Please read our privacy policy carefully before using Ratemyadvisor.org website (the “service”, “Site”) operated by RateMyAdvisor (“us”, ‘we”, “our”).

This Privacy Policy applies to the Site only.

There may be links from our Site to other websites; however, note that this Privacy Policy applies only to our Site and not to websites of other companies or organizations to which our Site may be linked. You must check on any linked sites for the privacy policy that applies to that site and/or make any necessary inquiries in respect of that privacy policy with the operator of the linked site. These links to third-party websites are provided as a convenience and are for informational purposes only.

RateMyAdvisor does not endorse, and is not responsible for, these linked websites.

Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we want you to understand what information we collect about you, how we collect it, how that information is used, and how you can control our disclosure of it. You agree that your use of the Site signifies your assent to this Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Site.

Information Collected

Personal information is information about you that identifies you as an individual, for example, your name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number.

Personal information you share with us is stored on our database servers or hosted by third parties who have entered into agreements with us that require them to observe our Privacy Policy.

We collect certain information from you such as your IP address, and/or additional information that you voluntarily provide to us by registering on our Site, by posting reviews of registered advisors, by claiming your profile if you are a registered advisor, by responding to reviews if you are a registered advisor who has claimed your profile, by using search functions, by publishing a blog, and by answering questionnaires, feedback, forms and the like, among others. We may also ask you to provide additional information such as your e-mail address if you wish to obtain additional services or information, to participate in a contest or to resolve complaints or concerns.

We collect two types of information from you: i) information that you voluntarily provide to us as noted above; and ii) information that is derived through automated tracking mechanisms.

Voluntary Registration Information

In order to post your evaluation of a registered advisor on our Site, you must first complete the registration process during which we will collect personal information about you. This information may include your name, address, e-mail address, city of residence, province or territory of residence, postal code, phone number, and screen name. We do not collect personally identifiable information about you except when you specifically provide such information to us on a voluntary basis.

If you are a registered advisor, we will also collect information about you that you voluntarily provide to us when you claim your profile or by answering your reviewers’ ratings and comments.

Please note that although our Site may allow you to post your ratings under a screen name, you are not anonymous to RateMyAdvisor once you register with us.

By registering with us, you consent to the use and method of disclosure as described in this Privacy Policy.

Voluntary Information for Services and Features

We also collect personally identifiable information when you choose to use certain other features of the Site, including, but not limited to, i) making purchases, ii) consenting to receive e-mail communications about upcoming promotions or events or otherwise, iii) participating in a forum or in discussions on the Site, iv) commenting on articles, and v) writing a blog. When you choose to use these additional services and features, we require you to provide your “Contact Information” in addition to other personal information that may be required to complete a transaction. This information may include a phone number, billing and shipping addresses, and credit card information.

Occasionally, we may also request information such as your shopping preferences and demographics, which will help us better serve you and our other users in the future.

E-mail Communication Choice & Opt-out

If you no longer wish to receive updates or notifications, you may opt-out of receiving these communications by changing your e-mail notification settings in your account settings. You may also opt out of our e-mail communications by pressing on the unsubscribe link provided in our e-mails.

Accessing and Updating Your Personal Information and Preferences

We provide mechanisms for updating and correcting your personal information for many of our services, including changing your screen name, anonymous status, social media settings, e-mail settings, and personal details.  You may modify or remove any of your personal information at any time by logging into your account and accessing the appropriate features that allow you to edit your account.

Cookies

Our Site uses “cookies” and other tracking technologies. Cookies enable us to serve secure pages to our users without asking them to repeatedly sign in.  Most browsers allow you to control cookies, including whether or not to accept them and how to remove them. If a user’s system is idle for a defined time, the cookie will expire, forcing the user to sign in again to continue their session. This prevents unauthorized access to the user’s information while they are away from their computer.

You may set most browsers to notify you if you receive a cookie, or you may choose to block cookies with your browser, but please note that if you choose to erase or block your cookies, you will need to re-enter your original user ID and password to gain access to certain parts of the Site.

With respect to third-party cookies, in the course of posting advertisements to our Site, our third-party advertisers may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser.

How We Use Your Information

We only uses your personal information for the original purposes for which it was given. Your personal information will not be sold or otherwise transferred to unaffiliated third parties without your approval at the time of collection.

Unless required to do so by law, we will not disclose, use, give or sell any personal information to third parties other than to our suppliers and other third parties who need to know for the purposes of delivering services on behalf of us. Furthermore, we reserve the right to contact you regarding matters relevant to the underlying service provided and/or the information collected.

Please note that personally identifiable information is used only to provide you with a more enjoyable and convenient online experience and to help us identify and/or provide information, products or services that may be of interest to you. We use your personally identifiable information to support and enhance your use of the Site and its features, including without limitation: to allow you to post your reviews and comments; to claim your profile if you are a registered advisor and you claimed your profile; to answer reviews and comments pertaining to you if you are a registered advisor and you have claimed your profile; to participate in potential forums; to process a potential order; to write a blog; to provide customer service; to track e-mail invitations you send; and otherwise to support your use of the Site.

We may use your personal information for targeted advertising based on things such as geographical region, interests, goals, habits, etc.

We may permit certain trusted third parties to track usage and analyze data such as the source address that a page request is coming from, your IP address or domain name, the date and time of the page request, the referring website (if any) and other parameters in the URL. This is collected in order to better understand our Site usage and to enhance the performance of services to maintain and operate the Site and certain features on the Site. We may use third parties to host the Site, to operate various services and features available on the Site, to send e-mails, to analyze data, to provide search results and links, and to potentially assist in fulfilling your orders.

Please note we retain the right and may share personally identifiable or other information with our parent company, subsidiaries, divisions, and/or affiliates as deemed necessary.

We may transfer personally identifiable information as an asset in connection with a proposed or actual merger or sale (including any transfers made as part of an insolvency or bankruptcy proceeding) involving all or part of our business or as part of a corporate reorganization, stock sale or other change in control.

We may disclose personal information in special cases where we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Terms of Use or may be causing injury or interference with our rights, property, our customers or anyone who could be harmed by such activities.

WE ARE NOT LIABLE OR OTHERWISE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE OR OTHER INFORMATION YOU CHOOSE TO SUBMIT PUBLICLY TO THE SITE SUCH AS ON A BULLETIN BOARD, BLOG, CHAT ROOM, COMMENTS, EVALUATIONS, RESPONSES TO COMMENTS, OR PROFILES OF REGISTERED ADVISORS. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU SUBMIT IN ANY PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE AREA OF THE SITE.

You will receive notice when your personally identifiable information may be provided to any third party for any reason other than as set forth in this Privacy Policy, and you will have an opportunity to request that we not share such information.

We use non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our Site and for business and administrative purposes. For purposes we deem necessary, we may also use or share with third parties aggregated data that contains no personally identifiable information.

Third Party Advertising

Advertisements appearing on our Site may be delivered to you by us or one of our advertising partners. Our advertising partners may set cookies. Doing this allows the advertising partners to recognize your computer each time they send you an advertisement. In this way, they may compile information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw their advertisements and determine which advertisements are clicked. This information allows an advertising partner to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. We do not have access to, or control of, the cookies that may be placed by the third party advertising servers of its advertising partners.

This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by RateMyAdvisor and does not cover the use of cookies by any of its advertising partners.

Phishing

Phishing is a dangerous scam to steal data related to your personal identity and/or financial accounts. “Phishers” mislead by using “spoofing” techniques to mislead their e-mail recipients and direct them to illegitimate (or “counterfeit”) websites or to request their e-mail recipients to disclose or to confirm personal and/or financial data such as a bank account number, a social insurance number, a credit card number, a date of birth, a phone number, a username, a password, or any other personal information that identifies them. WE DO NOT SEND E-MAILS OR ANY COMMUNICATION SUCH AS TEXTING OR INSTANT MESSAGING REQUESTING OR ASKING YOU TO CONFIRM SENSITIVE PERSONAL AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION SUCH AS A BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER, A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, A CREDIT CARD NUMBER, A DATE OF BIRTH, A PHONE NUMBER, A USERNAME, A PASSWORD, ETC.  If you receive such a fraudulent e-mail, you should ignore it, spam it or block it, and immediately delete it from your inbox.

Disclaimer to Security

By consenting to the Terms and Conditions of the Site and hence the Privacy Policy, you consent and acknowledge that no data transmission over the Internet is completely secure or error-free. We cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you provide to us, and you consent and acknowledge that you transmit such information to us at your own risk.

How We Protect Your Information

We are committed to protecting the information we receive from you. We take appropriate security measures to protect your information against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we maintain appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information and data stored on our system. While no computer system is completely secure, we believe the measures we have implemented reduce the likelihood of security problems to a level appropriate to the type of data involved.

Notification of Changes

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy, from time to time, in its sole discretion. If at some point in the future there are changes to our Privacy Policy, unless we obtain your express consent, such changes will only apply to information collected after the revised Privacy Policy took effect. Your continued use of the Site after the revised Privacy Policy has been published indicates your acceptance of those changes as posted in the revised Privacy Policy.