Privacy Policy
POPI Act - Miele Privacy
PRIVACY POLICY
1. Who we are:
Miele has been an independent family-owned company since its establishment in 1899 and is equally
committed to its owners, employees, customers, suppliers, the environment and society.
The company focus is on manufacturing household appliances for the kitchen, the laundry room and for
floorcare, as well as appliances for use in commercial operations and medical facilities (“Miele
Professional”). The strategic vision is to be the world’s most trusted and desirable premium brand.
Miele offers products to its customers that set the standards for durability, performance, ease of use,
energy efficiency, design and service. This corresponds to the guiding principle “Immer besser” which
the founders Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann printed on their first machines – and which characterises
Miele to this day.
The company focuses exclusively on the Miele brand and is consistent positioning in the premium
segment. Miele stands for long-term thinking and planning, continuity of values and goals, good
relationships with consumers, customers, and suppliers, as well as an employee-oriented corporate
and leadership culture.
2. The purpose of this notice
This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Miele (Pty) Ltd treats your personal information,
collected electronically when you use our digital platforms to apply online for certain products and
services, you contact us electronically or you register one of the services we offer on our digital
platforms. The purpose of this Notice is to inform Miele customers and suppliers about the type of
personal information the company collects, and the ways in which it is collected, share, protected, used
and stored.
We respect your privacy and your personal information, and for this reason we will take all reasonable
measures, in accordance with this Policy, to protect your personal information to keep it confidential,
even when you are no longer a customer or supplier.
We will maintain the confidentiality of your personal information and comply with the Protection of
Personal Information, Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) when processing your personal information.
We briefly outline the principles below:
• We will only collect, disclose, collate, process and store (use) your personal information with your
express consent, unless we are legally required to do so, and will only use such information for
the lawful purpose for which it is required.
We will disclose, in writing, the specific purpose for which we use, request and store your personal
information. We will also keep a record of that personal information and the specific purpose for which
we collect it.
By accepting the Privacy Policy, you agree to us collecting and processing your personal information
within Miele (Pty) Ltd.
Please note that this privacy policy covers both internal salaried individuals as well as consumers and
customers as such, parts of this policy are not applicable directly to you as an individual, consumer or
business.
3. Information disclosure
3.1 What is personal information?
Personal information refers to any information that identifies you or specifically relates to you. Personal
information includes, but is not limited to, the following information about you:
• Your marital status (like married, single, divorced), your national origin, your age, your language,
birth, education;
• Your financial information, which may include your financial history (like your income or your
buying, investing, and banking behavior based on, amongst others, account transactions).
• Your identifying number (like an account number, identity number or passport number);
• Your email address, location information, physical address (like residential address, work address
or your physical location), and telephone number (including your cellular number, home landline
or office work number);
• Your online identifiers such as social media profiles;
• Your biometric information (like fingerprints, signature or voice);
• Your race and gender;
• Your physical health, mental health, wellbeing, disability, religion, belief, conscience, culture;
• Your medical history (like your HIV/AIDS status and any medical history disclosed or obtained),
criminal history, employment history;
• Your personal views, preferences and opinions;
• Your confidential correspondence; and
• Another’s views or opinions about you and your name also constitute your personal information.
3.2 What is special personal information?
Special personal information is personal information about the following:
• Your religious and your philosophical beliefs (for example where you enter a competition, and
you are requested to express your philosophical view);
• Your race (for example where you apply for a product or service where the statistical information
must be recorded);
• Your ethnic origin;
• Your trade union membership;
• Your political beliefs;
• Your health (for example where you apply for an insurance policy or medical- or health-related
products);
• Your biometric information (for example to verify your identity); and
• Your criminal behavior and alleged commission of an offence (for example to prevent money
laundering as required by law or when you apply for employment or enter a relationship with us).
3.3 What type of personal information does Miele (Pty) Ltd collect?
Personal information collected by Miele (Pty) Ltd can include, but is not limited to, a data subject’s
name, contact, birth date, identity number, gender, employment details, marital, family, policy, bank
account, wearable device information, medical and health information.
When personal information is collected, Miele (Pty) Ltd will indicate the purpose for the collection and
whether the information required is compulsory or voluntary.
3.4 How does Miele (Pty) Ltd collect personal information?
The company collects information either directly from the data subject, the employer or through
financial services intermediaries. In certain instances, Miele (Pty) Ltd may collect information from third
parties and partners on its behalf across all channels. The source from which personal information was
obtained, if not directly from the data subject, will be disclosed.
3.5 When will we process your personal information?
We will only process your personal information for lawful purposes related to our business if the
following circumstances apply:
• You have consented thereto;
• A personal legally authorized by you, the law or a court, has consented thereto;
• It is necessary to conclude or perform under a contract we have with you;
• The law requires or permits it;
• It is required to protect or pursue your legitimate interest, ours or that of a third party; and
• You are a child, and a competent person (such as a parent or guardian) has consented thereto
on your behalf.
3.6 When will we process your special personal information?
We may process your special personal information under the following circumstances:
• If you have consented to the processing thereof;
• If the processing is needed to create, use or protect a right or obligation in law;
• If the processing is for statistical or research purposes;
• If the special personal information was made public by you;
• If the processing is required by law; and
• If racial information is processed and the processing is required to identify you.
3.7 Reasons for processing your personal information
We will process your personal information for any of the following reasons:
• Location information for the purposes of recording technicians’ journeys and for emergency
callouts where the features must voluntarily be activated as part of the service signed up for with
Miele (Pty) Ltd.
• To process payment instruments (such as a cheque) and payment instructions (such as a debit
order or a stop order deduction);
• To create, manufacture and print payment instruments (such as a cheque) and payment devices
(such as a debit card);
• To open, manage and maintain your accounts or membership, contracts, agreements or
relationship with us;
• To enable us to deliver goods, documents or notices to you;
• For security and identity verification, and to check the accuracy of your personal information.
• To communicate with you and carry out your instructions and requests;
• For customer satisfaction surveys, promotional and other competitions;
• To enable you to participate in and make use of value-added products and services; or
• For any other related purposes.
3.8 Processing the information of a child
Miele (Pty) Ltd takes the privacy of children very seriously. Children under the age of 18 years should
obtain their guardian’s consent before providing or submitting any personal information about
themselves on the Miele (Pty) Ltd website.
We will not require children under this age to provide any personal information other than which is
reasonably necessary to use the Miele (Pty) Ltd website.
If we determine that a user is under the age of 18, we will not use or maintain his or her personal
information without the guardian’s consent.
A child is a person who is defined as a child by a country’s legislation, and who has not been
recognized as an adult by the courts. We process the personal information of children if the law
permits this. We will only process the personal information of children if any one or more of the
following applies:
• A person with the ability to sign legal agreements has consented to the processing, as the parent
or guardian of the child;
• The child’s personal information was made public by the child, with the consent of a person who
can sign legal agreements;
• The processing is for statistical or research purposes and all legal conditions are met;
• Where the child is an heir in a will, if required to give effect to the will;
• Where the child is a beneficiary of a trust, if required to give effect to the trust deed;
• Where the child is legally old enough to open a bank account without assistance from their parent
or guardian; or
• Where the child is legally old enough to sign a document as a witness without assistance from
their parent or guardian.
3.9 Obtaining personal information about customers/suppliers
We collect information about you in the following ways:
• Directly from you;
• Based on your use of our products, services, or service channels (such as our websites and
applications);
• Based on how you engage or interact with us, such as on social media, and through emails,
letters, telephone calls, and surveys;
• From public sources (such as newspapers); and
• From third parties for the purposes of conducting our business (such as partners, providers and
online partners, or our service providers).
If the law requires us to do so, we will ask for your consent before collecting personal information about
you from third parties. The third parties from whom we may collect your personal information include,
but are not limited to, the following:
• Members of the Miele (Pty) Ltd group, any connected companies, subsidiary companies, its
associates, cessionaries, delegates, assignees, affiliates or successors in title and appoint third
parties (such as its authorised agents, partners, contractors and suppliers) for any of the purposes
identified in this Privacy Policy.
• Your spouse, dependants, partners, employer, joint applicant or account holder and other similar
sources;
• People you have authorised to share your personal information with, such as a person that makes
a travel booking on your behalf.
• Attorneys, tracing agents, debt collectors and other persons that assist with the enforcement of
agreements;
• Payment processing service providers, merchants, banks and other persons that assist with the
processing of your payment instructions;
• Insurers, brokers, other financial institutions or other organisations;
• Law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies, and other persons tasked with the prevention
and prosecution of crime;
• Regulatory authorities, industry ombudsmen, government departments, and local and
international tax authorities;
• Credit bureau;
• Trustees, executors or curators appointed by a court of law;
• Cheque verification service providers;
• Our service providers, agents and sub-contractors such as couriers and other persons we use to
offer and provide products and services to you;
• Courts of law or tribunals;
• Participating partners, whether retail or online;
• Our joint venture partners;
• Marketing list providers; and
• Digital data transformation or aggregation services which you have authorised to collect activity,
health or other digital data streams and share with us.
3.10 Processing information about persons related to a juristic person
If you are a juristic person, such as a company or close corporation, we may collect and use personal
information related to the juristic person’s directors, officers, employees, beneficial owners, partners,
shareholders, members, authorised signatories, representatives, agents, payers, payees, customers,
guarantors, spouses of guarantors, sureties, spouses of sureties, other security providers and other
persons related to the juristic person.
If you provide the personal information of a related person to us, you warrant that the related person is
aware that you are sharing their personal information with us, and that the related person has
consented thereto.
We will process the personal information of related persons as stated in this Privacy Policy, thus
references to ‘you’ or ‘your’ in this Privacy Policy will include related persons with the necessary
amendments.
3.11 Direct marketing
If you consent, Miele (Pty) Ltd may use your personal or other information to tell you about products,
services and special offers from the company or other subsidiaries of Miele (Pty) Ltd.
We will use your personal information to market Miele (Pty) Ltd related products and services to you.
• We will do this in person, by post, by telephone, or electronic channels such as SMS, email and
other digital channels.
• In all cases, you can tell us to stop sending marketing communications to you at any time.
We also use so-called marketing cookies from third parties for the purpose of retargeting/remarketing and the placement of personalised online advertisements.
These also enable cross-device tracking in some cases. The marketing cookies we use include those from Google and Qualtrics.
4. Use of location services
We use location services for specific products and services through our websites and applications. The
location services will only be switched on with the prior consent of the user. The use of location
services is set out in the purpose of collection of data.
Miele (Pty) Ltd collects and processes location information for the purpose of technician journeys and
emergency call outs. These features are voluntarily activated as part of the products signed up for with
Miele (Pty) Ltd.
5. Confidentiality and security
5.1 Routine precautions
Miele (Pty) Ltd has physical, technological and procedural security safeguards in place and will use its
best endeavour to protect your personal information.
Personal information refers to information that identifies or relates specifically to you, which for example
include:
• Your name
• Age
• Gender
• Identity number
• Your employment details
• Your income
• Payment records
• Your contact details
• Your marital status
• Family information
• Bank account information
• Medical or health information
Any information about what you buy, where you shop, where you bank, how you invest, your health
behaviour, your purchasing transactions and all related information will also be regarded as personal
information.
In short, any information that we know about you will be regarded as your personal information.
6. Your personal information
6.1 Security personal information
Miele (Pty) Ltd will take all reasonable technical and organizational precautions to prevent the loss,
misuse or alteration of your personal information. The company will store all the personal information
in secured environments, for example on secured servers in a protected data centre.
6.2 How you can review and correct your personal information
You can request to review your personal information contained in Miele’s records at any time to correct
or update the information. If the purpose for which your personal information was requested initially
does not exist anymore, for example you no longer have a contract with us, you may request
information held by the company to be removed. However, Miele can decline your request to delete
the information from its records if other legislation requires the continued retention thereof or if it has
been de-identified.
6.3 Managing data privacy at Miele Board level and reporting frequency
The Miele Board is accountable to address and manage the risk of data privacy and cyber security.
The Miele Board follows the board cycle and convenes on a quarterly basis. The Miele Chief Risk
Officer is the business representative for data privacy, data security and cyber security. The Miele
Board and Chief Risk Officer provide guidance and input regarding appropriate risk management.
6.4 Employee training on cyber security and data privacy
Employee training on cyber security and data privacy forms part of ongoing compliance training. Cyber
security training is currently further required as a basic compliance training that all employees must
complete. As part of the POPIA management programme, there is specific focus on training
awareness as well as communication, that will cover data privacy, data security and more detailed
cyber security training as mandatory compliance training for all staff. The POPIA management
programme is actively managed at Miele Group level with participation of all business entities and
subsidiaries of Miele.
6.5 Centralised cyber security and data security functions and coordination
To deal with cyber security and data privacy, two separate centralized functions exist within Miele. The
IT security environment includes the management of cyber security as a capability and the data
management environment deals with the aspects of data privacy and extended data security and
privacy, which is enabled through IT security.
6.6 How we use cookies
Miele uses and stores cookies, pixels, and other technologies (collectively, cookies) to recognise your
browser or device and provide you with essential features and services, and for additional purposes,
including:
• Recognising you when you sign-in to use our services. This allows us to provide you with product
recommendations, display personalized content, and recognizes you as a registered member;
• Conducting research and diagnostics to improve Miele’s content, products, and services;
• Preventing fraudulent activity;
• Improving security; and
• Reporting. This allows us to measure and analyse the performance of our services.
You can manage browser cookies through your browser settings. The “Help” feature on most browsers
will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify
you when you receive a new cookie, how to block cookies, and when cookies will expire.
7. Changes to privacy policy
7.1 Perusing amendments to the policy and our right to amend this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right, in our sole discretion to amend (including without limitation, by the addition of new
terms and conditions) this Privacy Policy from time to time. You agree to review the Privacy Policy
whenever you visit our website for any such amendments. Save as expressly provided to the contrary
in this Privacy Policy, the amended version of the Privacy Policy shall supersede and replace all
previous versions thereof.
7.2 Which laws apply?
This Privacy Policy will be governed by and construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of
South Africa. To the extent that a court has jurisdiction over any dispute which may arise out of or in
connection with this Privacy Policy, we both submit to the jurisdiction of the South African courts.
8. Questions regarding Miele’s Privacy Policy
If you have any questions about this notice or Miele’s treatment of your personal information, send an
email to info@miele.com.
Digital Miele Assistant
The Digital Miele Assistant is a so-called chatbot provided by our technical service provider, e-bot7 GmbH, Perusastraße 7, 80333 Munich. The Digital Miele Assistant will assist you in the search for information on and purchase of Miele Service Packages, such as the Miele Service Certificate, Coffee Care or Exclusive Care Packages. You can simply enter your questions in the chat window. The Digital Miele Assistant will then provide you with answers. If you would like to request a Miele Service Certificate, the Digital Miele Assistant will send you a link to the appropriate web form.
The Digital Miele Assistant does not answer any contract-specific customer requests. If you have any such enquiries, please contact our customer service (https://www.miele.co.za/domestic/data-protection-46.htm#p4479). Personal details are neither required nor requested in order to use the Digital Miele Assistant. At the most, information about the respective appliance type is collected but not appliance identification, e.g. via a serial number, which is necessary for the Digital Miele Assistant.
We process your data to deal with your concerns and to control and improve our business and service processes, including the Digital Miele Assistant, which is our legitimate interest. The legal basis for the processing is Art. (6)(1)(f) GDPR. If you purchase a Miele Service Certificate or another Miele Service Package, the legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR. E-bot7 GmbH acts as a processor on our behalf and acts upon our instructions.
The questions you ask the Digital Miele Assistant, as well as the usage data, i.e. chat duration, time stamp of the messages, number of dialogues and approximate location of the users, are stored for a maximum of 90 days. After that, your questions will be deleted irrevocably. In addition, the usage data are stored anonymously for statistical purposes. Personal data are not evaluated.
Qualtrics
On our website, we use the services of Qualtrics LLC, 333 W. River Park Drive, Provo UT 84604, USA for customer-, product-, and brandsurveys in order to regularly improve our products and services. When you are taking a survey, only log data (date and timestamp / information to your browser and browser settings / information to your device / usage date) will be processed. You are free to decide whether you like to participate on a survey. If you do not want to participate, you can just close the survey pop-up. The legal basis for the data processing is your consent, Art. 6 I lit. a) GDPR. You can revoke your consent with effect for the future at any time.
In the context of the use of Qualtrics services, we also use Qualtrics cookies, mainly to help keep track of survey sessions or to maintain survey sessions. Please find more information to our use of Qualtrics cookies in our cookie notice. For more information about Qualtrics LLC and use of personal data by Qualtrics please visit https://www.qualtrics.com/privacy-statement/.
