Privacy Policy

HMA Franchise Systems, Inc. (“HMA”) is the franchisor for the HouseMaster® home inspection franchise system.  HMA respects and is committed to protecting your privacy.  This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) discloses how HMA collects, protects, uses and shares information gathered about you on the HouseMaster® website.


IDENTIFYING INFORMATION:

· Personally Identifying Information - The HouseMaster® website does not require user registration to access content, with the exception of information for existing clients.  While visiting the HouseMaster® website, you may be asked to provide information that personally identifies you.  This information is gathered on a voluntary basis for the sole purpose of better serving you.  You may choose not to provide personal information and you still will be able to visit the HouseMaster® website. The following items are examples of content on the HouseMaster® website where personal information may be sought:

· To register to receive the HouseMaster® e-newsletter;

· To request information about receiving a HouseMaster® inspection;

· To request information about HouseMaster® franchise opportunities; and

· To register for any current sweepstakes or other offerings.

· Non-Personally Identifying Information - HMA collects limited non-personally identifying information your browser makes available when connected to our website.  For example, website log files are generated that collect the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of the visitor, date, time, pages visited, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.  You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. If you turn cookies off, you may lose some functionality for web sites. All information collected using the above technology is used to operate, develop and improve our services.  Additionally, aggregate reports for website visitors are generated that do not contain personally identifiable information.  Advertising reports are generated that show the IP addresses of visitors as well as specific pages visited.  This information may be sent to the advertiser to confirm the number of "click-thrus."  The advertiser normally already has this information as a result of the user clicking on the advertisement.  No additional information about the visitor is supplied to the advertiser.  The log files are eventually deleted.


INFORMATION SHARING:

As a franchisor, HMA will share information received on its website with HouseMaster® franchisees and/or its affiliate, ProTeam, Inc. d/b/a National Institute of Building Inspectors (“NIBI®”).  Franchisees have their own sub-websites, which are accessible from the HouseMaster® main website.  This Policy does not specifically govern franchisees’ use of any information they obtain.  All HouseMaster® franchisees are independently owned and operated businesses.  Franchisees are required to follow all applicable privacy laws. HMA maintains a strict “No-Spam” policy, which means we do not sell your personally identifying information to other companies or individuals except as may be permitted by this Policy.  Such information may be shared in any of the following limited circumstances:

· We have your consent;

· When required by law to comply with a judicial proceeding, a court order, or legal process;

· To enforce HMA’s policies or agreements that you consent to by using the web site;

· In the good faith belief that access, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of HMA, its users or the public, including the need to investigate, prevent or otherwise act with regard to illegal activities, suspected fraudulent or abusive conduct, violations of HMA’s terms of use or as otherwise required by law;

· In the event of a proposed or actual purchase, sale, lease, merger, amalgamation or any other type of acquisition, disposal or financing of all or any part of HMA for the purpose of providing you with continued offerings;

· If you have opted to receive marketing materials, HMA may also share your information with trusted third-parties to promote and market additional goods, services and special offers that may be of interest to you; and

· To provide trusted businesses or persons with necessary information for the sole purpose of processing personally identifying information on our behalf (i.e., sweepstakes registration, e-newsletter distribution).  When this is done, it is subject to agreements that oblige those parties to process such information only on our instructions and in compliance with this Policy and appropriate confidentiality and security measures.


INFORMATION SECURITY:

HMA takes appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. We restrict access to your personally identifying information to employees/independent contractors who need to know that information in order to operate, develop or improve our services.


INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN:

HMA does not attempt to collect personal information from children. If children do send personal information to HMA, such as writing to Santa, newsletter registrations, etc., the information is deleted. Note that HMA cannot always determine that a user is a child. HMA does not maintain databases about children.


LINKS:

The HouseMaster® website may contain links to non-HouseMaster® sites. These links are provided to you only as a convenience. Such linked sites are not under the control of HMA and HMA is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by HMA of the site, and HMA shall have no responsibility for information that may be referenced by or linked to this website. Further, these sites may place their own cookies on your computer, collect data or solicit personally identifying information.


MAILING LISTS:

HMA may maintain subscription mailing lists. Users must submit their subscriptions via this website. Users may also be added by accessing inspection reports on-line. A prominent unsubscribe option is available.


COOKIES:

To enhance your experience on our site, HouseMaster.com may set and access cookies on your computer. A cookie is a small amount of data (often including a unique identifier), that is sent to your browser from a web site's computers and stored on your computer's hard drive. Cookies do not tell us your email address or other personal information unless you choose to provide this information to us. HouseMaster.com uses cookies to understand site usage and to improve the content and offerings on our site. Our cookies contain no personally identifiable information and we do not use cookies to offer you products and services. Unless deleted, these cookies will remain on your computer for up to 10 years from your last usage of our site.

If you do not want cookies, most web browsers include an option that allows you to not accept them. However, if you set your browser to refuse cookies, some portions of our site may not function efficiently. If you want to control which cookies you accept, you can configure your browser to accept all cookies or to alert you every time a cookie is offered by a website's server. Most browsers automatically accept cookies. You can set your browser option so that you will not receive cookies and you can also delete existing cookies from your browser. You may find that some parts of the site will not function properly if you have refused cookies. Please be aware that if you do not configure your browser you will accept cookies provided by this website. For more information on how to remove cookies, go to www.ghseal.com.

HouseMaster.com may also use small pieces of software code called "web beacons" or "clear gifs" to collect aggregate information about web site users on an anonymous basis. We may share aggregate demographic and usage information with our business partners. A web beacon is an electronic image, called a single-pixel or clear GIF. Web beacons can recognise certain types of information, such as time and date of a page view and the description of the page where the web beacon is placed. You may render some web beacons unusable if you choose to reject their associated cookies. These web beacons may be use to deliver cookies that conform with our Cookie Policy.


FAVICON.ICO REQUESTS:

Some browsers initiate a favicon.ico request to a website when a user adds a site to their "Favorites" list. (.ico stands for "icon")  It is a small 16x16 pixel icon that replaces the standard icon used for a web page. Favicon.ico requests are not tracked.


CHANGES TO THIS POLICY:

Please note that this Policy may change from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page.  If there are changes made in the future, the changes will not affect information already collected.


CONSENT TO THIS AGREEMENT:

By using the HouseMaster® website, you consent to the collection and use of information by HMA as specified above.  You are also agreeing to the terms and conditions of the web site’s use as found on the “Legal Notice” link.



If you have any additional questions, for more information about HMA’s practices regarding specific information or services that are not covered in this Policy, please feel free to contact us at hmainfo@housemaster.com or (800) 526-3939.