3. Privacy Policy

Privacy Statement

Provet Pty Ltd (ABN: 46 076 468 481) and its related companies (together Provet, we, us, our and other similar expressions) are committed to protecting your personal privacy.  This Privacy Policy tells you how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal information.  We encourage you to read this policy carefully so that you understand our information handling practices

Information we collect

In order to provide our customers with our products and services, we may collect and use personal information about you and others. If we are not provided with all the personal information we request, we may not be able to supply our products and services.

The type of information we collect includes names, addresses, credit card details (if you buy products or services from us) and other contact details.

We do not normally collect or store ‘sensitive information’, as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (eg. information about ethnic origin, religious beliefs or health). However, if we do, we will only collect that information with your consent or as otherwise permitted by law. 

Collection of Credit Information

If you are a customer and we give you credit, we may also collect credit information or credit eligibility information about you. Credit information and credit eligibility information are particular types of personal information.

The credit information and credit eligibility information we may collect about you includes: identification information; credit liability information; repayment history information; details of any request for your information that we receive from a credit provider, mortgage insurer or trade insurer; the type and the amount of credit sought; default information; payment information; court proceedings information; personal insolvency information; information about any serious credit infringement by you; information disclosed in reports obtained from credit reporting bodies; information from property searches; and information provided by trade references. 

We generally collect your credit information or credit eligibility information directly from you, for example, if you complete our Commercial Account Application Form.

We may also collect credit information or credit eligibility information about you from third parties.  For example, from any organisation with whom you have any dealings, credit reporting bodies such as Veda, or from publicly maintained records.

The purpose for which we may collect, hold, use and disclose credit information or credit eligibility information about you, is so we can assess whether to extend credit to you or to a customer (if you have given a personal guarantee in respect of that customer).

If permitted under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), we may disclose credit information or credit eligibility information about you to any organisation with whom you have any dealings, credit reporting bodies, creditors, other traders in the markets we trade in, our commercial customers, our suppliers and  retailers of our products.

How we collect personal information

Generally, we collect an individual’s personal information from that individual.  For example, we may collect information from you when you complete our Commercial Account Application Form, or provide a personal guarantee, or when you provide us with information, whether in person, by telephone, online or in writing. If you submit an order (including by telephone or online), we will collect information necessary to fulfil that order.
However, occasionally we may also collect personal information from someone other than the individual, for example from any other organisation with which you have had any dealings, or which you have nominated to act as trade referee, or from publicly maintained records.

How we store personal information

We take all reasonable steps to keep secure any personal information which we hold about you and to protect your personal information from loss, misuse or unauthorised alteration. Any personal information you provide to us is stored on secure servers. Access to personal information is limited to those of our personnel who specifically need it to carry out their business responsibilities. We also maintain physical security procedures to manage and protect the use and storage of records containing personal information.

We are not responsible or liable for the security of data sent via the internet.

Purpose of collection

We collect personal information so we can:

• meet our legal obligations;
• identify our customers, potential customers and their representatives;
• inform you or others of any initiatives we think may be of interest to you or them;
• inform you or others about our products and services and the benefits of using our products and services;
• provide you or others with information about offers or other benefits that may become available;
• seek your opinion or comments about our products and services;
• to provide goods, services or other benefits to be offered to customers, or for purposes necessary or incidental to the provision of goods, services or other benefits to you;
• carry out billing and/or debt recovery activities;
• carry out our management, administrative quality assurance and complaint handling activities in a professional and efficient manner;
• develop and implement initiatives to improve our products and services;
• to register security interests on the Personal Properties Security Register;
• to assess your request for deferred payment terms, or interact with you as guarantor; and
• to conduct credit checks via third party credit reporting bodies.

Use & disclosure

We use and disclose the personal information we collect for the purposes indicated above, and for other secondary purposes. 

We usually disclose the personal information we collect to our related entities, service providers and contractors, who help us supply our products and services. For example, we may disclose the personal information we collect to our information technology providers, providers of marketing and promotional services, professional advisors such as legal practitioners and accountants, debt collectors and insurers.

Except where indicated above, we will not use or disclose your personal information to a third party unless:

• you have consented to the use and disclosure;
• the third party is our service provider or contractor, in which case we will require them to use and disclose the personal information only for the purpose for which it was provided to them;
• the third party is a person involved in a dealing or proposed dealing (including a sale) of all or part of our assets and business;
• the third party is a credit reporting agency, your creditor, banker, financier, credit provider, mortgage insurer or trade insurer;
• the disclosure is to a related body corporate; or
• the disclosure is permitted, required or authorised by or under law.

Marketing

We may use your personal information to advise you of new products and marketing initiatives that we think may be of interest to you. This may include product and service offerings, newsletters and general information about us.

If you prefer not to receive information about our products and services you can ask to be removed from the relevant circulation list by contacting us, using the details listed below.

We never disclose personal information to a third party for the purpose of allowing them to direct market their products or service to you, unless you have expressly consented to that disclosure.

Access

If at any time you want to know what personal information we hold about you, you are welcome to request access to that information by contacting us, using the details listed below. We may charge a fee to cover the reasonable costs we incur in processing your request.

We may also choose to deny your request for access where:

• the access impacts on the privacy of others;
• the request for access is frivolous or vexatious;
• there are existing or anticipated legal proceedings; or
• such access can be denied under law or by a law enforcement agency.

If we deny your request for access, we will let you know why.

Quality & correction

At all times we strive to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If at any time you believe the personal information that we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, you should let us know. We will use all reasonable efforts to correct the information.

Website & cookies

To ensure we are meeting the needs and wants of our website users, and to develop our online services, we may collect aggregated information by using cookies or similar electronic tools.

Cookies are small amounts of information sent from a web server to your computer.  These cookies are used to retain login and location information in order to make your experience more convenient and personal.  We do not use cookies to track your internet activity before or after you leave our website.  No other business has access to our cookies. 

We do not use this technology to access any personal information of a user in our records and a user cannot be personally identified from a cookie.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

As our business evolves our business processes and policies will be reviewed and may be revised. We may change our Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you of any change by posting an updated version of our Privacy Policy on our website. Please check our website regularly.

Complaints

We are committed to constantly improving our procedures so that personal information is treated appropriately. If you feel that we have failed to deal with your personal information in accordance with this policy or in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact us, using the details listed below, so we have an opportunity to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.

We will log your complaint and our privacy officer will:

• listen to your concerns and grievances;
• discuss with you the ways in which we can remedy the situation; and
• put in place an action plan to resolve your complaint and improve our information handling procedures if appropriate.

If we have tried to resolve your complaint and you are not happy with our response, you may also contact the Office of Australian Information Commissioner by calling 1300 363 992 or by visiting www.oaic.gov.au.

Disclosure to overseas recipients

We are not likely to disclose your personal information to recipients located overseas.

Contact us

If you require more detailed information about our information handling practices or if you have any concerns about our handling of your personal information, you can contact Provet’s Privacy Officer via our email form.

We will endeavour to respond to your concerns as quickly as possible.