Privacy Policy


Hello Pal is committed to providing you with a trusted environment on our Website. This Privacy Policy discloses how we collect, protect, use, and share information gathered about you on our Website. Except as specifically mentioned below, this Privacy Policy only applies to information gathered on our Website and does not apply to information collected by us through other means. You will know that you are on our website because each page will have a direct link to this Privacy Policy.

We hope that this Privacy Policy will help reinforce your confidence in our Website and enhance your experience on the Internet.


Information that We Collect

In this Privacy Policy, when we use the term “personally identifiable information”, we mean any information that can be used to identify or contact a specific individual, such as a name, address, telephone number or email address. When we refer to “aggregate information”, we mean information that does not allow us to identify a specific individual but describes a general category of visitors to the Site or particular attributes of such visitors, such as demographic information, usage of the Site and other anonymous information.


Personally Identifiable Information that We Collect

You do not have to be a Hello Pal Member to visit our Site and access some of our content. However, as a non-Member visitor, you may not have access to some of the most popular features that Hello Pal offers. For example, only Members can leave comments, post on our message boards, blogs, and participate in other online activities. If you are not currently a Hello Pal Member, please click here to register and become eligible for all of Hello Pal’ features.

If you choose to become a Hello Pal Member, we will ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information, including your name, address and email address. We will also ask you to provide certain information about yourself and your family. This is a standard process to enhance the safety and maintain the integrity of the Site for all our members.

Non-Member visitors to the Site can register to receive Hello Pal newsletters by giving us your name, email address and giving your consent to receive the newsletters. However, you are not considered a full Hello Pal Member with all the privileges of membership until you complete the registration form and provide us with additional required Member information.


Aggregate Information that We Collect

We may also collect certain aggregate information automatically when you visit our Site such as the browser you are using (i.e. Internet Explore 6.0, Mozilla Firefox 1.5, etc.), the internet address from which you linked to our Site, the operating system of your computer (i.e., Microsoft Windows), the unique IP address of the computer you used to access our Site and usage and browsing habits. We use this information to administer and improve your experience on our Site, to help diagnose and troubleshoot potential server malfunctions, and to gather broad demographic information.

To help make sure you receive information that is relevant to you, our Site uses data “cookies.” These cookies are small data files stored on your computer which identify you as a previous visitor to the Site and help us to personalize your experience when you arrive. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies. You can instruct your browser not to accept cookies. However, if you disable this function, you will not be able to use some of the features on our Site.

Our Web pages and our email newsletters contain “web beacons.” Web beacons allow us to count users that have visited a web page or opened an email that contains a web beacon and collect other types of aggregate information. Using this information, we are able to measure the effectiveness of our advertising and how visitors use our Site. This allows us to learn what pages are most attractive to our visitors, which parts of our Site are the most interesting and what kind of offers our Members like to see. Some of the web beacons that are in place on our Site are used only by Hello Pal, and other web beacons are from our vendors and advertisers who use this data to assist us in analyzing how our Members use the Site. In addition, we have agreements with various affiliate networks that promote Hello Pal on their affiliate websites. These affiliate advertisers may use web beacons in their advertisements to track users who click through from the affiliate website to the Site.


How We Use Information

At Hello Pal, everything we do, including how we handle your personally identifiable information, is designed to show how much we value you. Your information assists us in understanding the kinds of benefits and services that may suit your needs and interests. Other than as described in this Privacy Policy, we do not share personally identifiable information collected from you in connection with the Site with any third parties outside unless you authorize us to do so.


Hello Pal Newsletters, Offers and Other Communications

After you register with Hello Pal, you may receive communications from us including our newsletters, as well as updates and communications about Hello Pal. We may ask you which newsletters you wish to receive. You may change your newsletter preferences (i) at any time by simply updating your account, which you can do by clicking on the “My Account” button posted throughout the Site, or (ii) by opting-out of receiving future emails as described at the bottom of each communication from Hello Pal.


Forums, Polls and Member-Provided Content

As a Hello Pal Member, you can participate in various online forums, such as message boards, blogs, ratings, surveys and polls. All content that you submit to the Site is governed by our Terms and Conditions. Please be aware that by using any of these features, your personally identifiable information will be accessible to Members and non-Members, and Hello Pal has no control over how those users may use your personally identifiable information.

Hello Pal Members have the opportunity to connect with other Members who they might not otherwise meet. When you join Hello Pal, you will be asked to provide certain personal information, including, if you wish, a photograph of yourself. You can set the privacy settings to control which data in your profile will be displayed to other members in the Hello Pal Forum. Keep in mind that certain basic profile information cannot be hidden and will be available to any other Members in Hello Pal once you join the forums.

If you decide that you no longer want to participate in the Hello Pal Forums, please send us a message at [email protected], Attention: Delete My Forum Account, and your name and profile will be removed from Hello Pal. Data that you furnished to Hello Pal through the Site will remain in your online file, even if you are no longer participating in the network, and can be used by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.


Aggregate Information

We use aggregate information collected at our Site to personalize your visit. With this data, we can provide content applicable to your particular location and interests. Aggregate information may also be shared with sponsors, advertisers, and partners for various reasons.


Third-Party Offers

On occasion, we are able to offer you special products or services through a relationship with a third party. In those cases, the offer will be brought to you by Hello Pal and fulfilled by the third party. If you accept the offer, you will become a customer of the company that is fulfilling the offer and we will not have control over their use of the personally identifiable information that you provide to them when you accept the offer.


Refer a Friend

If you do become a Member, not only can you enjoy all of the benefits of membership, but you can also refer other individuals to join by providing us with their first names and email addresses. Using the information you give us on these potential Members, we will send them an email invitation to join Hello Pal. The only way these individuals can become Members, however, is if they come to our Site and sign up themselves. We do not use this information for any other purposes.


Requests to transfer information for legal purposes

We will disclose the identities of our users to comply with law or a legal request, such as a subpoena, court order, or other legal proceeding. We may also disclose personally identifiable information in order to enforce our rights under our agreement with our Members or to protect the rights, property and safety of our Members, employees and partners, including exchanging information for fraud and theft protection.


Sale of Business or Assets

In the event that Hello Pal, substantially all of its assets, or a line of business are acquired or merged with another company, personally identifiable information of our Members may be one of the assets sold or merged in connection with that transaction. Hello Pal will notify users of the Site of such a change in ownership or transfer of assets by posting a notice on the Site.


Important Disclosures, Practices, and Contact Information

Hello Pal contains links to other sites. It is possible for you to receive information directly from our partners and other companies if you access them through a link on Hello Pal or if you go directly to their Websites. Once you are on their sites, any data that you supply to these partners, for example, to obtain information or buy products directly from them is beyond our reach and will be the responsibility of each of the linked-to entities and not Hello Pal. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these Websites or any other sites linked to or referenced on our Site.


Security

The importance of security for all personally identifiable information associated with our visitors is of utmost concern to us. We take technical, contractual, administrative, and physical security steps to protect all visitors’ information. When you provide credit card information, our shopping services vendor uses secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to protect it. There are some things that you can do to help protect the security of your information as well. For instance, never give out your password, since this is what is used to access all of your account information. Also, remember to sign out of your account and close your browser window when you finish surfing the Web so that other people using the same computer won’t have access to your information.

Hello Pal has multiple layers of security on its systems. We have implemented software and hardware security, including firewalls, data encryption, and private networks intended to protect your personally identifiable information from unauthorized access. We use firewalls and intrusion-detection devices that are designed to defend against hackers and notify us if any attempts are made to compromise our network. Our Site utilizes SSL encryption when transmitting sensitive data such as credit card information. We regularly review additional software upgrades to enhance our security measures. However, despite our efforts, no system can completely guaranty that there will never be unauthorized access to your personally identifiable information, and your use of the Site indicates that you are willing to assume this risk.


Updating Your Personal Information

If you are a Hello Pal Member, you can update your personally identifiable information at any time by accessing your account. To do this, just click on the “My Account” link listed throughout the Site. However, we are unable to update or delete any of your personally identifiable information that has been shared with a third party as permitted in this Privacy Policy.


Changes to the Privacy Policy

We will inform you if we substantially modify the way we handle your personally identifiable information by posting a notice on the Site, and we will give you the opportunity to opt-out of such differing uses. The most recent version of the Privacy Policy will always be posted on the Site.


Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, or the practices of this Site, please send us a message at [email protected].


Effective Date: March 17, 2016