Privacy policy
Last updated: 19 Feb 2023
Overview
ASK A VET SOLUTIONS PTY LTD (ACN 649 625 141) and its related entities ("we", "our" and "us") recognise the importance of, and are fully committed to, protecting your privacy and your personal information.
The Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, hold and disclose personal information in connection with your use of this website and our services, and your rights in respect thereof.By using this site, you agree to this Privacy Policy.
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. You should review this Privacy Policy regularly so that you are aware of any changes.
Collection of Personal Information
In what circumstances do we typically collect personal information?
We may collect personal information by telephone and online as follows:
When you provide it to us directly (e.g., when you submit a form, application, email us or otherwise during questions and/or consultations);
We create records of your activity (e.g., your use of our services and website (see 'Your Online Activities' section below);
We receive it from another party or source (e.g., the parties listed in the 'Usual Disclosure' section, publicly available information, our business partners, our service providers and, for job applicants, referees, and academic institutions);
We create it based on other information about you or attributed to you (e.g., by creating records or summary of our consultations, combining it with other information, performing analysis and reviews).
What information do we typically collect?
Information collected may include:
Name and contact details (email address, mailing address, phone number);
Transaction details (credit card details are not stored on our site but transmitted to a payment gateway in a secure manner acceptable to the payment gateway);
Records of your communications and interactions with us, including in relation to your consultations with us;
Information about your pet;
Details of your stated or anticipated preferences, opinions, interests, and behaviour relating to the provision of services to you and your pet; andIf you are applying to work with us, human resources information, e.g., job applications, background checks, performance, conduct, training, drug/alcohol checks and use of IT.
Use and disclosure of personal information
Purposes for which we use your personal information
We collect, store and disclose personal information for purposes including the following:
To provide and deliver consultation and other services to you (including to respond to your enquiries and requests about, and inform you of any changes to, our services) and improve our services;
To enable our partners to provide consultation related services to you and improve those services;To operate our business including maintaining and updating our records;
To operate, maintain, protect the security of, and improve the performance of our website;To promote our goods or services or that of our partners;
For human resources purposes, including recruitment, training and workforce management and administration;
To protect our legitimate business interests, including for fulfilling and exercising our obligations and rights (including in circumstances where we are required to comply with regulatory orders, audit processes or for supervisory purposes) and for exercising or defending against legal claims;
Purposes relating to business transfers and restructures (e.g., where we buy or sell a business), including assessing prospective transfers and managing arrangements to facilitate the transfer or restructure;
Other purposes where you have provided your consent, or we are otherwise authorised by law.
What if you do not provide your personal information?
Users may refuse to provide personal information. Registration is optional. However, refusal may prevent you from using some or all the services that we provide.
Some of the personal information we collect is collected under applicable laws such as occupational health and safety and workers compensation legislation.
Usual Disclosure
We may share personal information with various third parties in connection with the above purposes including:
Third party service providers that we may engage to provide you with goods or services on our behalf or perform services for us or connect or interface with our services (e.g., third party applications, data storage services);
Our commercial partners (e.g., We may share notes, transcript and summaries of our consultations and other information to other organisations that provide you with their services);
Our lawyers, accountants, and professional advisors;Our related companies;Law enforcement authorities and government agencies where we are required or permitted to do so by law, or because of a legal process.
Overseas disclosure
From time to time, we may need to transfer your information to overseas entities including service providers.
Some of those countries are not subject to the same level of privacy protections as Australia. Reasons for such transfers may include backup storage, and provision of services by third parties.
How do we store and protect your information?
We strive to ensure the security, integrity and privacy of personal information submitted to our sites, and we review and update our security measures in light of current technologies.
We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorised access, use, alteration, and disclosure including: storing your information on our secure servers behind firewalls, contractual provisions requiring our employees and contractors to agree to keep information confidential, encryption of payment transactions.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure. Although we do our best and take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information you transmit to us through our online products and services, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to or through our website or otherwise.The safety and security of your information also depends on you.
Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website and services. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Links to external websites
Our websites may contain hyperlinks to websites not controlled by us. We cannot and do not provide assurances of privacy and information security related to such websites.
Your online activities
Our website
When you browse through our website, we collect (including through third parties) information on the efficiency and working of our website.This information may include:
Log in data from individuals' device including IP address, browser type, geo-location information, type of computer, system configuration information etc;
Information about individuals' interaction with the website (e.g., the number of times a web page is accessed, paths taken when moving through the website).
Cookies
In particular, we may use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. It helps the site remember information about your visit, which can make it easier to visit the site again and make the site more useful to you.
We may use information stored by cookies or otherwise collecting through our website to customise the user’s experience of our site, assist in managing the site and its supporting infrastructure, increase your security and prevent fraud by monitoring single user access, analyse the usage of the site and how our website perform, provide you with interest-based advertising and targeted content.
Users may choose to disable cookies by activating the appropriate setting on their browsers, but this may result in loss of some or all the site's functionality.
Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the website are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioural) advertising or other targeted content. We do not control how these third parties’ tracking technologies may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.
Your rights
When it comes to your personal information, you have certain rights. This section explains your rights and some of our responsibilities to help you. In some cases, where we collect information about you from one of our partner organisations which has a direct relationship with you, we may (i) redirect you to contact them to exercise the rights below or (ii) notify them of your request so they can help you.
Access to your Information
You can contact us (by using the "Contact" feature on our website) to ask about accessing personal information we have about you. Please provide as much detail as you can about the particular information you seek, in order to help us locate it. We will endeavour to provide access (or our reasons for not providing access). We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee for providing access.
Updating your personal information
We endeavour to keep your information accurate and up to date. If, at any time, you discover that information held about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may contact us (by using the "Contact" feature on our website), to have the information corrected. If we reject your request, we will explain to you why in writing in which case you can ask us to make a note of your requested correction with the information.
Registered users can access their information provided when they signed up by logging into the website and viewing their account.
Problems or questions
If we become aware of any ongoing concerns or problems with our web sites, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns.
If you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or you have a problem or complaint about our handling of your personal information, please contact us by using the “Contact” feature on our website. We may request additional details from you regarding your concerns and may need to engage or consult with other parties in order to investigate and deal with your issue. We will keep records of your request and any resolution.
You can file a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by sending a letter to GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001, calling 1300 363 992, or visiting https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/how-do-i-make-a-privacy-complaint
