Valley K Greenhouses is committed to safeguarding
the personal information entrusted to us by our customers.
We manage your personal information in accordance with
Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act and other
applicable laws. This policy outlines the principles
and practices we follow in protecting your personal
information.
This policy applies to Valley K Greenhouses
and its subsidiaries, valleyk.com, plantlilies.com,
plantlilies.ca, gardenlilies.ca, and Plantmasters
Hort Services. The policy also applies to any person
providing services on our behalf.
A copy of this policy is provided to any customer on
request.
What is personal information?
Personal information means information about an identifiable
individual. This includes an individual's name, home
address and phone number, and financial information
such as a credit card number and expiry date.
What personal information do we collect?
We collect only the personal information that we need
for the purposes of providing services to our customers,
including personal information needed to:
· open and manage an account
· deliver requested products and services
· enrol a customer in a program
· guarantee a purchase
· process a catalog subscription
· send out membership information
· provide guarantees for products and services
· contact customers about appointments
· follow up with customers to determine satisfaction
with products and services
· notify customers of upcoming events of interest
· administer our loyalty program
· meet regulatory requirements
We collect customer information directly from our customers.
We may collect your information from other persons as
authorized by law.
We inform our customers, before or at the time of collecting
personal information, of the purposes for which we are
collecting the information. The only time we don't provide
this notification is when a customer volunteers information
for an obvious purpose (for example, producing a credit
card for an in-store purchase when the information will
be used only to process the payment).
Consent
We ask for consent to collect, use or disclose customer
personal information, except in specific circumstances
where collection, use or disclosure without consent
is authorized or required by law. We may assume your
consent in cases where you volunteer information for
an obvious purpose.
In cases where we collected personal information before
January 1, 2004, we assume your consent to our use and,
where applicable, disclosure for the purpose for which
the information was collected.
We ask for your express consent for some purposes and
may not be able to provide certain services if you are
unwilling to provide consent to the collection, use
or disclosure of certain personal information. Where
express consent is needed, we will normally ask customers
to provide their consent orally (in person, by telephone),
in writing (by signing a consent form, by checking a
box on a form, or electronically (by clicking a button).
A customer may withdraw consent to the use and disclosure
of personal information at any time, unless the personal
information is necessary for us to fulfill our legal
obligations. We will respect your decision, but we may
not be able to provide you with certain products and
services if we do not have the necessary personal information.
We may collect, use or disclose customer personal information
without consent only as authorized by law. For example,
we may not request consent when the collection, use
or disclosure is reasonable for an investigation or
legal proceeding, to collect a debt owed to our organization,
in an emergency that threatens life, health or safety,
or when the personal information is from a public telephone
directory.
How do we use and disclose personal information?
We use and disclose customer personal information only
for the purposes for which the information was collected,
except as authorized by law. For example, we may use
customer contact information to deliver goods. The law
also allows us to use that contact information for the
purpose of collecting a debt owed to our organization,
should that be necessary.
If we wish to use or disclose your personal information
for any new business purpose, we will ask for your consent.
How do we safeguard personal information?
We make every reasonable effort to ensure that customer
information is accurate and complete. We rely on our
customers to notify us if there is a change to their
personal information that may affect their relationship
with our organization. If you are aware of an error
in our information about you, please let us know and
we will correct it on request wherever possible.
We protect customer personal information in a manner
appropriate for the sensitivity of the information.
We make every reasonable effort to prevent any loss,
misuse, disclosure or modification of personal information,
as well as any unauthorized access to personal information.
We use appropriate security measures
when destroying customer personal information, including
shredding paper records and permanently deleting electronic
records.
We retain customer personal information only as long
as is reasonable to fulfil the purposes for which the
information was collected or for legal or business purposes.
Access to records containing personal information
Customers of Valley K Greenhouses have a right
of access to their own personal information in a record
that is in our custody or under our control, subject
to some exceptions. For example, organizations are required
under the Personal Information Protection Act to refuse
to provide access to information that would reveal personal
information about another individual. Organizations
are authorized under the Act to refuse access to personal
information if disclosure would reveal confidential
business information. Access may also be refused if
the information is privileged or contained in mediation
records.
If we refuse a request in whole or in part, we will
provide the reasons for the refusal. In some cases where
exceptions to access apply, we may withhold that information
and provide you with the remainder of the record.
You may make a request for access to your personal
information by writing to Lynnette Westfall.
You must provide sufficient information in your request
to allow us to identify the information you are seeking.
You may also request information about our use of your
personal information and any disclosure of that information
to persons outside our organization. For personal information
collected before January 2004, if we do not have a record
of disclosures, we will provide information about any
disclosure of your information that is likely to have
occurred.
You may also request a correction of an error or omission
in your personal information. We will respond to your
request within 45 calendar days.
Questions and complaints
If you have a question or concern about any collection,
use or disclosure of personal information by Valley
K Greenhouses, or about a request for access to
your own personal information, please contact Lynnette
Westfall:
Lynnette Westfall
Valley K Greenhouses
RR 1, Edberg, AB T0B 1J0
Phone 1-780-877-2547
Fax 1-780-877-2540
webmaster@valleyk.com
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive,
you should contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner
of Alberta:
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
of Alberta
Suite 500, 640 - 5th Avenue S.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3G4
Phone: (403) 297-2728 Toll Free: 1-888-878-4044
E-mail: generalinfo@oipc.ab.ca
Web site: www.oipc.ab.ca
