Privacy Policy
Information Collection
Registration and Service Professional Enrollment
In order to complete a service request or to enroll as a prospective service professional, a user must first complete a registration form. During registration a user is required to give contact information (such as name and email address). We use this information to contact the user about services on our site for which they have expressed interest, to inform service professionals of leads, and/or inform customers about service professionals they matched to. By providing this information to us, or by submitting a service request, you expressly consent to being contacted by us and by our service professionals and providers via phone, fax, email, mail or other reasonable means, at any of your contact numbers or addresses, in order that we may provide the services set forth on our Web site, service your account, reasonably address matters pertaining to your account or for other reasonable purposes related to our business. Unique identifiers (such as username and password) are required. It is optional for the user to provide demographic information (such as income level and gender) but encouraged so we can provide a more personalized experience on our Web site. We also require a US service professional's social security number or federal tax id number to complete a background check (credit is not checked), prior to a US service professional being approved to join our network.
Service Request
We request information from the consumer in our service request interview process. A user must provide detailed information about the service requested. No financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date) is collected from the consumer. This information is used to match consumers with appropriate service professionals. The information may also be used to contact the consumer to verify or clarify their service request or to customize the consumer's Web site experience or future ContactorUS communication.
Feedback, Ratings and Reviews and Testimonials
Additionally, we collect feedback from users (called ratings and reviews) about the performance of Service Professionals who work for them. We also collect general feedback and testimonials from users of our service and system. By providing such feedback to us, you consent to our use, publication and/or distribution of such feedback at no compensation to you, and if you are a Service Professional in our system, you acknowledge that all such ratings and reviews are solely owned by ContactorUS, and you consent to the publication of ratings and reviews about you and your business.
Information Use
Profile
We store information that we collect through the Web site experience and activities, cookies, log files, clear gifs, and/or third parties to create a profile of our users. A profile is stored information that we keep on individual users that detail their viewing preferences, activities and interactions with ContactorUS. Consequently, collected information is tied to the user's personally identifiable information to provide offers and improve the content of the site for the user. This profile is used to tailor a user's visit to our Web site and to direct pertinent marketing promotions and communications to them.
Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data tied to information about the user and stored on the user's computer. We use both session cookies, which terminate when a user closes his browser, and persistent cookies, which remain on the user's computer until manually deleted.
By setting a persistent cookie, we enable our users to not have to log in with a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our Web site. If users reject these cookies, they may still use our Web site. The only drawback to this is that the experience and/or access of a user may be limited in some areas of our Web site. For example, the user may not be able to participate in any of our sweepstakes, contests or monthly drawings that may take place. See the "Profile" section.
We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf and to monitor certain pages of our Web site for the purpose of reporting web traffic, statistics, advertisement 'click-throughs', and/or other activities on our site. These companies, which may include OPM Performance Marketing ("OPM"), a division of Overture Services, Inc. ("Overture") and Microsoft, Inc., may employ cookies and action tags (also known as single pixel gifs or web beacons) to measure advertising effectiveness. Any information that these third parties collect via cookies and action tags is completely anonymous. If you would like more information about this practice and your choices, click here.
Third Party Advertising
Some of our business partners may use cookies on our Web site (for example, advertisers). We have no access to or control over these cookies once our business partners have been given permission to set cookies. This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by ContactorUS only and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.
Log Files
Like most standard Web site servers we use log files. This includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the Web site, track user's movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.
Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs)
We employ and/or our third party advertisers employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs), that help us better manage content on our site and marketing campaigns by informing us what content and which campaigns are effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics, about the size of a period at the end of a sentence, with a unique identifier. Clear gifs are similar in function to cookies and are used to track the online movements of Web users.
Clear Gifs can "work with" existing cookies on a computer if they are both from the same Web site or advertising company. That means, for example, that if a person visited "www.companyX.com", which uses an advertising company's clear gif, the Web site or advertising company would match the clear gif's identifier and the advertising company's cookie ID number, to show the past online behavior for that computer. This collected information would then be given to the advertising company or Web site. To learn more about our advertising partners' use of clear gifs, please contact us at privacy@contactorus.com.
In addition, ContactorUS and its advertisers use clear gifs in HTML-based emails. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns by showing how may emails have been opened by the recipients. If users would like to opt-out of these emails, please see the Opt-out section.
Communications from ContactorUS and its Service professionals
Special Offers and Updates
We send all new members a welcoming email to verify password and username. Members will occasionally receive information on products, services, special deals, and a bi-monthly newsletter. Out of respect for the privacy of our users we present the option to not receive these types of communications. Please see the Choice and Opt-out sections.
Newsletter
If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletters, we ask for contact information such as name and email address. Out of respect for our users privacy we provide a way to opt-out of these communications. Please see the Choice and Opt-out sections.
Service Announcements
On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.
Leads Notifications and Trial Lead Notifications
If a user either signs up for our trial program or joins our service professional network, and elects to receive their leads via email, that user will receive multiple communications from us. Other ways we contact members of our service professional network are via fax, pager, outbound IVR (interactive voice response), and/or cell text (SMS) messaging. Members of our service professional network (or prospective members enrolled in Free Trial) can designate and opt-in on our Web site or by contacting customer service to receive leads in one or more of these formats.
Customer Service
We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to their account via email, fax, phone or mail, and we reply to user inquiries via email or phone, or other reasonable means, in accordance with the user's wishes where applicable.
Sharing Information to Provide Services and to Conduct Our Business
When you submit information to ContactorUS, you authorize us to share this information with our network of service professionals and partners in order to try to provide the services you request. For example, when an approved member of our service professional network accepts a lead from a registered user, and that user indicates what personal information they are willing to share so that the service professional can contact the user, such as telephone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses, that information is shared with our service professionals who have accepted a service request lead. In addition, we have other approved contractual partners that fulfill services requests, or that utilize their own service professionals to supplement our network, and we share your information with them, subject to contractual confidentiality restrictions, in order to attempt to provide the services requested. If using our services pursuant to a membership with one of our partners, ContactorUS may share your service request activity information with such partner in certain circumstances. We may also post and publish users’ ratings and reviews of Service Professionals' performance, as well as feedback and testimonials at our sole discretion. We may also release information to collection and/or credit agencies for past due service professional accounts.
Though we strive to preserve user privacy, due to the existing regulatory environment, we cannot ensure that all of your private communications and other personal information will always remain confidential. By way of example, we may disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a belief that such action is necessary or advisable to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, legal proceeding, process or investigation served on our business or Web site(s), or when we believe parties are misusing or attempting to misuse our Web sites or services, including but not limited to violating the law, committing fraud, deception, theft, attempting to harm or divert our business, engaging in threatening or inappropriate behavior or threatening to place, or placing themselves or others in danger. You should also be aware that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, may have the authority under certain circumstances to require us to share or transfer your information to third parties. Finally, although we strive to protect your privacy, third parties beyond our control may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications. Therefore, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or private communications will always remain private.
ContactorUS will not be responsible or otherwise liable for any use or disclosure of your personal information by a third party to whom ContactorUS is allowed to disclose you personal information under this privacy policy.
Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)
ContactorUS may share aggregated activity or statistical information with partners, advertisers or others, but such information shall not contain personally identifiable information.
Business Transitions
In the event ContactorUS goes through a business transition such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, users' personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. See also, section entitled "Changes and updates to this policy..." set forth below.
Links and Integrated Partnerships
This Web site contains links from and to other Web sites. Please be aware that ContactorUS is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other Web sites. We encourage our users to be aware of this when they leave our Web site and to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by ContactorUS’s Web site.
With some partners, ContactorUS receives information concerning the service requested by a consumer including personal or contact information that is inputted on a partner Web site. This information is sent from the partner to us either in a batched format, or via Internet technology such as XML, FTP or HTTP Post. This information may or may not be encrypted by the partner. With other partners, ContactorUS may provide information concerning a consumer's service request, including contact information to other partners to provide services.
Surveys & Contests
From time-to-time, ContactorUS may request information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and mailing address), and demographic information (such as zip code). Contact information will be shared with the contest or survey sponsors (if ContactorUS elects to utilize an outside promotions or survey company) to notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of our services and this Web site.
Tell-A-Friend
If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our Web site, we ask them for the friend's name and email address. ContactorUS will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit the Web site. ContactorUS stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program. The friend may contact ContactorUS at privacy@contactorus.com to request the removal of this information from our database.
Security
"Perfect security" does not exist on the Internet and we do not guarantee security of information or that unauthorized access will not occur. However, we take all reasonable precautions when protecting your personal information. Servers that store personally identifiable information are located in a supervised and/or locked facility. Users' personal information off line is restricted by our internal security procedures, and authorized access to such information is only provided to our employees and contractors who reasonably need the information for their areas of responsibility (for example, a billing clerk, a sales rep, a customer service representative or management).
Your information may be transferred to and maintained in whole or in part on computer networks which may be located outside of the state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction in which you reside, and may be stored on equipment or in facilities leased or licensed from third parties.
If users have any questions about the security at our Web site, users can send an email to privacy@contactorus.com.
COPPA
In accordance with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 ("COPPA"), we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. Registration on the Sites and Services is not available to anyone under the age of 13.
Verification and Supplementation of Information
In order for us to better conduct our business it is sometimes advisable or necessary for us to verify and/or supplement the information we receive from service providers and users of our Web site with information from 3rd party sources, provided that such sources confirm to us that they are permitted to share such information, such information is publicly available or the collection is required or authorized by law. Examples of collection from other sources include collections from:
- insurance companies;
- government agencies or registries; and
- the Better Business Bureau;
Enhancement of Marketing Profile
Occasionally, we purchase third party marketing data and add it to our existing user database to better target our advertising and provide pertinent offers we think our users would be interested in. We use this information to enhance or overlay the 'profile' of individual users. This aggregate marketing data is therefore tied to the users' personally identifiable information. See also the "Profile."
Correcting/Updating/Deleting/Deactivating Personal Information
If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code, phone, email or postal address), or if a user no longer desires our service, we provide a means to access, correct, update or delete/deactivate users' personally identifiable information. This can be done by emailing our Customer Support at customerservice@contactorus.com. Or, contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below. Please note that deleting your account information will not delete all of your contact information or other information contained on our systems, as much or all of this information will be retained to preserve records of our commercial relationship with you, or as required by law. Further, certain information may have already been provided to third parties as described herein.
Denial of Access to Personal Information
Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access:
- when denial of access is required or authorized by law;
- when granting you access would have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy;
- to protect our Company’s rights and property; or
- where the request is frivolous or vexatious.
