WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Patio Pacific believes it is important for you to know what types of information we collect when you use our site.  We employ various methods for collecting information.  To begin with, we use “cookies” that are needed to compile and aggregate non-personally identifiable information about the visitors to our web site. Personally identifiable information consists of information that is unique to you, such as credit card numbers, bank accounts, social security numbers, home address, email address and the like.  This is the type of information that most people consider private and deem the most important to protect from unauthorized access.  Non-personally identifiable information most often consists of things such as your search preferences, the types of products you have bought, how many times you have visited a particular web site, etc.  This type of information is usually associated with a particular computer or IP address but not with a particular person.  “Cookies” are pieces of information generated by a Web server and stored in the user's computer, ready for future access.  Each time you access our web site; our server finds the relevant cookie on your computer.  The information contained within that cookie is then used to customize your experience with our site.   

WHY DO WE COLLECT THIS INFORMATION?

 We use this information in order to serve the needs of our customers.  We need to know who you are in order to verify the credit card information you have sent us.  We collect several pieces of personal information from you in order to complete this verification process.  The non-personal information that we collect from you is used in order to offer you better service and to make your experience with our site more enjoyable.  Any information that we may inadvertently collect from you, that does not serve one of these reasons stated above, is immediately purged from our system. 

HOW IS YOUR INFORMATION PROTECTED?

 We use the latest in encryption technology, including 128 bit SSL encryption to ensure that any sensitive information that is sent by you to us via the Internet is protected from unauthorized interception.  We employ the latest in firewall protection to prevent unauthorized access into our information storage areas.  We maintain a rigorous hiring process to screen out potential employees with criminal backgrounds.  We also have back up servers and power supplies to guard against power outages and other natural occurrences that could pose a threat to the integrity of your personal information.  Passwords are required in order for you to gain access to your account.  Once an account has been terminated, measures are taken to remove those users from the system who no longer need access to our system. When an employee is terminated or is no longer with the company, we change the access codes that the employee used to access any customer accounts.   Passwords must contain at least six characters, one of which is non-alphanumeric.  Passwords are case sensitive and must be updated every 90 days.   

WHO HAS ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION? 

Only those employees that are responsible for handling your account have access to your information.  Additionally, employees in our technical department may have access to your information in order to conduct routine checks on the integrity of our system and in order to perform necessary maintenance work.  In order to process your credit card we have to consult with an out side credit card processing company.  These processing companies are regulated by the banking industry and must meet certain security requirements in order to be in business.  The processing companies will have access to your credit card information, billing address, name, and possibly your telephone number.  The processing company will communicate with the issuing bank of your credit card in order to get final approval to charge your credit card for the product or services we are providing for you.  Should you choose to receive additional information regarding one of our services or products, we may pass your email address to one of our partners who offers similar products or services that you might be interested in.  Additionally, judicial requests by a duly authorized court will require us to divulge certain information regarding your account should that situation arise.  Finally, should our company ever be bought or sold, your account information would then become the property of the new owner/entity.   

CAN YOU CORRECT OR REMOVE INFORMATION FROM THIS SITE? 

You always have the option to view your account to make sure the information we have collected from you is indeed correct.  You also have the option of removing any information from your account that you wish to keep private.  However, please note that removing certain information such as your email address, contact information, and the like may greatly hinder our ability to effectively provide the service or products you have requested.  We recommend, that you contact us first to discuss which information you may remove without interrupting the quality of service we intend to provide for you.   

CAN YOU OPT OUT OF HAVING CERTAIN INFORMATION COLLECTED? 

You have the option of disabling your computer’s ability to accept or transmit cookies.  This will prevent us from gathering certain non-personally identifiable information from you.  You also have the option of removing yourself from any email distribution list that you may have signed up for.   

NOTICE OF CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY 

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time.  However, if any changes do occur, we will publish the changes to our web site and post a notice on the home page that a new privacy policy has been implemented.  We will also take reasonable steps to contact you personally to let you know of the new changes.  Should the company be bought or sold to someone else, we will take reasonable steps to notify you personally.  You will then be given the option to keep your account open or to terminate.