Privacy notice

1. Who we are

Linesteward is an AI phone receptionist for businesses. It is run by Adria Technologies Limited, trading as Linesteward, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 17543235, registered office 66 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NA.

2. Our two roles

• Calls to a business: the business you called (our customer) is the controller. It decides why and how your details are used. Adria Technologies Limited is its processor: we handle the call for it and only on its instructions, under a Data Processing Agreement.
• Posting a job on Linesteward for Trades: when you post a job for trades (at /trades), Adria Technologies Limited is the controller of the job and your contact details (section 5).
• Our own customers and visitors: for the account, contact and billing details of the businesses that use our service, for visitors to our website, for people who use our chat helper, and for calls to our own demo lines, we are the controller.

3. If you called a business

When you call a business that uses our service, an AI receptionist may answer. It tells you at the start of every call that it is an AI, as the EU AI Act (Article 50) asks, and businesses cannot switch this off. The call is transcribed so the business gets your details right (the audio itself is not kept); if you ask, the receptionist tells you so.

What happens on the call

• Your voice is streamed live to turn speech into text, and the AI's reply is turned back into speech. We do not store a recording of the call audio.
• We store a written transcript of the call, a short summary, your phone number (if your phone shows it), the time, length and outcome of the call, and the number it was forwarded from, if any.
• If you leave a message, we store your name, phone number, what you said, and an address or call-back time if you gave one. The message may be texted to the business.
• If you make a booking, we store your name, phone number, the service, the time and any notes. We may text you a confirmation of your booking. If the business uses a booking system, the booking is also sent there.
• If you ask to speak to someone, the call may be put through to the business's own phone.

Tell the AI only what is needed for your request. Some callers mention health details (for example to a clinic); the business is responsible for having a lawful reason to use them.

Your choices

The business decides how your details are used and how long they are kept, within the limits in section 9. To see, correct or delete your details, please contact the business you called. If you contact us instead, we will pass your request to the business and help it answer. We can delete one caller's transcripts, messages and bookings for a business when it asks us to.

4. If your business uses the service

We do not sell your data. We do not use your callers' calls or transcripts to train AI models, and our providers may not use them to train their models. We only send you service emails; any marketing email would follow PECR and you could stop it at any time.

If you are one of our partners (you share a link to Linesteward for Trades): we keep your name, email address, your deal and what you earned and were paid each week, to sign you in with an emailed code and to pay you (contract), and our payment records as the law requires.

If we emailed your business

We sometimes email a company or LLP about Linesteward: a first email and at most two short follow-ups. We use the business's name, its contact address and where it is published (the business's own website, or its Google business listing), the business's industry and town, and its company number from Companies House (to check it is an active company). Our lawful basis is legitimate interests: telling businesses about a service for their work. We email businesses only, never the public, and never by automated calls or texts. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe; after it we keep only a one-way code (a SHA-256 hash) of the address, so we never email it again. We also keep that code for each address we have emailed, so it never gets the same email twice. You can object at any time by unsubscribing or writing to support@linesteward.com.

If your company is newly registered. We read the public Companies House register for new companies in a trade (building, plumbing, electrical work, cleaning, gardening and similar). From it we keep the company's name, number, status, type of business, registration date and registered office address, and the names and roles of its active officers (nothing else about them: no birth date, nationality or home address). To find the company's own website and business email we search Google Maps for its name and town, read its website's home, contact and about pages (we obey robots.txt), look up when the website's domain was registered (the public domain registry), and ask our AI provider to compare what we found with the register; it sees only that evidence, including the officers' names. A person at Linesteward approves the companies we email: one by one after reading what we found, or, for the closest matches (rated 80 out of 100 or more by our checks), all such matches at once. Of the email addresses on a website we keep only the one we chose and general ones such as info@, not staff members' addresses. We use a director's first name only to greet a company that has exactly one director. If we find no website, we may write to the registered office by post instead. We delete a company we never contacted 6 months after we found it, and one we contacted 12 months after our last email. The lawful basis is the same: legitimate interests, which we have weighed against officers' interests (the names are already public on the register for dealing with the company, and we use them for nothing else).

5. Posting a job, or listing as a trade (Linesteward for Trades)

Linesteward for Trades (at /trades) lets homeowners anywhere in the UK post a job for free, or ask one listed trade for a quote, and lets trades contact them. For this, Adria Technologies Limited is the controller of the job, the quote request and the homeowner's details: we decide how they are used, as set out here.

If you post a job

• Who gets your details. Trades who do the work and cover your postcode district see the job first, without your name, phone, email or address. A trade that chooses to take your job (it pays with credits) then gets your name, phone and email and the job's address. Never more than 3 trades. Each trade that takes your job becomes a controller of your details itself, for contacting you about this job; our terms allow it to use them for this job only, and never to sell them or add them to a marketing list.
• Please don't put your name, phone number or address in the job description: trades see the description before they take the job.
• Withdrawing consent. Use the link in our email to close your job (no more trades get it) or to delete it and your details at once. Trades that already took the job keep what they were given, for this job only; you can ask them to delete it.
• If you ask one trade for a quote (on its page): what you write, your budget range, when, your postcode, name, phone number and email go to that trade only, once you type the code we send you, and to no other trade. It costs the trade nothing. The trade becomes a controller of your details itself, for replying to your request; our terms allow it to use them for this request only, and never to sell them or add them to a marketing list. We keep the request 12 months, then delete it; to have it deleted sooner, email us. Lawful basis: your consent (the box you tick, which names the trade).
• Where a postcode is. To work out distances, our server sends the postcode alone (nothing else about you) to postcodes.io, an open-data postcode lookup.
• We don't check trades yet: their qualifications, insurance or registrations. Look them up yourself, for example on the Gas Safe Register for gas work.
• If you fill in our form on Facebook or Instagram (a Meta instant form): Meta sends us what you entered (the trade, the job, when, your budget range, your postcode, your name, email and phone). We email you a link where you check the job and add its address; nothing goes to any trade until you confirm. If you don't, we send one reminder after 2 days, the link stops working 2 days later, and we delete your details 90 days after you sent the form at the latest. Lawful basis: your request (the form), and once you confirm, your consent (the box you tick).

If you list your business as a trade

• Your public listing (the name you trade under, your logo if you add one, the trades you do, the postcode districts you cover, a short description and the phone number you choose to show) is published on our trades pages while your account is on a paid plan and you choose to be listed. The postcode you give as your base is used only to work out distances and is never shown; distances are shown in whole miles only. Your logo is stored as we remake it (256 by 256 pixels, without any photo data from the file you uploaded).
• Quote requests and new-job emails go to your account's sign-in email. We never show it on your listing.
• Your credits (what you were given, bought, spent and had back), the jobs and Job line calls you took, and any lead or review you reported, are kept to run and bill the service. Lawful basis: contract.
• Your rating is worked out from the published reviews of jobs you took through us.
• If you fill in our form for trades on Facebook or Instagram (a Meta instant form): Meta sends us your trade, the area you cover, the name of your business, your name, email and phone. We email you once, with a link to finish your free profile, filled in with them. If you don't use it, we delete them 90 days after you sent the form at the latest. Lawful basis: legitimate interests (answering your request).

If you call our Job line

The Job line is one phone number for any job. Adria Technologies Limited is the controller of what you tell us on it. Our AI assistant answers and always says at the start that it is an AI. It also says whether the call is recorded.

• Who gets your details. Before anything is shared, the assistant asks: "Your name, number and address go to up to 3 local trades who take this job, for this job only. Is that OK?" Only a clear yes goes on. Then at most 3 trades get your first name, number and the job's address: the ones who take your call (they press 1 to talk to you) or the one whose price you pick. A trade asked for a price gets the job, its area and your budget only. If you post the job instead, the rules for posted jobs above apply.
• Calls to trades. We call only trades who switched the Job line on. While we look for up to 3 of them, our AI assistant may describe your job to more local trades who do the work: what the job is, your budget and its postcode district only, never your name, number, address or full postcode (we take numbers, emails, postcodes and the address out of the description). Your number goes only to a trade who takes the job or whom you pick.
• Talking to trades. When you are put through, the recording (if the call is recorded) stops first: your talk with the trades is not recorded or transcribed by us.
• Texts. We text you only about a job you asked about: the code, prices, the trade's number, and once whether you would like to post the job: when no trade was found, when you picked none, or a day after the prices if you haven't picked one. Reply STOP to stop all texts and call backs from us.
• Your account. Your mobile number is your homeowner account with us. Sign in at /trades/sign-in with a texted code to see your jobs and prices, or to delete them and your details at once.
• Calling again. If you call again from the same mobile, the assistant may ask whether the job is at the same address as last time. It says that address only after checking your mobile with a code. The address is kept with your job and deleted with it (12 months, or sooner when you delete it).
• Trades who join by phone. If you are a trade and join on the Job line, we take your trade, area, the name you trade under and your mobile, and text you a link to sign up and pay. The link works for 30 days.
• Trades who start signing up with their mobile. If you check your mobile on our sign-up page but do not finish, we may send you one text, about 15 minutes later (never between 9pm and 8am), with a link to finish. It is about the sign-up you started, it is sent once only, and texting STOP stops it. The link works once, for 7 days. We keep a record that it was sent so it is never sent again.
• Who helps us. Our phone network provider carries the call and the texts, a speech-to-text provider turns your speech into text, an AI language model reads the transcript to answer you, and a text-to-speech provider turns the reply into speech (section 10).

6. Our website, app and demos

• Our pages load their font (Manrope) from our own server, not from Google Fonts or another font service.
• If you try the demo receptionist in your browser, your voice is handled as on a phone call. The demo call's transcript is stored like any other call, for our demo business. There is no phone number with it. A booking you make on a demo is deleted about 24 hours after you make it, or sooner when the demo diary is busy. To keep the demo fair, we also keep a scrambled code made from your IP address (not the address itself) for 2 days, to count demo calls.
• If you use Scan my website, we read up to 6 public pages of the website you give (never anything behind a sign-in), look for the booking system they link to, and send the pages' text to our AI provider in the US to pick out the business type and questions the site answers. We do not store the address, the pages or the report, and do not write the address to our logs. To limit scans, we keep your IP address (and its network, the first part of an IPv6 address) in our server's memory for up to 24 hours. It is not written to the database. If you then start set-up, only the web address goes with you, in the link to the app.
• If you ring one of our demo lines (the phone numbers we publish so you can hear the receptionist), the call is handled like any call to a business we serve, for our demo business: the AI says it is an AI, the call is transcribed, and your number is kept with the call log. We are the controller for these calls. Transcripts and numbers on demo calls are kept for 7 days, messages you leave for 30 days, and bookings for about 24 hours after you make them (less when the demo diary is busy). To keep the demo fair, we also keep a scrambled code made from your number (not the number itself) for 2 days, to count demo calls. Demo calls never send you a text and never put you through to anyone.

7. The chat helper

Our website and app have a chat helper (the "Ask a question" button) that answers questions about Linesteward: how it works, plans and set-up. It is an AI, not a person, and it can make mistakes. We are the controller for it.

• What it processes: the messages you type in the chat, and the page you are on. If you are signed in, it also uses a few set-up facts about your account: your plan, your plan status, your phone line's status, whether you use a new number or your own, and your next set-up step. It never gets names, phone numbers, email addresses or account ids.
• Who sees it: your messages, with the rest of that chat, are sent to our AI provider in the US to write the replies. We do not use chat messages to train AI models.
• How long: we do not store chat messages on our servers and do not write them to our logs. Your browser keeps the conversation until you close the tab, and sends it with each question. Our AI provider may keep a short-term copy under its own terms.
• Limits: to stop abuse and keep costs fair, we keep your IP address (and your user id when you are signed in) in our server's memory for up to 24 hours to count messages. It is not written to the database.
• Please do not type card numbers, passwords, sign-in codes or your callers' personal details into the chat. A message that looks like a card number, password, sign-in code or key is not sent on: you get a reminder instead. For anything about your bill or a caller, email us.

8. Cookies

We use strictly necessary cookies, and advertising cookies (Meta and Google) and our Trustpilot reviews box only if you agree. We use no analytics cookies.

Strictly necessary

Advertising: the Meta pixel (only with your consent)

We advertise Linesteward to businesses on Facebook and Instagram. To see which ads bring us customers, our website and app can use the Meta pixel, from Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (Merrion Road, Dublin 4, Ireland). It loads only after you press "Accept" on our cookie banner. Before that, and if you press "Reject", nothing is sent to Meta.

• What it sends to Meta: that a page was viewed (and which industry page), and when you sign up with a new account, set up your first business, start paying for a plan, finish paying (the plan's monthly price in pounds) or start a demo call. With these, Meta also gets your IP address, your browser type, the page address and its own cookie or Facebook ID. We never send your name, email address or phone number, and we switch off Meta's automatic reading of buttons and forms.
• Who decides: we and Meta are joint controllers for collecting and sending this data; Meta is the controller for what it does with it afterwards, under its own privacy policy. Meta may transfer it to the US (Meta Platforms, Inc.), under the UK–US Data Bridge and Meta's own safeguards.
• Our lawful basis: your consent (PECR and UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)).
• Cookies: _fbp (set by the pixel on our site, to recognise your browser across visits: 90 days) and, if you came from a Meta ad, _fbc (which ad you clicked: 90 days). Meta may also read its own cookies on facebook.com if you are logged in there.
• Changing your mind: you can withdraw consent at any time, as easily as you gave it: choose "Cookie settings" at the bottom of any page (in the app: on the sign-in page, or in Settings under Account), then press "Reject". We then delete the _fbp and _fbc cookies and stop the pixel. You can also clear cookies in your browser.

Advertising: the Google Ads tag

We also advertise Linesteward on Google. To see which ads bring us customers, our website and app use the Google Ads tag, from Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland), in Google's "Consent Mode".

• Before you choose, or if you press "Reject": the tag loads, but it sets no cookies and reads none. It sends Google only cookieless signals: that a page was viewed, with your IP address, your browser type and the page address (with ad click identifiers removed). Google uses these to model ad results without identifying you.
• After you press "Accept": the tag may set its cookies and, when you set up a free trade profile or start paying for a plan (the plan's monthly price in pounds), tells Google so that we can count which ads worked. We never send your name, email address or phone number.
• Cookies (only after "Accept"): _gcl_au (to link ad clicks to sign-ups: 90 days) and, if you came from a Google ad, _gcl_aw (which ad you clicked: 90 days). Google may also use its own cookies on google.com and doubleclick.net.
• Who decides: Google is the controller for what it does with this data, under its own privacy policy. Google may transfer it to the US (Google LLC), under the UK–US Data Bridge and Google's own safeguards.
• Changing your mind: choose "Cookie settings", then "Reject": we tell the tag consent is withdrawn and delete the _gcl cookies.

Our Trustpilot reviews box (only with your consent)

Some of our public pages have a box to review us on Trustpilot, from Trustpilot A/S (Pilestræde 58, 1112 Copenhagen K, Denmark). Trustpilot's script loads only after you press "Accept" on our cookie banner. Before that, and if you press "Reject", the box is a plain link to our Trustpilot page and nothing is sent to Trustpilot until you click it.

• What it sends to Trustpilot: once loaded, your browser fetches the box from widget.trustpilot.com, so Trustpilot gets your IP address, your browser type and the page address, and may set or read its own cookies or browser storage. We send it nothing else.
• Who decides: Trustpilot is the controller for what it does with this data and for reviews you write there, under its own privacy policy.
• Our lawful basis: your consent (PECR and UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)). Choose "Cookie settings", then "Reject", to stop it loading.

For security, we keep your IP address with each sign-in code you ask for, and your IP address and browser type (user agent) with each sign-in session. Sign-in codes are deleted after 1 day, and sessions at most 7 days after they end. Your browser also keeps two things for this site that are not cookies: a small note in local storage that you have finished the set-up steps in the dashboard, which stays on your device; and the chat helper conversation in session storage, which is deleted when you close the tab and is sent to us with each question you ask (section 7).

9. What we keep, and for how long

Each business can change these times in its settings. A job deletes old data every night.

Our providers may keep their own short-term copies under their terms.

10. Who helps us (sub-processors)

We use a small number of trusted providers to run the service. Each one gets only what it needs to do its job, under a written data protection contract.

Business customers can have the names of our sub-processors on request at support@linesteward.com. We give the list under our Data Processing Agreement.

If a business connects its own booking system or calendar (for example Cal.com or Cliniko), bookings go to that system for the business, under the business's own agreement with it.

We will tell businesses before we add or change a sub-processor.

Trustpilot A/S (Denmark, EU), which sends our review invitations (sections 4 and 5) and runs our reviews box (section 8), is not a sub-processor: it is a separate controller for its own reviews and invitations.

11. Data sent outside the UK

• Our servers and database are in the EU (Germany), which is covered by the UK's adequacy rules for the EU.
• Some providers are in the US, and our EU hosting providers have US parent companies. For them we use the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), and the UK–US Data Bridge where the provider is certified. See the table in section 10.
• For business customers in the EU we use the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
• If you accept the advertising cookie, Meta Platforms Ireland receives the data in section 8 and may send it to Meta Platforms, Inc. in the US (UK–US Data Bridge).
• Google Ireland receives the Google Ads tag's data in section 8 (cookieless signals before you choose; more after "Accept") and may send it to Google LLC in the US (UK–US Data Bridge).

12. Security

• Data is sent over encrypted connections (TLS).
• Each business can only see its own data: the database checks this on every request.
• Keys and links for connected booking systems are stored encrypted.
• Access to our systems is limited to the people who run the service.
• Old data is deleted by a nightly job, as in section 9.

13. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask to see your data, to correct it, to delete it, to limit or object to how it is used, and to get a copy to take elsewhere. Some rights depend on the reason we use the data.

• Callers: please ask the business you called first (see section 3). We will help it.
• Business customers, chat users and website visitors: email us. We answer within one month.
• Homeowners who posted a job: use the link in our email to see or delete your job at once, or email us. Who asked a trade for a quote: email us and we delete your request.

14. Complaints

Please tell us first, and we will try to put it right. You can also complain to the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or call 0303 123 1113.

15. Contact and changes

Email support@linesteward.com. Post: Adria Technologies Limited, 66 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NA.

We will update this notice when things change, and tell business customers about important changes by email.