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Privacy Policy

 

VHARO INVESTMENT PRIVACY POLICY

 

INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy applies to all users of our website, related Mobi-sites and software applications, collectively referred to as “our Platforms”, which are used to access and purchase our products and services.

We, the Vharo Investment (“Group”, “we”, or “us”, “our”), including our trading divisions namely Vharo Homeware and Vharo are committed to safeguarding the privacy of your personal information (“PI”). This Policy (“Policy”) explains how we process your PI, which means, in relation to your PI, various activities including collecting, receiving, recording, storing, updating, using, transferring or erasing.

The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to set out how, why and when we use your Personal Information to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPI”).

It is important that you read this Privacy Policy together with our other terms and conditions, privacy notices or policies we may provide from time to time when we collect or use your Personal Information.

EXTENT OF OUR PRIVACY POLICY

This Policy applies to all data subjects (persons, whether a natural or juristic person, to whom PI relates) (“you”, “your”), whose PI we collect, regardless of the country where you live or work.

This Policy applies to all PI, whether it was provided to us through our websites, mobile applications or through any other form of communications with you such as email, telephone, or otherwise (“our Platforms”), through or by third parties or tools that collect PI.

ACCEPTANCE

You must accept all the terms of this Policy when you order any of our products or, register for, or use the website, application or any of our services. By accepting this Policy, you are deemed to have read, understood, accepted, and agreed to be bound by all of its terms.

Legal capacity

The age requirement for engaging with our platforms is 18 years of age. To the extent required by applicable law, users under the age of 18 years of age must obtain parental or guardian consent. We will afford the same level of protection to all PI processed, regardless of the age of the person the PI pertains to.

WHY DO WE PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We process the Personal Information we collect and receive to:

      • identify you;
      • verify your identity;
      • create a user account for you; and/or
      • enter into a contract with you.

As a registered user, we also process your Personal Information in order to:

  • achieve our contractual obligations to you when you have ordered goods in order for us to deliver those goods and process returns.
  • provide you with information, products or services you request from us.
  • communicate with you regarding our Platforms and provide you with information, products or services, including billing, customer support, resolving complaints and quality control.
  • notify you about changes to our Platforms, services and products, terms and conditions, privacy policy or notices, and any other changes that impact our Platforms, services and products.
  • get feedback from you which we need to develop our products and services and grow our business.
  • comply with any legal or regulatory obligations such as tax or financial laws.
  • undertake research for statistical purposes. The research and statistics we get from this process do not include your Personal Information and cannot be linked to you, nor can you be identified from this statistic.

WHEN DO WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We collect your PI and only the PI we require for a specific purpose when you:

  • voluntarily provide us with information when you interact with us, for example when you send us online enquiries via our platforms, or you subscribe to or consent to receiving catalogues, WhatsApp/Facebook messages or other communications from us;

  • browse, visit or participate in our various platforms;

  • register an online profile on our websites to purchase our products;

  • purchase, return, exchange or enquire about products and service from us;

  • make general enquiries, lodge complaints, and communicate with us;

  • participate in any of our events including competitions where we may also collect photos which could be used in the future;

  • visit our showroom;

  • enter into an agreement with us.

From time to time, we collect your PI from trusted third parties, in which case we will ensure that you have provided your consent for your PI to be disclosed to us. We do not collect or retain your bank card details used to purchase products or services. This information is collected by financial institutions that have their own privacy policies. You are advised to never respond to emails that seem to be from us requesting bank card details as this request is most likely fraudulent and should be reported to us immediately.

Recording Calls, WhatsApp Chats, Facebook Messages and/or CCTV

We may monitor and record any telephone calls that occur between the Group and yourself. We record calls to improve our service delivery, have a recording of your details to update them and or to meet any regulatory requirement. We may also record your movements where we have CCTV systems in our showroom(s).

YOUR RIGHTS

You have the following rights in respect of your PI that we process:

  • you may enquire from us (at no cost) whether we hold your PI, (we will only provide you with this information when you provide us with adequate proof of your identity);

  • where necessary, request the correction or deletion of your PI;

  • object to, restrict or limit the processing of your PI; and

  • object to using your PI for purposes of direct marketing.

You can exercise any of your rights listed above by sending an email to admin@vharo.co.za. If you want to change your email and/or cell phone number preferences, you can do so by also sending an email to the above stated email. Where we have reasonable doubt as to the identity of the person making an enquiry, we may request additional information to confirm the identity of the person, such as an identity document, including a driver’s licence or passport.

Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply. Should we determine that you are not entitled to exercise a specific right, we will provide you with the reasons why.

Should we have reasonable grounds to believe that your PI has been accessed or acquired by any unauthorised person, we will, as soon as is reasonably possible and lawfully required, notify the applicable regulator, as well as yourself, unless we are unable to establish the identity of the PI that has been unlawfully accessed.

WHEN WILL WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

    1. We may provide access to or share some of your PI, when necessary and for the reasons that it was provided or collected, to:
    • our associates, other divisions or employees within the group of companies to which we may belong, so as to provide joint content and services like registration for transactions and customer support, to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and violations of our policies;
    • our merchandise suppliers, service providers, auditors, consultants and agents if they are required under contract to process it for us or to provide services for or to us, including product deliveries and returns, email service providers, distribution and courier companies, information hosting, communication providers, development and administration, information technology and related infrastructure services, and other support services relating to our legitimate business interests and our contractual obligations to you (our contracts dictate that these merchandise suppliers or service providers only use your information in connection with the goods they supply or services they perform for us and not for their own benefit);
    • other third parties who provide us with relevant services where appropriate.
    1. Change of ownership

We may share PI with third parties in the event of a reorganisation, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other type of sale of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock.

    1. Regulators and Law enforcement

We may provide access to or share your PI as required by law, court order or other lawful reasons, where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to government requests, including public and government authorities.
When we share or provide access to your PI with third parties, they are contractually restricted from using or disclosing your PI except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or to comply with legal requirements.

    1. No selling

We will not sell your PI. No PI will be disclosed to anyone except as provided for in this Policy.

STORAGE, RETENTION AND DELETION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

  1. We will keep your PI for different periods of time depending on the use or purpose your PI was provided or collected for, as well as your preferences regarding marketing, recruitment and other correspondence.
  1. We will safely delete or destroy PI which we are no longer required or not permitted to retain, or for which we do not have your consent.

ACCURATE AND UP TO DATE

We will try to keep the PI we collect as accurate, complete and up to date as is necessary for the purposes defined in this Policy. From time to time, we may request you to update your PI.

SECURING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We take the security of PI very seriously and always do our best to comply with applicable data protection laws. We secure the integrity and confidentiality of your PI that is in our possession and under our control by taking the appropriate reasonable technical and organizational measures to prevent loss, damage, unauthorised destruction, unlawful access, or unlawful processing of your PI. We authorize access to PI only for those employees who require it to fulfil their job responsibilities. In doing so we have due regard to generally accepted industry information security practices and procedures.

LIMITATION/RESRTICTION

We are not responsible for, give no warranties, nor make any representations in respect of the privacy policies or practices of linked or any third-party websites.

 CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy Policy is effective as of 1 March 2024. The latest version of our Privacy Policy is always available on our websites. We may need to update or change our Policy from time to time, and we will notify you regarding any material changes to this Policy. We will place a notice in a prominent place on the website. Your continued use of our websites, products and services after you have been notified of any amendments to the Policy will represent your acknowledgment of any changes and your agreement to adhere to the updated Policy.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION OR LODGING A COMPLAINT

  1. Should you have any concerns relating to our Policy you may submit an email to admin@vharo.co.za. We will review your concerns and try to resolve any complaint relating to the protection of PI, in this Policy and applicable law.
  2. We will acknowledge your request as required under applicable data protection laws. However, the rights mentioned in this Policy are not absolute: the rights do not always apply, and exemptions may be applicable. We will ask you to verify your identity and/or ask you information to assist us in better understanding your request. In the event we do not comply with your request, we will explain why.


Vharo Investment Head Office is located at:

JG Strijdom Road Alrode Multi Park

Mayberry Park

Alberton

1448

Policy updated 1/03/2024