Privacy Policy

We are committed to respecting your privacy.  Please note that we may change our privacy policy without notice by publishing changes to it on our website. Please check our website from time to time to ensure that you are aware of the current privacy policy. 

Cookies and use of our website

Please note that we may use cookies to track your use of our website and remember your preferences. This information is used for statistical and reporting purposes; for website administration, security and maintenance purposes; and to direct you to material on our website that we believe will be of interest to you.

Cookies are small files that store information on your electronic devices, such as your computer or mobile. If you would like to disable cookies, you can do so through your internet browser.

Please also note that while we do not use browsing information to identify you personally, we may record certain information about your use of our website, such as which pages you visit, the time and date of your visit and the IP address assigned to your computer. 

Hosting in Australia and Security

To ensure your information is secure, Compare Air Conditioning is hosted in Australia. We have put in place suitable procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. 

Unfortunately no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you send to us or receive from us online. This is particularly true for information you send to us via email. We have no way of protecting that information until it reaches us. Once we receive your transmission, we use our best efforts to ensure its security in our possession.

Links to third party websites

Our website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. We provide those links for your convenience. Third party websites may not remain current or be maintained. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of, or any content on, those linked websites, and have no control over or rights in them. We encourage individuals to read the privacy policy of websites operated by third parties before using them.

Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for reasons including to:

• recommend or provide you with a quote for air conditioning products or services or connect you with an air conditioning installer
• deal with requests, inquiries or complaints
• market air conditioning products and services
• interact with companies with whom we have a commercial relationship, including reconciling payments due to us from air conditioning installers in relation to goods or services they have provided to you
• for purposes relating to any third party acquisition or potential acquisition of an interest in us or of our assets
• develop insights from our interactions with our customers to enhance our services and the way we deliver them so that we can keep on meeting the needs of our customers
• analyse your interactions and use of our online services to understand the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives
• maintain and improve our customer service by monitoring our service for quality control, quality and training purposes
• consider job applicants for current and future employment
• manage our relationships with our participating providers, suppliers and stakeholders
• manage our internal business, in particular financial management, reporting and accounting
• carrying out any activity in connection with a legal, governmental or regulatory requirement that we have to comply with, or in connection with legal proceedings, crime or fraud prevention, detection or prosecution.

We may also use and disclose your personal information for other purposes, related to those described above, which would be reasonably expected by you.

Documents (including hard copy documents and electronic documents such as emails) which coincidentally contain personal information will also be retained in accordance with our normal practices for accounting, legal and business purposes.

Generally, you have no obligation to provide any personal information requested by us. However, if you choose not to do so where we require this information, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services that you want or deal with a request, inquiry or complaint that you have.

The kinds of personal information we may collect and hold about you may include:

• your name
• your address
• your phone number
• your e-mail address
• your IP address, server address, domain name and information on your browsing activity when visiting our website.

How do we collect and hold your personal information?

We collect personal information in a number of ways including when:

• you enquire about or seek a quote for an air conditioning product or service;
• you contact us by telephone, via mail, e-mail or online;
• you visit our website (including when you request a quote);
• we supply any other products or services to you; or
• you enter into or participate in any promotions, competitions, specials or other offers with us.

We hold personal information in a number of ways, including:

• as part of customer records and other electronic documents in which personal information is contained which are stored on our information technology systems and servers operated by third parties who provide services to us in connection with our business
• by securely storing hard copy documents in which personal information is contained, at our various premises and/or using third party document management and archiving services.

Marketing

We may use your personal information that we have collected to promote and market products and services to you, including through methods such as email, post, MMS, SMS, social media and via telephone. You may opt-out of receiving marketing communications by sending an email to [email protected].

Sharing your personal information

We may disclose or receive personal information or documents about you, including to/from:

• organisations that provide services to us in connection with our business, including hosting, marketing, consulting, advisory services, technical services and the operation of our website
• parties involved in any third party acquisition or potential acquisition of an interest in us or our assets
• third parties (including air conditioning installers) where you have consented to the disclosure of information to these third parties.

Security of your personal information

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we hold is stored in a secure environment protected from misuse, interference and loss and from any unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

How to access, correct and update your personal information?

Upon your request, we will provide you with access to your personal information that we hold (except in certain circumstances set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)).

You may also ask us to correct the personal information that we hold about you. If you do so and we are satisfied that, having regard to a purpose for which the information is held, the information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, we will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information.

To request access to the personal information that we hold about you, or to update or correct that personal information, please email [email protected].

How to make a complaint?

If you are concerned that the way we collect, hold, use or disclose your personal information may be in breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, please email [email protected].

How we will handle complaints about personal information?

After receiving a complaint, we will consider whether we need any further information from you to properly consider and investigate it, and may request such information from you. We will then:

• conduct internal discussions with the relevant part of our business involved in the collection, holding, use or disclosure of the personal information which is the subject of your complaint, and evaluate whether we believe that such collection, holding, use or disclosure of your personal information was in breach of the Australian Privacy Principles; and
• notify you of the results of our investigation of your complaint.

If the conclusion of our investigation is that our collection, holding, use or disclosure of your personal information was in breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, we will take steps to remedy the breach as soon as reasonably practicable.

We will endeavour to notify you of the results of our investigation of your complaint within 30 days of receiving it. However, if your complaint involves complex matters or requires extensive investigation and consultation, it may not be possible to respond within this timeframe.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint you are entitled under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Information about how to make a complaint is available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website (www.oaic.gov.au).

Privacy queries

If you have any queries or concerns, please email [email protected].

26 October 2020