Privacy - The Five Star

UPDATED: August 2021

By using this site, you consent to the collection and use of your personal information (as defined below) by Five Star, consistent with applicable data protection laws and this Policy. If you feel you have objections to this policy, you should not access the Site.

The following is the Security and Privacy policy (the “Policy”) of the www.thefivestar.com website (the “Site”) operated by Five Star Global, LLC (the “Company”), having its head offices at 1349 Empire Central Dr., Suite 900, Dallas, TX 75247. The company and all its affiliates, including the Five Star Institute, DS News, MReport, and AM&AA (collectively, “Five Star”), are part of and subject to this policy.

1 Privacy

1.1 Five Star (“we”) respects the privacy of individuals (“you”) who visit any of our Site or online areas, and we are committed to compliance with data protection laws and protecting the privacy of everyone involved, especially our visitors and our customers. We have created this Policy in order to make you aware of the type of information that we collect from you through your use of our Site and how we use that information. This privacy policy also sets out your rights to and our responsibilities in safeguarding information we collect.

1.2 This Privacy Policy is intended to explain our privacy practices and covers the following areas:

(a) Personal information about you we may hold or collect

(b) How we may use your Personal Information

(d) How we protect your Personal Information

(e) Contacting us & your rights to access and update your Personal Information

(f) Our Cookies Policy

(g) How changes to this Policy and the Cookies Policy will be made

2 Collection of Personal Information

2.1 We collect the following identifiable Personal Information, which may include names, postal addresses, email addresses, billing information, etc., (“Personal Information”):

(a) Information you provide to us by filling in forms or which you upload on the Site. When you place an order on the Site, certain information must be provided including your first and last name, a valid email address, phone number, billing address, shipping address, and credit or debit card information. We will use this information to fulfill the order you place and to communicate with you about it.

(b) If you contact us or if we contact you, we may keep a record of that correspondence or details of any conversation we may have with you. Calls may be recorded.

(c) We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.

(d) Details of your visits to the Site and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies including, but not limited to, your IP address and domain name, your browser version and operating system, traffic data, location data, web logs and other communication data, and the resources that you access in accordance with our Cookies Policy. Although this information is generally non-identifying, where it can be used to identify you, we treat it subject to the same safeguards that we apply to personal information.

(e) From third parties as set out below.

2.2 You are free to browse any of our public-facing sites without submitting Personal Information.

2.3 However, you will have to submit certain Personal Information should you:

(a) Place on order to purchase products on the Site;

(b) Submit an information request using our “Contact Us” form;

(d) Sign up for other notifications.

2.4 We do not knowingly collect, maintain, or use Personal Information from our Site about children under the age of thirteen (13). Persons under the age of thirteen (13) should not use our Site without supervision from a responsible adult. We will never request Personal Information from a child under the age of thirteen (13) without fully complying with the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) and any other applicable legislation, nor without requesting verifiable parental consent. If we are made aware that a child under the age of thirteen (13) has sent Personal Information to us without prior parental consent, we will remove her or his Personal Information from our files.

3 Use of Personal Information

3.1 This Privacy Policy will continue to cover information we may collect about you during the course of our relationship as well as after our relationship has ended.

3.2 Five Star uses your information:

(a) To fulfill the orders you place on the Site or notify you of orders not completed.

(b) To answer any customer service inquiries or requests that you may have.

(d) To understand the shopping habits of our customers to better serve them in the future.

(e) To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and your device.

(f) We may also use your information for marketing our own and selected third parties’ products and services to you by post, email, SMS, phone, and fax, and, where required by law, we will ask for your consent at the time we collect your data to conduct any of these types of marketing.

3.3 The Personal Information that you provide to us may be combined with other personally identifiable information from our records and other third-party sources. This information may be shared with other businesses for marketing of products or services that may be of interest to you. If you prefer that we do not share your Personal Information with these third parties, please use our online form here.

4 Third-party disclosures

4.1 We may permit selected third parties and agents to use your Personal Information, only for the purposes set out above. Such third parties will be subject to obligations to process such information in compliance with the same safeguards that we deploy. Specific examples of possible third-party use of your Personal Information are set out below. All such disclosures will only be made in accordance with applicable laws.

4.2 We may need to disclose your Personal Information to companies who work on behalf of Five Star in order to provide a product or service to you, or to fulfill an order.

4.3 We may disclose your Personal Information to third parties, and you consent to the same if (i) we are required to do so by law or legal process, including a validly issued subpoena, warrant or court order; (ii) we are required to do so by law enforcement authorities or other government officials; (iii) we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm, financial loss or injury to, or interference with, our rights or property or right or property of our users or others, or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity; (iv) we reasonably believe that you have used the Site or information obtained from the Site in order to commit unlawful acts or acts that may endanger the health and/or safety of the public; and/or (v) we believe the law in good faith requires such disclosure.

4.4 In the event that Five Star (or a part thereof) is (i) subject to negotiations for the sale of its business, (ii) is sold to a third party, (iii) undergoes a re-organization, or (iv) in the unlikely event proceeds through any insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, you agree that any of your Personal Information which it holds may be disclosed to such party (or its advisors) as part of any due diligence process or transferred to that re-organized entity or third party and used for the same purposes or for the purpose of analyzing any proposed sale or re-organization. Such disclosure of Personal Information will be limited to what is necessary to achieve the goal of the business transaction and we will enter into a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement with the other party(ies) in order to protect the confidentiality and ensure safe destruction of all Personal Information if the business transaction is not concluded.

4.5 Five Star may share your Personal Information with third parties for the marketing of products or services that may be of interest to you. If you prefer that we do not share your Personal Information with these third parties, please contact us via our online form here.

5 For residents of California (as provided by California Civil Code Section 1798.83)

5.1 Under California law, California residents who have an established business relationship with Five Star may make a written request to Five Star about whether Five Star has disclosed any Personal Information to any third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the prior calendar year.

5.2 Five Star adopts and discloses to the public (in this Policy) a policy of not disclosing your Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes unless you first affirmatively agree to the disclosure.

5.3 Additionally, Five Star provides a cost-free means to opt-out of such sharing. If you do not want Five Star to disclose information to other companies for their marketing purposes after you have already affirmatively agreed to the disclosure, you may also contact us via our online form here, instructing us to no longer share your Personal Information with third parties who will use it for direct marketing purposes. Please also include your name and all of the postal addresses and emails addresses that you have provided to us or opt-out online using our form here.

6 Transmission, storage, and security of your Personal Information

6.1 No data transmission over the Internet or website can be guaranteed to be secure from intrusion. However, we maintain commercially reasonable physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your Personal Information in accordance with applicable data protection legislative requirements. We also limit access to Personal Information by our own employees to those individuals who are authorized for the proper handling of such information.

6.2 We will retain your Personal Information for as long as is necessary for the processing purpose for which they were collected. Certain details and correspondence may be retained until the time limit for any legal challenges to the supply of the services has expired or in order to comply with regulatory requirements regarding the retention of such data. Data may also be retained for or included in analysis carried out by us with respect to our business.

7 Changes

7.1 We may change the content of the Site or our services without notice, and consequently, this Policy may change at any time in the future. We will take reasonable steps to notify you of material changes to this Policy by posting the revised policy with the date it was revised on the applicable page. Your continuing business relationship with us, the fact that you provide Personal Information to us and your continued use (including access, growing, and/or use of any interactive feature) of our Site constitute your agreement to this Policy and any updates thereto. We therefore encourage you to review both policies it from time to time to stay informed of how we are using Personal Information.

8 Your rights and Contacting Us

8.1 We are the data controller in respect of your Personal Information processed by us under this Privacy Policy. We will use reasonable endeavors to ensure that your Personal Information is accurate.

8.2 You have the right to access, update and correct inaccuracies in your Personal Information in our custody and control, subject to certain exceptions or restrictions prescribed by law. This includes: (i) asking us to correct or update any such Personal Information; or (ii) requesting that such Personal Information be unsubscribed from an e-mail or other electronic marketing data base.

8.3 To access, update or correct any inaccuracies in your Personal Information you may contact us via our online form here. In addition, each time we send you an e-mail or any other type of electronic marketing message, you will be given the option to unsubscribe by simply clicking the unsubscribe link. We may, however, continue to contact you via email for administrative or information purposes, including follow-up messages regarding the administration of your account, any services, features, or functions you have enrolled in or registered to use, any promotions or contests you have already participated in or have already entered, goods and/or services you have ordered, or other transactions you have undertaken with us.

8.4 We can be contacted in relation to your rights or any questions you may have in respect of this Privacy Policy or our processing of your Personal Information at the following addresses:

Via this “Contact Us” form

The Five Star Institute
1349 Empire Central Drive, Suite 900
Dallas, TX 75247
Attn: Privacy Policy