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. The BBB
encrypts billing information wherever the BBB requests it. 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, billing information,
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 does not collect or maintain information from those actually
known to be under the age of 13, and no part of our site is structured
to attract anyone under the age of 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
.
At any time you can add or remove your name from our
mailing list by contacting us at
info@richmond.bbb.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 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;
- 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
info@richmond.bbb.org.
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.