Privacy and Cookie Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy describes the privacy practices of Walters Wholesale Electric Co. and its subsidiaries, divisions, and affiliates ("our", or "we"). It applies to our interactions with our customers and visitors, including, but not limited to:

1. Use of our websites, including mobile websites
2. Visits to our stores or attendance at one of our events
3. Use of our applications for mobile phones, tablets or other smart devices
4. Phone and email communications
5. Social media interactions on our websites and other third party websites like Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram and Twitter
6. Viewing our online advertisements or emails
7. Through our authorized service providers

Information We Collect

Contact Information

We may collect the names and user names of our customers and other visitors. Additionally, we may collect your purchase history, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other digital contact information. We may also collect information that you provide us about others.

Payment Information

When you make a purchase we collect your payment information, including information from your credit or debit card, check, PayPal account or gift card.

Returns Information

When you return a product to our locations or request a refund or exchange, you may be asked to provide your name, address, phone number and information that identifies you. We use the information we collect from you and capture off of your government issued ID to process and track returns and to help detect and prevent fraud and otherwise administer our loss prevention program.

Demographic Information

We may collect information about products or services you like, reviews you submit, or where you shop.

Location Information

If you use our mobile websites or applications, we may collect location data obtained from your mobile device. If you use our websites, we may collect location data obtained from your IP address. We use this location data to find our nearest location to you, provide product pricing and availability at our locations near you and provide driving directions to our locations. Certain of our mobile applications may also use this information to determine if you are shopping in one of our locations. If you are, we present you information relevant to in-store customers. You can control how we use your device’s location information in the settings menu of your device.

Other Information

We may collect any of the information or content that you provide through our websites, mobile applications, or online forums. If you use our websites, we collect your IP (Internet Protocol) address and other related information such as the type of browser and operating system you are using. We might also track the pages you visit, look at what website you came from, or what website you visit when you leave us. We collect this information using the tracking tools described in the Our Tracking Techniques section at the bottom of this page.

How Information is Collected

We collect information directly from you. The following are a few examples of when we collect information from you:

1. During website or survey registration
2. In connection with an online or in-store purchase
3. If you use an online forum or provide us with comments or reviews or contact our customer service
4. If you upload or share a photo or other digital content through one of our websites, applications or via social media interactions on third party websites like Facebook or Twitter
5. If you participate in a sweepstakes, contest, promotion, program, clinic or workshop
6. If you rent equipment or vehicles or request a quote, warranty or other information
7. If you return a product or use a rebate
8. If you request we send you an electronic copy of your in-store receipt
9. In connection with your interactions with us as a registered user of our websites.  

We collect information from you passively. We may use tracking tools like browser cookies, flash cookies, and web beacons. Please see the Our Tracking Techniques section below for more information.

We collect information from other sources. We may get information about you from third party business partners, like an updated address from a shipping vendor. We may collect information about you from a friend. For example, if your friend purchases something for us to send to you or if your friend provides your information through one of our refer-a-friend type features. If you use one of these features, please ensure that you only submit email addresses of individuals with whom you have a close personal or family relationship, who would be interested in receiving the communication, and who has authorized you to share their email address.

How We Use Information

We use the information we collect for our business purposes, including:

To respond to your questions and requests.

Examples include:

1. Fulfilling orders, ensuring proper delivery or providing services
2. Administering your participation in a contest, sweepstakes or other promotion or sending you prizes you might have won
3. Registering you for a particular website, loyalty program, or extended warranty service or providing you with information regarding such programs or services
4. Processing a return
5. Responding to a product or service review

To improve our products and services.

We may use your information to make website, mobile application, or product and service improvements.

To look at website and mobile application trends and customer interests.

We might use your information to customize your experience with us. We may also combine information we get from you with information about you we have received from third parties or publicly available sources to assess trends and interests.

For security and loss prevention purposes.

We may use your information to protect our company, our customers, or our websites. We use information collected in the course of a merchandise return to process and track returns and to help detect and prevent fraud and otherwise administer our loss prevention program.

For our marketing.

In certain circumstances, we may send you communications about special promotions or offers via regular mail, email, or other electronic channels, including ads on social media platforms. We may send you emails if you have registered on a website and indicated you want to receive this information or if you gave us your information in one of our locations. We may also notify you of new website features or product and service offerings. If permitted, we may also send information about offers from our other companies we think you might find interesting. We may use information to deliver you marketing communications (including online ads) based on your interests. For example, if you view a product on our website, you may see ads for that product on our or third party websites and applications.

To communicate with you about your account or our relationship.

We may contact you to tell you about changes to this Privacy and Security Statement, the Terms of Use of our websites or mobile applications, or changes to any of our programs in which you might be enrolled. We may also tell you about issues with your orders or if there is a product recall or rebate.

For social media.

When you engage with our content on or through third-party social networking websites, plug-ins and applications, you may allow us to have access to certain social media account information (e.g., name, username, email address, gender) as determined by the settings of the social media services to deliver the content or as part of the operation of the website, plug-in or application. Social media platforms may collect information about your use of our services and may notify other users of the platform about your activities on our websites and mobile applications. Social media services may also use cookies or other technologies to provide services or track your online activities over time and across multiple websites and mobile applications. Your interactions with social media features are governed by the respective privacy policies of the companies providing the features.

For other uses we may disclose to you.

We may also use personal information with your consent, and as otherwise permitted or required by law.

We may use third-party service providers to monitor and analyze the use of our website.

One of those service providers that we use is called FullStory. You can prevent FullStory from using your information for analytics purposes by opting-out. To opt-out of FullStory's service, please visit this page: https://www.fullstory.com/optout/

For more information on what type of information FullStory collects, please visit the Terms of Use page of FullStory: https://www.fullstory.com/legal/terms-and-conditions/

Information Sharing

We may share your information for our business purposes and as legally required or permitted, including:

With third parties who perform services on our behalf.

We may share information with our service providers, such as our delivery service providers who ship and deliver your online orders. We might also authorize our service providers to collect information on our behalf. Some service providers may be located outside of the United States. We might also share information with the vendors and manufacturers of our products and services to respond to your reviews and questions.

To offer financial products.

We may use service providers to offer financial products. We may share personal information about our consumers with these service providers in order to provide you with tailored information about products and services and special offers. These service providers also have their own privacy statements that set out the manner in which they will collect, use and disclose personal information. We encourage you to review each service provider's privacy statement at the time you submit your application for such financial products.

Data Sharing for Catalog Mailings.

We may share your name, address and transactional information about products you have purchased from our catalogs with third party companies so that you may receive future catalog offerings about products and services that may be of interest to you.

With any successor to all or part of our business.

For example, if all or part of our business is sold we may sell or disclose our customer list in preparation for or as part of that transaction.

With others if compelled or required by law.

For example, we will disclose information to respond to a subpoena or other court order. We may also disclose information if a government agency or investigatory body requests it.

With our business partners.

For example, we might share information with one of our Affiliates or a business partner who is running a joint promotion with us or who provides a product or service in partnership with us.

With others at your direction.

For example, we may disclose information if you ask us to provide your information to a third-party to facilitate the resolution of a dispute.

Your Privacy Preferences

You can register or change your preferences to receive or not receive marketing communications from us by clicking here or emailing us. Please allow sufficient time for your preferences to be processed. Even if you opt out of receiving marketing messages, we may still contact you for transactional purposes like confirming or following up on an order or service request, responding to customer service inquiries, asking you to review a product or service you have ordered, or notifying you of product recalls or rebates. If you later opt back into getting marketing communications from us, we will remove your information from our opt-out databases.

Registered website users can update their information at the Your Account section of our website. If you are not a registered website user, you can contact us by email.

Our Sites and Children

Our websites and mobile applications are not created for children. To our knowledge we do not collect information online from children under 18.  If you want to learn more about protecting children on the internet, you should visit the resources provided by the FTC at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/topics/protecting-kids-online.

Your California Privacy Rights

If you live in California and have an established business relationship with us, you can request a list of the personal information we have shared with third parties for their marketing purposes. We will also give you a list of the third parties that have received your information. You can make a request one time each year.

To exercise your rights, you can email us or write to us at the address below. Mention in your letter that you are making a "California Shine the Light" inquiry. We will respond within 30 days.

Security

When you place orders on our websites, all of your order information, including your credit card number and delivery address, is transmitted through the Internet using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL technology causes your browser to encrypt your order information before transmitting it to our secure server. SSL technology, an industry standard, is designed to prevent someone other than operators of our websites from capturing and viewing your personal information.

While we use industry standard means to protect our websites and your information, the Internet is not 100% secure. The measures we use are appropriate for the type of information we collect. We cannot promise that your use of our websites or mobile applications will be completely safe. We encourage you to use caution when using the Internet. Online access to your personal information is protected with a password you select. We strongly recommend that you do not share your password.

Links

Our websites contain links to third party websites. If you click on one of those links, you will be taken to websites we do not control. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the information practices of those websites. You should read the privacy policies of other websites carefully. We are not responsible for third party websites.

Contact Us

If you have additional questions you can call us at 833-993-3266, or reach us by email at customersupport@walterswholesale.com

You can write to us at:

Walters Wholesale Electric Co.

Attn: E-Commerce Privacy Compliance

200 N. Berry Street

Brea, CA 92821

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Effective Date: July 10, 2017

From time to time we may change our privacy policies. We will notify you of any material changes to our Privacy Policy by posting an updated copy on our website. Please check our website periodically for updates.

Our Tracking Techniques

Tracking Tools We Use

We collect personal and other information about users over time and across different websites when you use this website or service. We also have third parties that collect personal information this way. We or our vendors use several common online tracking tools to collect this information. These may include browser and flash cookies. We may also use web beacons and similar technologies. We or third parties may also collect or receive information from our mobile applications and others’ applications and use that information to provide measurement services and targeted ads. We (and our third party service providers) also use these tools:

1. To track new visitors to our websites.
2. To recognize returning customers.
3. To learn what site referred you to our website or mobile application.
4. To store your password if you are registered on our website.
5. To personalize your experience on our website, mobile application and on third-party social networking websites, plug-ins and applications.
6. To collect and store geographic data determined by the IP address of your computer.
7. To optimize and tailor our websites and mobile applications.
8. To make product recommendations and provide you with advertising content in which we think you will be interested. As part of this customization, we may observe your behaviors on our mobile applications, our websites, on other websites, or in our locations. We may also get information about your browsing history from our trusted business partners and vendors.
9. So we can better understand our audience, our customers, our website visitors and mobile application users, and their respective interests.
10. To provide correct pricing and ads for the locations you select.

Controlling Our Tracking Tools

Your browser may give you the ability to control cookies. How you do so depends on the type of cookie. Certain browsers can be set to reject browser cookies. To control flash cookies, click here. Why? Because flash cookies cannot be controlled through your browser settings. Your mobile device may not give you the ability to control cookies. If you wish to block cookies on our mobile applications, you will need to delete the application from your mobile device. If you configure your computer to block cookies, you will limit the functionality we can provide when you visit our websites. If you configure to block or delete cookies, not all of the tracking that we have described in this policy will stop.

Our "Do Not Track" policy: Some browsers have a "Do Not Track" feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. These browser features are not uniform, so we are not currently set up to respond to those signals.

Controlling Online Interest-Based Ads

We sometimes work with online advertising vendors to provide you with relevant and useful ads. This may include ads served on our websites or mobile applications. This may also include ads served on other companies' websites. These ads may be based on information collected by us or third parties. For example, information a third party collects when you register for a website, like your zip code. This might be used to target an ad for people in your area. These ads may also be based on your activities on our websites or on third party websites.

Some of the social media platforms we work with may serve you with interest-based advertising on their platforms. In addition to or instead of the opt-out mechanism linked above, you may be able to opt out of their interest-based advertising by changing your advertising preferences in the platforms after you log in.

My Account Registration and Use

My Account registration is an optional service provided by our website. You do not have to register to browse or shop online. When you register, you are asked for personal information such as your name, address, phone number, email address, and a username and password that you select. You may also optionally provide information regarding your interests and home improvement projects or register your credit cards. This information may be used to help make your online shopping quicker and easier, by pre-filling certain parts of your shopping information.

My Account Terms and Conditions

When you register for a My Account you gain access to many helpful online tools.  To use these tools you may be asked to provide additional information about you and your home improvement projects.  The information that you provide as a registered My Account user is sometimes referred to as "User Content".   As a My Account user you also have the opportunity to register your credit cards to help make your online shopping on our website quicker and easier.  When you sign-up for a My Account we help you track and record your purchases on our website.  If you register a credit card in your My Account (each a "Registered Card") we help you track and record purchases made with such Registered Card in our stores.  These tracked and recorded purchases are called your "Purchase History".  Your registration and use of your My Account is governed at all times by our My Account Terms and Conditions, our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. From time to time we may change the My Account Terms and Conditions. We will notify you of any material changes to our My Account Terms and Conditions by posting an updated copy on our website. Please check our website periodically for updates.

User Content

We may moderate the User Content you provide, but we have no obligation to do so.  User Content may include images or other multi-media content.  You grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license in perpetuity to use any User Content for any purpose in our sole discretion (“User Content License”).  By providing User Content you represent and warrant that you are eighteen (18) years of age or older and have the right to submit the User Content and to grant the User Content License. You agree not to provide User Content or select a username that violates any laws or regulations, infringes upon the intellectual property rights of others, or is vulgar or otherwise offensive.

My Account Username and Password

When you register for a My Account, you will be asked to select a username and password.  You understand and agree that you are solely responsible for protecting the security and confidentiality of your username and password and for all activities (including purchases) that occur via your My Account.  You agree not to allow unauthorized persons to use or otherwise access your My Account.   If you know or suspect that your My Account has been compromised, promptly change your password and immediately notify us. You agree to pay all charges incurred by you or any users of your My Account for purchases made on our website.

Purchase History

Your Purchase History may include such details as product description, product image, units purchased, purchase price, purchase or order date, location details where the product was purchased, shipping updates, order number, or product manuals, warranties and instructions.  The Purchase History for each of your online purchases or in-store purchases made with a Registered Card will be available for review in your My Account.  However, please note any in-store Purchase History provided to you will only be available for two years from the date of purchase.

You understand that the Purchase History for each in-store transaction you make with a Registered Card will automatically be made available in your My Account regardless of whether you elect to receive an eReceipt via email at the time of purchase. If you do not wish to have your in-store Purchase History made available in your My Account you must edit your My Account to remove the Registered Card information you provided.  All information related to your Purchase History is solely owned by us at all times, but may be made available to you in our sole discretion for your review within your My Account.  Regardless of the availability of your Purchase History, all product returns are still governed by our Returns Policy.

My Account Termination

We reserve the right in our sole discretion to remove or delete any or all User Content or other information from your My Account or our website at any time and for any reason.  You understand that we cannot guarantee that your My Account will always be available to you or error free.  We may terminate or suspend your My Account for any reason in our sole discretion with or without notice to you. Additionally, we reserve the right to stop offering the My Account feature of our website or any portion thereof, without liability, at any time and for any reason, with or without cause.  In the event of any such termination or suspension, information stored in your My Account, including User Content and Purchase History, may no longer be available to you.  We have no obligation to make your User Content or Purchase History available to you and you should not rely upon your My Account as your sole record of this information.