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The
Waterhouse Group Privacy Statement
This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for The Waterhouse
Group
Here you will find our privacy practices in these areas.
1. What personally identifiable information of yours or third party
personally identification is collected from you through the web site
2. The organization collecting the information
3. How the information is used
4. With whom the information may be shared
5. What choices are available to you regarding collection, use and distribution
of the information
6. The kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the
loss, misuse or alteration of information under The Waterhouse Group
control
7. How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.
Information Collection and Use
The Waterhouse Group is the sole owner of the information collected
on this site. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others
in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement. The Waterhouse
Group collects information from our users at several different points
on our website.
Registration
In order to use this website, a user must first complete the registration
form. During registration a user is required to give their contact information
(such as name and email address). This information is used to contact
the user about the services on our site for which they have expressed
interest. It is optional for the user to provide demographic information
(such as income level and gender), and unique identifiers (such as social
security number), but encouraged so we can provide a more personalized
experience on our site.
Order
We request information from the user on our order form. Here a user
must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and
financial information (like credit card number, expiration date). This
information is used for billing purposes and to fill customer’s orders.
If we have trouble processing an order, this contact information is
used to get in touch with the user.
Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s hard drive containing
information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to
any personally identifiable information while on our site. Once the
user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates. For instance,
by setting a cookie on our site, the user would not have to log in a
password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. If a
user rejects the cookie, they may still use our site. The only drawback
to this is that the user will be limited in some areas of our site.
For example, the user will not be able to participate in any of our
Sweepstakes, Contests or monthly Drawings that take place. Cookies can
also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance
the experience on our site.
Some of our business partners use cookies on our site (for example,
advertisers). However, we have no access to or control over these cookies.
Log Files
We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s
movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.
IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.
Sharing
We will share aggregated demographic information with our partners and
advertisers. This is not linked to any personal information that can
identify any individual person.
We use an outside credit card processing company to bill users for goods
and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally
identifiable information for any secondary purposes.
We partner with another party to provide specific services. When the
user signs up for these services, we will share names, or other contact
information that is necessary for the third party to provide these services.
These parties are not allowed to use personally identifiable information
except for the purpose of providing these services.
Links
This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we
The Waterhouse Group are not responsible for the privacy practices of
such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave
our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site
that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement
applies solely to information collected by this Web site.
Newsletter
If a user wishes to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact
information such as name and email address.
Surveys & Contests
From time-to-time our site requests information from users via surveys
or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely
voluntary and the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose
this information. Information requested may include contact information
(such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such
as zip code, age level). Contact information will be used to notify
the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes
of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site.
Tell-A-Friend
If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend
about our site, we ask them for the friend’s name and email address.
The Waterhouse Group will automatically send the friend a one-time email
inviting them to visit the site. The Waterhouse Group stores this information
for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email. The friend may
contact The Waterhouse Group at support@VinWaterhouse.com to request
the removal of this information from their database.
Security
This website takes every precaution to protect our users’ information.
When users submit sensitive information via the website, your information
is protected both online and off-line.
When our registration/order form asks users to enter sensitive information
(such as credit card number and/or social security number), that information
is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the
industry - SSL. While on a secure page, such as our order form, the
lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and
Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked,
or open, when you are just ‘surfing’.
While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online,
we also do everything in our power to protect user-information off-line.
All of our users’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned
above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information
to perform a specific job (for example, our billing clerk or a customer
service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable
information. Our employees must use password-protected screen-savers
when they leave their desk. When they return, they must re-enter their
password to re-gain access to your information. Furthermore, ALL employees
are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Every quarter,
as well as any time new policies are added, our employees are notified
and/or reminded about the importance we place on privacy, and what they
can do to ensure our customers’ information is protected. Finally, the
servers that we store personally identifiable information on are kept
in a secure environment.
If you have any questions about the security at our website, you can
send an email to security@VinWaterhouse.com.
Supplementation of Information
In order for this website to properly fulfill its obligation to our
customers, it is necessary for us to supplement the information we receive
with information from 3rd party sources.
For example, to determine if our customers qualify for one of our credit
cards, we use their name and social security number to request a credit
report. Once we determine a user’s credit-worthiness, this document
is destroyed.
(or)
In order for this website to enhance its ability to tailor the site
to an individual’s preference, we combine information about the purchasing
habits of users with similar information from our partners to create
a personalized user profile. When a user makes a purchase from these
partners, the partners collect and share that purchase information with
us so we can tailor the site to our users’ preferences.
Special Offers
We send all new members a welcoming email to verify password and username.
Established members will occasionally receive information on products,
services, special deals, and a newsletter. Out of respect for the privacy
of our users we present the option to not receive these types of communications.
Please see our choice and opt-out below.
Site and Service Updates
We also send the user site and service announcement updates. Members
are not able to un-subscribe from service announcements, which contain
important information about the service. We communicate with the user
to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to their
account via email or phone.
Correction/Updating Personal Information:
If a user’s personally identifiable information changes (such as your
zip code), or if a user no longer desires our service, we will endeavor
to provide a way to correct, update or remove that user’s personal data
provided to us. This can usually be done at the member information page
or by emailing our Customer Support.
Choice/Opt-out
Our users are given the opportunity to ‘opt-out’ of having their information
used for purposes not directly related to our site at the point where
we ask for the information.
Users who no longer wish to receive our newsletter or promotional materials
from our partners may opt-out of receiving these communications by replying
to unsubscribe in the subject line in the email or email us at support@VinWaterhouse.com
Users of our site are always notified when their information is being
collected by any outside parties. We do this so our users can make an
informed choice as to whether they should proceed with services that
require an outside party, or not.
Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes
on our Homepage so our users are always aware of what information we
collect, how we use it, and under circumstances, if any, we disclose
it. If at any point we decide to use personally identifiable information
in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected,
we will notify users by way of an email. Users will have a choice as
to whether or not we use their information in this different manner.
We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under
which the information was collected.
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