Groundwater Surveys Privacy Policy
This is the Privacy Policy for GROUNDWATER SURVEYS PTY (LTD)
Registration Number: 2018/019759/07
(“the Company”, “us” or “we”).
GROUNDWATER SURVEYS recognises that your privacy is important.
This Policy discloses the privacy practices for GROUNDWATER SURVEYS’s website (the
“Site”), as well as related products and services we may offer to you (the “Service”). This Policy
also covers how personal and other information that we receive or collect about you and your
clients (“Clients”) is treated. Please read the information below to learn the following regarding
your use of this Site.
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you about
significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary
email address specified in your account, by placing a prominent notice on our site, and by
updating any privacy information on this page. Your continued use of the Site and/or Services
available through this Site after such modifications will constitute your (a) acknowledgment of the
modified Policy; and (b) your agreement to abide and be bound by that Policy.
Important: By using the site and/or offerings available on this site, you give your consent
that all personal data that you submit may be processed by us in the manner and for the
purposes described below. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, do not use
the site.
Types of Information We Collect
In order to better provide you with our Service, we collect two types of information about our
users:
• Personally Identifiable Information; and
• Aggregate Information.
Personally Identifiable Information: This refers to information that lets us know the specifics of
who you are. When you engage in certain activities on this Site, such as registering for an
account, downloading or purchasing a product or service, submitting content and/or posting
content in a public forum on this Site, or sending us feedback, we may ask you to provide certain
information about yourself.
Examples of Personally Identifiable Information may include your first name, last name, email
address, mailing address (including zip/postal code), employer, job title and department,
telephone, other contact numbers, and other identifying information. When ordering products or
services on the Site, you may be asked to provide a credit card number.
Aggregate Information: This refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific
individual. We gather certain information about you based upon where you visit on our Site and
what other sites may have directed you to us. This information, which is collected in a variety of
different ways, is compiled and analysed on both a personal and an aggregated basis. This
information may include the Website’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that points to the site
you just came from, which URL you go to after visiting our Site, what browser you are using, and
your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address.
How We Collect and Use Information
GROUNDWATER SURVEYS does not collect any Personally Identifiable Information about you
unless you voluntarily provide it to us. However, you may be required to provide certain
Personally Identifiable Information to us when you elect to use certain products or services
available on the Site. These may include:
- registering for an account on our Site;
- uploading individual transaction data obtained from your third-party invoicing or accounting applications,
- uploading user-generated content and other information uploaded to the Site
- sending us an email message;
- submitting a form or transmitting other information by telephone or letter; or
- submitting your credit card or other payment information when ordering and purchasing products and services on our Site.
We will primarily use your Personally Identifiable Information
- to provide product or service offerings to you;
- to enhance the operation of our Site;
- improve our internal marketing and promotional efforts;
- to statistically analyse Site use;
- to improve our product and service offerings;
- to customise our Site’s content, layout, and services;
- to process information received from prospective client to prepare a quotation;
- to process a credit application form, opening of an account;
- to carry out the transaction/s requested;
- to process purchase orders, invoices, delivery notes, statements, and proof of payment documentation;
- to enter into transactional agreements;
- confirming, verifying and updating client details;
- for communication purposes;
- conducting market or customer satisfaction research;
- for HR-related purposes (internal); and
- in connection with and to comply with legal and regulatory requirements or when it is otherwise allowed by law.
We may use certain information about you without identifying you as an individual to third parties.
We do this for purposes such as analysing how the Service is used, diagnosing service or
technical problems, maintaining security, and personalising content. We may also use Personally
Identifiable Information to deliver information to you and to contact you regarding administrative
notices. Finally, we may use your Personally Identifiable Information to resolve disputes,
troubleshoot problems and enforce our agreements with you, including our Terms and
Conditions, and this Privacy Policy.
We may also collect or our third party advertising partners may collect, certain Aggregate
Information. For example, we may use your IP address to diagnose problems with our servers,
software, to administer our Site and to gather demographic information. Our third party
advertising partners may also provide us with aggregate, but not individual, reports that will tell
us how many ads were presented and clicked upon at out Site.
Cookies
Depending on how you use our Site, we will store cookies on your computer in order to collect
certain aggregate data about our users and to customise certain aspects of your specific user
experience. A cookie is a small data text file which is stored on your computer that uniquely
identifies your browser. Cookies may also include more personalised information, such as your
IP address, browser type, the server your computer is logged onto, the area code and zip code
associated with your server, and your first name to welcome you back to our Site.
We may use cookies to perform tasks such as: monitoring aggregate site usage metrics, storing and
remembering your passwords (if you allow us to do so), storing account and advertising
preferences that you have set, and personalising the Services we make available to you.
However, we do not use cookies to track your browsing behaviours.
Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all
cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some aspects of the Site may not
function properly if you elect to disable cookies.
Release of Information
GROUNDWATER SURVEYS will not sell, trade, or rent your Personally Identifiable Information
to others. We do provide some of our product and service offerings through contractual
arrangements made with affiliates, service providers, partners and other third parties (“Service
Partners”). We and our Service Partners may need to use some Personally Identifiable
Information in order to perform tasks between our respective sites, or to deliver products or
services to you. For example, we must release your credit card information to the card-issuing
bank to confirm payment for products and services purchased on this Site; release your address
information to the delivery service to deliver products that you ordered; and provide order
information to third parties that help us provide customer service.
We will encourage our Service Partners to adopt and promote strong privacy policies. However,
the use of your Personally Identifiable Information by our Service Partners is governed by the
respective privacy policies of those providers, and is not subject to our control. Except as
otherwise discussed in this Privacy Policy, this document only addresses the use and disclosure
of information we collect from you. Other Sites accessible through this Site, including our
Advertising and Service Partners, have their own privacy policies and data collection, use and
disclosure practices. Please consult each Site’s privacy policy. We are not responsible for the
policies or practices of third parties.
Occasionally we may be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide Personally
Identifiable Information to the appropriate governmental authorities. In such cases, we will
disclose Personally Identifiable Information upon receipt of a court order, subpoena, or to
cooperate with a law enforcement investigation. We fully cooperate with law enforcement
agencies in identifying those who use our services for illegal activities. We reserve the right to
report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we in good faith believe to be unlawful.
We may also provide Aggregate Information about our customers’ sales, traffic patterns, and
related Site information to third party advertisers, but these statistics do not include any
Personally Identifiable Information.
Updating and Correcting Information
We believe you should have the ability to access and edit the Personally Identifiable Information
that you have provided to us. You may change any of your Personally Identifiable Information in
your account online at any time by sending us an email to johnny@groundwatersurveys.co.za
We encourage you to promptly update your Personally Identifiable Information if it changes. You
may ask to have the information on your account deleted or removed; however, some
information, such as past transactions, logs of technical support calls, or other information may
not be deleted. In addition, it may be impossible to completely delete your information without
some residual information because of backups.
User Choices on Collection and Use of Information
We may, from time to time, send you email regarding new products and services that we feel
may interest you. In addition, if you indicated upon registration that you are interested in
receiving offers or information from us and our partners, we may occasionally call or send you
direct mail about products and services that may be of interest to you. Only GROUNDWATER
SURVEYS (or agents working on behalf of GROUNDWATER SURVEYS and under
confidentiality agreements) will send you these solicitations, and only if you have previously
indicated that you wish to receive them. If you do not want to receive solicitations from us, you
can “opt-out” by accessing your account online editing your account information to no longer
receive such offers and mailings.
You also have choices with respect to cookies, as described above. By modifying your browser
preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to
reject all cookies. If you choose to reject all cookies some parts of our Site may not work properly
in your case.
Security of Your Personally Identifiable Information
At our Site you can be assured that your Personally Identifiable Information is secure, consistent
with current industry standards. We strive to take appropriate security measures to protect
against unauthorised access to or unauthorised alteration, disclosure or destruction of your
Personally Identifiable Information. For example:
• We work hard to ensure that the data we collect is reliable, accurate, complete and
current. We encrypt all Personally Identifiable Information, in order to prevent
unauthorised parties from viewing such information when it is transmitted to us. We also
only keep collected information: only for as long as reasonably necessary and use it only
for the purposes for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or
ethical reporting or document retention requirements.
• We limit access to Personally Identifiable Information only to specific employees,
contractors and agents who have a reasonable need to come into contact with your
information. For example, we may provide members of our technical support team with
limited access to your account in order to allow them to troubleshoot problems you may
be having with the Site.
• Additionally, we also employ a number of physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards
to protect Personally Identifiable Information. Our secure servers and our data centres
are protected by industry-standard encryption, and our servers reside behind firewalls
and employ high-level password protection.
In order to most effectively serve you, credit card transactions and order fulfilment are handled
by established third party banking institutions and processing agents (such as e.g. PayPal,
PayFast, etc). They receive the information needed to verify and authorise your credit card or
other payment information and to process and ship your order where applicable.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed
to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your Personally Identifiable
Information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the
Internet which are beyond our control; and (b) the security, integrity and privacy of any and all
information and data exchanged between you and us through this Site cannot be guaranteed. As
we have no control or ability to monitor the security of your device, you should take measures
reasonably available to secure your device.
In the event that Personally Identifiable Information is compromised as a result of a breach of
security, GROUNDWATER SURVEYS will promptly notify those persons whose Personally
Identifiable Information has been compromised, in accordance with the notification procedures
set forth in this Privacy Policy, by email, or as otherwise required by applicable law. You agree to
immediately notify us and your Clients if you have experienced a breach of security on your
device which may have affected the security of our Site or Service.
Miscellaneous
You must be at least 18 years old to have our permission to use this Site. By agreeing to Our
Policy, you are hereby confirming that you are at least of 18 years old. Our policy is that we do
not knowingly collect, use or disclose Personally Identifiable Information about minor visitors.
You should also be aware that when Personally Identifiable Information is voluntarily disclosed
(i.e. your name, email address, etc.) in the discussion forums or other public areas on this Site,
that information, along with any information disclosed in your communication, can be collected
and used by third parties and may result in unsolicited messages (including unwanted spam
messages) from third parties. Such activities are beyond our control and this Policy does not
apply to such information.
If you have any questions, concerns or inquiries about our Privacy Policy, or our use of your
Personally Identifiable Information, or our privacy practices, please contact our Information
Officer at: johnny@groundwatersurveys.co.za.