HOUP Privacy Policy

Introduction 

Houp Solutions (website URL address: http://Houp.co.za) appreciates your business and trust. We are a South Africa based company that manufactures vaccine cooler boxes. The HOUP  Privacy Policy upholds and is bound by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (‘the Constitution’), the Electronic Communications and Transactions  Act and the Protection of Personal Information Act.

We are also bound by all laws, especially the provisions which protect privacy rights.  

The HOUP privacy policy has been compiled to better serve users who are concerned with how we use and protect their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) online.

PII is information which can be used on its own or in conjunction with other information to identify, contact, or locate an individual or company, or To identify an individual’s connections. 

Please read HOUP  privacy policy carefully, in order to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website. 

Data Collected 

DATA STORAGE COLLECTION We are  a South Africa based company and operate on web servers hosted in South Africa. Our domains are through Afrihost. We adhere to the The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa & the relevant provisions of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. This ensures that your data is securely stored and ECTA and POPI compliant.

They also comply with GDPR Provisions and EU/US “Privacy Shield” policy. You can access their Privacy Policy here. 

REGISTRATION DATA  If you register on our website, we store your chosen username and your email address and any additional personal information added to your user profile. You can see, edit, or delete your personal information at any time (except changing your username). Website administrators can also see and edit this information. 

SUPPORT DATA  If you have registered on our website and have a valid support account, you can submit support tickets for assistance. Support form submissions are sent to our third-party Freshworks ticketing system. Only the data you explicitly provided is sent, and you are asked for consent, each time you want to create a new support ticket. 

COMMENTS  When you leave comments on the website we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. 

CONTACT FORM  Information submitted through the contact form on our site is sent to our company email, hosted through Houp Solutions. We adhere to the The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa & the relevant provisions of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.

This ensures that your data is securely stored and ECTA and POPI compliant. They also comply with GDPR Provisions and EU/US “Privacy Shield” policy. 

These submissions are only kept for customer service purposes; they are never used for marketing purposes or shared with third parties. 

GOOGLE ANALYTICS We use Google Analytics on our site for anonymous reporting of site usage. So, no personalised data is stored. If you would like to opt-out of Google Analytics monitoring your behaviour on our website please use this link: Google Analytics Opt-out. 

Use of Information 

We only use and process personal information for the purposes described in the HOUP Privacy Policy. In addition to the above, such purposes include: 

• Communicating with you 
• Making the sites or services easier to use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter the same information 
• Providing our services 
• Auditing, research and analysis in order to maintain, protect and improve our services 
• Ensuring the technical functioning of our network 
• Protecting our rights or property and that of our users 
• Developing new services 
• Verification/identification of the user during website usage; 
• Providing Technical Assistance; 
• Sending updates to our users with important information to inform about news/changes;  Checking the accounts’ activity in order to prevent fraudulent transactions and ensure the security over our customers’ personal information; 
• Customize the website to make your experience more personal and engaging; 
• Guarantee overall performance and administrative functions run smoothly. 

Embedded Content 

Pages on this site may include embedded content, like YouTube videos, for example. Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you visited the other website. 

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged-in to that website. Below you can find a list of the services we use: 

LINKEDIN The LINKEDIN page plugin is used to display our LINKEDIN timeline on our site. LINKEDIN has its own cookie and privacy policies over which we have no control. There is no installation of cookies from LINKEDIN and your IP is not sent to a LINKEDIN server until you consent to it. See their privacy policy here: LINKEDIN Privacy Policy . 

TWITTER We use the Twitter API to display our tweets timeline on our site. Twitter has its own cookie and privacy policies over which we have no control. Your IP is not sent to a Twitter server until you consent to it. See their privacy policy here: Twitter Privacy Policy . 

YOUTUBE  We use YouTube videos embedded on our site. YouTube has its own cookie and privacy policies over which we have no control. There is no installation of cookies from YouTube and your IP is not sent to a YouTube server until you consent to it. See their privacy policy here: YouTube Privacy Policy. 

No-Spam Policy 

We have a strict No-Spam Policy prohibiting the use of any data collected to send spam. We will not sell any contact information to third parties. 

Cookies 

This site uses cookies – small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience. In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymized tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics.

Cookies generally exist to make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the help section of your browser in line with the Houp Solutions Privacy Policy. 

NECESSARY COOKIES (ALL SITE VISITORS) 

cfduid: Is used for our CDN CloudFlare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. See more information on privacy here: CloudFlare Privacy Policy. 

PHPSESSID: To identify your unique session on the website. 

NECESSARY COOKIES (ADDITIONAL FOR LOGGED IN CUSTOMERS) 

wp-auth: Used by WordPress to authenticate logged-in visitors, password authentication and user verification. 

wordpress_logged_in_{hash}: Used by WordPress to authenticate logged-in visitors, password authentication and user verification. 

wordpress_test_cookie: Used by WordPress to ensure cookies are working correctly. 

wp-settings-[UID]: WordPress sets a few wp-settings-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of the admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. 

wp-settings-[UID]: WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of the admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. 

Choices for Personal Information 

When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information. If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose defined herein and in the terms of the services offered then we will ask for your consent prior to such use.

Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some of our features and services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled.

You can decline to submit personal information to any of our services, in which case we may not be able to provide those services to you. 

Who has access to your data 

If you are not a registered client for our site, there is no personal information we can retain or view regarding yourself. 

If you are a client with a registered account, your personal information can be accessed by the following users in line with the HOUP Privacy Policy: 

• Our system administrators. 
• Our supporters when they (in order to provide support) need to get the information about the client accounts and access. 

Information Sharing 

We only share personal information with other companies or individuals in the following limited circumstances: 

We have your consent 

Sharing the information with our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf.

We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. 

• We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to:(a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request,(b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof,(c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or(d) protect against harm to rights, property or safety, of our users, us or the public as required or permitted by law. 
• We may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal information, such as the number of users by demographic. Such information does not identify you individually. 
• We are compelled by the government, under any applicable legal statute in effect, to provide them with access to your data 

We don’t share your data with third-parties in a way as to reveal any of your personal information like email, name, etc.  

How long we retain your data 

We use the SSL/HTTPS protocol throughout our site. This encrypts our user communications with the servers so that personal identifiable information is not captured/hijacked by third parties without authorisation. 

In case of a data breach, system administrators will immediately take all needed steps to ensure system integrity, will contact affected users and will attempt to reset passwords if needed. 

When you submit a support ticket or a comment, its metadata is retained until (if) you tell us to remove it. We use this data so that we can recognize you and approve your comments automatically instead of holding them for moderation. 

If you register on our website, we also store the personal information you provide in your user profile. You can see, edit, or delete your personal information at any time (except changing your username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information. 

Your Data Rights 

GENERAL RIGHTS 

If you have a registered account on this website or have left comments, you can request an exported file of the personal data we retain, including any additional data you have provided to us. 

You can also request that we erase any of the personal data we have stored. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes. In short, we cannot erase data that is vital to you being an active customer (i.e. basic account information like an email address). 

If you wish that all of your data is erased, we will no longer be able to offer any support or other product-related services to you. 

THIRD PARTY WEBSITES 

Houp Solutions may post links to third-party websites on this website. These third-party websites are not screened for privacy or security compliance by Houp Solutions or our hosting provider AfriHost, and you release us from any liability for the conduct of these third-party websites. 

All social media sharing links, either displayed as text links or social media icons do not connect you to any of the associated third parties unless you explicitly click on them. 

Please be aware that this Privacy Policy, and any other policies in place, in addition to any amendments, does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personal information relating to members of the Service or Site.

Per the HOUP Privacy Policy, we bear no responsibility for the information collected or used by any advertiser or third party website. Please review the privacy policy and terms of service for each site you visit through third party links. 

Release of your data for legal purposes 

At times it may become necessary or desirable to Houp Solutions, for legal purposes, to release your information in response to a request from a government agency or a private litigant.

You agree that we may disclose your information to a third party where we believe, in good faith, that it is desirable to do so for the purposes of a civil action, criminal investigation, or other legal matter.

In the event that we receive a subpoena affecting your privacy, we may elect to notify you to give you an opportunity to file a motion to quash the subpoena, or we may attempt to quash it ourselves, but we are not obligated to do either.

We may also proactively report you, and release your information to third parties where we believe that it is prudent to do so for legal reasons, such as our belief that you have engaged in fraudulent activities.

You release us from any damages that may arise from or relate to the release of your information to a request from law enforcement agencies or private litigants. 

Any passing on of personal data for legal purposes will only be done in compliance with laws of the country you reside in. 

Accessing and Updating Personal Information 

When you use our services, we make good faith efforts to provide you with access to your personal information and to correct this data if it is inaccurate. 

Amendments to this Privacy Policy 

Please note that the HOUP Privacy Policy may change from time to time. 

We may amend the HOUP Privacy Policy from time to time. When we amend this Privacy Policy, we will update this page accordingly and require you to accept the amendments in order to be permitted to continue using our services. 

Contact us 

If you have any questions about the HOUP Privacy Policy or if you would like to communicate with our Data Protection Officer or the Data Privacy Team, please contact us at: 

HOUP Solutions 

inform@Houp.co.za 

Updated: 29 December 2021