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Privacy Policy
HomeTool.com respects the privacy of our users and has developed this Privacy Policy to demonstrate its commitment to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy is intended to describe for you, as an individual who is a user of www.HomeTool.com (and all websites and URL’s controlled or operated by HomeTool.com, Inc. which link to this policy, unless otherwise specified) or our services, or otherwise provide us with information through various means the information we collect, how that information may be used, with whom it may be shared, and your choices about such uses and disclosures.
We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully when using our website or services or transacting business with us. By using our website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please refer to the end of this Privacy Policy for information on how to contact us.
Information we collect about you
In general
We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name and email address and other information that does not identify you. When you provide personal information through our website, the information may be sent to servers located in the United States and other countries around the world.
Information you provide
We may collect and store any personal information you enter on our website or provide to us in some other manner. This includes identifying information, such as your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, credit card information, and other personally identifiable information.
Information from other sources
We may also periodically obtain both personal and non-personal information about you from other business partners, contractors and other third parties. Examples of information that we may receive include: updated delivery and address information, purchase history, and additional demographic information.
Use of cookies and other technologies to collect information
We use various technologies to collect information from your computer and about your activities on our site.
Information collected automatically
We automatically collect information from your browser when you visit our website. This information includes your IP address, your browser type and language, access times, the content of any undeleted cookies that your browser previously accepted from us (see “Cookies” below), and the referring website address.
Cookies
When you visit our website, we may assign your computer one or more cookies, to facilitate access to our site and to personalize your online experience. Through the use of a cookie, we also may automatically collect information about your online activity on our site, such as the web pages you visit, the links you click, and the searches you conduct on our site. Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies (explained more fully at the end of this document), please note that you may not be able to sign in or use some of the interactive features offered on our website.
Other technologies
We may use standard Internet technology, such as web beacons (explained more fully at the end of this document), and other similar technologies, to track your use of our site. We also may include web beacons in promotional or other e-mail messages or newsletters to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon. The information we obtain in this manner enables us to customize the services we offer our website visitors to deliver targeted advertisements and to measure the overall effectiveness of our online advertising, content, programming or other activities.
Information collected by third-parties
We may allow third-parties, including our authorized Service Contractors, advertising companies, and ad networks, to display advertisements on our site. These companies may use tracking technologies, such as cookies or web beacons, to collect information about users who view or interact with their advertisements. This information allows them to deliver targeted advertisements and gauge their effectiveness.
How we use the information we collect
In general
We may use information that we collect about you to:
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deliver the products and services that you have requested;
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manage your account and provide you with customer support;
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perform research and analysis about your use of, or interest in, our products, services, or content, or products, services or content offered by others;
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communicate with you by email, postal mail, telephone and/or mobile devices or send newsletters about products or services that may be of interest to you either from us or other third parties;
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communicate with you with regard to partially completed service requests;
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develop and display content and advertising tailored to your interests on our site and other sites;
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verify your eligibility and deliver prizes in connection with contests and sweepstakes;
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perform background screening, which may include the use of third parties, on Service Professionals;
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enforce our terms and conditions;
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publicly display comments, ratings and reviews and other content provided by you;
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manage our business; and
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perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of collection.
Payment and financial information
We may use credit card information to process payment for any payments made on our website.
With whom we share your information
We want you to understand when and with whom we may share personal or other information we have collected about you or your activities on our website or while using our services.
Personal information
We do not share your personal information with others except as indicated below or when we inform you and give you an opportunity to opt-out of having your personal information shared. We may share personal information with:
Authorized service contractors
We may share your personal information with our authorized Service Contractors that perform certain services on our behalf. These services may include fulfilling orders, processing credit card payments, providing customer service and marketing assistance, performing residential home services, supporting our website functionality, and other features offered through our website or performing background checks of Service Professionals. These Service Contractors may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions but are not permitted to share or use such information for any other purposes.
Marketing affiliates
When you are referred to us via a third party marketing affiliate, we may share your email address, and other information that you provide, to such marketing affiliate.
Business partners
When you make purchases, reservations or engage in promotions offered through our website or our services, we may share personal information with the businesses with which we partner to offer you those products, services, promotions, contests and/or sweepstakes. When you elect to engage in a particular merchant’s offer or program, you authorize us to provide your email address and other information to that merchant.
Service professionals
We match your information and service request against our list of Service Contractors. When you submit a service request, you consent to our providing your personal information and request to the Service Contractors we match with your request. Sharing this information with Service Contractors allows them to contact you using the e-mail address, cell phone or other contact information you provided. In addition, we have other approved contractual partners that fulfill service requests, or that utilize their own Service Professionals to supplement our network, and we share your information with them in order to attempt to provide the services requested. If using our services pursuant to a membership with one of our partners, we may share your service request activity information with such partner.
Other situations
We also may disclose your information:
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In response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, a court order, or a request for cooperation from a law enforcement or other government agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us.
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When we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding illegal activity, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, our employees, or others; to comply with applicable law or cooperate with law enforcement; or to enforce our website terms and conditions or other agreements or policies.
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In connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as the sale of our business, a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
For Service Contractors, we may share your business contact information with third parties, including but not limited to, business name, address, telephone number, email address and name of owner or proprietor of the business.
Any third parties to whom we may disclose personal information may have their own privacy policies which describe how they use and disclose personal information. Those policies will govern use, handling and disclosure of your personal information once we have shared it with those third parties as described in this Privacy Policy. If you want to learn more about their privacy practices, we encourage you to visit the websites of those third parties. These entities or their servers may be located either inside or outside the United States.
Aggregated and non-personal information. We may share aggregated and non-personal information we collect under any of the above circumstances. We may also share it with third parties to develop and deliver targeted advertising on our websites and on websites of third parties. We may combine non-personal information we collect with additional non-personal information collected from other sources. We also may share aggregated information with third parties, including advisors, advertisers and investors, for the purpose of conducting general business analysis. For example, we may tell our advertisers the number of visitors to our website and the most popular features or services accessed. This information does not contain any personal information and may be used to develop website content and services that we hope you and other users will find of interest and to target content and advertising.
How can you access your information
If you have an online consumer account with us you can review and update your personal information by contacting us. More information about how to contact us is provided below.
You can also choose to have your account disabled by contacting us. After you deactivate your account, you will not be able to sign in to our website or access any of your personal information. However, you can open a new account at any time. If you deactivate your account, we may still retain certain information associated with your account for analytical purposes and recordkeeping integrity, as well as to prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, enforce our terms and conditions, take actions we deem necessary to protect the integrity of our web site or our users, or take other actions otherwise permitted by law. In addition, if certain information has already been provided to third parties as described in this Privacy Policy, retention of that information will be subject to those third parties’ policies.
Your choices about collection and use of your information
At any time a consumer user can choose to no longer receive commercial or promotional emails or newsletters from us by accessing your user account and opting out. You also will be given the opportunity, in any commercial e-mail that we send to you, to opt out of receiving such messages in the future. It may take up to 10 days for us to process an opt-out request. We may send you other types of transactional and relationship email communications, such as service announcements, administrative notices, and surveys, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them.
Children’s privacy
Our website is a general audience site, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.
Visiting our website from outside the United States
This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on our website from residents of the United States. If you are visiting our website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this privacy policy.
No rights of third-parties
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of the website.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices and services. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you by posting the updated policy on our website, with a link denoting that the policy has been updated. We recommend that you check our website from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies. To see the prior version of the HomeTool Privacy Policy you may send a written request to Legal Department, HomeTool, Inc., P.O. Box 22043, Houston, TX 77227
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information-handling practices, or if you would like to request information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please contact us by e-mail or postal mail as follows:
Privacy Policy Inquiry
HomeTool, Inc., P.O. Box 22043, Houston, TX 77227
Your California privacy rights
If you are a resident of California, in addition to the rights set forth above, you have the right to request information from us regarding the manner in which we share certain categories of personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. California law gives you the right to send us a request at a designated address to receive the following information:
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the categories of information we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year
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the names and addresses of the third parties that received that information; and
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if the nature of the third party’s business cannot be determined from their name, examples of the products or services marketed.
We may provide this information in a standardized format that is not specific to you. The designated email address for these requests is Info@HomeTool.com with the subject line “SB27 Request”
Linked information
Cookies
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record keeping purposes. Cookies can be either session cookies or persistent cookies. A session cookie expires when you close your browser and is used to make it easier for you to navigate our website. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time.
For example, when you sign in to our website, we will record your user or member ID and the name on your user or member account in the cookie file on your computer. We also may record your password in this cookie file, if you indicated that you would like your password saved for automatic sign-in. For security purposes, we will encrypt any usernames, passwords, and other user or member account-related data that we store in such cookies. In the case of sites and services that do not use a user or member ID, the cookie will contain a unique identifier. We may allow our authorized service providers to serve cookies from our website to allow them to assist us in various activities, such as doing analysis and research on the effectiveness of our site, content and advertising.
You may delete or decline cookies by changing your browser settings. (Click “Help” in the toolbar of most browsers for instructions.) If you do so, some of the features and services of our website may not function properly.
Web beacons
Web beacons (also known as clear gifs, pixel tags or web bugs) are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of web users or to access cookies. Unlike cookies which are stored on the user’s computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on the web pages (or in email) and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
Web beacons may be used to deliver or communicate with cookies, to count users who have visited certain pages and to understand usage patterns. We also may receive an anonymous identification number if you come to our site from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website.