Last Updated: July 31, 2007
Improvements® respects the
privacy of our customers 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 Improvements® web site
or who otherwise provides us with information through various means such as phone,
fax, mail, or at a retail store, 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 or otherwise doing business with us,
you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy. The
Territory Ahead is a part of the IAC/InterActiveCorp family of businesses, (www.iac.com),
which includes: HSN, Ticketmaster, LendingTree, RealEstate.com, Ask.com,
Citysearch, Evite, Match.com, Interval International, ServiceMagic,
Entertainment Publications, IAC/InterActiveCorp, Gifts.com, Pronto, and many
others.
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.
In General. We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name, phone
number, mailing address, e-mail 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 by
phone or in some other manner. This includes identifying information, such
as your name, address, email address, and telephone number, and, if you transact business
with us, financial information such as your
payment method (valid credit card number, type, expiration date or other
financial information), in addition to transactional data that we may
retain. We also may request information about your interests and
activities, your gender and age, your opinion about products and services
we offer, and other demographic information.
- Information from other sources. We may also
periodically obtain both personal and non-personal information about you
from other IAC businesses, business partners, contractors and other third
parties and add it to our account information or other information we have
collected. Examples of information that we may receive include: updated
delivery and address information, purchase history, and additional
demographic information.
- Information about others. We may also collect and store
personal information about other people that you provide to us. If you use our website to send others (friends, relatives,
colleagues, etc.) a product as a gift, information that may interest them or
messages (such as invitations) through our system, we may store your personal
information, and the personal information of each such recipient.
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 may include 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, 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 and other similar
technologies, to track your use of our site. We also may include web beacons
in promotional email 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 providers, IAC companies,
advertising companies, and ad networks, to display advertisements on our site.
These companies may use tracking technologies, such as cookies, to collect information about users who view or interact with
their advertisements. Our website does not provide any personal information to
these third parties. This information allows them to deliver targeted
advertisements and gauge their effectiveness. Some of these third-party
advertising companies may be advertising networks that are members of the
Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a single location to opt out of ad
targeting from member companies (www.networkadvertising.org).
In general. We may use information that we collect about you to:
- deliver the products and services that you have requested;
- manage your account and provide you with customer support;
- perform research and analysis about your use of, or interest in,
our products, services, or content, or products, services or content offered by others;
- communicate with you by e-mail, postal mail, telephone and/or
mobile devices about products or services that may be of interest to you either
from us, our sister IAC companies or other third parties;
- develop and display content and advertising tailored to your interests on our site and other sites;
- verify your eligibility and deliver prizes in connection with contests and sweepstakes;
- enforce our terms and conditions;
- manage our business and
- perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of collection.
Financial information. We may use financial information or payment
method to process payment for any purchases made on our website, or by phone,
fax or mail, to enroll you in the discount, rebate, and other programs in which
you elect to participate, to pre-qualify you for credit card and other offers
that you might find of interest, to protect against or identify possible
fraudulent transactions, and otherwise as needed to manage our business.
Job applicants. If you submit personal information to us when
applying for a position with our company, the information will be used solely
in connection with considering and acting upon your application. We may retain
your personal information for a period of time, but only for the purpose of
considering your application for current or future available positions. This
information may be shared with our sister IAC companies for the purpose of
evaluating your qualifications for the particular position or other available
positions, as well as with third-party service providers retained by us to
collect, maintain and analyze candidate submissions for job postings.
Please review "Your choices about collection and use of your information" below.
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 web site 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 providers. We may share your personal information with our authorized
service providers that perform certain services on our behalf. These
services may include fulfilling orders, processing credit card payments,
delivering packages, providing customer service and marketing assistance,
performing business and sales analysis, supporting our website
functionality, and supporting contests, sweepstakes, surveys and other
features offered through our website, catalogs, by phone or mail.
These service providers 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.
- Business partners.
When you make purchases or engage in promotions offered through our
website, catalogs or through our other 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 e-mail address and other information to that merchant.
- Direct mail partners.
From time to time we may share our postal mailing list with selected
providers of goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you
prefer not to receive mailings from these providers, you can notify us at
any time by contacting us by telephone, 1-800-634-9484; e-mail, custserv@improvementscatalog.com; or by writing us
at Improvements®, Attn: Customer Service, 419 State
St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2304. Improvements® is a member of the Direct
Marketing Association (DMA) and follows DMA privacy guidelines. The DMA's
Mail Preference Service reduces the availability of your name and address
to many other direct marketing customers. To learn more, click on www.dmaconsumers.org.
- Other IAC businesses.
We are part of the IAC family of businesses (go to www.iac.com for a listing of these
businesses). We may share information we collect, including
personal information, with the IAC companies. Sharing information with
our IAC companies enables us to provide you with information about a
variety of products and services that might interest you. All IAC
companies comply with the IAC Consumer Privacy. Our IAC companies also will comply with applicable
privacy and security laws and, at a minimum, in any commercial e-mail they
send to you, will give you the opportunity to choose not to receive such
e-mail messages in the future.
- Other situations. We also may disclose your information:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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. Those 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. This aggregated data does not
contain any personal information. We may also share it with third parties and
our IAC sister companies to develop and deliver targeted advertising on our
websites, on websites of third parties, or by other means. 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.
There are a number of places on our website where you may click on a link to
access other websites that do not operate under this Privacy Policy. For
example, if you click on an advertisement or a link on our website, you may be
taken to a website that we do not control. These third-party websites may
independently solicit and collect information, including personal information,
from you and, in some instances, provide us with information about your
activities on those websites. We recommend that you consult the privacy statements
of all third-party websites you visit by clicking on the "privacy" link
typically located at the bottom of the web page you are visiting.
If you have an online account with us, you have the
ability to review and update your personal information online by logging into
your account. You can also review and update your personal information by contacting us by phone or mail. More
information about how to contact us is provided below.
If you have an online account with us, you also may choose to close your
account at any time by contacting Improvements® customer service. However,
you can open a new account at any time. If you close your account, we may
still retain certain information associated with your account for analytical
purposes and record keeping 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.
- You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but that may result
in you being unable to use certain features of our website because such
information may be required in order for you to register as a member;
purchase products or services through our website or by phone or fax;
participate in a contest, promotion, survey, or sweepstakes; ask a
question; or initiate other transactions on our website.
- At any time you can choose to no longer receive commercial or promotional e-mails or newsletters from
us. When your register or provide your e-mail address on our website, you
will be given a choice as to whether you want to receive e-mail messages
about special offers. You may modify your choice at any time. 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 e-mail communications, such as
service announcements, administrative notices, and surveys, without
offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. Please note
that changing information in your account, or otherwise opting out of receipt
of promotional e-mail communications will only affect future activities or
communications from us. If we have already provided your information to a
third party before you have changed your preferences or updated your
information, you may have to change you preferences directly with that
third party.
- Opt-out. If you do not wish to receive mailings from other companies or to have personal information
shared with other companies, including other IAC businesses, please contact us by phone, email or mail.
- Under our Do Not Call policy you may instruct us not to call you for marketing purposes by contacting
Improvements® customer service. We will implement your instructions within 30
days. We have policies and procedures in place and train our employees to
honor your request. Please note that we may still need to call you for
servicing or other non-marketing purposes.
- We may share your name and mailing address with carefully selected businesses for purposes of sending
you relevant catalog, magazine or fundraising offers in the mail.
Improvements® is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
and follows DMA privacy guidelines. The DMA's Mail Preference Service
reduces the availability of your name and address to many other direct
marketing companies. To learn more, click on www.dmaconsumers.org.
Our company contact points:
Toll Free: 1-800-634-9484
Email: custserv@improvementscatalog.com
Mail: Improvements®
5566 West Chester Road
West Chester, OH 45069-2914
We take appropriate security measures (including physical,
electronic and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information
from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, only authorized
employees are permitted to access personal information, and they may do so only
for permitted business functions. In addition, we use encryption in the
transmission of your sensitive personal information between your system and
ours, and we use firewalls to help prevent unauthorized persons from gaining
access to your personal information.
We want you to feel confident using our website to transact
business. However, no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we
take steps to secure your information, we do not promise, and you should not
expect, that your personal information, searches, or other communications will
always remain secure. Users should also take care with how they handle and disclose
their personal information and should avoid sending personal information
through insecure e-mail. Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission's
website at www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data.shtm
for information about how to protect yourself against identity theft.
We may provide areas on our website where you can post
reviews of products. Such postings are governed by our Terms of Use. In addition,
such postings may appear on other websites or when searches are executed on the
subject of your posting. We cannot control who reads your posting or what other
users may do with the information you voluntarily post, so we encourage you to
exercise discretion and caution with respect to your personal information. Once
you have posted information, you will not be able to edit or delete such information.
Our website is a general audience site, and we do not knowingly collect
personal information from children under the age of 13.
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. Please be assured that we seek to take
reasonable steps to ensure that your privacy is protected. 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.
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or
require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of the
website.
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 sending an e-mail to the e-mail address you most recently provided us in
your account, profile or registration (unless we do not have such an e-mail
address), and/or by prominently posting notice of the changes on our website.
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.
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 Contact:
Customer Service
c/o Improvements®
5566 West Chester Road
West Chester, OH 45069-2914
1-800-634-9484
© 2007 IAC/InterActiveCorp. All rights reserved.
