Privacy, and who you're actually dealing with.

Plain version: I'm one person. I keep the least I can get away with, I don't sell anything to anyone, and I don't go through your files without asking you first.

Last updated 29 August 2026 — the booking page now collects an email address, so “what I collect” and “who else is involved” both changed.

Who I am

There's no shop and no counter. I work mobile and by post, which is why there's a service area above instead of a shopfront address. If you need a postal address for something formal, email me and I'll give you one.

Your device, and what's on it

This is the part most people actually worry about, so it goes first and I'll be direct about it.

The normal case

Most repairs don't need me to look at anything of yours. I boot the device, test the hardware, do the work, test it again. Your photos, messages, email and files are not interesting to me and I don't go looking through them.

When I do need access

Some jobs genuinely need more — checking a fix actually works, getting past a lock screen to test a screen or a charging port, or confirming something software-related. When that's the case I ask you first, every time, and I tell you what I need and why. If you'd rather not, say so; sometimes it means I can't fully verify the repair, and I'll tell you that too rather than pretending otherwise.

Data recovery and transfers

Recovering or moving your files is a service I offer, so on those jobs handling your data is the job. When you ask me to do that:

• I only touch what's needed to get your files back or moved across.
• Nothing is copied anywhere except the destination you asked for.
• Any working copy on my equipment is deleted once you've confirmed you have everything.
• Nothing goes to a cloud service unless you specifically ask for that.

Passcodes

If a repair needs your passcode, I'll ask for it, use it for that job, and it isn't written down or kept afterwards. You're always free to change it once the device is back with you — that's a sensible habit with any repairer, including me.

What I collect, and why

When you message me

Whatever you send: usually your name, your number, what's broken, and roughly where you are. I need it to quote the job, turn up at the right address, and get the device back to you. It stays in my phone and my email, the same way any tradesperson's job notes do.

When you book a repair on the site

This changed on 29 August 2026, when the booking page went live, and the old wording here said the opposite — so, plainly: the booking page does send me something.

Choosing your device and what's wrong with it happens entirely in your own browser and reaches nobody. Nothing is sent until you fill in the last step and press the booking button. At that point I receive:

• Your email address — required, because it's how I send your confirmation and reference.
• Your name, phone number and postcode — whichever of these you filled in. The postcode is required only for a mail-in (to get it back to you) or a visit (to work out whether you're inside the free call-out radius). It is never a full address.
• The device, the faults you picked, and any notes you wrote.

There are still no accounts, no logins and no payments on this site. The £20 deposit is taken in person or by a link I send you afterwards — no card details ever touch these pages.

When you just visit, or use the price guide

Browsing devices and prices sends nothing anywhere. It's all assembled in your own browser, and it only leaves it if you press a button — either the booking button above, or one that opens WhatsApp. If you close the tab instead, I never knew you were there.

Analytics

I use Umami to count visits and see which parts of the page people actually use. It's privacy-focused and deliberately chosen over Google Analytics:

• No cookies, so there's no cookie banner to click away.
• No cross-site tracking, no advertising profile, nothing sold on.
• It records aggregate things — page views, country, rough device type, which buttons get pressed. Not who you are.

I can't identify you from it, and I wouldn't be able to pick your visit out of it if you asked me to.

Who else is involved

Being straight about this: a small site still touches a few big companies.

• WhatsApp (Meta) — every enquiry route on this site opens WhatsApp, so your message and number go through Meta under their terms, exactly as any other WhatsApp chat does. If you'd rather not use it, email or phone me instead. Both work.
• Google Workspace — my email lives there, so anything you email me is stored there.
• Resend — when you book on the site, the booking is emailed to me and a confirmation is emailed to you. Resend is the service that sends those two emails, so your booking passes through them on the way. They process it on my instructions and for nothing else.
• Cloudflare — the site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages, and the small piece of code that receives your booking runs there too. Your booking is not stored in it: it is checked, turned into those two emails, and forgotten. There is no database behind this site.
• Google Fonts — the site loads four typefaces from Google, which means Google sees your IP address when the page loads. It's a normal way to load fonts, but it isn't nothing, and I'd rather say so than not.
• Umami Cloud — the analytics above.
• The host — the company serving these pages keeps short-lived technical logs, as every web host does.

I don't sell your information, I don't share it for advertising, and there's no mailing list to be added to.

How long I keep things

• Enquiries that go nowhere — deleted once it's clear nothing's happening, generally within a few months.
• Bookings made on the site — they arrive as an email and are kept exactly like any other enquiry: deleted if nothing comes of it, or kept as a job record if the repair goes ahead. Nothing is stored on the website itself.
• Job records (what the device was, what I did, what you paid) — kept about six years, because HMRC expects business records to be available that long.
• Warranty details — kept while the warranty runs, so I can honour it without you having to prove anything.
• Your files — not kept at all beyond the job, as above.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask me to:

• tell you what I hold about you, and give you a copy;
• correct anything wrong;
• delete it, where I'm not required to keep it for tax or warranty reasons;
• stop using it for something you object to.

Email rami@siliconbench.co.uk and ask. It's free, and I'll come back to you within a month. Realistically, for a one-person business, usually the same week.

If you think I've handled your information badly, please tell me first — I'd rather fix it. If that doesn't satisfy you, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK regulator, at ico.org.uk.

Keeping it safe

The practical version, because “takes security seriously” is a phrase, not a fact: this site takes no payments and stores nothing about you. It's served over HTTPS with a strict content policy, and the accounts holding your enquiries — phone, email, WhatsApp — are protected with two-factor authentication. Devices on the bench stay at my workspace, not in a van or a public place.

Changes

If this page changes materially I'll update the date at the top. For anything significant affecting work already booked, I'll tell you directly rather than expecting you to re-read a web page.