Privacy Policy

Ottawa Appliance Specialists ("we", "us") repairs household and commercial appliances and sells used, technician-inspected appliances in Ottawa, Gatineau and the surrounding region. This policy explains what personal information we collect through ottawaappliancespecialists.ca, by phone and in person, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the choices you have. It is based on Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, for customers in Quebec, the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.

1. Who is responsible for your information

Our Privacy Officer is responsible for how we handle personal information and for answering your questions and requests.

• Privacy Officer, Ottawa Appliance Specialists
• Email: info@ottawaappliancespecialists.ca (subject line "Privacy")
• Phone: (613) 220-2855

2. What we collect

When you request a repair or a quote

• Your name, phone number, email address and service address.
• Details about the appliance: type, brand, model and serial number, a description of the problem, and any photos you choose to upload of the appliance or its model sticker.
• The page you sent the request from, and your IP address. We use the IP address to block spam and abuse, and to match a completed job to the ad that brought you to us (see section 5).

When you buy an appliance from our online shop

• Your name, phone number, email address, billing address and delivery address.
• Your order: the unit you bought, prices, taxes, the delivery day and time window you chose, and any delivery notes you give us.
• Payment details are entered on and processed by our payment processor. We never see or store your full card number.

When you visit the website

• Information about how you reached us: the advertising click identifiers and campaign tags in the link you followed (for example from Google, Microsoft, Meta or TikTok ads), the page you first landed on and the website that referred you.
• Standard technical information collected by our analytics and advertising tools: device and browser type, approximate location from your IP address, pages viewed and actions taken (for example submitting a form, tapping our phone number or adding an item to the cart).

When you call, email or text us

Your phone number or email address and whatever you choose to tell us so we can help you.

3. Why we use it

• To answer your request, give you a quote, book and carry out repairs, and follow up on the work.
• To process your order, take payment, deliver and install your appliance, remove your old appliance and honour the warranty.
• To send you confirmations, receipts and messages about your order, delivery or repair.
• To keep the records the law requires, including tax and accounting records.
• To measure which of our ads and pages bring in customers, so we spend our advertising budget on what works. Section 5 explains how.
• To protect the website and our customers from spam, fraud and abuse.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not rent or trade it.

4. Who we share it with

We share personal information only with service providers who help us run the business, and only what each one needs:

• Website hosting: our hosting provider stores the website and the information submitted through it.
• Email delivery: our email provider delivers form notifications, receipts and order emails.
• Payments: our payment processor handles card payments for online orders.
• Delivery scheduling: delivery bookings, including your name, phone number, delivery address, the items ordered, the order total and your delivery notes, are added to our Google Calendar. Our delivery drivers receive the same details by email or text message (sent through a messaging provider) so they can deliver and install your appliance.
• Advertising and analytics: Google (Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Tag Manager) and Meta (Facebook and Instagram). See section 5.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect our rights, our customers or the public.

5. Analytics, advertising and cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies:

• Ad click tracking (oas_attr): our own cookie that remembers the ad or campaign that brought you to the site for 90 days, so we know which ads lead to service requests and sales.
• Google Analytics and Google Ads: cookies that measure visits and record when a visit leads to a service request, a phone call or a purchase.
• Meta: technology that measures whether our Facebook and Instagram ads lead to enquiries and purchases.
• Shopping cart: cookies set by our shop software that remember what is in your cart. These are needed for the shop to work.

Conversion measurement. When you submit a request, tap our phone number or place an order, we tell Google and Meta that it happened, so we can see which ads work. With that we send:

• In hashed (scrambled) form: your email address and phone number, and where we have them your name and street address. Hashing turns each detail into a code. The platforms compare it with codes made from their own users' details to match the conversion to an ad click. They can make that match, but the code itself does not show your details.
• As is: the ad click identifier and campaign tags, your city, province, postal code and country (for orders), your IP address and browser type, and the platform's own browser identifiers.

When a repair job that came from a Google ad is completed and paid, we report it to Google Ads with the click identifier, your hashed email address and phone number, your IP address and the job value. Google and Meta process this information under their own privacy policies.

Your choices. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the shopping cart will not work without its cookies. You can limit ad personalization at adssettings.google.com and in your Facebook and Instagram ad preferences, and you can opt out of Google Analytics with Google's browser add-on.

6. Where your information is stored

Some of our service providers, including Google and Meta, store and process information on servers outside Quebec and outside Canada, including in the United States. Information held there is subject to the laws of those countries and may be accessible to their authorities. Before we use a provider, we check that it protects information to a standard consistent with Canadian law.

7. How long we keep it

• Orders and invoices: six years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as Canadian tax law requires.
• Service requests and the photos sent with them: as long as we need them for the work, follow-up and warranty, and no longer than needed for those purposes. You can ask us to delete them sooner (section 9).
• Ad click cookie: 90 days, or until you clear your cookies.
• Delivery calendar entries and messages to drivers: kept in Google Calendar and by our messaging provider; we delete calendar entries we no longer need.

When we no longer need information, we delete it or make it anonymous.

8. How we protect it

The website runs over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. Access to customer information is limited to the staff and service providers who need it to do their work. Uploaded photos are not listed or linked anywhere on the public website. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information. If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you and the privacy regulator as the law requires.

9. Your rights

You can ask us to:

• show you the personal information we hold about you;
• correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
• delete your information, except what we must keep by law (for example invoices);
• stop including your information in our advertising measurement from now on;
• if you live in Quebec, provide your information in a commonly used technological format.

Send your request to our Privacy Officer at the contact details in section 1. We may need to confirm your identity first. We answer within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Quebec residents can also complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec.

10. Children

Our services are for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.

11. Changes to this policy

We will update this page if our practices change and show the new effective date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use information you already gave us, we will tell you before it applies.

12. Contact

Questions about this policy or your information: info@ottawaappliancespecialists.ca or (613) 220-2855.