Privacy Policy
Last updated: 6 September 2026
BreakFee™ Ltd (“BreakFee”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. We are registered in Scotland, company number SC834536, at First Floor 4 Earls Court, Earls Gate Business Park, Grangemouth, Scotland, FK3 8ZE. You can reach us about anything in this policy at jason@breakfee.com.
WHO THIS POLICY IS FOR
This policy is for the people who hold a BreakFee account (freelancers, solopreneurs and side hustlers) and for other individuals whose information reaches us through the platform, including reviewers whose reviews we import and clients whom account holders contact through the review-request feature. A separate Information for Reviewers notice, covering how we handle reviewer and contacted-client information, is published on our website.
BreakFee does not verify the trade, professional or regulatory status of account holders. Account holders are responsible for ensuring that the information they publish on their profiles, including any description of their services, qualifications or trading status, is accurate and complies with applicable law.
INFORMATION YOU GIVE US DIRECTLY
Account details. Your full name and the email address you sign in with. If you set a password, we store it in hashed form and never in plain text.
Profile information. Your professional title, bio, profile photo, location, industry, skills, contact email, website URL, and links to your LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook accounts. You choose your profile URL slug when you create your account.
Content you submit for verification. When you submit a review manually, you send us either a link to where it appears or a screenshot. Screenshots often contain other people’s information, including client names, email addresses and message content. Section 4 explains how we treat that.
Support messages. Anything you send us through the contact form or by email, including your name, email address and whatever you tell us about your issue.
Marketing sign-ups. If you joined our waiting list or subscribed to our newsletter, we hold the email address you gave us and a record of what we sent you.
INFORMATION FROM ACCOUNTS YOU CONNECT
You can connect third-party accounts to BreakFee. Each connection is optional, you make it yourself through that provider’s own permission screen, and you can disconnect at any time from your settings.
Google Business Profile. If you connect it, we read the reviews on your business profile and store them on BreakFee. This includes the review text, star rating, the reviewer’s display name and profile image as Google provides them, and the date.
Facebook Pages. If you connect a Page you manage, we read the reviews and recommendations on it and store the same categories of information.
Gmail. If you use the review-request feature, you authorise BreakFee to send email on your behalf through your own Gmail account so the request arrives from your address rather than ours. We use this permission only to send the review requests you compose and trigger. We do not read your inbox, we do not store the contents of your mailbox, and we do not use this access for anything else.
When you connect a Google or Facebook account, you are authorising access through that provider’s application programming interface. That authorisation is a technical permission and is separate from the lawful bases on which we process the personal data we then receive, which are set out in section 6.
Content standards and moderation. You must not use BreakFee to submit, import or display content that is illegal, fraudulent, defamatory, harassing, or that infringes the rights of any third party. We reserve the right to review, remove or restrict access to any content or account that we reasonably consider to breach these standards or to pose a risk of harm, and to report illegal content to the relevant authorities. Where we take enforcement action against content or an account, we will notify the affected user with reasons and provide a route to request a review of the decision. Our content moderation practices are informed by a documented assessment of the risks associated with user-generated content on the platform, which we review periodically.
Our use of Google user data is limited. BreakFee’s use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We do not transfer this data to others except as necessary to provide or improve the features you have asked for, to comply with the law, or as part of a merger or acquisition. We do not use it for advertising, and we do not allow humans to read it except with your explicit consent, where required for security purposes, to comply with the law, or where the data has been aggregated and anonymised.
We maintain a documented assessment of the online-safety risks relevant to the platform, including risks relating to illegal content, user-generated content, and the potential for harm. We review this assessment periodically and update our moderation and safety measures accordingly. Records of online-safety risk assessments, moderation decisions, complaints, and compliance reviews are retained in accordance with our retention practices and applicable law.
Reviews and endorsements. BreakFee imports reviews only from the third-party sources you connect and from manual submissions you make. We do not create, edit or solicit reviews on your behalf. Where a review has been verified through our manual process, it is labelled as verified on your profile. Unverified reviews are labelled accordingly. We do not permit reviews that reflect a commercial arrangement, sponsorship or affiliation unless that relationship is clearly disclosed in the review text. If we identify a review as fabricated, purchased, traded or otherwise in breach of our terms, we may remove it or flag it without prior notice to the account holder.
INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE
Some of what BreakFee holds is personal information about people other than the account holder. We are the controller for this information because we decide how and why it is used on the platform, including for verification, fraud prevention, retention, public display and security. We are not acting merely as a processor on the account holder’s instructions.
Reviewers. Reviews imported from Google and Facebook include the reviewer’s name and, in some cases, their photo. These are already published on those platforms. We display them on your BreakFee profile in the same way. We explain our approach to reviewer information, and how a reviewer can object or ask for removal, in our Information for Reviewers notice.
Clients you email. When you send a review request, you give us the recipient’s name and email address so the message can be sent. We hold that information to send the request, to record delivery and whether a review was left, to send any reminders you configure, and to avoid sending duplicates. We do not add these people to our marketing lists and we do not contact them for our own purposes.
People appearing in screenshots. A screenshot of a client email contains that client’s information. Only submit content you have the right to submit, and redact anything confidential before you upload it. Our verification team sees these submissions only in order to check them. We may remove or refuse to display any content that we reasonably consider unlawful, and we reserve the right to report illegal content to the relevant authorities.
When you upload material about other people, you are responsible for having a lawful basis to share it with us and for giving those people any privacy information they are owed before you do. We will delete this material on your request.
HOW WE OBTAIN INFORMATION ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ACCOUNT HOLDERS
Where we collect personal data about reviewers, contacted clients or people appearing in screenshots, we obtain it indirectly rather than from those individuals themselves. Unless an exemption applies, we will make the required privacy information available to them within the timeframes set by data protection law, and will explain the source of the data, including where it was a publicly available source.
For imported reviews, we consider that individual notice to every reviewer may in some cases involve disproportionate effort. Where we rely on that exemption we document our assessment, and we make our Information for Reviewers notice prominent and, where practicable, link to it from each imported review. That notice identifies Google or Facebook as the source, explains our lawful basis, publication, retention, and the routes to object or seek removal.
HOW AND WHY WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
Under UK and EU data protection law we need a lawful basis for everything we do with personal information. Below we set out what we do, the personal data involved, where it comes from, and the basis we rely on.
We use your account and profile data, which you give us, to create and run your account, host your public profile, calculate your Reputation Score, and list you in the directory subject to your settings. Our basis is performance of our contract with you.
We use verification content, including any third-party data that appears in screenshots you send us, to check manual submissions by hand against the links and screenshots you provide. This is necessary to perform our contract with you, and it also serves our legitimate interest in keeping verification meaningful.
We use imported reviewer data, meaning a reviewer's name, image, review text, rating and date, to import and display reviews from a Google or Facebook account you connect. This data comes to us from Google or Facebook via your connection. Our basis is our legitimate interests in operating a reputation profile, displaying reviews in context and preventing fraud (see clause 6.12).
We use your Gmail authorisation, together with the recipient's name and email address and delivery and status data, to send review requests from your Gmail account to the recipients you supply. This relies on the authorisation you give us for Gmail access, alongside performance of our contract with you.
We use your account data to email you service messages, security notices and verification results. Our basis is our legitimate interest in keeping you informed about your own account, and, for certain security notices, a legal obligation.
Where you have subscribed, we use your email address and campaign records to send you marketing. Marketing consent is collected separately from account registration and is not a condition of using the service, and each marketing communication identifies BreakFee as the sender and includes a free, simple and effective way to opt out. Our basis is your consent, given freely, specifically, informed and unambiguously.
We use your support messages to answer support requests. Our basis is our legitimate interest in running a support function.
We use submitted content, usage data and account activity, drawn from you and from connected sources, to detect fabricated, purchased or traded reviews and other abuse. Our basis is our legitimate interest in protecting the credibility of the platform.
We use technical and usage data from you and your device to keep the service secure and working. Our basis is our legitimate interest in security and service maintenance.
We use account and transaction records to meet accounting, tax and other legal duties. Our basis is legal obligation.
Where we import reviews from a connected account, your consent at the provider's permission screen authorises that connection. It is not by itself our lawful basis for processing a reviewer's personal data, because the reviewer is a separate individual who has not given consent to us. Our basis for that processing is our legitimate interests, and we have carried out and documented a necessity and balancing assessment.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether our interest is outweighed by your rights. You can ask us for that assessment at jason@breakfee.com.
WHAT IS PUBLIC AND HOW YOU CONTROL IT
This part matters, so it is separate. When you create your account, we show you a clear disclosure explaining which fields are public before you complete them, and you can adjust the visibility of each field described below.
Your profile is public by default. Your name, professional title, bio, photo, location, industry, skills, contact email, website, social links, verified reviews and Reputation Score can appear at your public profile URL. Anyone with the link can see the fields you have left public, including people who do not have a BreakFee account, and search engines and AI crawlers can index the page.
Separate visibility controls. Your settings let you control, independently of one another, whether the following are shown: your public contact email; your exact location (you may instead show only your city or region, which is the default); your social links; each individual review; and your directory listing. Where technically feasible, you can also set a preference on search-engine and AI-crawler indexing of your profile.
Your directory listing. Your profile is listed in the public directory by default, and the directory toggle in your settings controls whether it appears there. Turning it off removes you from the directory, but your profile link keeps working for anyone you send it to directly, because that is the point of the link.
Your sign-in email is private unless you also enter it as your contact email, which is a separate, public field.
Removing something takes time to propagate. If you delete your profile or turn off your listing, third-party search engines may keep a cached copy for a while. We cannot control that, though we will not stand in the way of a removal request you make to them.
TECHNICAL AND USAGE INFORMATION
We collect standard technical information when you use BreakFee: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, actions taken in the app, and timestamps. We use it to keep the service running, diagnose faults, and understand which features get used.
We also use cookies and similar technologies. Non-essential cookies and similar tracking technologies are placed only with your prior consent, and you may refuse them as easily as you may accept them. Our Cookie Policy explains which cookies we use, what they do, and how to change your choices at any time.
WHO WE SHARE INFORMATION WITH
We do not sell your personal information and we do not share it with advertisers.
We use service providers who process information on our behalf under written contracts that include the terms required by UK data protection law (including obligations regarding processing only on our documented instructions, confidentiality, security measures, sub-processor controls, assistance with data-subject rights and regulatory obligations, deletion or return of data on termination, and audit support). These providers are Vercel and Neon for hosting and our database, Framer for our marketing website, Zendesk for support tickets, and Google and Meta for the account connections you choose to make. Where we and a third party jointly determine the purposes and means of processing, we enter into a joint-controller arrangement that allocates responsibilities transparently.
We may also disclose information where the law requires it, to enforce our terms, to investigate suspected fraudulent reviews, or in connection with a sale or reorganisation of the business. If ownership changes, we will tell you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
BreakFee is available worldwide and some of our providers operate outside the UK and the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Where information moves outside the UK or EEA, we rely on an adequacy decision where one applies, and otherwise on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, together with any additional safeguards needed.
You can ask us at any time which safeguard applies to a particular provider, and we will tell you.
HOW LONG WE KEEP THINGS
We keep your account and profile until you delete your account. Your imported reviews and verified submissions stay until you delete them individually or delete the account.
For other categories of information we keep the data only for as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it, using the shortest period that is operationally practical, and then delete or anonymise it. In particular:
unverified or rejected screenshots and other verification material are deleted once the verification decision has been made and any related query resolved;
client-recipient data for review requests is kept for as long as needed to send the request, record its outcome and prevent duplicates, and is then deleted;
support tickets are kept for as long as needed to handle the issue and any follow-up;
access tokens for connected accounts are kept until you disconnect, and are then deleted;
fraud and abuse investigation records, moderation decisions, and related complaints are kept for as long as needed to investigate and act on the matter and to meet any applicable recordkeeping obligations;
marketing subscription records are kept until you unsubscribe, after which we keep a suppression record so we do not email you again by mistake;
accounting records are kept for six years, because UK law requires it; and
backups are overwritten on a rolling cycle.
Deleting your account permanently removes your profile, your imported reviews and the content you submitted. Some records survive in backups for a short period before they are overwritten, and we keep anything the law requires us to keep.
YOUR RIGHTS
Under UK and EU data protection law you can ask us to give you a copy of the information we hold about you, correct anything inaccurate, delete your information, restrict or object to how we use it, or send your information to another provider in a portable format. You can withdraw consent you previously gave, including by disconnecting Google, Facebook or Gmail at any time. You can also tell us to stop sending you marketing, which you can do from any marketing email.
Two of these are built into the app. Download my data in your settings gives you a copy of your profile, your reviews and your connected accounts. Delete account in your settings removes everything permanently.
For anything else, email jason@breakfee.com. We respond within one month.
Cancellation and cooling-off. Where you enter into a distance or off-premises contract with us to which the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply, you have a statutory right to cancel that contract within 14 days of the day after the contract is made, without giving any reason. To exercise this right, you must inform us by a clear statement (for example by email to jason@breakfee.com) before the cancellation period expires. If you have requested that the supply of digital content or the performance of services begins during the cancellation period, you acknowledge that you will lose your right to cancel once the digital content has been fully provided, and that you may be required to pay an amount proportionate to the services already performed up to the point at which you notify us of cancellation. If no such request is made, the cancellation right runs for the full 14-day period. On valid cancellation we will reimburse any payment received from you without undue delay and in any event within 14 days of the day on which we are informed of your decision to cancel.
If you think we have handled your information badly, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. If you are in the EU, you can complain to your national supervisory authority. We would rather you came to us first so we can put it right.
Platform complaints, content and account decisions. If we remove, restrict or suspend any content on your profile or your account, we will notify you by email with the reasons for our decision. You may submit a complaint or request a review of any such decision by emailing jason@breakfee.com within 30 days of the notification. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and provide a final response within 30 days. If you remain dissatisfied after our final response, you may refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office or pursue any other remedy available to you at law.
AUTOMATED PROCESSING
The Reputation Score is calculated from your ratings and verification status. The main parameters that determine the score are the number of verified reviews, the average star rating across connected sources, and the proportion of reviews that have been verified. The public directory is ordered alphabetically by default; where a different default order is used, it is based on the Reputation Score. BreakFee does not accept payment in exchange for higher placement in the directory or in search results. On its current design the score does not produce a decision that has legal or similarly significant effects on any individual, and so it does not amount to solely automated decision-making of the kind that carries additional rights. If we change the score so that it affects access, ranking, eligibility or enforcement in a significant way, we will update this policy and put the appropriate safeguards in place.
WHERE WE OPERATE AND EU REACH
We refer in this policy to UK and EU data protection law. Whether the EU GDPR applies to a particular activity depends on our targeting of, and our users in, the EU. Where it applies and a representative is required, we will appoint one and identify them in this policy. At present we are not required to appoint an EU representative.
SECURITY
We encrypt information in transit and at rest, hash passwords, restrict internal access to the people who need it, and store access tokens for connected accounts in encrypted form. We maintain technical and organisational measures designed to ensure the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of our processing systems and services, including the ability to restore access to personal data in a timely manner following an incident. We regularly test, assess and evaluate the effectiveness of these measures. Our verification team works to a documented process and sees submissions only in order to check them.
No system is completely secure. We maintain documented incident-response procedures covering detection, investigation, containment and mitigation of personal data breaches. Where a breach involves data processed by a service provider on our behalf, that provider is contractually required to notify us without undue delay, cooperate with our investigation and assist with any remedial steps. If a personal data breach occurs, we will notify the Information Commissioner’s Office where the breach is likely to result in a risk to individuals, without undue delay and, where feasible, within 72 hours of becoming aware of it. Where a breach is likely to result in a high risk to individuals, we will also tell the affected people without undue delay.
AGE
BreakFee is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information about children. If you believe a child has given us information, tell us and we will delete it. We maintain proportionate age-assurance measures at registration and periodically review their effectiveness. If we identify that a user is under 18, we will promptly suspend the account and delete the associated personal data.
CHANGES
We will update this policy as the product changes. If a change materially affects your rights, we will email you at least 30 days before it takes effect, specifying the change and the reason for it. If you do not agree with the change, you may close your account at no cost before the change takes effect. The date at the top always shows the current version.
FEES, PAYMENT AND REFUNDS
BreakFee offers both free and paid features. The price of any paid plan or feature, including applicable taxes, is displayed before you commit to purchase. You will not be charged for any paid feature unless you have expressly selected it and confirmed the purchase.
Where a paid plan renews automatically, we will tell you the renewal price and frequency before you subscribe, and we will send you a reminder before each renewal. You may cancel auto-renewal at any time from your account settings, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
If a paid feature does not conform to its description or is not provided with reasonable care and skill, you may be entitled to a remedy under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including a repeat performance or, where appropriate, a price reduction. Nothing in this policy limits those statutory rights.
Where a refund is due, we will process it using the same payment method you used for the original transaction within 14 days of confirming the refund.
If you have a question about a charge or wish to dispute a payment, email jason@breakfee.com. We will acknowledge your query within five working days and aim to resolve it within 30 days. This does not affect any rights you may have under your payment provider's chargeback or dispute process.
SUBSCRIPTIONS, RENEWAL AND CANCELLATION
BreakFee offers a free plan and the Builder paid subscription. Builder pricing, VAT treatment, billing, automatic renewal, cancellation and refunds are governed by our Terms and Conditions and the information shown before you commit to payment. This Privacy Policy explains how we process personal information in connection with both free and paid use of BreakFee.
Subscription terms. Before you subscribe, we will tell you the subscription period (monthly or annual), the price, whether the subscription renews automatically, and the date of the first renewal.
Automatic renewal. Unless you cancel before the end of your current subscription period, your subscription will renew automatically for a further period of the same length at the then-current price. We will give you reasonable advance notice of any price increase before the renewal date, and you may cancel before the increase takes effect.
Renewal reminders. We will send you a reminder by email before each renewal, stating the renewal date, the price that will be charged, and how to cancel if you do not wish to renew.
How to cancel. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current subscription period, and you will retain access to paid features until that date. No refund is due for the unexpired portion of a subscription period in which you cancel, unless the law provides otherwise.
Cancellation after renewal. If your subscription renews and you did not receive the reminder described in clause 12.4, you may cancel within 14 days of the renewal date and receive a full refund of the renewal charge.
DURATION, CANCELLATION AND TERMINATION
Your BreakFee account runs on a continuous basis from the date you create it until either you or we terminate it. There is no minimum commitment period.
You may close your account at any time through the Delete account option in your settings, or by emailing jason@breakfee.com. Closure takes effect promptly and at no cost to you.
We may terminate or suspend your account if you breach our terms of use, if we are required to do so by law, or if we discontinue the service. Where reasonably practicable, we will give you at least 30 days’ prior notice by email before termination takes effect, unless the circumstances require immediate action.
On termination for any reason, you may use the Download my data feature before your account is removed. After deletion, we retain only the information described in section 5.
CONTACT
jason@breakfee.com, BreakFee™ Ltd, First Floor 4 Earls Court, Earls Gate Business Park, Grangemouth, Scotland, FK3 8ZE.
