Who we are
The Best Massage is a trading name of MSSM LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16094513), whose registered office is at 41 High Street, Orpington, England, BR6 0JE.
We are the "data controller" for the information described here, which means we are responsible for how it is used. You can reach us at hello@thebestmassage.co.uk.
Using this website
This site sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and loads nothing from advertising or tracking companies. Reading it leaves no record with us.
Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs — the kind every web server keeps — which include IP addresses and are held briefly for security and reliability. We do not use them to identify visitors.
Messaging us on WhatsApp
This is the part worth reading properly, because it is where most information reaches us.
An assistant answers first
Messages sent to our WhatsApp number are normally answered by an automated assistant rather than a person. It can answer questions about treatments, prices and opening hours, and point you at our booking page. It cannot make bookings itself.
When something needs a human — a complaint, a question about your health, or if you simply ask for us — the assistant stops and passes the conversation to us personally. It will tell you it is doing so.
What we receive
- Your phone number and your WhatsApp display name
- Everything you write to us, and when you sent it
- Any photos, voice notes or other files you send
How it is used
To write a reply, the text of your messages is sent to an artificial intelligence provider that generates the response. That provider processes your message on our instructions and does not use it to train their systems. Photos and voice notes are not sent to them — the assistant cannot read those, which is why it will ask us to look instead.
Your conversation is stored so that we can read it, reply to it ourselves, and keep an accurate record of what was discussed and agreed. When a conversation needs our attention we receive a notification containing your name or number and a short extract of what you wrote.
If you would rather not message an assistant, email us at hello@thebestmassage.co.uk or call, and you will reach us directly. You are never obliged to use WhatsApp.
WhatsApp itself
WhatsApp is provided by Meta, and your use of it is also covered by their own privacy policy. Messages are encrypted in transit between you and us, but Meta processes information about the fact that you messaged a business.
Sensitive information
Some of what you tell us may count as special category data under UK data protection law — for example anything about your health, an injury, or the nature of the treatment you are asking about.
We only use that information to answer you and to provide the treatment safely. We rely on your explicit consent, which you give by choosing to tell us, and you can withdraw it at any time by asking us to delete your messages.
Please only tell us what we actually need to know. There is no need to send photographs unless we have specifically asked for one.
Booking and payment
Bookings are taken through Square, which handles your name, contact details and appointment times on our behalf. If you pay online, Square processes the payment — we never see or store your card details at any point. Square's own privacy notice is at squareup.com/gb/en/legal/general/privacy.
Who else sees your information
We do not sell your information and we never share it for advertising. It is handled by a small number of service providers who work on our instructions:
- Meta (WhatsApp) — delivers the messages
- Our artificial intelligence provider — generates the assistant's replies from the text you send
- Our hosting provider — stores the conversation
- Telegram — delivers the alert telling us a conversation needs us. It is not told who you are or what you said.
- Square — handles appointments and payments
Where your information is held
Your conversations are stored on servers in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. That is outside the UK but inside the European Economic Area, which the UK recognises as offering equivalent protection, so your information is covered by the same standards it would be at home.
Two things do travel further. The artificial intelligence that writes the assistant's replies, and the service that sends us alerts, are both based in the United States. Only what you actually write is sent to the AI provider. The alert deliberately carries neither your name, your number, nor anything you wrote — just the fact that a conversation needs attention. Both operate under contracts containing the safeguards UK data protection law requires for transfers of this kind.
How long we keep it
Conversations and any files you send are deleted automatically six months after the last message. Nothing is kept beyond that unless we have a specific reason to — for example an unresolved complaint — and we will tell you if that applies.
Appointment records held by our booking provider are kept for as long as that provider and our accounting obligations require.
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- Give you a copy of what we hold about you
- Correct anything that is wrong
- Delete everything we hold about you
- Stop using your information in a particular way, or object to it
Just ask — by message or email — and we will do it. There is no charge, and we will respond within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would rather you told us first so we can put it right.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle your information we will update this page and change the date at the top.
Getting in touch about privacy
Email hello@thebestmassage.co.uk and mark it for the attention of the owner. If you want your messages deleted, saying so is enough — you do not need to give a reason.