The Answer Series Privacy Notice

Welcome to https://theanswer.co.za (“the Website”). The Website is owned by The Answer Educational Publishers (Pty) Ltd t/a The Answer Series (2010/002414/07), a South African company having its principal place of business at 50 Imam Haron Road, Claremont, Cape Town, 7708, (“TAS”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

Please read this privacy notice (“Privacy Notice”) carefully. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use and share your personal information and it forms part of the Website terms of use.

This Privacy Notice applies to persons visiting, browsing, registering on and making purchases on the Website (collectively “Users“). Furthermore, it applies to suppliers, retail customers, potential customers and business partners.

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT WHEN YOU VISIT OUR WEBSITE

The Website uses automatic systems of data collection, such as cookies. A cookie is a device transmitted to the hard disk of a User. Cookies do not contain intelligible information but allow linking between you and your personal information, such as your IP address and other information about your experience on the Website and your preferences expressed while choosing services and purchasing products offered on the Website. Cookies are disseminated by our servers, and no one may gain access to the information that they contain. The information and data are gathered directly and automatically by the Website. We process information collected by cookies in a collective and anonymous way in order to optimize our services and the Website for the needs and preferences of the Users. Please access the information on your Internet browser if you wish to delete cookies after using the Website. If you have started the procedure of deleting cookies, we can’t ensure that all of our web pages will be displayed and that all of our services will be available to you.

We also use Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics which enable us to track conversions. This means that we are able to track when a person visits our Website from an advert we posted on Facebook. We are also able to obtain certain information about Users, namely geographical location, how long you were on the Website, what sites you were on that lead you to ours. Users that visit our Website or interact with our Website may receive adverts we run in their Facebook newsfeed.

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT WHEN YOU SIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR NEWSLETTER OR MARKETING MATERIAL FROM US

When you enter your contact details on the Website to receive our newsletter or email marketing, we use this information, if you have provided consent, to send you these communications. We will only use the information you provide for this purpose.

3. INFORMATION WE COLLECT WHEN YOU WISH TO PURCHASE PRODUCTS

We collect the information requested on our Website when you check out as well as when you purchaser product in-store and email us an order form for the purposes of concluding a contract with you. We use the information you provide in order to process payment and organise delivery of your products.

4. INFORMATION WE COLLECT WHEN YOU WISH TO WATCH OUR VIDEOS

We collect the information requested on our Website when you sign up to watch our videos in order for you to be able to track your progress and so we can notify you of your progress and advise when new videos are loaded on the Website. Where you are signing up on behalf of your minor child/ward, and in so far as you provide your child’s personal information, we process your information for the purposes of ensuring that we have consent to process your minor child/wards information and communicate with them regarding their progress and new videos.

5. INFORMATION WE COLLECT WHEN YOU BECOME A SUPPLIER

We collect names, contact details, financial and tax information from suppliers and professional service providers so that we can place orders/instruct you and make payment in respect of any goods or services we receive. We do this on the basis of the intention of contracting with you or for the performance of a contract we have with you.

6. WHO HAS ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION

Only persons within our organisation which require your personal information for the performance of their work have access to that information and we do not transfer your information outside of the organisation or your resident country unless we are satisfied that the personal information will be afforded an equivalent level of protection. This is always subject to contractual assurances that personal information will be kept securely and only in accordance with our specific directions. We do not share or sell personal information to other organisations for their own purposes.

The following third parties may have access to the personal information you provide us through email, at our store and/or through the Website:

  • The payment platforms which processes payments on our behalf when you purchase online
  • Our hosting company and e-commerce platform provide
  • Our Website chatbot provider
  • Our external email marketing provider for the purposes of sending out newsletters and marketing material
  • Our card machine provider will collect and process your payment information when you purchase in store
  • Our external accountants and lawyers
7. SECURITY MEASURES

We have adopted reasonable technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure or access. We will store all the personal information you provide on secure (password and firewall-protected) servers. The Website uses encryption software and our payment platforms ensure PCI DSS compliance.

8. RETENTION OF YOUR DATA

We will not retain your personal information longer than the period for which it is needed and in compliance with applicable law. We determine retention periods in respect of information we hold based on:

  • Legal obligations relating to minimum periods to retain data;
  • The purposes for which we process the personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means;
  • Whether the information is required for reporting and analysis purposes relating to our operations;
  • The amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information; and/or
  • The potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of the personal information.
9. YOUR RIGHTS IN RELATION TO YOUR INFORMATION

Subject to certain limitations on certain rights, you have the following rights in relation to your information:

  • Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
  • Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
  • Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
  • Withdraw consent to our use of your information at any time where we rely on your consent to use or process that information. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of our use and processing of your information on the basis of your consent before the point in time when you withdraw your consent.

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making, unless we have a lawful basis for doing so and we have notified you. We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means, however we will notify you in writing if this position changes.

We will endeavour to respond to any such requests as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any event within any time limits stipulated by law. In some instances, we may be able to charge a fee for responding to your request and will advise you of this and any applicable amount prior to responding.

You should be aware that certain information is exempt from the right of access. This may include information which identifies other individuals, or information which is subject to legal privilege.

You should also be aware that in some instances, if you do not provide information or you exercise any rights regarding the deletion or restriction of your information or object to the processing of your information or withdraw consent, we may not be able to process your order for products or engage you as a supplier.

Where you request access to your information, we are required by law to use all reasonable measures to verify your identity before doing so. These measures are designed to protect your information and to reduce the risk of identity fraud, identity theft or general unauthorised access to your information.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator:

The Information Regulator (South Africa)
SALU Building,
316 Thabo Sehume Street,
Pretoria
Tel: 012 406 4818
Fax: 086 500 3351
inforeg@justice.gov.za

10. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY NOTICE

Any changes made to this privacy notice in the future will be posted on the website and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to this notice.

11. WHO TO CONTACT REGARDING THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

Should you have any queries regarding this privacy notice or would like to enforce any rights you may have, please contact:

The Answer Series
50 Imam Haron Road
Claremont
Cape Town
7708
privacy@theanswerseries.co.za

Please notify us of any changes to your personal information, in order to ensure that the personal information of yours that we have on file is always accurate, up-to-date, relevant and complete.

May 2020 Version 2