Privacy Policy

Alberta Heat Pumps and its divisions, business units, affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively “Alberta Heat Pumps“), respects and values the privacy of every individual, including suppliers, customers, and those who visit our Sites. We take great measures to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of personal information.

Executive Summary

This Privacy Policy applies to the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information by Alberta Heat Pumps. It addresses the application of this Policy, providing and withdrawing consent, how we collect, use, retain and disclose Personal Information, and security safeguards. For information regarding what Personal Information may be collected, please see the “Collection of Personal Information” section below. For information regarding the parties to whom Personal Information may be shared, please see the “Limited Use and Disclosure of Personal Information” section below. For information regarding the purposes for which Personal Information may be collected, used or disclosed, please see the “Use of Personal Information” section below. For information regarding the risk of harm and other consequences, please see the “Security Safeguards’ section below.

This Policy is broken into sections for ease of review, but should you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or your Personal Information, please contact the Chief Privacy Officer (see the “How to Contact Alberta Heat Pumps” section below).

Application of this Privacy Policy

Alberta Heat Pumps is one of Canada’s largest national distributors of products for the residential, commercial and industrial construction markets. Alberta Heat Pumps collects Personal Information from customers, suppliers and other individuals in order to conduct its business, maintain records, and provide goods and services to these parties. Alberta Heat Pumps offers products in the distinct categories of plumbing, HVACR (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration), industrial, and waterworks. For more information regarding our company, please see www.albertaheatpumps.com.

For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” means any information about an identifiable individual. See the “Collection of Personal Information” section below for a more detailed explanation of why Alberta Heat Pumps collects Personal Information.

Personal Information does not include any information that is solely used to communicate with you in relation to your employment, business or profession, such as your name, position name or title, work address, work telephone number, or work electronic address.

This Privacy Policy applies to the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information by Alberta Heat Pumps, including Personal Information we collect or receive through our various websites, webpages, social media sites and other digital media platforms and services (collectively, “Sites”).

The Sites contain links to or may be linked to by third-party websites or digital media platforms or services (the “Linked Sites”) that are not controlled or operated by Alberta Heat Pumps. The Linked Sites are maintained by the third parties who have their own privacy policies and their own terms and conditions of use. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any of the Linked Sites and Alberta Heat Pumps is not responsible for any Personal Information disclosed through those Linked Sites or for the privacy practices of any operators or sponsors of the Linked Sites. To determine how Personal Information will be treated when accessing or using the Linked Sites, you must read the website privacy policy, if any, that applies to each of the Linked Sites.

At times, with notice to you, we may partner with third parties in the course of delivering certain Alberta Heat Pumps products and services. Any Personal Information disclosed to any third party for their purposes is dealt with in accordance with their privacy policies. Individuals are encouraged to review the privacy policies maintained by these third parties to understand how their Personal Information will be used by those entities.

Providing and withdrawing consent

Except where the law permits or requires, Alberta Heat Pumps only collects, uses and discloses your Personal Information with your consent, which may be express or implied. By providing your Personal Information to Alberta Heat Pumps, accessing or using the Sites, or purchasing or selling any products and services from or to Alberta Heat Pumps, you are providing your consent that Alberta Heat Pumps may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you may refuse or withdraw your consent to certain collection, uses and disclosures of Personal Information at any time by making a written request to the Alberta Heat Pumps Profit Centre with which you do business or Alberta Heat Pumps’s Chief Privacy Officer (see the “How to Contact Alberta Heat Pumps” section below). If you refuse or withdraw your consent, Alberta Heat Pumps may not be able to provide you or continue to provide you with products and services or may be unable to process returns, exchanges or refunds. If you wish to withdraw your consent, you may have to provide identification acceptable to Alberta Heat Pumps.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for record keeping or legal compliance purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to receiving your request. There may also be residual information that will remain within our databases and other records, which will not be removed.

Revisions to this Privacy Policy

Alberta Heat Pumps may, at any time without notice or liability, revise this Privacy Policy and post such revisions on the Sites. Such changes will take effect immediately upon posting. For your convenience, the last revised date of the current Privacy Policy will be posted at the top of this page. By continuing to interact with us following such changes, including by using our Sites, you will be deemed to have agreed to such changes. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not continue interact with us, use or access the Sites or purchase or sell products and services to or from Alberta Heat Pumps.

Collection of Personal Information

Alberta Heat Pumps collects Personal Information in a variety of ways including directly from you when you provide it, indirectly from your devices and online use, and from other third parties. We describe these ways in more detail below.

From you directly: We may collect Personal Information when you provide your information to us directly. For example, Alberta Heat Pumps may collect information such as:

  • Your name, email address, address, phone number, country of residence, password and other information that you provide to us when you purchase, order, return or exchange any of our products and services, request a quote or information about any of our products and services, request delivery, warranty or repair services, or provide us with comments or suggestions.
  • Your name, email address, address, country of residence, phone number, qualifications for employment, employment history, education, assessments you complete, and reference and background check information when you apply for a job.
  • Payment information, including payment card, account information and banking information on a cheque, if you make a purchase so that we can process the transaction.
  • Financial and other information if you make an application for credit.
  • Name, contact information and related information when you visit one of our locations, attend one of our events, sign up for a contest, complete a survey, place a service request (either online or over the phone), contact an employee at one of our Profit Centres or are injured on, or suffer or cause property damage on, Alberta Heat Pumps’s premises.
  • Images, movements, actions, or other identifiable information about our customers and other visitors may be captured by video equipment monitoring our properties. The purpose of such monitoring is to enhance security, safety and reasonable use and enjoyment by all lawful users of the property.

From your devices: We collect Personal Information from your devices (including mobile devices), including:

  • Through our digital services, including our Sites, our software applications and social media pages.
  • Automatically when you visit our Sites on your device. This information may include your Media Access Control (MAC) address, type of computer or device, screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version, and the name and version of the services you are using.
  • Automatically when you visit our Sites, via cookies and other digital markers:

    Cookies
    Alberta Heat Pumps or other third parties may send a “cookie” to your computer. A cookie is a small piece of data that is sent to an individual’s Internet browser from a web server and stored on a person’s computer hard drive and that can be re-sent to the serving website on subsequent visits. A cookie, by itself, cannot read other data from the computer’s hard disk or read other cookie files already on the computer. Individuals may be able to choose whether or not to accept cookies by changing the settings of their Internet browser, but some functionality of the website may be impaired or not function as intended.

    Unique Identifier
    We may assign users a unique internal identifier to help keep track of your future visits. We use this information to gather aggregate demographic information about users, and we use it to personalize the information users see on the website and some of the electronic communications users receive from us (if they have they provided their consent to receive such communications). We keep this information for our internal use, and this information is not shared with others.

From other third parties: We may also collect Personal Information from other sources, such as consumer reporting agencies, government agencies, and others. For example:

  • We may collect credit information from banks and credit reporting agencies if you apply for credit;
  • We may obtain information about you from previous employers and government agencies as part of a reference or background check if you apply for employment or a contract position with Alberta Heat Pumps; and
  • We also may receive information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, third-party repair or service Centres, and social media platforms.

Use of Personal Information

We identify to you the purposes for which we collect your Personal Information at or before the time of collection. We make this information available to you through this Privacy Policy and our Sites. We do not collect, use, or disclose Personal Information for a new purpose that was not previously identified without, first, explaining the new purpose to you and, second, obtaining consent by notifying you of the new purpose and giving you the opportunity to withdraw your consent.

We collect and use Personal Information for many purposes, including to:

  • Provide you with Alberta Heat Pumps products and services and related activities, such as identifying customers, suppliers and others with whom Alberta Heat Pumps does business and to establish and maintain a relationship with them;
  • Provide customers with ongoing service, including to process orders, to ensure proper delivery, warranty issues, and to better assist customers when they visit or call Alberta Heat Pumps;
  • Initiate, maintain, and improve our relationship with you by providing you with personalization of your experience, including things like remembering your interests and preferences, customizing our products and services, facilitating your interactions with our employees, tracking and categorizing your activity and interests on our website and mobile application, and enriching your experiences with Alberta Heat Pumps;
  • Communicate with you, such as when you call us, make a request or inquiry, enter a contest, complete a survey, or share a comment or concern. As well, we use this information to respond to and investigate your inquiries, send you newsletters, brochures, alerts or other materials, to request and provide feedback, and to facilitate social sharing and communication;
  • Facilitate a transaction and provide products and services, such as to complete and fulfill a purchase or order, to process a payment, process, maintain or service an account, have an order delivered, communicate regarding a purchase, and provide related customer service;
  • Operate and improve our products, services and business and maintain our programs, accounts, and records;
  • Perform analytics, such as to understand and improve how people use our Sites (e.g. Google analytics), mobile applications, and products and services, generate insights and understand how people interact with us;
  • Create statistics to further our business (these statistics do not contain any information that could potentially identify any individual customer, supplier or others with whom we do business);
  • Consider you for employment; and
  • Defend or protect ourselves, and our employees or third parties, from harm or in legal proceedings, protect our security and the security of our employees and third parties, address legal and regulatory compliance, notify you of safety and security issues (e.g. recalls) and complying with legal and contractual requirements.

Limited use and disclosure of personal information

We do not use or disclose your Personal Information for purposes that are not identified at the time of collection, except with your consent or as otherwise required or permitted by law.

We may disclose Personal Information to third parties, including the following:

  • To credit reporting agencies to review credit information when you apply for credit and to government institutions as required by law;
  • To third party contest or promotions providers, or payment card providers if you elect to participate;
  • To business partners for matters such as warranties and the purchase of products and services;
  • To assist us in collecting any debt owed to us by you; and
  • To our service providers who help us operate and maintain the Sites and our service providers for payment processing, IT services, and customer service.

Each of our service providers is required to protect the privacy of your Personal Information, and to only handle your Personal Information for Alberta Heat Pumps’s purposes (and not for its own purposes).

On rare occasions, we may disclose Personal Information without your knowledge or consent where we have reason to believe we are required or permitted by law to do so (e.g. in response to a warrant or subpoena, in an emergency that threatens life or safety, etc.). When we are required or permitted by law to disclose Personal Information, we take reasonable steps to verify the lawful authority (where applicable) for the request and we disclose only the information that is legally required or otherwise permitted to be disclosed.

If Alberta Heat Pumps is a party to a business transaction (such as the purchase, sale of Alberta Heat Pumps or a part of an Alberta Heat Pumps), we may disclose your Personal Information to the other party or parties to the transaction and their advisors for the purposes of their due diligence investigations. If the transaction is completed, the parties to the transaction may use and disclose your Personal Information. Your personal information may be transferred to an organization that acquires all or part of Alberta Heat Pumps’ business. If an organization only acquires part of Alberta Heat Pumps’s business,Alberta Heat Pumps may also retain your personal information. Both Alberta Heat Pumps and the organization that acquires all or part of Alberta Heat Pumps’ business will use and disclose your Personal Information in compliance with this Privacy Policy.

Security Safeguards

We take reasonable steps to protect Personal Information against loss, theft, and unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification with administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the Personal Information. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system is guaranteed to be 100% secure and hackers and other malicious actors may attempt to intercept or access the personal information described in this Privacy Policy. If you have any reason to believe that your account, transaction or information is no longer secure, you should contact us immediately (see the “How to Contact Alberta Heat Pumps” section below.)

Alberta Heat Pumps or its service providers may store or process Personal Information in countries other than Canada including, without limitation, the United States of America. Those countries may not have the same data protection laws as Canada, and under the laws of those other jurisdictions, in certain circumstances courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other provinces or foreign jurisdictions may be entitled to access users’ Personal Information, including without limitation the USA PATRIOT Act and other laws of the United States. You acknowledge that when you provide us with your information, it may be processed and stored in these countries and the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of these jurisdictions may be able to obtain disclosure of your Personal Information pursuant to their laws. When we transfer Personal Information for processing by service providers in other countries, we will protect it as described in this Privacy Policy.

As well, we contract with a number of service providers to provide us with cloud computing services. Cloud computing is the provision of network-based services, located on remote computers, that allows us to use software and hardware operated by third parties, such as online file storage and business applications. At present, our cloud computing service providers process and store information (including Personal Information) in the United States and Canada. You acknowledge that when you provide us with your information, it will be processed and stored in these countries and the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of these jurisdictions may be able to obtain disclosure of your Personal Information pursuant to their laws.

Retention of personal information

Alberta Heat Pumps retains your Personal Information only as long as it is required for our business relationship or as required or permitted by law.

Minor

Alberta Heat Pumps retains your Personal Information only as long as it is required for our business relationship or as required or permitted by law.

Accessing and correcting your personal information

We make reasonable efforts to ensure that Personal Information we use or disclose is as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary for the specified purpose. We rely on your assistance with this, and you should contact us if your information changes (see the “How to Contact Alberta Heat Pumps” section below).

Upon written request, we will inform you of the existence, uses, and disclosures of your Personal Information and give you access to that information, except where to do so would reveal confidential commercial information, or where permitted or required by law. Please direct your request to our Chief Privacy Officer (see the “How to Contact Alberta Heat Pumps” section below). If we are unable to provide access to all of the Personal Information that we hold about you, we will provide the reasons for denying access to you.

You will be required to provide sufficient information so that we can confirm your identity and process your request. We only use the information provided to address your request.

We will respond to all requests for access to information within 30 business days from the receipt of request.

If you find that the information provided to you is inaccurate or incomplete, you may contact our Chief Privacy Officer (see the “How to Contact Emco” section below) and we will amend this information, as appropriate. If we determine that it is inappropriate to amend your information, we will note this within our records.

How to Contact Alberta Heat Pumps

Contact Information:

Tel: +1(877)-969-9979
E-mail: [email protected]