Privacy Policy
Last updated Nov 2024
This Privacy Policy has been prepared on behalf of the following Witzer Group of entities:
- Witzer Pty Ltd (ACN 661 719 526)
- Witzer Holdings Pty Ltd (ACN 661 718 761)
- Witzer Labs Pty Ltd (ACN 661 720 154)
- The Trustee for Witzer Trust (ABN 28 650 854 882)
- Witzer Ops Pty Ltd (ABN 81 661 719 553)
(we, our, us, Witzer)
Witzer is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information that we hold. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and hold personal information and how to contact us if you have any queries about personal information that we hold about you.
What is personal information?
'Personal information' is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. Examples include an individual’s name, address, contact number and email address.
‘Sensitive information’ is a special category of personal information. Sensitive information includes health information and information about an individual’s race or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, religious or philosophical beliefs.
The kinds of personal information we collect and hold
Witzer operates an escrow and payment service platform designed for any contract where payment is made on completion or delivery of a product or service, particularly where payment is made via milestone payments or instalments (Platform). We collect and hold a range of personal information in carrying out our business and functions. The kinds of personal information we collect and hold about you will depend upon the nature of our relationship with you and the circumstances of a collection.
For example:
- for users of our Platform, we collect:
- your name, address, date of birth, contact phone number, email and bank account information;
- content you provide to us in connection with your use of the Platform, including:
- messages you send and receive through the Platform between you and us, or between you and another user, including the contents and metadata of the messages, subject to applicable law;
- any other information you provide to us when you sign up to use our Platform, set up a project, manage project payments, make an inquiry, provide feedback or correspond with us (including photos, videos, messages and other content); and
- other information about your use of the Platform (such as technical information generated in connection with your use of the Platform); and
- if you deal with us in some other capacity, we may collect your name and contact details and any other information you choose to provide to us.
We may also collect details of the interactions you have with us (for example, emails and notes of telephone discussions).
We may also collect sensitive information about you. For example, if you are involved in a project, we may collect information about whether you are a member of Master Builders or the Housing Industry Association (HIA). We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent (unless we are otherwise required or authorised by or under law to do so).
From time to time, you may provide us, and we may collect from you, personal information of or about a third party (for example, when a user of the Platform invites another prospective user to register for an account via our website). If you provide us with personal information about another person, please make sure that you tell them about this Privacy Policy.
If you are or become an employee of Witzer, the handling of your personal information may be exempt from the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) if it is directly related to your current or former employment relationship with us.
How we collect personal information
We collect personal information in a variety of ways, including
- from you directly when you register to use our Witzer Platform and establish an account with us;
- when you provide us information through the Witzer Platform;
- when you interact with us in writing, electronically or by telephone;
- when you communicate with us through our website; and
- if you are a customer of a service provider, we may collect information about you from third parties such as our service providers.
The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for a range of purposes including to:
- provide our services to you through the Witzer Platform in accordance with the Witzer Platform terms and conditions;
- respond to your enquiries about our services;
- undertake any identity or fraud checks in accordance with our legal requirements or internal processes;
- for our administrative purposes and internal record keeping;
- provide you with customer service or technical support and deal with any complaints or feedback you have;
- perform research and analysis and improve or develop our products or services;
- manage our relationships with our customers, suppliers, and our contracted service providers;
- consider job applications for current and future employment;
- conduct marketing, including direct marketing, targeted advertising and other promotional activities for products and services, special offers, promotions and events you may be interested in, including provided by us or third parties;
- manage our insurance and risks; and
- comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We may use and disclose your personal information for other purposes required or authorised by or under law (including purposes for which you have provided your consent).
If we are unable to collect personal information from or about you, we may not be able to respond to your requests or enquiries and facilitate any requests you make to use our services.
Direct marketing
We may use and disclose your personal information for our direct marketing purposes, including so we can contact you with information about our products and services, special offers, promotions and events that may be of interest to you. We may also conduct targeted online advertising, which may include working with third parties to provide you with marketing on our behalf (this may be based on personal information collected by us and/or third parties).
We may contact you by email, telephone, social media, or notices and/or messages in our Platform. You can let us know at any time if you no longer wish to receive these communications, by contacting us (using the contact details at the end of this policy) or using the unsubscribe facility in our Platform or communications (e.g. for emails, by following the ‘unsubscribe’ link included in the email).
Disclosure of personal information to third parties
We may share your personal information within the Witzer Group for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
When you use the Platform to manage your project, we will disclose personal information that you provide to us to other users of the Platform, for example:
- when you upload content to a project that is visible to other users, the other users will be able to view that information;
- when you request a quote from another user, the other user will be able to see your name and other personal information you include in your request for quotation; and
- when you send messages to another user, the other user will be able to see the content of that message).
In conducting our business, we may disclose your personal information to third parties for the purposes outlined above. These third parties may include, where appropriate:
- financial institutions for payment processing
- our contracted service providers, including;
- IT and software service providers
- marketing, promotional and market research agencies; and
- external business advisers (such as auditors and lawyers); and
- in the case of a sale of our business (in whole or in part) to the purchaser (as an asset of the business); and
- for job applicants, referees whose details you provide to us.
We may also disclose your personal information to other third parties and for other purposes where we are required or authorised by or under law to do so (including where you have provided your consent).
Witzer does not generally disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. However, some of our service providers use personnel and facilities located outside Australia. As a result, personal information collected and held by us may be accessed by our service providers located overseas, including in the United States of America.
How we hold personal information
We generally hold personal information in computer systems, including computer systems operated for us by our service providers. We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes taking appropriate security measures to protect electronic materials and requiring our service providers to do so.
We store electronic records within our own secure network and through third party data storage providers. Personal information within our network is encrypted and access is appropriately limited and monitored.
Our third party data storage providers are required to protect personal information in accordance with applicable laws and take appropriate technical and organisation measures against unauthorised or unlawful use of personal information or its accidental loss, destruction or damage.
Access to and correction of your personal information
You have a right to request access to personal information that we hold about you and request its correction if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. You may do so by contacting our Privacy Officer at the details below.
We will respond to all requests for access to or correction of personal information within a reasonable period.
We will generally provide you with access to your personal information (subject to some exceptions permitted by law) but may charge an access fee to cover the cost of retrieving the information and supplying it to you.
Complaints
Please contact us (using the contact details at the end of this policy) if you have any concerns or complaints about the manner in which we have collected or handled your personal information. We will inquire into your complaint and respond within a reasonable period of time (usually 30 days).
If you are not satisfied with our response after 30 days, you can lodge a complaint with the Australian Information Commissioner by visiting www.oaic.gov.au, calling 1300 363 992 or by emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au.
Contact details
If you would like more information about the way we manage personal information, would like to request access to or correction of personal information that we hold about you, or wish to make a complaint, please contact us by either:
Email – privacy@witzer.com.au
Attention – Privacy Officer
Post – PO Box 12468, George Street, Qld 4003
Telephone – 07 2112 8470
Changes to our privacy policy
From time to time, it may be necessary for us to review and revise our Privacy Policy. We may notify you about changes to this Privacy Policy by posting an updated version on our website. We encourage you to check our website from time to time to ensure you are familiar with our latest Privacy Policy.
Our Privacy Policy was last updated in November 2024.