We act on valid deletion requests unless the law requires or allows us to keep the data. If the information was handled on behalf of a business that uses Anser, we may pass your request to that business, because it is the data controller.

Complaints. If you are unhappy with how your data has been handled, tell us first: use the complaint form or email contact@helloanser.com. You have a right to complain to us directly and to get a proper answer. You can also complain to the Information Commission (the ICO), which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. You can go to the ICO without coming to us first.

11Children’s Privacy

Our Services are designed for businesses and are not directed at children. If you believe a child has given us personal data, email contact@helloanser.com and we will deal with it promptly.

12Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we post the new version on this page and change the “Last updated” date at the top. If a change significantly affects how we handle data we already hold, we tell our customers before it takes effect.