The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is committed to maintaining your
confidence and trust, and accordingly maintains the following privacy
policy to protect your personal information.
BBB’s Commitment to SecurityBBB encrypts billing information wherever requested online.
Personal information is accessible only by staff and volunteers
designated to handle complaints or requests. All BBB agents and
contractors with access to personal information are also bound to
adhere to this policy as part of their contract with BBB.
Personal Information that BBB May CollectBBB collects the following types of personal information: names,
postal and e-mail addresses, phone and facsimile numbers, billing
information, and complaint and inquiry information. BBB may also
collect business information from sole proprietorships that apply for
accreditation or program participation, some of which might constitute
personal information, as well as personal information from individuals
acting solely in their business capacity. BBB’s online complaint form
is hosted by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), which
processes your complaint according to its own privacy and security
policies.
BBB does not collect or maintain information from those actually
known to be under the age of 13, and no part of our site is structured
to attract anyone under the age of 13.
How BBB May Use Personal InformationUnless you consent, BBB will use your personal information for the
purpose for which it was submitted such as to reply to inquiries,
handle your complaints and process billing and business requests
related to program participation, and we will use such information to
provide operational notices, and in program recordkeeping and to
conduct research on industry marketplace practices. Our research may
lead to the publication of aggregate demographic data but will not
result in the reporting or publication of any personal information
provided to us.
How Your Information May Be SharedIn order to process complaints against businesses, BBB will
transfer complaints received to the company complained about. It is
also possible that a complaint, request or inquiry will be more
appropriately handled by another BBB, in which case the request or
inquiry will be transferred to the proper BBB. By completing a
complaint form or sending us a request or inquiry, you are allowing us
to forward your information to the proper business and also to the
proper BBB, if necessary. Consumer inquiries may be forwarded by email,
and consumers should recognize that this method of transmission may not
be secure. BBB may also share your personal information with the CBBB
for CBBB to research industry marketplace practices. Just as in any
research we may do, CBBB research will not result in the reporting or
publication of any personal information. BBB never sells or rents
personal information.
We will also release personal information under the following circumstances:
- Where release is required by law (for example, a subpoena) or
regulation, or is requested by an agency for governmental investigative
purposes or governmental proceedings;
- Where our records indicate a company may be engaged in
fraudulent activity or other deceptive practices that a governmental
agency should be made aware of;
- To appropriate governmental authorities, where warranted by a
company’s failure to participate in BBB’s advertising self-regulatory
process; or
- To appropriate persons, where your communication suggests possible harm to others.
Help Us Keep Your Personal Information AccurateIf your personal information changes or you would like to review
the personal information we may have on file, please email us with the
new information or your review request at info@hamptonroadsbbb.org. Let
us also know the department or BBB program that led to your submission
of personal information so we may efficiently locate your information.
Computer Tracking and Cookies
Our web site is not set up to track, collect or distribute personal
information not entered by its visitors. Our site logs do generate
certain kinds of non-identifying site usage data, such as the number of
hits and visits to our site. This information is used for internal
purposes by technical support staff to provide better services to the
public and may also be provided to others, but again, the statistics
contain no personal information and cannot be used to gather such
information.
A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser
from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. BBB uses
non-identifying cookies to provide easier site navigation and access to
forms. You can still use BBB site if your browser is set to reject
cookies. Our cookies do not generate personal data, do not read
personal data from your machine and are never tied to anything that
could be used to identify you.
ProblemsIf you have a complaint about BBB’s compliance with this privacy policy, you may contact us at
info@hamptonroadsbbb.org.
