ValueAppeal Privacy Policy
The effective date of this Agreement is June 1, 2009.
At ValueAppeal, your privacy is important, and so we would like to explain to you
what information we collect when you visit www.valueappeal.com (the “Site”), why
we collect such information, how such information is used, and under what circumstances
we share such information with others. We would also like to explain your options
to access and control your information, and data security procedures and practices,
and other matters.
Because we want you to understand the collection and use of data that is necessary
and possible on the ValueAppeal platform, and to show our respect for your privacy,
we have established this privacy policy (this “Privacy Policy”). WE RESERVE THE
RIGHT TO CHANGE THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND WILL PROVIDE NOTIFICATION OF ANY MATERIAL
CHANGE OR AMENDMENT VIA A POSTING TO THE SITE. YOUR USE OF THE SITE INDICATES YOUR
ASSENT TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND ANY SUBSEQUENT CHANGES OR AMENDMENTS. USE OF INFORMATION
WE COLLECT NOW IS SUBJECT TO THE PRIVACY POLICY IN EFFECT AT THE TIME SUCH INFORMATION
IS USED. YOU MAY CONTACT US WITH ANY QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
AT PRIVACY@VALUEAPPEAL.COM.
Collected Information
In the registration process, we collect registration information from our users,
including name, user name, and password, and contact information such as email and
mailing address. Each of these different types of information is used to provide
users with access to a rich collection of on-line resources, including without limitation
on- and off-line advertising services, promotional pricing services, and the ability
to contact, merchants and service providers from whom users seek services (collectively,
the "Service”). Registration information is used to authenticate users and recall
their profile pages, and contact information is used to provide information on Service
updates.
In the operation of the Service, we collect and store information in order to provide
communications and other services. This data is gathered from a variety of sources
and enables us to provide and improve the Service. ValueAppeal will continue to
make your data available to you on the ValueAppeal platform as long as you are a
user according to the terms and conditions of the ValueAppeal Terms of Service (as
amended from time to time) (the “Terms of Service”). Please consult the Terms of
Service as well as this Privacy Policy to understand your rights and responsibilities
as a user of the ValueAppeal platform.
Information such as your screen name, full name, profile photo, and any personally
identifiable information you have included in your reviews may be shown by users
to their friends or other users primarily in conjunction with reviews or other content
you have contributed. In addition, we may sell your reviews to third parties, in
which case your provided information (e.g., Screen name, first name and last initial,
profile photo, city/state/neighborhood, and any personally identifiable information
you have included in your reviews) may be shown to users of such third party web
sites.
Your full name and email address may also be used when you send an email notification
to a friend (such as in making a recommendation, an invitation, or when sharing
a review). We may also use your email address to send you updates or news regarding
our Site, but you may choose to not receive email of this type by accessing the
"Account" tab of the Site and updating your notification settings. Additionally,
we use your email address to contact you on behalf of your friends (such as when
someone sends you a personal message).
You should be aware that when you voluntarily disclose personally identifiable information
(e.g., user name, email address) via reviews, messages, forums, postings, or in
other areas of the ValueAppeal site, that information, along with any substantive
information disclosed in your communication, can be collected and correlated and
used by third parties and may result in unsolicited messages from other posters
or third parties. Such activities are beyond the control of ValueAppeal. PLEASE
DO NOT POST ON THE WEBSITE OR ANY OTHER AREAS ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT YOU
EXPECT TO KEEP PRIVATE.
ValueAppeal may also collect and analyze from visitors and users certain information
regarding the use of the Service and Site activity. Information collected may include
but is not limited to Site traffic volume, frequency of visits, type and time of
transactions, type of browser and operating system, IP address, requested URL, referring
URL, etc. This information is logged to help diagnose technical problems, administer
the Site, and improve the quality and types of service delivered. In addition, we
use this information to perform statistical analyses of user behavior and characteristics
in order to measure interest in and use of the various areas of the site and to
inform advertisers of such information as well as the number of users that have
been exposed to, or clicked on, their advertising banners.
Shared Information
We may share your personal or business information as described below:
Affiliated Businesses We Do Not Control: We anticipate that we may become
affiliated with a variety of businesses and work closely with them. In certain situations,
these businesses may operate stores at the Site, sell items to you through the website
or offer you products or services that may be of interest to you. In other situations,
ValueAppeal may provide services or sell products jointly with affiliated businesses.
You can easily recognize when an affiliated business is associated with a particular
opportunity or transaction, and we will share user information that is related to
such opportunity or transaction with that affiliated business.
Agents: We employ other companies and people to perform tasks on our behalf
and need to share your information with them to provide products or services to
you. Examples include sending email, analyzing data, and providing user services.
Without your permission, ValueAppeal's agents do not have any right to use personal
information we share with them beyond what is necessary to assist us.
Business profiles: Business profile information including business name,
address, phone number and email address is displayed to users publicly in connection
with the Service. As part of our website and the service, you will receive from
ValueAppeal and other users and partners of ValueAppeal email and other communication
relating to your business and/or the products and services you offer.
Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In
these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the business assets
that is transferred. Moreover, if ValueAppeal, or substantially all of its assets
were acquired, or in the event that ValueAppeal goes out of business or enters bankruptcy,
user information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a
third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquirer
of ValueAppeal may continue to use your information as set forth in this policy.
Protection of ValueAppeal and Others: We may release personal and business
information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with
law; enforce or apply our Terms of Service and other agreements; or protect the
rights, property, or safety of ValueAppeal, our employees, our users, or others.
This includes, without limitation, exchanging information with other companies and
organizations for fraud protection.
With Your Consent: Except as set forth above, you will be notified when your
personally identifiable individual information may be shared with third parties,
and will be given the option to prevent the sharing of this information.
Customer Surveys
ValueAppeal may periodically conduct both business and individual customer surveys.
We encourage our customers to participate in these surveys because they provide
us with important information that helps us to improve the types of services we
offer and how we provide them to you. Your personal information and responses will
remain strictly confidential, even if a third party conducts the survey. Participation
in our customer surveys is voluntary.
We take the information we receive from individuals responding to our customer surveys
and aggregate it with the responses from other customers to create broader, generic
responses to the survey questions (such as gender, age, residence, hobbies, education,
employment, industry sector, or other demographic information). We then use the
aggregated information to improve the quality of the Service to you, and to develop
new services and products. This aggregated, non-personally-identifying information
may be shared with third parties.
Cookies
Like most websites, ValueAppeal and the Site require cookies to function properly.
Cookies are small text files that reside on a user's computer and identify you as
a unique user. We use cookies to refine our site and simplify the user experience.
For example, the use of cookies allows registered users to enter the Site without
explicitly typing in their email address and password every time. You should be
aware that ValueAppeal cannot control the use of cookies by advertisers or any information
advertisers may gather from their use of cookies. If you do not want information
collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers
that allows you to deny or accept the cookie feature; however, you should note that
cookies may be necessary to provide you certain features (e.g., customized delivery
of information) available on the Site. For example, Google, as a third party vendor
to ValueAppeal, uses cookies to serve advertisements on the Site. Google’s use of
its DART cookie enables it to serve ads to you and other ValueAppeal users based
on your and other ValueAppeal’s users’ visits to the Site and other sites on the
Internet. You may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the ad and content
network privacy policy at http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/index.aspx
Third Party Sites
ValueAppeal sites are collaborative, and may contain links to multiple third party
sites on the Internet, including many that have different privacy and security policies
and practices than ValueAppeal. ValueAppeal makes no representations or warranties
about and is not responsible for the policies and practices of sites that are linked
to by ValueAppeal or its users. We urge you to consult the policies available on
those sites to further understand their practices.
Security
ValueAppeal has implemented processes designed to protect user information and maintain
security. Each registered user is assigned a unique user name and password which
is required to access their user information. It is the user's responsibility to
protect the security of their log in information. ValueAppeal's servers are located
in secure server environments. Firewalls and other security technologies are employed
to prevent interference or access from outside intruders; however, ValueAppeal cannot
guarantee the security of user account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware
or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information
at any time.
Accessing, Correcting, and Revising Registration and Contact Information
If you need to update or change your registration information, you may do so by
editing your user record on the Site. To update your record, log on to the ValueAppeal
system and select the available site management pages.
If you choose to cancel your account and cease using the Service, please be aware
that ValueAppeal may for a time retain residual information in our backup and/or
archival copies of our database.
Information Regarding Children
As a business service, ValueAppeal does not target its offerings toward, and does
not knowingly collect any personal information from users under 13 years of age.
Email Opt-Out
To stop receiving emails from ValueAppeal, registered members may opt-out by editing
their notification settings found under the "Account" tab. Unregistered users that
do not wish to receive emails may opt-out of receiving any communications by following
the instructions contained in all emails.
Terms and Modifications to this Privacy Statement
By using the Site, you signify your agreement to the terms of our Privacy Policy.
If you do not agree with these terms, you should not use the Site. ValueAppeal may
amend this Privacy Policy at any time. If a material change or amendment is made
to this Privacy Policy and/or the way we use our users' personally identifiable
information, then we will post a prominent notice of the nature of such change on
the first page of this Privacy Policy and also on our home page. You are responsible
for reviewing this Privacy Policy periodically to ensure that you are aware of any
changes to it. Your continued use of the Site indicates your assent to any changes
to this Privacy Policy.
Legal Disclaimer
THIS SITE OPERATES “AS-IS,” “WITH ALL FAULTS,” AND “AS-AVAILABLE.” ANY WARRANTIES
OF ACCURACY, QUALITY, TITLE, FITNESS OR MERCHANTABILITY ARE DISCLAIMED. TO THE MAXIMUM
EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR DIRECT
CAUSE AND CONTROL. THIS POLICY IS GOVERNED BY WASHINGTON LAW, EXCLUDING CONFLICTS
OF LAW PRINCIPLES. ANY PROVISION OF THIS POLICY THAT IS ILLEGAL OR UNENFORCEABLE
SHALL BE DEEMED AUTOMATICALLY CONFORMED TO THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW.
Contacting the Site
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the privacy practices of this
site, or if you want to exercise any of the rights that you are given under this
Privacy Policy, you can contact:
ValueAppeal, LLC
www.valueappeal.com
1-877-829-1277
