House of Tools Privacy Policy

PDF Privacy Policy

Our privacy policy applies to personal customers, including individuals carrying on business alone or in partnership with other individuals or in a corporation. It consists of five key principles.
1. Collecting and using information. Either before or when we collect information about you, we will explain how we intend to use it. We will limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes. We will obtain your consent if we wish to use your information for any other purpose and from third parties such as credit bureaus.
2. Releasing information. In order to fully comply with the new privacy legislation, we do not share or rent out the House Of Tools customer mailing list, email list or other customer information to any third party. The only exception is when required to by law or for criminal prosecution.
3. Protecting information. We will protect your information with appropriate safeguards and security measures. We will retain your information for the purposes we explain.
4. Providing information access and accuracy. We will give you access to the information we retain about you. We will make every reasonable effort to keep your information accurate and up-to-date.
5. Respecting and responding to your privacy concerns. In this Privacy Code, we will explain your options for refusing or withdrawing consent to the collection, use and release of your information, and release of your information, and we will record and respect your choices. We will investigate and respond to your concerns about any aspect of our handling of your information.

Why we ask for your information.

We ask you for your information to establish and serve you as our customer. We obtain our information directly from you. The information we ask for depends upon the product or serve you want.

Information We Collect In Our Mail Order Call Center

In making your purchase over the phone, we ask for the following information, name, address, phone numbers, email address, payment method, shipping address and any special shipping instructions. This information is secured in our computer systems to provide a record of your purchase for warranty purposes and also so that the next time you buy from us you will not have to provide all of your personal information. When you place an order with our company, we will ask for your oral consent to be notified of updates, flyers, and special offers. If you wish to be removed from either our postal mailing address list or our e-mail address list you can contact us via e-mail at custserv@houseoftools.com Or call 1-800-661-3987 (U.S. or Canada) or 780-944-9600.

Information We Collect In Our Retail Stores

During the checkout process, we ask for the following information, name, address, phone numbers, email address and payment method. This information is kept in our computer systems to provide a record of your purchase for warranty purposes. If you wish to be removed from either our postal mailing address list or our e-mail address list you can contact us via e-mail custserv@houseoftools.com Or call 1-800-661-3987 (U.S. or Canada) or 780-944-9600.

Information We Collect For Commercial Credit Applications

In applying for a commercial credit account we ask detailed information about your business to determine your credit risk. This information covers company name, address, owner and purchaser contact information, length of time in business, references, billing and shipping requirements and amount of credit required. By submitting the application you are consenting to an initial credit history check as well as periodic credit updates, as well, you are consenting to release credit history information to 3rd parties. We ask for oral or written consent to be notifi ed of updates, flyers and special offers. If you wish to be removed from either our postal mailing address list or our e-mail address list you can contact us via e-mail custserv@houseoftools.com Or call 1-800-661- 3987 (U.S. or Canada) or 780-944-9600.

The Information We Collect Online

In several areas of our web site, we ask you to provide information by filling out and submitting an online form. These areas include:

• Checkout, where we ask for billing information, name, address, phone numbers, email address, preferred currency, shipping information if not the same as billing, any special shipping instructions, credit card type, number and expiry date. Our Checkout pages are Verisign Secured, to ensure your information is protected to the fullest.
• Catalog requests, where we ask for a name and address
• Registering for our online draws we ask; your name, address, phone number, email, would you like to receive product information, how did you fi nd us and would you like to receive our newsletter. The draw is made on periodically, and we e-mail the winner to let them know they have won. By entering the draw you are giving us permission to publish your name if you are a winner. We display only your name, city and country. No other information is shown.
• When you place an order with our company or register for our draws, we ask if you would like to receive additional offers from our company both in the mail and online. If you initially consented and wish to be removed from either our postal mailing address list or our e-mail address list you can contact us via e-mail custserv@houseoftools.com Or call 1-800-661-3987 (U.S. or Canada) or 780-944-9600.

What Sort of Information We Do Not Collect?

When you browse our site, we do not collect your name, email address or any other personal information unless you consent to provide it to us. We do not follow your browsing path outside of houseoftools.com.

How We Use The Information We Collect?

House Of Tools has a strong tradition of providing quality goods and excellent customer service. Our goal is to bring this tradition to the online environment, offering products and services that meet your needs. The personal information we gather when you visit our site is used for properly billing & shipping orders and communicating with you regarding your order either by phone, e-mail or regular mail. In order to make improvements to our site; we might gather information that helps show how customers use the site. For example, we might do research to determine which areas are accessed most frequently. This information is analyzed only in aggregate and not at the individual level. For example, we may tell an advertiser that X number of individuals visited a certain area on the website, or that Y number of men and Z number of women fi lled out our registration form, but we would not disclose anything that could be used to identify those individuals. Personal information, such as your name and email address, is not included in the analysis. In the end, we hope this information will help us tailor our communications so that you receive more of what you want from us and less of what you don’t want. If you request a catalog or place an order on our site, we will send you catalogues periodically. See below if you do not wish to receive these mailings. Houseoftools.com also occasionally ask users to complete surveys regarding products, web site features and our service to help improve both our web site and our company.

Finally, houseoftools.com and House Of Tools Company may also disclose account information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Terms of Service or may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property, or the rights and property of anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. The houseoftools.com and House Of Tools Company may disclose or access account information when the law requires it and for administrative and other purposes that we deem necessary to maintain, service, and improve our products and services.

Cookies – What Are They and Do We Use Them?

A cookie is a small fi le stored on your computer by a Web site to give you a unique ID. We do not use cookies but a login and password system. This means you can view all of our products and site features without having a cookie placed on your computer. When you order you are asked for a login and password and this is how you will access your order history and address information, which is stored on our secure server. If you place something into your cart, or login, an encrypted individual session ID is assigned to you and temporarily stored in our database. This unique session ID expires once you logout.

How We Use Email?

After you place an order on our site, you will receive an email confi rmation. We send our newsletter, our email update on sales and products, to subscribers and occasionally to other customers who who consent to learning about sales and special events. Unsubscribe instructions are included in each edition of our newsletter. Please note that we do not sell or share email addresses with other companies. We do use email as a means of receiving feedback from our customers, and we encourage you to email us with your questions or comments. We read every email we receive.

What Information We May Share With Others?

In order to fully comply with the new privacy legislation, we do not share or rent out the House Of Tools customer mailing list, email list or other customer information to any third party. The only exception is when required to by law or for criminal prosecution.

What Information We Do Not Share With Others?

House Of Tools does not share, sell or trade email addresses, mailing addresses or information collected as part of a survey or specifi c details about you or your household. We do not contribute to or participate in shared or cooperative databases, which give other companies access to your personal information. We do not release credit card or fi nancial information for use by other companies. For privacy purposes, all information relating to our customers is stored on a highly secure server that is not accessible via the Internet.

Our Commitment to Children’s Privacy

Protecting the privacy of the very young is very important. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information at our web site from those we actually know are under 13, and no part of our site is structured to attract anyone under 13 years old.

How You Can Access or Correct Your Information?

Once you have registered and entered your login and password you have access to your personal information. You can review, edit or delete all your personal information from the “Your Profi le” pages. All information relating to our customers is stored in a secure environment separate from our Web site. To better protect your credit card, the number is not stored and you must re-enter it for every purchase. If you forget your password, please use the “Retrieve Password” function. The system will automatically send you out an email with your password. We recommend you change it after using this reminder to maintain your information security.

How to limit duplicate catalogues, remove your name from our mailing list, opt-out of third party mailing list sharing, etc.

You can contact us through mail, e-mail, phone or fax. Just let us know what you would like to be removed from. Please see below. Please Note: If you are receiving duplicate catalogues, please mail in or fax us a copy of the mailing labels, including a note of instruction so we can have the duplicate addresses removed.

Security

At House Of Tools, we believe that understanding what our customers want for products, services and information is an important part of building an interesting and useful online environment. We’ve designed our site with security and privacy in mind, and we’ve created this privacy statement so that you have easy access to information about our privacy practices. At House Of Tools we are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information we collect about you to process orders and to provide a more personalized shopping experience. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Our Commitment to Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

How Data Security Works

When a customer places an order, the information is scrambled with a unique key. Only the receiving party has the unique key to “see” the information. It is virtually impossible for an unauthorized party to find the right key, even if they are equipped with the best computers. This encryption is performed with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), a set of rules followed by computers connected to the Internet. These rules including the encryption guards against eavesdropping, data integrity and assures that your communications aren’t tampered with during transmission and authentication. It verifi es that the party actually receiving your communication is whom it claims to be. House of Tools recommends that users of the web site ensure they subscribe to the services of a browser service which provides security encryption for the Transmitted Information.

How to Contact Us

Updated versions of these policies are posted on our web site at www.houseoftools.com or you can direct any queries about his policy to House OF Tools Privacy Officer at the telephone, e-mail address, or mailing address listed below,

House of Tools Privacy Officer
100 Mayfield Common NW,
Edmonton, Alberta
T5P 4B3

Telephone No. 1-800-661-3987
Fax. Number 1-780-486-2275
E-mail address: privacy@houseoftools.com
Internet: www.houseoftools.com


If you have a complaint, we want to know about it.

If you have a complaint related to this Personal Information Policy or any of our procedures, contact our Privacy Officer. If your complaint is justified, we will take the steps necessary to resolve the issue, including amending our Policy and practices, if necessary. If we are not able to resolve your concern, or if you have any other concerns about House Of Tools Personal Information Policy and procedures, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or if applicable the Alberta Privacy Commissioner. House Of Tools Company will provide you with this contact information upon request.