Houseofgems.com - Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 10, 2004
HouseofGems.com knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy. By visiting HouseofGems.com, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
Your privacy is very important to us. We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent. Please read this privacy policy to learn more about the ways in which we use and protect your personal information.
If you have additional questions, you may send email to info@HouseofGems.com.
Overview
The privacy practices of this statement apply to our services available under the domain and subdomains of www.HouseofGems.com (the “Site”). By visiting this website, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use or access our Site.
This Privacy Policy describes the information, as part of the normal operation of our services, we collect from you and what may happen to that information. Although this policy may seem long, we have prepared a detailed policy because we believe you should know as much as possible about HouseofGems.com’s practices (and its affiliate House of Gems, Inc.) so that you can make informed decisions.
By accepting the Privacy Policy in registration, you expressly consent to our use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to the terms of the HouseofGems.com Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement. This Privacy Policy is effective upon acceptance in registration for new registering users, and is otherwise effective on August 10, 2004 for all users.
What Personal Information About Customers Does HouseofGems.com Gather?
The information we learn from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your shopping experience at HouseofGems.com. Here are the types of information we gather.
. Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our Web site or give us in any other way. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing future shopping for you, improving our store, and communicating with you. Specifically, HouseofGems.com gives your name, shipping address, phone number, and other information to our shipping carrier. HouseofGems.com also supplies your name, billing address, and credit card information to the credit card processor who bills your account. HouseofGems.com has strict guidelines requiring all third parties to keep any shared personal information confidential.
. Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use “cookies,” and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses HouseofGems.com.
. E-mail Communications: To help us make e-mails more useful and interesting, we often receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from HouseofGems.com if your computer supports such capabilities. If you do not want to receive email or other mail from us, please contact nomail@Houseofgems.com.
. Information from Other Sources: We might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information.
You explicitly provide information via:
New Customer Form and with Customer or Sales Service
- To process your order, we require your name, phone number, billing address, email address, shipping address and credit card information.
- We only use this information to create your account and/or to process your order. If any questions arise about your order we will contact you first by email and then, if necessary, by phone.
- We share only necessary information with the third parties that are involved in the order process, such as Authorize Net (the company that processes our credit card transactions), the financial institution that issued your credit card, the shipping carrier and HouseofGems.com customer service representatives. We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, providing search results and links (including paid listings and links), processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
We Automatically Collect
Shopper ID
- Upon visiting our site, we assigned you a unique Shopper ID in the form of a cookie. We use this ID to keep track of your shopping basket during your visit and to identify you as a repeat visitor.
- If you would rather not be identified as a repeat visitor, we recommend that you disable the cookie support in your browser.
Internet Protocol (IP) Address
- We record your IP address each time you visit HouseofGems.com. Recording IP addresses helps us determine usage and traffic patterns.
Other Information We Collect
Feedback Form
- Should you contact us through our feedback form, we require your name and email address only to send you a reply.
- If you use the form to send comments about your shopping experience at HouseofGems.com, we may include the comment with your name in our Customer Testimonials section.
Email Newsletter
“Email Special Offers” and “Catalog Sign-up Features
- Should you participate in these services we will only use the information you provide to promote HouseofGems.com services and products.
- We will not share any personal information with third parties.
Permission To Use Your Content
By transmitting any suggestions, information, identification, material, or other content (collectively, “content’) to HouseofGems.com, you automatically grant HouseofGems.com the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, redistribute, transmit, perform and display such content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content. Further HouseofGems.com is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, techniques and suggestions contained in any communications you send to this Site for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to creating, manufacturing and marketing products and/or services using such information.
Sharing
HouseofGems.com does not sell or exchange your information with anyone for advertising, commercial
purposes, spam, or with any third party other than required parties to process your order ( such as UPS,
Credit Card Processor). Aside from the previously mentioned third parties involved in the processing of your order and House of Gems, Inc., our affiliated company, we do not share your personally identifiable information with any other entities without your express permission.
Business Transfers
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy stores, subsidiaries, or business units. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Policy (unless, of course, the customer consents otherwise). Also, in the unlikely event that HouseofGems.com or its affiliate House of Gems, Inc. sells substantially all of its assets, customer information will of course be one of the transferred assets.
Legal Requests
We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Terms and Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property, or safety of HouseofGems.com, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction. Due to the existing regulatory environment, we cannot ensure that all of your private communications and other personal information will never be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. Obviously, however, this does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Privacy Policy.
External Links
Our site may include links to other sites. If you decide to follow these links, we are not responsible for the privacy policies and content of these sites. Generally, we will inform you of these links.
What About Cookies?
Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to provide features. HouseofGems.com uses persistent cookies to identify members after their first visit. These cookies remain on the hard drive of a PC and allow a member to enter the site without having to log in on every visit. To access any secure areas such as your account information, you must still enter your password. You can choose to disable cookies by deselecting that option under your browser preferences. When you disable cookies, you can browse the HouseofGems.com store, but you cannot access your membership information or make purchases. Disabling cookies can also interrupt audio and cause breaks in navigation. When becoming a HouseofGems.com member, you can choose whether or not to accept the HouseofGems.com persistent cookie. Without the persistent cookie, a user can still shop the HouseofGems.com store.
Usage Tracking
HouseofGems.com’s database tracks the traffic throughout our site. This information is used to compile overall statistics and is not recorded at an individual level. The statistics help us decide which products and services best serve our members and guests.
How Secure Is Information About Me?
. We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input.
. We reveal only the last five digits of your credit card numbers when confirming an order. No employee of Houseofgems.com will know your entire credit card number. Of course, we transmit the entire credit card number to the appropriate credit card company during order processing. In case of refund, we use only last five digits of your credit card to do the refund and we do not keep any of your credit card information on HouseofGems.com server.
. It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer. You are responsible for all actions taken with your User ID and password, including fees charged to your account. Therefore we do not recommend that you disclose your HouseofGems.com password to any third parties. If you choose to share your User ID and password or your personal information with third parties, you are responsible for all actions taken with your account and therefore you should review that third party’s privacy policy. If you lose control of your password, you may lose substantial control over your personal information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on your behalf. Therefore, if your password has been compromised for any reason, you should immediately change your password.
Which Information Can I Access?
HouseofGems.com gives you access to a broad range of information about your account and your interactions with HouseofGems.com for the limited purpose of viewing and, in certain cases, updating that information.
What Choices Do I Have?
As discussed above, you can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to make a purchase or to take advantage of such HouseofGems.com features.
Contacting Us
Account Changes and Deletions
Changes
If you created an account and would like to change your account, please email with your changes to info@HouseofGems.com and include the email address with which you registered. We will send a confirmation request to that email address and after receiving your reply, will update your account within 48 hours.
Deletions
If you created an account and would like to delete your account, please send an email to info@HouseofGems.com and include the email address with which you registered. We will send a confirmation request to that email address and upon receiving your reply, delete your account. If you have any questions or comments regarding this statement, or if your inquiry has not been responded to or satisfactorily addressed, please contact info@HouseofGems.com. We will retain in our files some personal information you have requested to remove to prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement and comply with legal requirements as is permitted by law. Therefore, you should not expect that all of your personal information will be completely removed from our databases in response to your requests.
Surveys
From time to time, HouseofGems.com or a company selected by HouseofGems.com may offer you the opportunity to participate in customer satisfaction, site improvement and other business-related surveys. You may be asked to provide certain membership information to participate. All surveys are optional.
Contests
HouseofGems.com occasionally offers you the opportunity to participate in sweepstakes, product giveaways and the like. You will be asked to provide certain membership information to participate in a sweepstakes. HouseofGems.com or a company selected by HouseofGems.com administers the sweepstakes and contacts the winner. All sweepstakes are optional.
Decline to Receive Information
If you do not want to receive e-mail or other mail from us, please contact nomail@HouseofGems.com. (If you do not want to receive Terms and Conditions of Use and other legal notices from us, such as this Privacy Policy, those notices will still govern your use of HouseofGems.com, and it is your responsibility to review them for changes.)
In addition, the Federal Trade Commission provides useful information about online privacy on its own Web site, Site Seeing on the Internet.
Children’s Use Prohibited
HouseofGems.com does not sell products for purchase by children under the age of 18.
Terms and Conditions of Use, Notices, and Revisions
If you choose to visit HouseofGems.com, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms and Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of the State of California. If you have any concern about privacy at HouseofGems.com, please contact us with a thorough description, and we will try to resolve it.
Our business changes constantly, and our Privacy Policy and the Terms and Conditions of Use will change also. You should check our Web site frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account. We stand behind the promises we make, however, and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of customer information collected in the past without the consent of affected customers.
We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time by posting the amended terms on the Site. All amended terms shall automatically be effective 10 days after they are initially posted on the Site.
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