Privacy Policy

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Effective Dec 2019

Last Update May 2021

Keeping your personal information safe and secure is our priority. 

Mel Stones are committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information to assist us in carrying on our business, including to provide products and services to you.

1. Personal information is information that identifies you or from which you may reasonably be identified. The types of personal information that we may collect about you includes:

• name, gender, date of birth and age;

• identification information, including signature, driver’s licence number and student identification number;

• contact details, including personal and business addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers;

• details of a family member you register for an in-store event, competition or promotion, including name and age;

• details about your purchases and orders from us and your product and services preferences;

• employer or business details;

• digital information, such as cookies (which are small data files transferred onto devices when a website/app is accessed), tags and pixels (which 'tag' devices), which may track what you view on our website or apps and also other websites/apps that you visit. Cookies, tags and pixels may also come from third party services (such as Facebook) for the purpose of collecting data to enable website or app performance measurement and personalised advertising;

• images from video surveillance and other cameras in our stores (including in car parks, pick up areas, office and store entrances);

• if you apply for employment with us, details regarding your employment history, educational qualifications and similar information. 

2. The main ways we collect personal information about you are:

• if you purchase or order any product from us;

• if you visit Mel Stones store or if you contact us, including to make an inquiry regarding our products and services, to make a complaint, to provide feedback, to seek a refund, or to attend an event;

• if you are a supplier or service provider, in connection with the supply of products and services by your business to us;

• if you access our website or apps, including by the use of cookies (which are small data files transferred onto devices when a website/app is accessed), tags and pixels (which 'tag' devices), which may track what you view on our website or apps and also other websites/apps that you visit. Cookies, tags and pixels may also come from third party services (such as Facebook) for the purpose of collecting data to enable website or app performance measurement and personalised advertising;

• if you arrange a service or quote using a booking service provided by a third party in connection with our business, those third parties may share your details with us;

• if you interact with us via social media platforms;

• if you subscribe to any of our mailing lists;

• via our security cameras or other cameras installed in our stores (including in car parks, pick up areas, office and store entrances);

• if you undertake any of our induction, safety or compliance processes;

• if you engage, request or seek a quotation for a service from a third party that we use to provide a service to you; or if you submit an employment application to us.

3. We may also collect personal information about you from:

• publicly available sources, including from Australian Government agencies (such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission), public advertises (such as newspaper),

internet search platforms and social media platforms, such as Facebook;

• any person authorised to act on your behalf or authorised to provide your personal information to us;

• credit reporting bodies and other credit providers, if you apply for  any type of credit account with us;

• anyone sharing information with us for loss prevention and/or law enforcement purposes;

• any persons you nominate, if you submit an employment application to us; 

4.  We use and disclose your personal information in connection with carrying on our business (including to provide products and services to you and relating to our involvement in loyalty schemes that we participate in).

5. We may use your personal information:

• to charge you for products and services we provide to you and to prepare invoices and sales records for such purchases;

• to provide advice regarding our products and services to you (or arrange for others to do so at our request);

• to deliver our products and services to you;

• to consider feedback and complaints that you may make to us;

• to provide refunds and exchanges;

• to promote and advertise our products and services (including by including your feedback in our advertising) ;

• to personalise advertising and content displayed to you (including the layout and content of our website/apps, and advertisements displayed to you on or via third party websites, apps or platforms such as Facebook);

• to undertake product recalls;

• to monitor our sales of products and services and for quality control purposes, including undertaking customer surveys and analysis, or seeking feedback from customers;

• in the case of our suppliers or service providers, to manage the provision of products and services to us;

• to assist us to deliver new products and services;

• to assess any application that you make to us for a credit account, of any nature;

• to assist us in ensuring security, health and safety and customer protection in our stores (including car parks, pick up areas and store entrances);

• to assist us, our service providers and Related Companies, and other third parties who we share information with for loss prevention or law enforcement purposes in investigating and preventing any potential, suspected or actual breaches of law or fraudulent activities;

• to recruit our employees or engage contractors;

• for any other purpose disclosed to you at the time the relevant personal information is collected; and

• for purposes directly related to any of the above.

6.  We work with a number of third parties in carrying on our business and may disclose your personal information to:

• third parties to facilitate the provision of products and services to you (including to facilitate repairs and customer recalls), such as to product manufacturers and suppliers, couriers and installers;

• marketing, advertising and promotions services providers and event organisers in connection with our marketing, advertising and events;

• third party platforms who display advertising or content (including personalised advertising) based on your personal information or preferences (including social media platforms such as Facebook);

• credit reporting agencies and other credit providers, to assist in assessing any application that you make to us for a credit account, of any nature;

• third parties who provide other administrative and operational services to us in connection with our business, including for example financial institutions, security services providers, market research or feedback collection companies, IT service providers, payment processers and collectors, mailing houses and card manufacturers;

• third parties necessary to assist us in investigating and preventing any potential, suspected or actual breaches of law or fraudulent activities;

• third parties who we share information with for loss prevention and law enforcement purposes, in investigating and preventing any potential, suspected or actual breaches of law or fraudulent activities;

• law enforcement agencies, government agencies or other third parties, where required under or authorised by law (for example, to comply with a subpoena, a warrant or other order of a court or legal process);

• other persons disclosed to you at the time the relevant personal information is collected.

7. Some of our service providers may be located overseas or may store information (including your personal information) that we provide to them overseas. 

Personal information you disclose to us will only be held or processed overseas in accordance with all applicable law.

8. As part of our functions and business activities and to promote the services we can provide to you, we may use, and disclose to third parties, personal information that we have collected from you or trusted third parties,

for the purposes of advertising (including online behavioural advertising and website/app personalisation) and other direct marketing and personalised communications.

We may engage third parties to assist us in ensuring that the marketing and advertising we provide is of interest to you. Direct marketing includes Mel Stones or third parties:

• sending to you and/or contacting you directly in relation to promotions and information about our products and services;

• personalising the layout of our website/apps to display products and services of interest to you; and

• providing targeted advertising content to you (including through third party websites/apps).

Generally, we will provide direct marketing and personalised communications to you where you have requested or consented to receiving such information.

You can opt out of receiving direct marketing communications from us by using the opt out link or details provided in the direct marketing communication or in the case of online advertising,

by managing your preferences in digital platforms such as Google or Facebook.

9. The third parties we engage to assist us in marketing and advertising may use cookies and other technologies, such as tags and pixels,

to obtain information about your preferences when you access online platforms or websites/apps other than our websites/apps.

Your preferences collected in this manner may be disclosed to us. You can manage your preferences in relation to targeted online advertising directly through digital platforms such as Google or Facebook.

10. We will take reasonable steps to protect the security of your personal information that we hold, including both paper and electronic records. We have security measures in place to attempt to reasonably protect personal information under our control from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. For example, we seek to ensure that personal information in paper form is held securely and personal information held electronically by or for us is held on secured servers.

11. We will take reasonable steps to protect the security of your personal information that we hold, including both paper and electronic records.

We have security measures in place to attempt to reasonably protect personal information under our control from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

For example, we seek to ensure that personal information in paper form is held securely and personal information held electronically by or for us is held on secured servers.

12. No data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be secure. As a result, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any personal information transmitted by you to us over the internet.

13.  You have the right under applicable Australian privacy legislation to request access to, and correction of, personal information about you held by us, at no cost to you. 

14.  We may require you to verify your identity at the time you request access to, or correction of, your personal information so that we can ensure your personal information is disclosed only to you.

15.  We will respond to any requests for access or correction within a reasonable time, but in any event by no later than 30 days after the date you make the request.

16.  If you have a question or complaint about this policy, our collection of your personal information or the way in which we deal with your personal information, please feel free to contact us.