Privacy Policy

ANSWERINGSERVICE.COM’S PRIVACY POLICY

AnsweringService.com “(ANS”) means ReceptionHQ LLC (Company Number R13564778). RANS provides a range of virtual receptionist and telephone answering solutions and services (“Services”). ANS operates and manages the website www.answeringservice.com (the “Website”). ANS is committed to ensuring that we comply with our obligations under law with respect to your privacy. This Privacy Policy sets out the way we deal with and manage the personal information you provide to us to enable us to manage your relationship with ANS.

If you are located in the European Union (“EU”), you may have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).  Details of those additional rights and how you may exercise them are set out at the end of this Privacy Policy.

WHY DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?

ANS only collects personal information from you if that information is reasonably necessary for or related to, one or more of ANS’s functions and activities. For example, if you are a client, we collect your personal information to enable us to provide you with the capability and services you are seeking to manage your own business.

WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

If ANS is providing the Services to your business, the types of personal information that we may collect will include details of your name, date of birth, street address, email address, telephone number that we may direct your calls to and a cell phone number that we can send notification messages to and credit card and bank account details.

ANS may also collect and store your client username information and password when you register and subscribe on the Website.

If you contact a business which is using our Services, we may collect your contact details, including your name, telephone number and/or email address on behalf of that business.

When you apply for employment or a contracting opportunity with us, we also collect other details such as your educational and employment history, as well as referee details. If you accept an offer of employment, we will collect your Social Security Number and other details relevant to your remuneration.

From time to time, you may be able to visit the Website anonymously or deal with us anonymously or by pseudonym. However, as we require certain personal information such as your name, current e-mail address and postcode to be able to provide you with our Services, if you do not provide us with certain personal information, we may not be able to provide you with access to those Services.

HOW DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We will only collect personal information which you have voluntarily provided to us, or consented to us collecting.

We collect personal information from you in a variety of ways. For example, when you:

  • register for a client account on our Website (“Client Account”): we need to collect your name, contact information and, when we ask you to set up a Client Account, we collect your username identification and password;
  • order or purchase Services on our Website: we need to collect your name, contact information (in particular an email address), your credit or debit card number and the card’s expiry date;
  • subscribe to our newsletter or mailing list;
  • respond to a survey we may conduct, or fill out a form or similar;
  • enter into competitions or promotions; or
  • contact us: for example, telephone calls may be recorded for training, quality and business purposes and, if so, you will be informed of this at the commencement of the call and given the opportunity not to proceed with the call or not have the call recorded.

We may also collect personal information:

  • from our authorized resellers;
  • from publicly available sources of information, such as market research providers;
  • from third parties such as law enforcement agencies and other government entities;
  • if you are applying for employment with us, from your referees or recruiters we have engaged; and
  • when you visit our Website, Facebook page or any other webpages that we own or manage.

We will only collect your personal information from third parties if it is unreasonable or impracticable to collect that personal information from you directly.

If and when we do collect personal information from third parties, we will take reasonable steps to inform you.

DOES ANS USE COOKIES?

ANS may use cookies and other digital identifiers. These include:

  • site performance identifiers: these give ANS information about how our Website is used. This helps us provide you with a more user-friendly experience.
  • analytics cookies: we may use these to gather statistics about our Website. For example, they help us monitor how many users are on the Website and what sections are most popular.
  • advertising cookies: we may use these cookies to improve our understanding of the kind of advertising that may be relevant to you.

We may also use cookies or digital identifiers so that when you visit third party websites, relevant advertising from ANS can be displayed to you.

You can clear cookies or digital identifiers from your device and also disable future use of them by changing the security settings on your web browser. However, doing this might mean that parts of the Website may not work as intended.

HOW AND WHAT DO WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR?

By submitting your personal information to ANS and by using the Website, you agree that ANS may obtain, hold and use your information for the purposes of providing you with the Services and for its internal business purposes.

Any of the personal information we collect may be used in any one or more of the following ways related to providing you with the Services you requested:

  • Processing transactions and managing your Client Account: your personal information will allow us to process any orders and transactions you make for Services and to generate and send you bills, invoices, receipts and otherwise manage your Client Account with ANS. Your financial information will only be used to process transactions, charge the appropriate subscription fees in accordance with our terms and conditions and to meet our obligations under privacy and fraud legislation.
  • Managing your ANS receptionist service: your personal information will allow ANS to provide you with tailored and relevant Services, for example, when answering and receiving calls or messages or making appointments on your behalf;
  • Personalizing your customer experience: your personal information will help us to better respond to your individual client needs and requests;
  • Managing your concerns and our customer services: we may use your personal information to contact you when responding to your enquiries or complaints and for other customer care services or activities and support needs;
  • Keeping you informed: we may use your email address to send you information and updates relating to your transactions and your Client Account, as well as to send you occasional company news, updates and related or new product and service information;
  • Conducting contests, promotions, surveys and other site features: your personal information will assist us to provide you with opportunities to participate in various promotional activities and other site features to enhance your experience with ANS; and
  • For any other purposes that would be reasonably expected to allow us to comply with our obligations under the law.

The legal basis for processing your personal information depends on our relationship with you. Personal information that we collect and use is processed either with your consent, or on the basis that it is necessary to fulfil any contractual obligations we may have when you make purchases from us or that it is necessary for the purpose of our legitimate interest of providing and promoting our products and services and direct marketing.

If ANS uses your personal information for any other purpose, we will obtain your consent to use that personal information, if and when required.

You should not provide us with any personal information that you feel is confidential and which you are not agreeable to ANS using in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

HOW DO I UNSUBSCRIBE FROM MARKETING MATERIALS?

If you would rather not receive communications about our latest products and services, changes to products and services, company information or promotional opportunities, you can opt out. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails of this kind, you can do so by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of each email.

However, please be aware that we will still use your personal information to assist in the management of your Client Account, purchases and in providing you the Services you require.

DO WE DISCLOSE ANY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We do not share or disclose any of your personal information without your consent, other than for the purposes specified in our Privacy Policy or where there is a legal requirement.

Your personal information may be disclosed both within and outside the United States to:

  • A client of ANS that you call, to whom we provide, for example, virtual receptionist services on our clients’ behalf, such as taking messages and scheduling meetings;
  • Our third party service and content providers, such as payment processors, authorized resellers, agents, contractors and advisors. Further information about some of these third parties is provided below;
  • Our professional advisors including lawyers, accountants, tax advisors and auditors;
  • Law enforcement bodies to assist in their functions, courts of law or as otherwise required or authorised by law;
  • Regulatory or government bodies for the purposes of customer complaints or disputes both internally and externally; and
  • Any other person or for any other purpose that would be reasonably expected.

Third parties acting on our behalf only process your data in accordance with instructions from us and comply fully with this Privacy Policy, any relevant data protection laws and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. Where we do provide your personal information to third parties, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient protects your privacy.

Details of third party service providers ANS uses routinely are set out below.

PAYPAL, INC.

PayPal act in the capacity as a processor on our behalf and use your credit card information to process payment of your invoices for ANS’s services. For more information about PayPal, please read their privacy notice at www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full

RACKSPACE INC.

Rackspace act in the capacity as a processor on our behalf with respect to the storage of your personal data. ANS’s server, storage and network security infrastructure is hosted and managed by Rackspace, a provider of data centers globally based in the United States. For more information about Rackspace, please read their privacy notice at https://www.rackspace.com/information/legal/privacycenter

MAILCHIMP (THE ROCKET SCIENCE GROUP LLC)

MailChimp act in the capacity as a processor on our behalf with respect to communications with you regarding our receptionist service information and promotional material using your name and email address. MailChimp is a global provider of marketing automation software based in the United States. For more information about MailChimp, please read their privacy policy at https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/

OVERSEAS DISCLOSURE

Occasionally, the information you provide to us may be accessed by or given to ANS staff and third parties working outside of the United States, for example, employees of our foreign related entities in order to deliver you with after-hours receptionist services.

Where we do disclose your personal information to overseas recipients, these recipients will be located in either Australia or the United Kingdom.

Other countries may not always have the same or similar privacy and data protection laws as the United States. However, where we do provide your personal information to third parties, ANS will take such steps as reasonable to ensure your information is used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

WHAT SECURITY MEASURES DOES ANS USE TO PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

ANS takes your privacy seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place, including:

  • Use of a firewall with up-to-date rules to restrict private and public access as well as limiting/eradicating potential threats, such as denial of service attacks;
  • Password protected access to all systems providing the level of access required to fulfill a function;
  • Constant system patching and software upgrades as well as up-to-date virus definitions to eliminate threats;
  • Encryption of highly confidential data; and
  • The use of SSL (secure sockets layer) and TLS (transport layer security) where appropriate to maintain a high level of security.

In order to protect your information, we implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you make a transaction on the Website, or enter, submit or access your personal information via your Client Account. For example, we use a secure server for online credit card transactions with up to date encryption methods. Information on this secure server is not available to ANS staff.

However, by its nature, we cannot guarantee that information transmitted on the internet is 100% secure. By providing us with your personal information and continuing to use the Website to make transactions, you agree and acknowledge that ANS shall not be liable to you or any other person for any of the following:

  • Performance, security, reliability and your competence in using the internet, telecommunication companies, and internet service providers in transmitting information;
  • The confidentiality of your Client Account password and the use of the ANS messaging by third parties for any reason. You are responsible for your own password security and must ensure that this password is not disclosed to any third party, for whatever reason; and
  • Security of any information transmitted on the internet.

HOW LONG DO WE RETAIN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We will not keep your personal information for any purpose for longer than is necessary and we retain only the relevant personal information for that purpose.

We determine how long to retain different types of personal information depending on what is necessary for our business operations, taking into account our legal obligations and statutory retention periods.

We retain the personal information that you provide to us for registering an account for as long as your account remains in existence.

We may need to retain personal information, such as financial records of transactions, for as long as required to comply with our legal and financial compliance obligations as well as our contractual obligations with our services providers such as our payment processors.

Personal information will be de-identified or destroyed when no longer required by us.

HOW DO WE MAINTAIN THE ACCURACY OF THE PERSONAL INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU?

ANS aims to take all steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the personal information we collect, hold, use and disclose about you is accurate, up to date and complete.

However, the accuracy of your personal information is largely reliant on the quality of the information you provide to us. To ensure that we always have your most current and accurate personal information, please update your details as soon as possible when your information changes via your online Client Account or contact ANS by the methods below or on the Contact page of our Website.

CAN YOU ACCESS AND/OR CORRECT PERSONAL INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU?

You have the right to access any personal information that ANS processes about you. If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information.

You can make a request for access or correction by contacting ANS by the methods below or on the Contact page of our Website. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request to ensure that your personal information is protected and kept secure.

We will endeavour to respond to your request for access and/or correction within thirty days after your request is made. We may charge reasonable costs for responding to the request, however, we will not charge you for making a request.

If we refuse to provide you with access, or to correct the information, we will generally provide you with written reasons for our refusal and how you may complain about the refusal. If we refuse your correction request, we will include a statement with your personal information about the requested correction.

HOW CAN YOU REPORT A BREACH OF YOUR PRIVACY OR MAKE A PRIVACY COMPLAINT?

If you have any concerns that your privacy has been compromised or have any other privacy related complaint, please contact ANS immediately by a method below or on the Contact page of our Website.

We will first consider your complaint to determine whether there are simple or immediate steps which can be taken to resolve the complaint. We will endeavour to complete our investigation into your complaint promptly. We may ask you to provide further information about your complaint and the outcome you are seeking. We will then typically gather relevant facts, locate and review relevant documents and speak with individuals involved.

In most cases, we will investigate and provide a written response to a complaint within 30 days of receipt of the complaint. If the matter is more complex or our investigation may take longer, we will let you know.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, a complaint may be made to your relevant Consumer Protection Office.

GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (RELEVANT TO INDIVIDUALS LOCATED IN THE EU)

Capitalized terms and phrases used in this section but not otherwise defined shall have the same meanings given to them in the GDPR. ANS gather and process your personal information in accordance the GDPR (as amended or updated from time to time). ANS act as the Data Processor when Processing your Personal Data.

For the purposes of the GDPR, ANS’s designated EU representative is ANS LLP (a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with offices at Bunnian Place, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7JE, United Kingdom) OC358482. ANS LLP is registered on the Information Commissioner’s Office Register; registration number ZA385794

If you are in the EU, in addition to the rights identified above, you also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information and the right to be informed about any automated decision-making we may use. If we receive a request from you to exercise any of these rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before processing the request to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.

If you are in the EU, you may also request information about:

  • What personal data we hold about you;
  • The purposes of the processing;
  • The categories of personal data concerned;
  • The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed;
  • How long we intend to store your personal data for; and
  • If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source.

ANS only processes your personal information in compliance with this Privacy Policy and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however, you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority:

The Information Commissioners Office
Water Lane, Wycliffe House
Wilmslow – Cheshire SK9 5AF
Email: international.team@ico.org.uk
Phone: +44 1625 545 745

ACCEPTANCE OF OUR PRIVACY POLICY

By submitting your personal information to us and by using the Website you confirm your acceptance of the terms of this Privacy Policy and consent to the use of your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Website or otherwise provide us with your personal information.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time by posting changes on this Privacy page. Your continued use of the Website after these changes take effect will constitute your acceptance of the changes.

CONTACTING US

If you have any further questions regarding this Privacy Policy, you may contact us using the information below or please see our Contact page on our Website.

AnsweringService.com

2600 N.Central Ave, Suite 904

Phoenix AZ 85004

Tel: (866) 883-3499
Email: privacy@answeringservice.com

Last Updated: 16 November 2020

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