Who this applies to
This policy covers personal information collected through southerntreecare.com.au and by telephone on (02) 4210 5885. It is written to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
This website operates as a referral service. Enquiries are passed to independent tree contractors, which means your details are disclosed to a third party as an intended part of the process. That disclosure is described below and is the main thing to understand before you send an enquiry.
What is collected
Information you give us. Your name, phone number, email address, the property address the work relates to, and whatever you tell us about the trees and the access. Photographs you send are held with the enquiry.
Information collected automatically. Standard web server and analytics data: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, referring page and timestamps. This is used in aggregate to understand how the site is used.
Form data. The quote forms on this site are provided by a third-party form platform (LeadConnector). Data you enter passes through and is stored on that platform's systems as well as ours.
We do not collect government identifiers, and we do not store credit card details on this website.
How it is used
To respond to your enquiry, to arrange a site visit and quote, to pass the job to a contractor able to do it, to follow up on work already discussed, and to keep records of enquiries and jobs.
If you have opted in, your email address may be used to send occasional updates. Every such message carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing is actioned promptly. We do not sell mailing lists.
Who it is disclosed to
Tree contractors. This is the core one. To get you a quote, your name, contact details, property address and description of the work are given to one or more independent contractors working in your area. They then hold that information under their own privacy obligations.
Service providers. Hosting, email, telephony, form and analytics providers who process data on our behalf under contract.
Where required by law. To a court, regulator or enforcement body where we are legally obliged to disclose, or to establish or defend a legal claim.
We do not sell or rent personal information to anybody for marketing purposes.
Overseas storage
Some of the service providers used — including website hosting, email and the form platform — store data on servers outside Australia, including in the United States. Sending an enquiry through this site involves that overseas storage. Providers are chosen on the basis that they offer contractual protections consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.
Cookies
This site uses cookies for basic functionality and for anonymous analytics measuring which pages get used. Embedded third-party elements — the quote form and the Google map — set their own cookies under their operators' policies.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site works without them, though embedded forms and maps may not.
How long it is kept
Enquiries that do not turn into work are kept for around two years, so that repeat contact makes sense and so we can tell whether a complaint relates to a real enquiry. Records relating to completed jobs are kept for seven years, consistent with normal business and tax record-keeping obligations. After that, records are deleted or de-identified.
Security
Data in transit to this site is encrypted. Access to enquiry records is limited to people who need it to do the work. No system is perfectly secure, and we do not claim otherwise — if a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected people and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
Access, correction and complaints
You can ask what personal information we hold about you and ask for it to be corrected if it is wrong. Ring (02) 4210 5885 or use the contact page. There is no charge for a straightforward request and we will respond within a reasonable time, normally thirty days.
If you are unhappy with how a privacy matter has been handled, raise it with us first. If it is not resolved to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
Changes
This policy may be updated. The current version is always the one on this page. See also the terms and conditions and the disclaimer, which explain the referral arrangement in more detail.