Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information collected by GEE Projects Pty Ltd, trading as SolvLab (ABN 53 698 956 866), via the website at solvlab.com.au and through running our business.

1. What is personal information?

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) currently defines personal information as meaning information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether it is recorded in a material form or not.

If the information does not disclose your identity or enable your identity to be ascertained, in most cases it will not be classified as personal information and will not be subject to this policy.

2. What information do we collect?

The kind of personal information we collect from you depends on how you use the website and whether you become a client. The personal information we collect and hold about you may include your name, phone number, email address, business name, your business structure, and preferences related to our services.

Where you send us an enquiry or book a call, we also collect the details you choose to give us about your business systems and what you are trying to fix. Where you use the chat on our website, we collect a transcript of that conversation.

3. How we collect your personal information

We may collect personal information from you whenever you input such information into the website.

We also collect cookies from your computer which enable us to tell when you use the website and help us customise your website experience. As a general rule, it is not possible to identify you personally from our use of cookies.

We collect personal information through the following tools on our website: our enquiry form and booking calendar, which create a record in our Zoho CRM; our website chat, provided by Zoho SalesIQ; and Google Tag Manager, which loads analytics tags. These services are described further in sections 9 and 12.

4. Purpose of collection

The purpose for which we collect personal information is to provide you with the best service experience possible on the website, to respond to your enquiry, and to deliver our services to you.

We customarily disclose personal information only to our service providers who assist us in operating the website and our business. Your personal information may also be exposed from time to time to maintenance and support personnel acting in the normal course of their duties.

We will only send you direct marketing material where you have consented to receive it, or where it is material of a type you would reasonably expect to receive from us given your existing relationship with us. We do not use sensitive personal information in direct marketing. Every direct marketing communication includes a simple means by which you can request not to receive further communications of that nature.

5. Marketing materials

We may send you direct marketing communications and updates about our services that we think might interest you. These messages could be sent by mail, SMS or email, in line with relevant marketing laws including the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). If you have a preferred communication method, we will try to use it whenever possible. You can opt out of receiving our marketing messages at any time by contacting us using the details below, or by using the opt-out options in our messages. We will then remove your name from our mailing list. We do not share your personal information with other organisations for direct marketing purposes.

6. Client data in the course of our services

Delivering our services often requires us to access systems that hold personal information about your customers, staff or contacts. Where that is the case, we act on your instructions in relation to that information. We access it only to the extent needed to perform the work, we do not use it for our own purposes, and we do not disclose it other than as set out in this policy or as you direct. Where a client requires a separate data processing or confidentiality agreement, we are happy to enter into one.

7. Payments

Where you pay for our services through this website, payment is processed by Stripe. We do not collect, see or store your full card details at any point. Those details are provided directly to Stripe, which is responsible for processing them securely and which maintains PCI DSS compliance.

What we do receive and hold is a record of the transaction: your name, email address, billing details, the amount paid, what it was for, the date, and a partial card reference such as the last four digits and card type. We hold that information because we need it to issue tax invoices, provide refunds, answer billing queries, keep proper financial records and meet our obligations under Australian tax law. Transaction records are retained for seven years.

Stripe processes and stores payment information overseas, including in the United States. Stripe handles that information under its own privacy policy and under contractual obligations to us. We take reasonable steps to ensure it handles your information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles. If you have a dispute about a payment, contact us first and we will work with Stripe to resolve it.

8. Access and correction

Australian Privacy Principle 12 permits you to obtain access to the personal information we hold about you in certain circumstances, and Australian Privacy Principle 13 allows you to correct inaccurate personal information subject to certain exceptions. If you would like to obtain such access, please contact us as set out below.

9. Who will we disclose your data to?

We may disclose your personal information to:

• —Our directors, employees, agents, contractors or service providers, in order to operate our website and business, fulfil your requests and provide our services. This includes web hosting providers, IT administrators, mailing services, couriers, payment processors, data entry services, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, and professional advisers such as accountants, lawyers, business advisers and consultants.
• —Suppliers and other third parties with whom we have business relationships, for business, marketing and related purposes.
• —Credit reporting agencies, courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities and law enforcement officers, if customers fail to pay for goods or services, or as otherwise required by law.
• —Any other organisation for any authorised purpose with your express consent.

We only share your information with third parties who agree to uphold the standards in this privacy policy.

If there is a change or potential change in the control of our business due to the sale, assignment or transfer of our business or business assets, we reserve the right to sell, assign or transfer our user databases, including personal and non-personal information, to the extent permitted by law. In such cases your personal information may be disclosed to the potential buyer, assignee or transferee, but only in good faith and with maintained confidentiality.

Overseas disclosure. Some of the platforms and people we rely on are located outside Australia, which means your personal information may be stored or accessed overseas. This includes the Zoho platform, which we use for our CRM, email, website chat and business systems, and which stores data in its Australian and international data centres; our payment provider Stripe, which processes payments made through this website and stores payment information overseas, including in the United States; and contractors and specialist consultants who may be located outside Australia and who are bound by confidentiality obligations to us. Where we disclose personal information to an overseas recipient, we take reasonable steps to ensure that recipient handles it consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

10. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it. Enquiries that do not become engagements are ordinarily retained for two years, in case you come back to us. Client records, including project documentation and correspondence, are retained for seven years after the engagement ends, consistent with our tax and business record-keeping obligations. Website chat transcripts are retained for twelve months. After those periods we delete or de-identify the information, unless we are required by law to keep it for longer.

11. Security

We are committed to safeguarding your personal data. We employ a range of security measures to protect your information from unauthorised access, misuse, loss or disclosure. These measures include encryption, secure servers and regular review of our security practices. While we strive to use effective methods to protect your data, no system can be entirely foolproof. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and by using our services you acknowledge the inherent risks associated with data transmission and storage.

If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

12. Cookies and web tracking

This section explains what cookies are, how we use them, how third-party partners may use them on our website, and your choices regarding cookies.

General information about visits to our website is collected by our servers using small files called cookies, which our website transfers to your device through your web browser, if you allow the delivery of cookies. Cookies are used to follow the pattern of movement of users, by letting us know which pages on our website are visited, in what order and how often. The anonymous, non-personal information we collect and analyse in this way is not personal information as described in the Privacy Act.

When you access our website, small files containing a unique identification number may be downloaded by your web browser and stored in the cache of your device, so that our website can recognise your device when you next visit. These cookies cannot be used to discover personal information such as your name, address or email address. They merely identify your device to our website when you visit us.

We may also log the internet protocol address of visitors to our website so that we can work out the countries in which those devices are located.

We collect information using cookies and other tracking technologies in order to monitor the performance of our website so that we can improve it and the services we offer; to provide a more useful experience to each user of our website; and, where we have permission, to send emails about our services that are relevant to what we understand are the interests of the user. Even where you have given us permission to send you emails, you can at any time choose not to receive further emails by unsubscribing.

In addition to our own cookies, we use Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics to understand how the website is used, and Zoho SalesIQ to provide website chat. These services may set their own cookies. You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies may affect how parts of our website work.

13. Complaints

If you have a complaint concerning the manner in which we maintain the privacy of your personal information, please contact us as set out below. All complaints will be considered by our Founder and Director, Georgina Ellershaw, and we may seek further information from you to clarify your concerns. If we agree that your complaint is well founded, we will, in consultation with you, take appropriate steps to rectify the problem. If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you may refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

14. GDPR

In some circumstances, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation provides additional protection to individuals located in Europe. Where this is the case, there may be additional rights and remedies available to you under the GDPR if your personal information is handled in a manner inconsistent with that law.

15. How to contact us about privacy

If you have any queries, if you seek access to your personal information, or if you have a complaint about our privacy practices, you can contact us at info@solvlab.com.au.