NEXT PLUMBING & HYDRONICS SUPPLY INC. PRIVACY POLICY (updated January, 2020)

Next Plumbing and Hydronics Supply Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates (“Next Supply“, “we”, “our”, “us”) recognizes the importance of your right to privacy and wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose any personal information that individually identifies you and our commitment to meet our obligations under applicable Canadian privacy laws.

This Privacy Policy explains our collection, use, retention, disclosure and protection of your personal information (sometimes hereinafter referred to as “you” or “your“) when you use our website and our services. It also explains how you can contact us if you have questions about how we handle your information.  We will only collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Protecting individual privacy is important, and Next Supply is committed to maintaining personal information that it obtains secure and confidential. Next Supply generally uses personal information to provide customers with the products and services they have requested, and to get to know you, your needs and your preferences in order to provide you with superior customer service.

Depending on the services being offered by us, we may provide additional or different privacy notices for specific relations you have with us or to highlight how we use your personal information for specific services. Where we do this, it will be clear which notices apply to which relations and services.

By using our website and services and supplying your personal information, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy, and you agree and consent to the collection, use, disclosure and other processing of your personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.  If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use our website or services or supply your personal information to us.

1. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

In order to conduct certain aspects of our business, including processing your requests for our products or services, we may be required to collect personal information about you. In this policy, the term “personal information” means any information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business contact information of an employee of an organization, when collected, used or disclosed for the purpose of communications relating to the employees’ employment, business or profession. Anonymous data means data that is not associated with or linked to any individual’s personal information or will not easily permit the identification of individuals (“Anonymous Data”). Next Supply does not consider personal information to include Anonymous Data. 

We collect personal information about you when you provide it to us or use our products or services. We may also collect information about you from certain third parties. In most instances, you will decide what information you provide us. In certain instances, if you choose to not provide us with personal information, you may not be able to fully utilize our products or services.  The types of personal information that we may collect include, but is not limited to:

• non-excluded identifying information in your capacity as an employee of an organization;
• your name, address, telephone number, fax number, postal code, e-mail address and other contact information outside of your role as an employee of an organization;
• information we receive from you in connection with your application for credit, including employment information and your income, information regarding your debts and expenses, home rental or ownership information and the amount of your rental or mortgage payments, date of birth, financial institution information, and other information to assist in obtaining a credit report;
• your driver’s license number;
• banking information including your account number and other information needed for pre-authorized payments;
• information and documents to help us verify your identity;
• information we obtain about you from credit reporting agencies;
• your IP address;
• information we collect or generate in order to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, including information about your business or occupation;
• personal identifiers, such as your date of birth, collected for credit checks;
• individual credit reports and credit history, asset and liability information;
• information about your past dealings and accounts with Next Supply, including payment history or reports of suspicious transactions;
• information about past financial dealings with third party references provided to us;
• account information and records collected and retained over the course of your relationship with us; and
• such other personal information that you give to us that we did not request (such as personal information you voluntarily put into an email to us) and personal information collected with your consent or as permitted or required by law.

2. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Next Supply and its representatives may collect personal information in a number of circumstances in connection with our business and we may collect or receive personal information through a number of other sources, including but not limited to:

• when you use our website, products or services;
• when you request a quote, order, purchase, return or exchange any of our products or services;
• when you submit a credit application, whether personally or on behalf of a corporate credit application, including but not limited to in the capacity as a guarantor of the obligations of a corporate customer;
• when you correspond with us, including electronically or by phone, to contact one of our representatives, provide us with questions or comments or participate in any promotion or survey which we may make available from time to time;
• when we receive corporate information from existing or prospective customers in order to evaluate potential business relationships;
• when we access publicly available registries and databases to learn more about existing and potential customers;
• from credit reporting agencies and current and past creditors;
• from third party financial institutions and similar references provided in connection with a credit evaluation;
• through our research on industry sectors and other areas relevant to our business;
• from our affiliates with whom you may have had past dealings;
• when you visit or use any Next Supply website, which may involve the collection of: (a) visitor data provided voluntarily by website users; and (b) website data that is collected automatically by our systems to provide us with information about website use and for research analysis purposes;
• when you apply for employment with Next Supply; and
• through other ongoing transactions or interactions with Next Supply.

Any personal information posted, used or disclosed on a Facebook page, LinkedIn page, Twitter page, YouTube page or other social networking page or website is subject to that website’s privacy policy, and is not subject to this Privacy Policy.

We may receive personal information about you from third party sources, such as credit reporting agencies. We use this information to: (i) assist with our business operations; and (ii) and to provide our products and services. You authorize the collection of your personal information from these sources and, if applicable, you authorize these sources to give us your personal information for the above mentioned purposes.

We retain copies of any voicemail messages that you may leave with any of our representatives by telephone.

3. LIMITING COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We limit the collection of personal information to that which is necessary to fulfill the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy and we collect, use and disclose your personal information only in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

4. USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect, use and disclose your personal information in order to provide you with our products and services.  We also collect, use and disclose your personal information to comply with legal and regulatory requirements and as otherwise may be permitted or required by applicable laws.  We will only use the personal information that we collect for the purposes for which it was collected.  We collect your personal information for the following purposes and in accordance with applicable laws:

• to provide you with our products and services;
• in connection with credit decision-making, account opening processes and the ongoing administration of our business relationships;
• identifying our customers, including the identities of directors, officers and guarantors of corporate customers;
• developing and maintaining our relationship with you, including with respect to the promotion or offering of additional products and services that might benefit or be of interest to you, processing orders, providing ongoing service and arranging delivery of products or services;
• reviewing individual and corporate credit applications in furtherance of our credit approval process, including to make a determination of credit worthiness and whether to extend credit in response to credit requests;
• to obtain and exchange credit information from and with credit reporting agencies, credit references and other sources with whom you have or may expect to have financial dealings;
• monitoring, detecting and preventing fraudulent and suspicious transactions, including meeting risk management and fraud monitoring requirements;
• checking an individual’s past dealings or accounts with us or our affiliates;
• otherwise meeting legal and regulatory requirements;
• enforcing accounts and collecting any amounts owing to us;
• in connection with audit requirements;
• maintaining business records for reasonable periods to meet reasonable business needs and in accordance with legal and regulatory records retention requirements;
• evaluating an application for employment;
• generally managing and administering our business; and
• as otherwise consented to by an individual consent or as permitted or required by law.

In some circumstances, Next Supply may use and disclose personal information without the affected individual’s consent, including where:

• we have reasonable grounds to believe the information could be useful when investigating a contravention of a federal, provincial or foreign law and the information is used for that investigation;
• an emergency exists that threatens an individual’s life, health or security;
• the information is for statistical study or research;
• the information is publicly available, as defined in applicable privacy laws;
• the use is clearly in the affected individual’s interest, and consent is not available in a timely way;
• knowledge and consent would compromise the availability or accuracy of the information, which is relevant to the detection, suppression or prevention of fraud, the investigation of a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the law; or
• collection is required to investigate a breach of an agreement.

5. DISCLOSURE AND TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information will be accessible by those Next Supply employees, officers and directors that need to know the information for the purposes of their work, as described below.

We may otherwise disclose personal information as set out below, with the affected individual’s consent, or as permitted or required by law:

• Services and Transactions: We may disclose personal information as necessary in connection with the transactions, products and services you have requested, including to third party suppliers in respect of the product warranties offered to you.
• Disclosure within Next Supply: Certain personal information about individual representatives of our corporate customers (including officers, directors, shareholders, owners, principals and guarantors) may be disclosed to our affiliates for the purposes of our and their ongoing risk management, fraud detection and security requirements, and for identity, financial and related background verification in connection with the provision of products and services.
• Service Providers: We may use agents and service providers (including computer technology and financial service providers such as credit card issuers, credit reporting agencies, and those of our affiliates acting in such capacities) to collect, use, store and/or process personal information on our behalf, and personal information may be transferred to those entities for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
• Business Transactions: Personal information may be used by Next Supply and disclosed to parties connected with certain business transactions, such as the proposed or actual financing, insuring, sale or amalgamation of all or part of Next Supply or our business or assets, and for the purposes of evaluating and/or performing a proposed transaction. These purposes may include permitting parties such as lenders, insurers or purchasers to determine whether to proceed or continue with a proposed transaction; fulfilling reporting, inspection or audit obligations to those parties; and disclosing personal information as part of concluding a purchase or sale. Assignees or successors of Next Supply or our business or assets, or those of our affiliated entities, may use and disclose personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless further consent is obtained.
• Internal Processes: We may disclose personal information as reasonably necessary to meet insurance, audit, processing and regulatory requirements.

We may also disclose your personal information to service providers, data processors and other third parties (“Third Parties”) under the following limited circumstances:

• to Third Parties that assist with our operations and website, products and services including, without limitation, for customer services, our business operations, monitoring and analyzing website activity, and operating and maintaining the website. Such Third Parties may only use your personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
• when necessary to protect (i) our safety, property or other rights; (ii) our representatives, customers and users of the website and stakeholders; (iii) to conduct investigations of possible breaches of law, including, including to detect and prevent fraud;
• to identify, contract or bring legal action against someone who may be violating an agreement that they have with us;
• to investigate breaches of security safeguards or cooperate with government or regulatory authorities pursuant to a legal matter;

• to a lawyer representing Next Supply;
• to collect a debt owed to Next Supply by the affected individual or customer with respect to whom the affected individual’s personal information was collected;
• to comply with a subpoena, a warrant or an order made by a court or other body with appropriate jurisdiction;
• to a law enforcement agency in the process of a civil or criminal investigation;
• to a government agency or department requesting the information;
• with your consent; or
• as otherwise required or permitted by law.:

PIPEDA also permits Next Supply to transfer personal information to a third party without the affected individual’s knowledge or consent if the transfer is simply for processing purposes and the third party only uses the information for the purposes for which it was transferred.

6. CONSENT

Depending on the sensitivity of the personal information, your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information may be implied, deemed (using an opt-out mechanism) or express. Express consent can be given orally, electronically or in writing. Implied consent is consent that can reasonably be inferred from your action or inaction.

Your personal information will not be used without your consent for purposes other than those for which it was collected or in accordance with applicable laws. From time to time, we may wish to use personal information for new or additional purposes, in which case we will amend the Privacy Policy to include these new or additional purposes and will obtain your consent through your continued use of our website, products and services.

By signing a credit application and/or other form, your implied consent is granted by the individual to obtain and/or to verify information from third parties such as banks, credit bureaus and other lenders in the process of assessing the credit worthiness of an individual or a corporate customer on whose behalf the individual’s personal information is collected.

An individual can choose not to provide some or all of the personal information at any time, but if Next Supply is unable to collect sufficient information to proceed with the approval of a request for credit, such request may be delayed or turned down.

You can withdraw consent to the use of his or her personal information at any time by making such request in writing to Next Supply, at the address noted below in this policy.

We may generate Anonymous Data from personal information collected through the website and services by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to an individual. Such Anonymous Data includes, but is not limited to, information we collect from your use of our website, products and services.  We may use this Anonymous Data and aggregated data for any reasonable purpose subject to applicable laws.

7. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information will be retained in customer files as long as the file is active and for such periods of time as may be required to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, for reasonable business purposes and as prescribed by applicable laws and regulations.

8. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

Our website may contain links to other website that are independently owned and operated by third parties.  These other website may have their own privacy policies and are not governed by this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any website owned and operated by any third parties. Other website may collect and treat information collected differently, so we encourage you to carefully read and review the privacy policy of each website you visit.

9. COOKIES, WEB BEACONS AND OTHER SIMILAR TECHNOLOGY

As you interact with this website, products and services, we may use automatic data collection technology and services that record and collect information that identifies your computer, tracks your use of our website, products and services and collects certain other information about you and your surfing habits. These data collection technology and services allows us to store and manage user preferences, enable content, deliver targeted advertising and collect usage data and analytics. These data collection technology may include cookies, web beacons and other similar devices on this website to enhance functionality and navigation for our visitors. Cookies and other tracking technologies are commonly used by websites and apps through which information is collected about your online activities.

A cookie is a small data file that is placed on your computer or other electronic device so that your device will “remember” information when you visit a website. 

Web beacons and tags are small strings of code that are used in conjunction with a cookie and allow us to record activity on our website.  Internet tags, graphic tags and similar web beacon type functions allow us to count the number of users who have visited a particular web page or to access certain cookies. 

We may use web beacons on this website to count users and to recognize users by accessing our cookies. Being able to access our cookies allows us to personalize this website and improve your experience at our website. We may also include web beacons in HTML-formatted e-mail messages that we send to determine which e-mail messages were opened. Information tracked through these mechanisms includes, but is not limited to: (i) your IP address; (ii) the type of web browser and operating system being used; (iii) the pages of the website a user visits; and (iv) other websites a user visited before visiting our website. Web beacons may also used to deliver to you interest-based advertising.

You can set your internet browser up so that you are notified when cookies are stored, you can decide in each individual case whether you want to accept cookies, or you can refuse to accept any cookies. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may be restricted in how you are able to use our website. You can delete cookies that are already stored on your hard disk at any time.  You will find more details on how to do this in the operating guide for your Internet browser program.

As described above, you may be able to set your browser to refuse cookies.  If you refuse cookies you may still receive online advertising, but it may be less personalized.

10. THIRD PARTY ANALYTICS

Our website uses third party analytics services such as Google Analytics, a web analytics service of Google. Google Analytics uses cookies to analyze how you use our website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of our website (including your IP address) is sent to a Google server in the U.S. and stored there. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of our website, compile reports on website activity for our website operators and to provide other website activity related internet services. Additionally, Google may transfer this information to a third party when required by law or in the case of a third party processing information on Google’s behalf.  In no case will Google use your IP address in connection with any other information held by Google. You can set your internet browser to prohibit the installation of cookies, although we must point out that some features and functions of our website will then be unusable. By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you collected by Google in the manner described and for the above-mentioned purpose.  The consent for collection and storage of data can be withdrawn at any time in the future by clicking on the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.  Given the debate concerning the use of analytical tools using full IP addresses, we wish to point out that our website uses the “Anonymize IP” function of Google Analytics that works with a shortened form of IP addresses to avoid direct personal identification.

We also use the cookies to carry out frequency assessments, page usage assessments and marketing assessments. For these assessments, we use this cookie information without a link to your personal information, so it is completely anonymous.

11. ACCURACY

You may request access to your personal information which we may hold by contacting us at the contact information set forth below, and we will respond within the time periods provided for under applicable laws.  We will need to verify your identity before providing you with the personal information we hold about you. There is no cost for such access request unless you require copies of records. We may not be able to provide you with access to your personal information if the information cannot be separated from the personal information of others, cannot be disclosed for reasons of security or commercial confidentiality, or is protected by legal privilege. If we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will advise you of the reasons access is being denied, unless we are prohibited by law from doing so.

Individuals are requested to notify Next Supply of any change in personal or business information collected by Next Supply We will endeavor to correct or complete any personal information which you advise us is inaccurate or incomplete.  Where appropriate, the amended information will be transmitted to third parties having access to such information.. Information contained in inactive files is not updated.

12. SAFEGUARDS

Next Supply will use physical, organizational, and technological measures to safeguard personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized access. Any personal information that you provide to us is exchanged on a secured server. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we are committed to protecting your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us.

We take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you access to your account on our website, however, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your username, password and any other account information. We also take reasonable steps to ensure that our employees are aware of the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of personal information and that unauthorized persons do not gain access to personal information that we have disposed of or destroyed. 

This includes limiting access to those employees who need to know such information (for example, those who have to make a determination as to a customer’s eligibility for credit); storing files in filing cabinets when not in use and restricting access to work areas where active files may be in use; shredding files prior to disposal to prevent inadvertent disclosure to unauthorized persons; restricting access to Next Supply computers that contain personal information in electronic databases or other formats through password protection and internal Next Supply security policies, and implementing technical security measures such as limited access data-centers, intrusion detection, firewall technology and secure socket layer certificate authentication.

13. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

As part of using our website, products or services, you may have also opted in to receive email communications from us. If you opted-in to receive such communications, we may use the information to: communicate with you regarding our products, services and promotions; provide you with other information that you request; and/or improve our product and service offerings.

You will always have the opportunity to “unsubscribe” from receiving any of our e-mail or other communications at any time and we will ensure that our e-mails include instructions on how to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive future e-mails from us. We provide an on-going opportunity to unsubscribe or opt-out of contact by us by accessing our website or by e-mail to our Chief Privacy Officer at privacy@nextsupply.ca.

If you decide to unsubscribe, we will only contact you (i) for the purposes allowed under applicable law; (ii) to send you notices of changes to our Privacy Policy; or (iii) to receive Service related messages.

14. YOUR CONSENT TO THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

By using our products, services and providing us with your personal information, you agree that Next supply may collect your personal information and you voluntarily consent to the collection, use, disclosure and transfer of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use our website, products or our services or provide us with any personal information.  If you do not understand the nature, purpose and consequences of us collecting, using and disclosing your personal information, please do not use our website, products or our services or provide us with any personal information, and contact us at the contact information set forth below so that we can address your questions or concerns. 

Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you may refuse or withdraw your consent to certain of the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy at any time by giving our Chief Privacy Officer reasonable prior written notice contact information set forth below. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, you acknowledge that we may not be able to provide you or continue to provide you with certain services or information that may be of value to you. However, you may not be permitted to withdraw your consent to certain necessary collections, uses and disclosures of your personal information (for example, Next supply needs to maintain reasonable business and transaction records).

15. AMENDMENTS TO PRIVACY POLICY

This version of the Next Supply Privacy Policy is in effect as of the date set out at the top of this policy. We reserve the right to change or replace this Privacy Policy at our sole discretion at any time. Please check back from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any updates or changes in this Privacy Policy. We will post the most current version on our website and we will indicate at the top of this page the date this Privacy Policy was last revised. Your continued access or use of this website after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the Privacy Policy as revised.

16. QUESTIONS, REQUESTS FOR ACCESS AND COMPLAINTS

Any questions regarding this or any other privacy policy of Next Supply may be directed to the Chief Privacy Officer of Next            Supply. Requests for access to information or complaints must be made in writing and sent to the Chief Privacy Officer at the address below:

Next Plumbing and Hydronics Supply Inc.
Attn:  Chief Privacy Officer
Email address: Chief Privacy Officer at privacy@nextsupply.ca
300Galcat Drive

Vaughan, Ontario, L4L 0B9

Requests for access will be fulfilled within 30 days and individuals will be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of his or her personal information. If upon receiving access, you find that the information held by Next Supply is inaccurate or incomplete, upon providing documentary evidence to verify the correct information, Next Supply will promptly make the required changes to the personal information retained by it; provided, however, that you may be asked to provide identification and/or other proof acceptable to Next Supply to verify such inaccuracies or changes.

17. RECOURSE

If an individual has a concern about the personal information handling practices of Next Supply, a complaint, in writing, may be directed to the Next Supply’s Chief Privacy Officer, as outlined above. Upon verification of the individual’s identity, Next Supply will act promptly to investigate the complaint and respond to the individual within 60 days.

Where Next Supply makes a determination that the individual’s complaint is well founded, it will take the necessary steps to correct the offending information handling practice and/or revise the privacy policies and procedures of Next Supply. Where Next Supply determines that an individual’s complaint is not well founded, the individual will be notified in writing of such determination.

If the individual is dissatisfied with the finding of and corresponding action taken by the Next Supply, the individual may bring a complaint to the appropriate Privacy Commissioner for the jurisdiction at the address below:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
www.priv.gc.ca
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, Québec K1A 1H3
Telephone: 1-800-282-1376
Fax: (819) 994-5424