Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes and governs how Hearing Aid Clinics (‘Social Blue’) processes Personal Information on the Website. Different types of collection use and sharing practices take place. Sometimes Social Blue processes data as website operator, whereas at other times, it is collecting contact information only as a service provider on behalf of a specific hearing aid clinic or store.

Before you use or submit any information through or in connection with the Website, please carefully review this Privacy Policy as well as the Privacy Statement of the Advertiser to whom you give consent to on the webform.

1. General Information

This Website is controlled and operated by the marketing agency Social Blue (“we”, “us” or “our”). Social Blue specializes in generating leads for its partners (“Advertisers”) via advertising campaigns.

Social Blue BV

Nieuwe Steen 27, 1625 HV, Hoorn (Netherlands)

Our Data Protection Officer can be reached via [email protected]

2. Intended Audience and Use of the Website

The Website aims to connect hearing aid clinics or stores with consumers that are interested in such products or services. Social Blue is publisher of this Website and only has a facilitating role as intermediary to bring supply and demand together. Social Blue gives no guarantee regarding the (quality of) products or services provided by Advertisers and is not liable for any damages suffered.

If you would like to request and receive more information about hearing aids, please complete and submit the webform. Once you submit your request, we will contact you and tell you more about the respective Advertiser. The requested contact information will be passed to the Advertiser only after the phone call at your requests, for example, if you want to have a quote or have scheduled an appointment. Your consent to receive more information is not a condition of purchase, so you are not obliged to buy from any Advertiser.

3. Definitions

In this Policy, the following terms have the meanings below:

Advertiser: The party who enters into an agreement with Social Blue for the purpose of placing an advertisement on a Social Media Platform and collecting Personal Information through the webform. Advertisers on this website are hearing aid clinics or stores.

Data Processing: Any operation or set of operations which is performed on Personal Information, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

Personal Information: As used in information security and privacy laws, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.

Social Media Platform: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, LinkedIn, Audience Network or any other website or software or service commonly referred to as social media.

Website: The hearingaidclinics.com website and all related subdomains operated by Social Blue.                     

4. Social Blue

• What kind of Personal Information do we collect and for what purposes?                                                                 

Social Blue process the following information as Website operator:

Request for information or advice: When you wish to receive information from us, you can send us an email with your request. In this case we process the information that is provided by you, like name, email address and the subjects and content of any messages you sent.

Device Information: This website collects a series of general information with each visit which is stored in so called logfiles of the server and can include, for e.g., the time and date when the Website was accessed, the type of browser you are using, the domain name or your computer’s IP address. The purpose is to make the Website accessible from your device and to enable the Website to be displayed correctly on your device or in your browser. The data is also used to optimize the Website and to ensure the security of our systems, for e.g., to make sure that multiple offers are not requested by the same persons.

Social Media Plug-ins (Share/Like-Buttons): Our thank-you pages that you will see after filling in the forms also include buttons for social media networks that you can use to share. In order to increase the protection of your data and ensure that you retain full control, the used button provides direct contact between the respective social network and our website visitors only once you actively click on it. When you activate the button by giving consent, data – for e.g. the IP address, browser information, URL of the current website – can be forwarded to the social media network.

Cookies, Pixels and Other Technologies: We also make use of cookies to analyse behaviour on the Website (for e.g. the number of visitors, the most visited pages) through analytics tools; to measure conversions from Social Media Platforms and thereby analyse the performance of our campaigns and to (ret)target individuals. A cookie is information stored on your device (for e.g. computer, mobile phone) by a website you visit. It can contain personally identifiable information: for e.g. the name of the server that placed it there, an online identifier like the IP address or cookie identifier in the form of a unique number. A server can access the cookie to read and record the information. In most cases, the data of your surfing behaviour is processed anonymously. We can therefore not identify you in the real world.

Most browsers are set to accept cookies automatically, but you can deactivate this function. Refer to the information provided by your browser supplier to find out. There are also other possibilities to opt-out from specific cookies and websites which can help you to understand and control the use of cookies like http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN (USA), https://youradchoices.ca/ (Canada) or www.youronlinechoices.com (Europe).

Specific and/or sensitive Personal Information: Our Website is not targeted at minors and does not intend to collect information about website visitors younger than 16 years. We encourage parents to be involved in the online activities of their children, in order to prevent Personal Information about children being collected without parental consent. If you believe that we have collected data about a minor without a permission, please contact [email protected] and we will delete this information.

• When do we disclose your Personal Information?

We disclose your information under the following circumstances:

• Advertisers: We transfer information as service provider to the relevant hearing aid clinic or store mentioned on the webform.
• Suppliers:We may disclose your information to service providers (/suppliers) who perform services on our behalf e.g. to host and analyze the Website, to store our data or to call you like a call center. Such service providers are only entitled to process the data needed to perform their services and guarantee that they have implemented appropriate security measures in such a manner that their processing meets data protection requirements.
• Legal Compliance: We may disclose your information if we are required to do so by law.

• Where is my Personal Information processed?

Our computer systems are based in the Netherlands (Social Blue HQ) and your Personal Information will also be stored in the Netherlands (EU.) Some of our suppliers process Personal Information in other countries like the USA. In this case we make sure that they provide sufficient guarantees and safeguards to adequately protect your data.

• How do we secure your Personal Information?

We make every reasonable effort to prevent any loss, misuse, disclosure or modification of Personal Information as well as any unauthorized access to it. We use practices such as computer passwords, firewalls, encryption, and internal organizational tools such as restricted access and permanent deletion of electronic records. If you feel that your Personal Information is not secured properly or there are indications of abuse, please contact us at [email protected].

• Your Choices and Rights

You have the right to obtain confirmation of whether we hold Personal Information about you and to view (right to access/ right to know), correct or delete your data (right to request deletion).

You also have the right to object to the handling of your Personal Information (e.g. to opt-out of offers, promotions and other emails by clicking unsubscribe in an email message), restrict the processing of your information and to withdraw any consent that you have provided (e.g. let us know if  you have changed your mind about getting contacted via phone).

If you want to make a request regarding your rights, you can contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected].

While we strongly encourage you to first raise any questions or concerns about your Personal Information with us, you can, of course, always contact the supervisory authority in your country or region:

• Canada: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (https://www.oic-ci.gc.ca/en) or Privacy Commissioner of your Province.

• USA: Federal Trade Commission (https://www.ftc.gov/) or the Data Protection Authority of your state.

• Australia: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: https://www.oaic.gov.au/

• European Union: The national or regional Data Protection Authorities can be found on the website of the European Data Protection Board: https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en

• United Kingdom: Information Commissioner Office can be found on the website https://ico.org.uk/global/privacy-notice/how-you-can-contact-us/

5. Advertisers          

In this Section, it will be explained how we process Personal Information as service provider. Social Blue is not sharing or selling your information to unknown parties but collects, transfers and stores your contact information from the webform only on behalf of a specific Advertiser based on a (service) agreement. As service provider we are only entitled to process the Personal Information needed to perform our marketing activities and have implemented security measures in such a manner that processing meets data protection requirements.

Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such Advertisers and you should carefully check their Privacy Policy.

• What kind of Personal Information does an Advertiser process and for what purposes?            

More information about hearing aids: If you would like to request and receive more information about hearing aids, please complete and submit the webform and provide your contact information (name, email and phone number) and the postal code that is needed to present you with options of nearby hearing aid clinics that you can select in the webform (‘select a store or home visit’ depending on your location). Once you submit your request and based on your consent, we will contact you and tell you more about the respective Advertiser that you have selected. The requested contact information will be passed to the Advertiser only after the phone call at your requests, for example, if you want to have a quote or have scheduled an appointment. The legal basis for sharing the data is Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR and the Advertiser will further deal with your inquiry. We shall not retain the data any longer than is required for the purposes described or required under the applicable legislation.

• Further information

To find out how the Advertiser collects, uses or discloses Personal Information, you should check their Privacy Policy that is available on their website.

We encourage all Advertisers to provide for a high data protection standard and have agreements in place that guarantee that their use of contact details do not result in a violation of applicable legislation and regulations and that they will delete Personal Information specified by Social Blue (e.g. from persons that have submitted a complaints) in line with applicable privacy legislation. However, there might be variations depending on the respective Advertiser and different types of data protection laws that apply in your country or region. As a consequence, privacy practices such as the data storage location, retention periods, and privacy rights can be different.

6.    Contact

For a question or complaint about the processing of Personal Information by Social Blue, please contact [email protected].

7.    Changes to this Privacy Notice

This Privacy Policy was written in May 2020.

We will continue to evaluate this Policy when we update and expand the Website and our services, and we may make changes to the Privacy Policy accordingly. Any changes will be posted here, and you should check this page regularly for updates.