We take Your privacy seriously and want Your experience with Flooring America and/or Flooring
Canada (the "Site" and the "Service" to which You subscribe upon Your agreeing to the Terms of
Service and End User License Agreement) to be both satisfying and safe. This Policy sets forth
the steps we take to accomplish this result, and we urge You to read it carefully.
1. What this Policy Covers. In order for us to properly and efficiently provide our products
and services to You, it may be necessary from time to time for us to collect information about You
or the equipment or methods You use to visit the Site, or while visiting the site. Although we need
this information to better serve You, we understand Your concerns about how this information is used.
Accordingly, this Policy explains how we use, and more importantly will NOT use, any personally
identifiable information we collect when You visit or utilize the Site. This Policy also covers our
treatment of any personally identifiable information that our business partners share with us or that
we may collect on or from a business partner's site.
2. What this Policy Does not cover. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies
we do not own or control or to people we do not employ or manage. This Policy only addresses the use and
disclosure of information we collect from You. To the extent that You disclose any of Your information
to any other person or entity, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information
You disclose to them. It is important that You understand that we may not, and probably do not, control
any website which You may visit through a "link" from the Site, and such other websites may have their
own privacy policies that may differ substantially from ours. Also, any third party advertisers who
advertise on the Site or through the Site may also adhere to their own privacy policies, which may
also be different from ours. When visiting advertisers or any other website or business You reach
by "clicking" on a link on the Site, You are subject to the privacy policies of that third party. We
encourage You to ask questions before You disclose Your personal information to others. Unless
otherwise notified, we will not collect personal health information from You. If in the future we
do collect such personal health information, we will do so in compliance with our Personal Health
Information Policy, a copy of which will be made available to You.
3. Information Collection and Usage by us. Our primary goal in collecting personal information
is to provide You with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience on the Site and throughout our
business. We use information collected for the purpose of completing transactions, delivering products,
and addressing customer service issues. Any Credit Card Transactions with this Site are handled by
third-party financial institutions and their vendors which receive the credit card number and other
personal information only to verify the credit card numbers and process transactions. Online payment
transactions are handled by an independent third party that receives the account number and other
personal information only to verify the account number, the existence of funds, and process the
transaction. The information collected and handled by them is subject to their privacy policies, which
You should review.
We will not knowingly transfer Your personal information to another party except as disclosed in this
Policy. In most instances, You may have the option to withhold certain requested information; however
if You choose to withhold or not provide requested information, we may not be able to provide You with
the services or products You request. In general, our service automatically gathers certain usage
information like the numbers and frequency of visitors to the Site. We only use such data in the
aggregate. This collective data helps us determine how much our customers use parts of the Site, so
we can improve the Site. We may also track certain information about Your behavior on the Site. We use
this information to do internal research on our users? demographics, interests, and behavior to better
understand and serve You and our community. This information may include the URL that You came from
(whether this URL is on our site or not), which URL You next go to (whether this URL is on our site
or not), what browser You are using, and Your IP address.
We use information in the file we maintain about You, and other information we obtain from Your current
and past activities on the Site, to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, or to enforce our Flooring
America Terms of Service and End User License Agreement ("TOS").
4. Cookies. A cookie is information stored directly on the computer You are using, that
interacts with the Site when You visit, to assist us in providing customized services. We use cookies
for a variety of purposes, such as (i) to display information more effectively to our users, (ii) to
help us provide information which is targeted to Your interest, and (iii) to allow You to enter Your
password less frequently during a session. Any time a cookie is used, personal information is encrypted
for our use only and is protected from third party access. Additionally, You may encounter "cookies" or
other similar devices on certain pages of the Site that are placed by third parties. We do not control
the use of cookies by third parties, and their use of their cookies is subject to their privacy practices
and not ours. When You visit the Site, we automatically receive the URL of the site from which You came
and the site to which You are going when you leave the Site. We also receive the Internet protocol
address of Your computer, Your computer operating system and type of web browser You are using, as well
as the name of Your ISP. This information is used to analyze overall trends to help us improve the Site.
5. Disclosure of Your Personal Information. We may sell or rent certain personally
identifiable information about you to third parties with which we have advertising and name-sharing
agreements. However, you may opt out of these arrangements by clicking on the relevant opt-out
indicators on our site. We may disclose personally identifiable information about You to other
companies or people when: (i) You give us Your consent to share the information; (ii) we need to share
Your information to provide the product or service You have requested; or (iii) we need to send the
information to persons or companies who work on our behalf to provide a product or service to You;
(iv) if we are required to do so by applicable law as described more fully below, or (v) when we
determine You have violated the TOS. It is our policy to cooperate with all law enforcement inquiries,
as well as other third parties to enforce laws, such as: intellectual property rights, fraud and
other rights. We may disclose (and You authorize us to disclose) any information about You to law
enforcement in response to subpoenas or court orders, or other government officials or agencies as we,
in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud,
intellectual property infringements, or other activity that is a violation or potential violation of
law or may expose us or You to legal liability.
Due to the possibility of requirements from existing or future regulatory authorities or due to the
current or future state of technology, we cannot ensure that all of Your private communications and other
personally identifiable information will never be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this
Policy. For purposes of illustration only, third parties may unlawfully intercept or access
transmissions or private communications, or users may abuse or misuse Your information that they
collect from the Site. Therefore, although we use industry standard practices to attempt to achieve
the stated goals of our privacy policies, as a matter of practicality we cannot and we do not promise,
and You should not expect, that Your personally identifiable information or private communications will
always remain private.
6. Service Providers.
- External Providers We may, for Your convenience, provide some of Your personally
identifiable information to an external service provider. However, before we disclose Your
personally identifiable information to an external service provider, You will see what data is
about to be sent and have the ability to approve the disclosure. To prevent our disclosure of
Your personally identifiable information to an external service provider, You can decline such
disclosures or simply not use their services.
- Internal Providers We may use internal service providers to facilitate our services
(e.g., discussion boards, surveys, etc). In such event, we may provide some of Your personally
identifiable information directly to them, and such internal service providers may collect
information directly from You (such as the situation where we ask a internal service provider
to conduct a survey for us and that provider asks You for information while conducting the
survey). If we provide any of Your information to an internal service provider, such internal
service provider?s use of such information shall be restricted by confidentiality agreements.
If You provide additional information to an internal service provider directly, then their use
of Your information will be governed by their applicable privacy policy. Personally
identifiable information posted by a user to a public section of the Site is not governed by
this Policy and Flooring America shall not be responsible for any release of such information.
Furthermore, Flooring America is not responsible for removal of such personally identifiable
information from any such public section of the Site.
7. Other Entities. We may share much of our data, including personally identifiable
information about You, with our subsidiaries, business partners, and our credit card/debit card
processor. To the extent that these entities have access to Your information, they will treat it at
least as protectively as they treat information they obtain from their other users.
8. Advertisers. If we collect from the data we receive personally identifiable information,
such information will be disclosed to advertisers and other third parties for other marketing and
promotional purposes only in a manner which does not personally identify that information (such as
disclosing information in the aggregate, by reference to averages or trends, or by reference to a "user"
without providing the personally identifying information for that user). We will not disclose to these
entities any information that could be used to identify You personally (for example, Your name, email
address, password, credit card number, and bank account number).
9. Identification of User in Site. You will be identified throughout the Site by Your Logon
("User ID"). We suggest for security reasons that You do not use Your e-mail address as Your User ID.
Your User ID can be used to identify You and Your activities throughout the Site, and other users may
be able to identify You based on User ID items that You have purchased, sold, bid on in the past,
requested a bid in the past, any ratings or comments You may provide, any postings You may place on
the Site, etc.
10. Control of Your Password. You are responsible for all actions taken with Your User ID and
password, including any costs, fees or charges incurred. For this reason, You should not share Your
password with anyone else. If You choose to share or disclose Your User ID, password, or Your information
with third parties to provide You additional services, You should review that third party?s privacy policy.
If You lose control of Your password, You may lose substantial control over Your personally identifiable
information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on Your behalf. NOTE: If Your password has
been compromised for any reason, You should promptly e-mail us at leads@flooringamerica.com and notify us
that Your password has been compromised.
11. Security. Even though we utilize various security techniques to protect data from unauthorized
access by users inside and outside the company, "perfect security" does not exist on the Internet. Please note
that e-mail and internet traffic are not secure. To help safeguard Your information, we suggest the following:
(i) You do not share Your USER ID or password with anyone; (ii) change Your password regularly; and (iii)
remember to sign off once You have submitted an application for a product or service online, or completed an
online session.
12. Spam. We do not condone "spam" or unsolicited junk e-mail. We are not responsible for this
unfortunate activity, and cannot stop it from occurring when it originates from outside the Site. We will
take reasonable action against any person who uses our email products as the launching pad for spam.
13. Editing Account Information. We will provide You with the ability to access and edit the
information that You have provided to us. To update the information or to deactivate Your account, please
email us at leads@flooringamerica.com. In the event You deactivate Your account, such information will be
deactivated as soon as reasonably possible in accordance with our deactivation policy and applicable law.
We may retain in our files information You have requested to remove from internet access, and may use such
information in some circumstances, such as to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems and enforce our TOS.
Further, such prior information is never completely removed from our databases due to technical and legal
constraints, including stored "back up" systems. Therefore, You should not expect that all of Your personally
identifiable information will be completely removed from our databases in response to Your requests.
14. Change of Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to change this Policy from time to time. If
we make any changes to this Policy, we will post those changes here so that You will always know what
information we gather, how we might use that information and whether we will disclose it to anyone. In
addition, we may communicate to You through email on the use of the Site, Your account and other matters.
15. Use of Site. Use of the Site constitutes acceptance of this Policy as it is now written and
as it may be modified from time to time and appears on the Site. You specifically agree to check back on the
Site from time to time to ensure that You are familiar with this Policy as it may exist from time to time,
but also agree that You are bound by such Policy as the same may exist on these pages, whether or not You
have actually viewed them in their then existing form.
August 2008