Privacy Policy

About This Policy

At Tradie Connect AI ("we", "us", "our"), we take your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website (tradieconnectai.com.au), use our AI-powered communication services (Always ON and other modules), or interact with us in any way.

We're based in South Australia, and comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). If you have questions about how we handle your data, reach out to us directly. We prefer straightforward conversations.

By using our website or services, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

1. What Personal Information Do We Collect?

When you contact us or sign up for our services:

• Name and business name,
• Email address and phone number,
• Business address and location,
• Job title and role,
• Billing and payment information (if applicable),
• Any information you provide in conversations, emails, or forms.

When you use our AI services:

• Call recordings and transcripts (from Always ON and other voice systems).
• Chat and SMS conversation logs.
• Customer details captured by our AI systems (names, phone numbers, addresses, job descriptions).
• Lead information and booking details.
• Timestamps and interaction data showing when calls/chats occurred.
• Call quality and system performance metrics.

When you visit our website:

• Your IP address and browser type,
• Pages you visit and time spent on each page,
• How you got to our website (referring URL),
• Device information (phone, tablet, computer type),
• General location data (city/region level only),
• Cookie and tracking data.

What we DON'T do: We do not intentionally collect sensitive information like health data, racial or ethnic origin, political beliefs, or sexual orientation unless you voluntarily share it with us.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To provide and improve our services: Set up your Always ON system, process your requests, generate performance reports, and handle customer support.
• To communicate with you: Send you account updates, service notifications, and responses to your inquiries. We'll only send marketing emails if you opt in.
• To train and improve our AI: We use anonymised call and chat data to improve how our AI systems understand plumbing terminology, emergency language, and tradie workflows. Your specific customer details are removed before this happens.
• To analyse how our services perform: Understand which features work well, where tradies face challenges, and how to make Always ON better.
• For legal and compliance reasons: Meet Australian legal requirements, respond to lawful requests from authorities, and protect against fraud.
• To improve website experience: Analyse which pages are most useful, track performance, and personalise your visit next time.

We will never sell your personal information. That's not what we do.

3. Who We Share Your Information With

We only share your information when we have to, or when you've asked us to. Here's who we work with:

Service providers we trust:

• Cloud hosting providers (for storing your data securely).
• Payment processors (to handle invoices and billing).
• Telephony and SMS providers (to power Always ON calls and messages).
• Customer support and ticketing systems.
• Email delivery services.
• Analytics tools (to understand how our services are used).

Important: We have agreements with all service providers requiring them to protect your data and use it only for the services we've requested. They cannot use your information for their own marketing or other purposes.

If required by law:

We may disclose your information if required by a court order, government agency, or law enforcement request in Australia. We'll only do this to the extent required and will notify you where legally possible.

If we merge or sell our business:

In the unlikely event that Tradie Connect AI is acquired or merges with another company, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We'll notify you of any such change and any choices you may have.

4. How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep different types of information for different lengths of time, depending on why we collected it and what the law requires:

• Account and billing information: For as long as your account is active, plus 7 years after for Australian tax and legal requirements.
• Call and chat records: Typically for 12 months. If you request earlier deletion, we'll remove it within 30 days. Some records may be kept longer if needed for dispute resolution or legal reasons.
• Website analytics and cookies: Generally, 13 months. You can clear these anytime through your browser settings.
• Support tickets and emails: Kept for 2 years after resolution, then deleted.

If you delete your account, we'll remove your personal information within 30 days. Some data may be kept longer if required by law (like tax records).

5. How We Protect Your Information

We take security seriously. Here's what we do to protect your data:

• Encrypt data in transit (when it moves between you and us).
• Use secure HTTPS connections on our website and in our systems.
• Store data on Australian-based secure servers with limited access.
• Require strong passwords and multi-factor authentication for accounts.
• Regularly update and patch our systems to fix security vulnerabilities.
• Train our team on data privacy and security practices.
• Conduct regular security assessments and audits.

We can't guarantee 100% security. That's true for any business. But we use industry-standard protections and take your data seriously. If we ever become aware of a security breach that affects your information, we'll notify you as soon as possible.

6. Your Privacy Rights

Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

• Access your personal information: You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you. We'll provide it within 30 days, usually for free.
• Correct inaccurate information: If you think your personal information is incorrect or out of date, you can ask us to fix it.
• Delete your information: You can request that we delete your personal information, though we may need to keep some records for legal or tax reasons.
• Opt out of marketing: You can unsubscribe from our marketing emails anytime. Just click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email.
• Complaint and review: If you're unhappy about how we've handled your information, you can lodge a complaint with us. If we can't resolve it, you can escalate to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at jeanine@tradieconnectai.com.au or 0434 540 548.

7. AI-Specific Data Practices

Because we use AI systems (Always ON), here's what you need to know about how we handle data:

Call and chat recordings:

When your customers call or chat with Always ON, those interactions are recorded and stored. We use these for quality assurance, training our AI, handling disputes, and improving our service. You (and ideally your customers) should be aware that interactions with our AI are recorded.

AI training and improvement:

We use anonymised and aggregated data from calls and chats to improve our AI models. This means we remove identifying information (names, phone numbers, addresses) before using the data to train our systems. Real customer details never leave your account except to the service providers we list in Section 3.

Automated decision-making:

Always ON uses AI to decide what information is urgent vs. routine, and how to respond to customers. This is not automated decision-making that makes legally significant decisions about your business. It's just call routing and prioritisation.

Your responsibility:

If your customers call Always ON, you should let them know (e.g., in your voicemail or on your website) that they may be speaking with an AI system and that their call may be recorded. This is important for transparency and trust.

8. Cookies and Tracking

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to remember your preferences and improve your experience. Cookies are small files stored on your device.

What cookies do we use?

• Essential cookies: These keep our website working (e.g., keeping you logged in). You can't opt out of these.
• Analytics cookies: These help us understand how people use our website so we can make it better.
• Marketing cookies: If you consent, these track how you interact with our ads and content across websites.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies or alert you when cookies are being set. If you disable cookies, some features of our website may not work as well.

9. International Data Transfers

Tradie Connect AI is based in South Australia. Your personal information is primarily stored on Australian servers. However, some of our service providers (like cloud hosting and AI processing services) may store or process data in other countries. We ensure these providers have appropriate security measures and comply with Australian privacy law.

By using our services, you consent to your information being transferred to and processed in countries outside Australia if necessary to provide the service. We only do this when essential and always with appropriate safeguards in place.

10. Children's Privacy

Our website and services are not intended for people under 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we discover we've accidentally collected information from someone under 18, we'll delete it as soon as possible.

If you're a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with information, please contact us immediately.

11. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to other websites (like your SimPRO, ServiceM8 account, your bank, or industry associations). This privacy policy only applies to tradieconnectai.com.au. When you click a link to another website, that site's privacy policy applies instead. We're not responsible for how other sites handle your data.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. When we make changes, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If the changes are significant, we'll notify you by email or through our website.

Your continued use of our website and services after any changes means you accept the updated Privacy Policy.

13. How to Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, contact us:

• Email: jeanine@tradieconnectai.com.au,
• Phone: 0434 540 548,
• Website: tradieconnectai.com.au,
• Address: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

We'll respond to your inquiry within 10 business days.

If you're not satisfied with our response:

You can lodge a formal complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

• Website: www.oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992
• Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

Questions? We're here to help. Reach out anytime.