Privacy Policy & Terms of Use AGREEMENT

Purpose

This Privacy Policy & Terms of Use Agreement (this “Agreement”) is provided here so that, among other things, you know the policies and procedures of Dorset & Pond Design LLC, a Connecticut limited liability company (the “Company” or “us”) regarding (i) use of the Site by visitors to the Site (“you”) and (ii) our collection, use, and disclosure of the information we collect and receive from users of our website, www.dorsetandponddesign.com, and any other site, mobile application, or other similar Internet based presence now or hereafter owned by us (collectively, the “Site”). If this Agreement is not acceptable to you, your only recourse is to cease forever using the Site; and any subsequent visit will constitute unconditional acceptance of this Agreement. Unless context requires otherwise, capitalized terms used in this Agreement have the meanings given to them herein.

By accessing, visiting or otherwise using the Site, you consent to the terms of this Agreement. If we ever change any terms of this Agreement, they will be posted by means of a revision to this Agreement or elsewhere on the Site. Accordingly, you agree to review this Agreement each time you access, visit, or otherwise use the Site, and in each instance you agree anew with and consent to all such terms in their entirety.

This Agreement applies to all information that you provide to us through the Site or otherwise in connection with our services (but not to information collected offline). As used in this Agreement, the terms “using” and “processing” information include using cookies (discussed below) on a computer or other device, subjecting the information to statistical or other analysis and using or handling information in any way, including but not limited to collecting, storing, evaluating, modifying, deleting, using, combining, disclosing and transferring information within our company or among our affiliates.

Information Collection and Use

When you are using our Site, you may be required or choose to provide us with Personally Identifiable Information. The term “Personally Identifiable Information” (or “PII”) means information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Personally Identifiable Information that we might collect includes things like your name, phone number, email address, and your work and home addresses. Personally Identifiable Information may also include other information you supply to us concerning your preferences and interests expressed in the course of ordering our services or required in connection with making a payment or otherwise communicating with us.

The Company itself does not currently collect credit card or other payment information even if you pay via the Site; such information is collected by the third-party payment processor which we use for our clients to make payments (currently, Stripe and PayPal, though we may use others from time to time as we determine). Any use of Stripe or PayPal or other third-party payment processor (whether such use is apparent or not) will subject you to their privacy policies and we make no endorsement, guarantee, warranty, promise, undertaking or representation of any kind concerning Stripe or PayPal or any other third party payment facilitator we may use. You should review its or their policies separately. If we ever do collect payment information from you, this Agreement will be modified accordingly.

When you access the Site, the following data may be stored for the purposes of data security, administrative and other purposes: the IP address of the device you are using to visit the Site, user settings, date, time, status, data volume transferred and the referrer (that is, Internet URL from which you came to the Site), and the user-agent (that is, the product and version information of the browser used). If and as we may collect any such data, it will be for statistical purposes and generally in an anonymized form. The Company can learn, for instance, on what days and at what times there is particularly strong demand for the Site and what volume of data this produces. The data can also point up possible errors, e.g., defective links or program errors. Our servers may also (i) automatically record information that your mobile phone or tablet device sends or transmits, including, but not limited to, your device ID number, phone number, user settings, location and information about your use of the Site, and (ii) record information derived from such information and other sources.

We use various Personally Identifiable Information and other information and data for various purposes: (i) to administer the Site and/or provide our services, (ii) to enable you to easily navigate the Site, (iii) to provide, improve and optimize the Site and the provision of our services, (iv) to better understand users’ needs and interests, (v) to personalize your experience with the Site, (vi) if ever applicable, to provide you with service or product announcements, (vii) to provide you with further information and offers from us that we believe you may find useful or interesting.

If we ever utilize a registration feature, by which end users can create accounts, then we will store each such person’s name, e-mail address, user name, password and any other information required to so register for identification purposes. This would be to enable the Company to distinguish among users and contact them and, if ever applicable, enable the Company to display advertising messages that we believe may be of particular interest to a given user. Such identification data would remain stored for at least the duration of an end user’s registration, and possibly beyond.

We may from time to time choose to share PII or other information with our affiliated strategic partner (“Affiliated Partners”). If we share information with any Affiliated Partners, we will require that this information not be shared outside the group of all Affiliated Partners without our written consent. However, we will not be, and you agree to not hold us, liable or responsible for their compliance with such requirement under any legal, equitable or other theory.

Information Disclosure

We will not rent, sell, or share PII or other personal information about you with nonaffiliated companies other than in connection with the operation of the Site or the provision of our services, and when we otherwise have your permission. We may also share aggregated information that does not include Personally Identifiable Information with third parties for analysis, demographic profiling and other purposes.

Cookies and IP Addresses

Although at the date this Agreement is first published we are not using “cookies” and do currently not have specific plans to do so, it is possible that on any given visit by you to our Site that we then will. 

Cookies are unique identifiers, small data files that are transferred to user devices to enable our system to recognize your device and to provide certain features to enhance your end-user experience of the Site. The “help” feature on most browsers explains how to prevent the browser from accepting cookies, how to be notified when you receive a new cookie, and/or how to disable cookies. There may also be browser add-ons that allow you to disable or delete similar data. Because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of our features, many recommend that they be left enabled.

We reserve the right from time to time to use “cookies” to collect information, where useful and possible, for two purposes. First, we may use cookies to make the interactions easier and more personalized for you, we may utilize persistent cookies to save information relating to your Account and/or activity for future interactions with the Site. Second, we may use cookies to better understand how you interact with the Site and request our services and to monitor aggregate usage by all Company users and web traffic routing on the Site, and we may from time to time utilize session cookies to enable certain features. Unlike persistent cookies, session cookies are deleted from your computer when you log off from the Site and close your browser. Although at the date this Agreement is first published we are not doing so, if we ever do permit it, third parties may also place or read cookies on your browser. At any time, you can instruct your browser, by changing its options, to stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. Please understand that if you do not accept cookies at a time when we are using them, you may not be able to use all portions or all functionality of the Site.

Your Internet protocol (“IP”) address is a computer-specific address that is generally associated with the computer which you use to enter the Internet and by which you visit the Site and other websites. The server that hosts the Site may record the referrer that linked you to us, the specific pages on the Site that you visit, any website to which you go after visiting the Site, any advertisements you may observe or click on and visit, and other information about your Internet browser, computer, software platform and other software and settings information, any search terms entered by users of the Site or referrer; and other user activity and data. Your IP address may be used to diagnose problems with our servers, gather demographic information, and administer the Site. The Company may also link this information with your Personally Identifiable Information if necessary to enforce compliance with this Agreement or to protect the Site or other user or the public at large.

Data Security

While no data security practice or procedure can be 100% foolproof, we have instituted various procedures that we believe are appropriate and customary under current standards in order to secure PII and other personal information we collect on the Site and to prevent unauthorized access to such information and maintain data accuracy and ensure that we use information we collect correctly. We employ administrative, physical and electronic measures designed to safeguard and protect your information from unauthorized access and disclosure. We will make any legally required disclosures of any breach of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of your unencrypted electronically stored PII or other personal information (as defined or described, by whatever term, by applicable law governing security breach notification) to you via email or conspicuous posting on this Site as expeditiously as practicable. We offer the use of third-party secure server processors, such as Stripe or PayPal. After a commercial transaction, your private information that may have been required for such transaction (credit card numbers, social security numbers, financial information) may be stored by us. We cannot speak as to the policies of Stripe or PayPal or any other third-party payment processor, or any other third party; you will need to review their policies separately.

Law Enforcement

If the Company is ever required to cooperate with law enforcement or other government officials or private parties to enforce and comply with the law, we will disclose any and all information that is so required or that we otherwise believe, in our sole discretion, to be appropriate or necessary to respond to claims, legal process or disputes (including but not limited to subpoenas, other court orders and pleadings in litigation), to protect the property and rights of the Company or a third party, to protect the safety of the public or any person, or to prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, any illegal, unethical or legally actionable activity.

Links to Other Sites

Our Site may from time to time contain links to external services or websites of various strategic partners, joint venturers, affiliates, advertisers or other third parties for information or functionality or services or other reason. If you choose to follow such link or otherwise visit such other website or use such other services, or select a button, service, banner ad, or other type of advertisement on our Site (if any), or click any other third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s resources. The fact that we may link to a third party’s services, functionality, website or present a banner ad or other type of advertisement is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not exercise control over third party services, functionality, websites or other resources. These other parties may place their own cookies or other files on your computer or device, collect data or solicit PII or other personal information from you. Other services may or may not follow other, different or additional rules regarding the use or disclosure of PII or other personal information you submit to them. This Agreement only applies to our Site and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other websites. You should check the privacy policies of those sites before providing PII or other personal information to them.

Service Providers

We may employ or partner with third parties to process payments, facilitate our Site-delivered services, provide Site-related support (such as maintenance, database management, web analytics and improvement of the Site features) or to assist us in analyzing how our Site is used. These third parties have access to your Personally Identifiable Information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose. We may also provide Personally Identifiable Information to our business partners or other affiliates for the purpose of providing you with information we believe may be of interest to you.

Business Combinations

In connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, change in business form, or other business combination to which we or our business assets are party or subject, or in the event of bankruptcy, or any other extraordinary business transaction, we may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of our business assets, including your Personally Identifiable Information. 

Children’s Information

The Site and our services are not directed to children. Users of the Site are required to be eighteen years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect PII from children. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personally Identifiable Information without their consent, please contact us. If we become aware that a member is under the age of eighteen and has provided us with PII without verifiable parental consent, we will delete such information from our files except to the extent we believe we may be required by law to maintain a record thereof.

International Use & Information Transfer

By their nature, websites and similar applications may be accessible in countries outside the United States. The Site and our services are directed only to persons in the United States who meet the above age requirement. We make no representation that materials on this Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States, and accessing them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. Those who choose to access the Site from other locations do so on their own initiative, are responsible for compliance with local laws, and are doing so without our consent. Any offer for any product, service, and/or information made in connection with this site is void where prohibited. Your information may be transferred to and maintained on servers located outside of your or our state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your or our jurisdiction. If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, the Company may transfer your Personally Identifiable Information to the United States and process it there. Your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer. However, notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, we are not marketing to, directing our Site or services to, or soliciting anyone in any foreign jurisdiction.

Certain Other Terms Relating to Your Use

You represent to us that (i) any and all photographs, designs, drawings, images, schematics, plans, diagrams, information, or other things that you may provide to the Company by means of the Site or otherwise (“Your Content”) are either your sole and exclusive property or that you otherwise have obtained all necessary consents to provide Your Content to us for purposes related to our business; and (ii) Your Content will be free of any and all disabling devices, bugs, computer viruses or malware or anything else that can be disruptive or harmful to our Site or any other website or any software or firmware, any computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other device or technology.  If you breach the foregoing, you will indemnify us and all of our affiliated persons in full for any and all losses, costs, expenses, damages, liabilities and other obligations of every kind that we or our affiliates may suffer or incur (including without limitation reasonable attorney’s fees) as a result thereof; and you agree to advance to us all such indemnifiable attorneys’ fees and expenses as we may reasonably believe we need to incur in connection with defending, initiating or investigating any lawsuit, arbitration, mediation, investigation or other proceeding related thereto. Your Content will, as between you and us, remain your sole an exclusive property. However, you represent to us that you are authorized to give consent to us, and you hereby do so consent, to use Your Content in connection with our Business, including (but not limited to) use on our Site, in any showroom of ours, in connection with any advertising, marketing, or promotions activities we may undertake, in each case without seeking your prior consent or being required to give you or any other person credit therefor.  The Site and all of its content, other than Your Content, shall, as between you and us, be and remain our sole and exclusive property and you shall take no actions in respect thereof that is or would reasonably be understood to be inconsistent with our sole and exclusive ownership.

Changes to this Agreement

The Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, discontinue, or terminate the Site or our services or to modify this Agreement at any time and from time to time without your consent or prior notice to you. If we do modify this Agreement, your notification thereof shall be in the form of either a posting on the Site, or by providing you with notice of the modification by email, or by a simple change on the Site. You are reminded that your use of the Site constitutes an agreement and promise by you to read this Agreement each time to use the same. If required by law, we will also indicate when such terms are effective by posting the date last updated. By continuing to access or use the Site after we have posted a modification or have provided you with notice of a modification, you are indicating that you agree to be bound by this Agreement as so modified. If this Agreement as so modified is not acceptable to you, your only recourse is to cease using the Site.

Headings

The headings used in this Agreement are for convenience of reference only and are not substantive terms hereof. You are required to read all sections of this Agreement whether you believe they may be of interest to you or not.

First Published: January 24, 2019