Legal & Privacy

LWTA PRIVACY POLICY

Our Privacy Policy has been updated and is now available.  It will become effective 30 days from publication.  If you have any questions, please reach out to us using the information provided under the “Contacting Us” section below. Please note that specific provisions of this Privacy Policy may be applicable only to residents of the State of California.

Last Updated: December 19, 2019

AS America, Inc. d/b/a LIXIL Water Technology Americas (“LWTA”), is a business unit of the LIXIL Group Corporation, and holds a leading market position in a key region of the world.  Brands in its portfolio include American Standard, GROHE and DXV, among others.  LWTA, of course, recognizes that privacy is of key importance and we want you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose your information.  This Privacy Policy describes the privacy practices of LWTA as well as its subsidiaries in connection with information that we collect through various channels including the websites we own and operate (collectively, the “Websites”), through the software applications made available by us for use on or through computers and mobile devices (the “Apps”), through our social media pages that we control (collectively, our “Social Media Pages”), through email messages and through your communications with us (collectively, including the Websites, the Apps and our Social Media Pages, the “Online Services,” and together with offline and sales channels, the “Services”).  Our Privacy Policy does not govern our collection of information through any means other than through the Services and it does not govern the collection of information by any third parties. This Privacy Policy applies to Websites on which it is found posted.

By using our Websites or Services, or by providing any information to us, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. 

Collection of Information

“Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual.  “Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an individual.  Personal Information and Other Information is herein collectively referred to as “Information”.

We may collect Information such as name, address, telephone number and email address, date of birth, or goods and services purchased, special requests made, and information about your preferences and user account, either directly or through third parties.  We may also collect browser and device information, App usage data and information collected through other technologies, as well as demographic and aggregated information.

If you submit any Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services (e.g., if you make a purchase or register for another individual), you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We and our service providers may collect Information in a variety of ways, including:

• Through Our Online Services: We may collect Information when you place an order or otherwise purchase goods and services from us, communicate with us via online chat services, inform us of any special requests or preferences you may have, or sign up for a newsletter or participate in a survey, contest, or promotional offer.
• Through Our Offline Services: We may collect Information from you offline, such as when one of our representatives visits your home, when you place an order over the phone or contact customer service.
• From Other Sources: We may receive your Information from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, and other third parties. This may include information from your credit card provider, and other partners, and from social media platforms (including from people with whom you are friends or otherwise connected to).  Certain Information from your social media account may be linked to other Online Services and shared with us, which may include Information that is part of your social media account or your friends’ account.
• From Authorized Licensees: LWTA may from time to time enter into a license or similar agreement with a third party to sell products and services under a LWTA brand.  Such an “Authorized Licensee” is independent from LWTA and may provide information to us about your purchases or your intersection with its sales or service departments.
• Through your browser or device: Certain Information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version and the name and version of the Online Services (such as the Apps) you are using. We use this information for business purposes such as ensuring that the Online Services function properly.
• Through your use of the Apps: When you download and use an App, we and our service providers and business partners may track and collect App usage data, such as the date and time the App on your device accesses our servers and what information and files have been downloaded to the App based on your device number.
• Payment information: While payment information may be required if you elect to pay for certain goods or services via credit card, we do not collect and do not have access to complete credit card numbers.  This information is passed through directly to our service provider, which processes payment.  We do not take any responsibility for the acts or website of the service provider regarding the processing of this information.  We do retain “masked” or portions of credit card numbers for limited purposes such as confirmation of credit card payment receipts. 
• Using cookies: We collect information through the use of cookies which allows us to, among other things, tailor our advertisements or offers to you. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to automatically decline cookies or be given the choice of declining or accepting the transfer to your computer of a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular site.  If, however, you do not accept cookies, you may experience some inconveniences such as needing to log in every time you visit or you may not receive offers from us that are relevant to your interests and needs.  At this time, we do not respond to browser “Do-Not-Track” signals.

• Using pixel tags and other similar technologies: Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) may be used in connection with some Online Services to, among other things, track the actions of users of the Online Services (including email recipients), measure the success of our marketing campaigns and compile statistics about usage of the Online Services and response rates.
• Google Analytics: We also use Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, which use cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about use of the Services and report on activities and trends. These services may collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps and online resources. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners, and opt-out by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. You can learn more about Adobe and opt-out by visiting http://www.adobe.com/privacy/opt-out.html.
• Using Adobe Flash technology (including Flash Local Shared Objects (“Flash LSOs”)) and other similar technologies: We may use Flash LSOs and other technologies to, among other things, collect and store information about your use of the Online Services. If you do not want Flash LSOs stored on your computer, you can block Flash LSO storage using the tools contained in the Website Storage Settings Panel. You can also control Flash LSOs by going to the Global Storage Settings Panel and following the instructions.  Please note that setting the Flash Player to restrict or limit acceptance of Flash LSOs may reduce or impede the functionality of some Flash applications, including those used in connection with the Online Services. For more information, you may also wish to refer to https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/disable-local-shared-objects-flash.html.
• IP Address: Your IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the Online Services, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services. We use IP addresses for several purposes, such as calculating usage levels, diagnosing server problems and administering the Online Services. We may also derive your approximate location from your IP address.
• Physical Location & Mobile Location-Based Services: We may collect the general physical location of your device by, for example, using satellite, cell phone tower, WiFi signals, or other technologies. We may use your device’s general physical location to provide you with personalized location-based services, advertising and content.  If you have downloaded one of our Apps, you may enroll to receive special offers by agreeing to the use of technologies that enable us to collect information about your precise location through your mobile device’s Bluetooth or similar capabilities. We will collect this precise location information only if you opt-in through the App (either during your initial login or later) to receive the special offers and by enabling these capabilities on your mobile device.
• By aggregating information: Aggregated Information does not personally identify you or any other user of the Services (for example, we may aggregate Information to calculate the percentage of our users who have a particular telephone area code).

Use of Information

We may use and disclose Information for various purposes, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law.  Such purposes include:

• To provide the products or services you request.
• To complete your order and provide you with related customer service.
• To receive limited payment information from the payment processor to validate credit card payment receipts against our orders. 
• To send you administrative information, marketing communications, promotional offers, periodic customer satisfaction, market research or quality assurance surveys.
• To personalize your experience and with respect to the Online Services by presenting products and offers tailored to you.
• To allow you to participate in sweepstakes, contests and other promotions and to administer these activities. Some of these activities have additional rules and may be operated by service providers who have their own rules, as well.  Please read any such rules carefully as they could explain how your Information is used and disclosed.
• For our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, security and fraud monitoring and prevention, developing new products, enhancing, improving or modifying our Services, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and operating and expanding our business activities.

We may also use Information in connection with loyalty programs and/or other expressly subscribed rewards based programs to:

• Send you information regarding your account status and activities;
• Assess the benefits to which you are entitled;
• Administer points earned;
• Manage your choices regarding how you wish to earn points (e.g., participating airlines and other company loyalty programs) and track your points and transaction activity.

Disclosure of Information

Your Information may be disclosed in connection with the following services that we provide as a global company:

• Appointments: The Information you provide to us for making an appointment in your home is made available to the applicable service partner for the purpose of meeting your appointment request.
• Within LIXIL GROUP Corporation affiliates: We may disclose your Information to LWTA affiliates such as our parent, subsidiaries and other affiliated entities within the LIXIL Group Corporation group for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, such as for the purpose of sending you marketing communications, consistent with your choices. You should also be aware that Information may be transferred to or received by such affiliated entities in the U.S. or in other countries, which may have different privacy regulations than those applicable in the country where you reside. 
• To Service Providers: We may disclose Information to our third party service providers and partners who provide services such as advertising and media, website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, order fulfillment, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing and other services.  Our Websites may sometimes contain links to other service provider websites.  We assume no responsibility for the content or the privacy policies and practices on those websites.
• To Authorized Licensees: We may disclose your Information to an Authorized Licensee in connection with the Services.  An example of this is a dealer or retailer that offers our products for sale.  The third-party dealer or retailer may contact you directly by email, phone or postal mail. Information you provide to them will be subject to the privacy policy of that Authorized Licensee and not to this Privacy Policy.
• Sponsors of Sweepstakes, Contests and other Promotions.  We may operate sweepstakes, contests and other promotions through the Services that may require online registration with us or with third-party providers of such contests or promotions.  You should carefully review the rules of each sweepstakes, contest or promotion in which you participate through the Services, as they may contain additional information about the third-party provider’s use or disclosure of your Information.  If there is a conflict in the treatment of Information between the rules of the sweepstakes or other promotion and this Policy, the terms and conditions of such rules control.
• Through Social Media: We may disclose your Information to your friends associated with your social media account, to other website users and to your social media account provider, in connection with your social sharing activity.  By linking your Online Services account and your social media account, you authorize us to share information with your social media account provider, and you understand that the use of the information we share will be governed by the social media site’s privacy policy and according to the privacy settings you have chosen.  In addition, when you elect to post information on message boards, chat, profile pages and blogs and other services to which you are able to post information and materials (including, without limitation, our Social Media Pages) any such information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public.
• Corporate Reorganization: We may disclose your Information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

We may also use and disclose Information as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) to comply with applicable law, which may include laws from outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (d) to enforce our terms and conditions; (e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

• Third Party Services: This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site or service to which the Services link, third party payment services, or any third-party website. The inclusion of a link on the Online Services does not imply our endorsement. We have no control over, and are not responsible for, this third party’s collection, use and disclosure of your Information.

In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as, but not limited to Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM or any other app developer or social media platform provider.

Sale of Information

California residents, your Information may be sold or shared in connection with following commercial interests we have as a global company:

• Buying, selling, renting, leasing, sharing for commercial purposes, subscribing of information for economic benefit or other consideration;
• Exchanging products, goods, property, services or information for economic benefit or other consideration; or
• To enable a commercial transaction, including but not limited to the sale or acquisition of a company, a merger, or a change in control of Lixil Group Corporation.

Interest Based Advertising

We use a variety of tracking technologies.  We collect information about users over time and across different sites when you use these sites. We collect this information using a variety of tracking tools including but not limited to cookies, beacons, pixels, tags, statistical IDs, mobile advertising IDs, flash cookies, and similar technologies. We display interest-based using information gathered about you over time across multiple Sites, including mobile apps.

Our interest-based ads may be served to you on our Websites, in emails, or on third-party Sites. These ads may be served by us or by third parties . The ads might be about us or about other companies’ products or services.

You Can Opt-Out of Some Interest-Based Advertising. There are various ways to opt-out of interest-based advertising. The Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising provides consumers with the ability to opt-out of having their online behavior used for interest-based advertising using third party cookies. If you want to opt out of this online behavioral advertising, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp.  This will opt you out of many –but not all- of the interest-based advertising activities in which we or third parties engage.  The Digital Advertising Alliance offers a tool for opting out of the collection of information across mobile devices for interest based advertising. To opt-out of this cross-device interest based advertising from companies participating in this tool, download the AppChoices app at http://youradchoices.com/appchoices.

Security

We seek to use reasonable technical and administrative measures to protect Information within our organization. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure or has been compromised, please immediately notify us at via our toll-free number 1- 800-442-1902, by email at optout@lixil.com, or regular mail, Attn: Sr. Director Customer Care, 865 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854

Your Choices

If you no longer want to receive marketing-related emails from us, you may opt-out by following the instructions in any such email you receive from us.  In addition, you can also opt-out from communications by emailing optout@lixil.com or sending regular mail to Attn: Sr. Director Customer Care, 865 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854.

We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable.  Please note that if you opt-out of receiving marketing-related emails from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt-out.

Accessing, changing or suppressing Personal Information:
If you would like to review, correct or update Personal Information that you have previously provided to us, you may contact us at optout@lixil.com or sending regular mail to Attn: Sr. Director Customer Care, 865 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854. 

In your request, please make clear what Personal Information you would like to have changed, whether you would like to have your Personal Information suppressed from our database, or other limitations you would like to put on our use of your Personal Information.  We may only implement requests with respect to the Personal Information associated with the particular email address that you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.

Special Notice for California Residents: 

Individual customers who reside in California, and whose Personal Information we have collected, disclosed, or sold, may acquire certain rights regarding their Personal Information, including the right of access, the right to deletion, the right to opt-out of the sale of your Personal Information, and the right to not be discriminated against.

California Resident’s Right of Access

Your right of access allows you to request certain information about your Personal Information we are collecting, disclosing for a business purpose, or selling, which may include affiliates within the LIXIL Group Corporation.  The information you are entitled to will depend on the specific actions that we take with your Personal Information.  Please note, in addition to other forms of Personal Information, we may perform the following actions on the categories of data disclosed below:

California Resident’s Right to Deletion

As a California resident you may request that we delete your Personal Information and we must comply with any such request.  However, there may be certain circumstances where we are legally required, or permitted, to retain such Personal Information.  In the event that we are required to retain your Personal Information, we will continue to protect it as provided herein.  It is your right to not be discriminated against, for exercising any of these California-based rights and LIXIL Group Corporation will not deny you goods or services, change the prices or fees that you are charged, provide a different quality of good or service, suggest any of the preceding if it is your intention to exercise any of the California based rights herein

California Resident’s Right to Opt-out

A California resident’s right to opt-out is unique in that it only applies to Personal Information that we are selling, if any.  You may submit any request to exercise one of these rights via our toll-free number 1- 800-442-1902, by email at optout@lixil.com, or regular mail, Attn: Sr. Director Customer Care, 865 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854. In addition, if you wish to opt out of the sale of your Personal Information, you may do so via this link “DO NOT SELL MY INFORMATION.” Please note, opting-out is not permanent, and you can change your mind at any time.  If after 12 months from opting out, we may follow up with you to see if you would like to opt back in.

Within forty-five days of receiving a California resident’s opt-out request, we will provide a list of activities related to the collection, disclosure or sale of your Personal Information during the immediately preceding twelve (12) month period. If your request is not made from the specific email address or phone number associated with the Personal Information over which you seek to exercise your rights, we must be able to readily verify your identity before acting on any requests submitted and may extend beyond the forty-five day period.  Such requests may be made no more than twice per calendar year. We reserve our right not to respond to requests submitted by methods other than as specified and provided for in this section.

Special Notice for European Residents: 

For users residing in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), this Privacy Policy is subject to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") and other applicable privacy laws.  Under the GDPR, Lixil Group Corporation is a data “Controller” and you are a “Data Subject” with certain protected privacy rights concerning your personal data.  Lixil Group Corporation will take commercially reasonable steps to maintain compliance with GDPR requirements.  We will process your personal data in accordance with your explicit consent (by using the Services, you hereby consent to our processing), to fulfill a contract, as required to conduct our business and pursue our legitimate interests, and to respond to legal requests by government entities.  Your data is not used to make automated decisions.  We will store and hold data collected in accordance with this Privacy Policy outside of the EEA, and will process it outside of the EEA.  When Lixil Group Corporation processes the data of EEA residents outside of the EEA, when required under the GDPR, we will implement the mandatory safeguards and/or mechanisms in relation to the transfer.

Special rights of EEA Residents

Individual customers who reside in the EEA, and whose Personal Information we have access to or control of, may acquire certain rights regarding their Personal Information, including the right of access, the right to correction, the right to be forgotten, the right to suspend/restrict processing, the right of data portability, the right to object to processing, and the right to not be subject to automated decision-making or profiling, though we do not engage in such automated decision-making or profiling.

Retention: Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to requesting a change or deletion.  There may also be residual information that will remain within our databases and other records, which will not be removed. In addition, there may be certain information that we are unable to enable you to review, for legal, security, or other reasons.

We will retain your Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

Use of Services by Minors

The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18), and we request that they not provide Personal Information through the Services.

Cross-Border Transfer

LIXIL Water Technology is a global organization and provides a global service. Sharing information cross border is at times essential to the Services. As a result, we may, subject to applicable law, transfer Information collected in connection with the Services, to these entities in countries where information protection standards may differ from those in the country where you reside. By using our Services and Websites, you agree that we may transfer your Information globally and process it or store it on equipment located in other countries outside the country where you reside in line with the above-referenced policies.

Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy. The “Last Updated” legend at the top of this page indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised. Your use of the Services following any changes means that you accept the updated Privacy Policy.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy please contact us at optout@lixil.com or sending regular mail to Attn: Sr. Director Customer Care, 865 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Please do not include credit card or other sensitive information in your emails to us since email communications are not always secure.