Privacy Policy

Keeping your details secure

1. Introduction

i. Parkhound, trading as Parkhound ("we" or "us"), take the privacy of your information very seriously. This privacy policy explains how and for what purposes we use the information collected about you via the Parkhound Website (referred to below as the "Website") or the Parkhound mobile app (referred to below as "the App"). By using the Website and the App and any services we offer via the Website and the App, you are agreeing to be bound by this policy in respect of the information collected about you via this Website and the App.

ii. If you have any queries about the policy, please get in touch and we will do our best to answer your questions.

2. Personal information collected

i. We may collect personal information about you, including but not limited to:

a. Certain information required to register with the Website and the App including first and last name, your address and date of birth, mobile number and some basic security information;

b. Your email address and password;

c. Details of any parking spaces you list through the Website and the App;

d. Details of any bookings you make through the Website and the App;

e. Bank account details such as your BSB, Account Number and Account Name;

f. Payment details such as Card Type, Card Number, Expirary Date, and CVV;

g. Vehicle details such as model type, and vehicle registration number;

h. Location details when you access the Website and the App;

i. Any correspondence between you and us, including messages, in whatever form they may be;

j. Other information about you that you voluntarily supply to us;

k. Although it is not compulsory to give us this information, if you do not then you cannot register as a member of the Website and the App, list a parking space for rent or make a booking for a parking space with a parking space seller.

3. Use of this information

i. We will use this information in order to:

a. Process and manage your booking whether you are a parking space seller or buyer;

b. Collect payment of parking space fees from you on behalf of our sellers;

c. Make general improvements to the Website and the App and the services we offer;

d. Analyse how customers are making use of the Website and the App;

e. Present testimonials or reviews which you post to the Website and the App;

f. Aggregate your usage habits and provide you with directions or other commuting suggestions;

g. For internal administrative duties, investigate complaints and provide customer support;

h. Notify you of certain offers and new products (subject to your right to unsubscribe or opt-out);

i. Market and advertise relevant products and services. This may include Parkhound and our partners sending you information about products and services that will be relevant to you, by email, SMS, push notifications, postal mail or direct telephone contact. All of the above are subject to your stated preferences; we and our content partners will always make it clear how you can prevent such marketing or communications i.e. opt-out of these uses.

4. Sharing this information

i. Credit or debit card payments will be collected by our payment processor.

ii. We do not store credit card numbers or CVV/CVV2 security numbers on our servers.

iii. We have the facility to re-charge a payment source at a later date for recurring bookings, cancellation fees and other payments that need to be taken to enable the smooth running of the Website.

iv. In order for payments to be processed, you may need to provide some necessary details to our payment processing agent(s). We tell you about this at the point we collect that information on the Website and the App.

v. We may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation, but we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

vi. We may share your personally identifiable information with third parties solely for the purpose of providing the Parkhound parking service to you. If we do this, such third parties' use of your information will be bound by this Privacy Policy.

vii. We may share non-personally identifiable information (such as anonymous usage data, referring/exit pages and URLs, platform and browser types, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third parties to help them understand the usage patterns for the Website and the App.

viii. We may allow third party ad servers or ad networks to advertise on the Website and the App. These third party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send, directly to your browser or app, the advertisements and links that appear on the Website and the App. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as “cookies”) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize the advertising content.

ix. We will not share your opt-in to an SMS campaign with any third party for purposes unrelated to providing you with the services of that campaign. We may share your Personal Data, including your SMS opt-in or consent status, with third parties that help us provide our messaging services, including but not limited to platform providers, phone companies, and any other vendors who assist us in the delivery of text messages.

x. Other than as set out above, we will not disclose any of your personal information without your permission unless we are required by law to do so (for example, if required to do so by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime).

xi. Information automatically collected from your computer: Log files/IP addresses. When you visit the Website and the App our web server automatically records your IP address. This IP address is not linked to any of your personal information. We may also gather other non-personal information (from which we cannot identify you) such as the type of your internet browser which we use to provide you with a more effective service.

xii. Cookies. When you visit the Website and the App we may store some information (commonly known as a "cookie") on your computer. Cookies are pieces of information that a Website transfers to your hard drive to store and sometimes track information about you. Cookies are specific to the server that created them and cannot be accessed by other servers, which means that they cannot be used to track your movements around the web. Passwords and credit card numbers are not stored in cookies. A cookie helps you get the best out of the Website and the App and helps us to provide you with a more customised service. We use cookies for the following purposes:

a. Storing your login details so you don’t need to enter your login again if you haven’t logged out;

b. Storing details about your Website preferences (for instance, where you are based);

c. Storing details about any properties or listings you have viewed;

d. Enabling our web server to track your session between pages of the Website and the App and provide a continuity of experience.

e. Storing details about incomplete bookings or listings, this information may be used to determine when to send reminder messages via email or SMS.

f. You can block or erase cookies from your computer if you want to (your browser's help screen or manual should tell you how to do this), but certain parts of the Website and the App are reliant on the use of cookies to operate correctly and may not work correctly if you set your browser not to accept cookies.

5. Other Websites

i. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other Websites even if you access them using links from the Website and the App and recommend that you check the policy of each Website you visit and contact its owner or operator if you have any concerns or questions.

ii. In addition, if you linked to the Website and the App from a third party Website, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners or operators of that third party Website and recommend that you check the policy of that third party Website and contact its owner or operator if you have any concerns or questions.

6. Security

i. Parkhound takes the privacy of personal information seriously. As such, we store personal information in a secure manner where access is restricted to prevent loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure within our systems.

ii. We use SSL technology to encrypt sensitive data transfer, and we recommend that you maintain a strong and confidential password for your account at all times.

iii. We may store personal information in locations outside the direct control of Parkhound (for instance, on servers or databases co-located with hosting providers).

iv. Parkhound cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you do so at your own risk. We take commercially reasonable efforts in accordance with this Privacy Policy to ensure the security of our systems.

7. Legal Basis of Disclosure of your information - Compliance with Law, to Tax Authorities etc

7.1  Disclosure. We may disclose your information to courts, law enforcement, governmental or public authorities, tax authorities, authorised third parties if and to the extent we are required or permitted to do so by law or where disclosure is reasonably necessary to:

(i) comply with our legal obligations;

(ii) comply with a valid legal request, such as a subpoena or court order, or to respond to claims asserted against Parkhound;

(iii) respond to a valid legal request relating to a criminal investigation to address alleged or suspected illegal activity, or to respond to or address any other activity that may expose us, you, or any other of our users to legal or regulatory liability;

(iv) enforce and administer our terms and conditions;

(v) respond to requests for or in connection with current or prospective legal claims or legal proceedings concerning Parkhound and/or third parties, in accordance with applicable law; or

(vi) protect the rights, property or personal safety of Parkhound, its employees or members of the public.

7.2   To Tax Authorities. Where legally required or permissible according to applicable law, we may disclose members’ information to relevant tax authorities or other governmental agencies, for the purpose of the tax authorities’ determination of proper compliance with relevant tax obligations.

(i) Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR)

On and from from 1 July 2024, because Parkhound is a supplier of services using an electronic distribution platform (EDP), we are required to comply with the rules of the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR) mandated by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). This involves reporting certain information about transactions conducted through Parkhound, to the ATO.

(ii) Information that must be reported by Parkhound

Information that must be reported to the ATO twice a year will include, at a minimum: the full legal name of the seller, total gross payments to seller, date of birth (if an individual), total net payments to seller, primary address of the seller, GST attributable to total gross payments, bank account details, total fees, commissions, etc. withheld, Australian Business Numbers (ABNs) or foreign tax identification numbers, GST amounts attributable to total fees, commissions, telephone details, property address, email details and the period for which a property or a space is booked.

The ATO also has the legal power to collect certain tax related information about transactions conducted through the Parkhound platform(s), including information necessary to identify the seller of services and fees received by sellers.  EDP operators such as Parkhound must report details about payments made to sellers for supplies made through the Parkhound platform that are connected with Australia. By providing the information required to be reported under the SERR, Parkhound will not be in breach of any privacy laws.

7.3 Notifications. Where appropriate and/or legally required, we may notify members about legal requests, unless: (i) providing notice is prohibited by the legal process itself, by court order we receive, or by applicable law, or (ii) we believe that providing notice would be futile, ineffective, create a risk of injury or bodily harm to an individual or group, or create or increase a risk of fraud upon or harm to Parkhound, our members, or expose us to a claim of obstruction of justice or similar.

8. Changes to this Policy

i. If we change any terms set out in this Privacy Policy, we will post those changes on the Website and the App or Service to keep you aware of those changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted regardless of whether you have actual notice of those changes.

9. Further questions

If at any time you would like to contact us with your views about our privacy policy, or with any enquiry relating to your personal information, you can do so by contacting us at  [email protected].

If you are not happy with the response from our Privacy Officer you may make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner which can be contacted via the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website.