The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is committed to maintaining your confidence and trust, and accordingly maintains the following privacy policy to protect personal information you provide online.
BBB's Commitment to Online Security
Physical, electronic and managerial procedures
have been employed to safeguard the security and integrity of personal
information. Personal information is accessible only by staff and volunteers
designated to handle online complaints or requests. All BBB agents and
contractors with access to personal information obtained on the BBB web site are
also bound to adhere to this policy as part of their contract with BBB.
Personal Information That BBB May Collect Online
The BBB collects the following types of personal
information: names, postal and e-mail addresses, phone and facsimile numbers and
complaint information. The BBB may also collect business information from sole
proprietorships that apply for membership or program participation, some of
which might constitute personal information, as well as personal information
from individuals acting solely in their business capacity. The BBB's complaint
form is hosted by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), which processes
your complaint according to its own privacy and security policies.
The BBB does not knowingly collect or maintain
any personal information from children under the age of 13. In addition, no part
of our site is designed with the purpose of attracting any person under age 13.
How BBB May Use Personal Information Collected Online
Unless you consent, the BBB will use your
personal information only for the purpose for which it was submitted such as to
reply to inquiries, handle your complaints and process billing and business
requests related to program participation, and we will use such information to
provide operational notices, in program recordkeeping and to conduct research on
industry marketplace practices. Our research may lead to the publication of
aggregate demographical data but will not result in the reporting or publication
of any personal information provided to us. At certain points where personal
information is collected on our site, there may be a box where you may indicate
you would like to be on a list to receive information about other BBB programs
and services and about ways to support the BBB and its Foundation. At any time
you can add or remove your name from our mailing list by contacting us at info@columbus-ohbbb.org.
How Your Information May Be Shared
In order to process complaints against
businesses, the BBB will transfer complaints received online to the company
complained about. It is also possible that a complaint, request or inquiry will
be more appropriately handled by another BBB, in which case the request or
inquiry will be transferred to the proper BBB. By completing a complaint form or
sending us a request or inquiry, you are allowing us to forward your information
to the proper business and also to the proper BBB, if necessary. Without
submission of the requested information, the BBB will not be able to share your
information and process your complaint. The BBB may also share your personal
information with the CBBB for CBBB to research industry marketplace practices.
Just as in any research we may do, CBBB research will not result in the
reporting or publication of any personal information. The BBB never sells or
rents personal information.
We will also release personal information to appropriate governmental authorities under the following circumstances:
- Where release is required by law (for example, a subpoena) or regulation, or is requested by a government agency conducting investigations or proceedings;
- Where our records indicate a company may be engaged in fraudulent activity or other deceptive practices that a governmental agency should be made aware of;
- To appropriate governmental authorities, where warranted by a company's failure to participate in the BBB's advertising self-regulatory process; or
- To appropriate persons, where your communication suggests possible harm to others.
Help Us Keep Your Personal Information Accurate
If your personal information changes or you would like to review the personal information we may have on file, please email us with the new information or your review request at Contact Us form. Let us also know the department or BBB program that led to your submission of personal information so we may efficiently locate your information.
Computer Tracking and Cookies
Our web site is not set up to track, collect or
distribute personal information not entered by its visitors. Our site logs do
generate certain kinds of non-identifying site usage data, such as the number of
hits and visits to our site. This information is used for internal purposes by
technical support staff to provide better services to the public and may also be
provided to others, but again, the statistics contain no personal information
and cannot be used to gather such information.
A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent
to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. The
BBB uses non-identifying cookies to provide easier site navigation and access to
forms. You can still use the BBB site if your browser is set to reject cookies.
Our cookies do not generate personal data, do not read personal data from your
machine and are never tied to anything that could be used to identify you.
Problems
If you have a complaint about the BBB's compliance with this privacy policy,
you may contact us at kmorse@columbus-ohbbb.org.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may elect
to proceed with the BBBOnLine's Privacy Policy Review Service by completing
the complaint form.
