BISSELL PRIVACY NOTICE

Last Updated October 4, 2023

The BISSELL® group of companies (collectively “BISSELL”) has spent more than 145 years finding ways to make your home a cleaner place for you and your pets. This notice explains how BISSELL collects and uses personal information (also “PII”) of individuals who use BISSELL apps, connected devices, websites, in-person, over-the-phone, and other services provided by BISSELL (collectively “Services”). This Notice also details our practices related to sharing PII, the measures taken by BISSELL to safeguard your PII, and your individual rights to PII.   

This Notice relates to our collection and processing of personal information in North America (United States and Canada), including on the BISSELL.com and canada.BISSELL.com websites (“Websites”). If you are looking for a country or region-specific Privacy Notice, click here and navigate to the appropriate county or region website.

BISSELL collects personal information from and about you when you use our Services. That information helps us provide you with the most useful information and shopping experience. We may use the information you share with us on our Websites or Services to tailor your experience (e.g. personalized product recommendations), to respond to your questions, to contact and communicate with you when necessary, to fulfill your orders and process payments, to address any problems with or improve the Services, or to protect the security or integrity of our business.

1. Website Visitors

Generally, you are not required to provide us with any information to use our Websites or Services. However, you may need to provide certain personal information to obtain support, purchase products, submit comments, or access the Services (e.g. create an account, sign up for email newsletter, or use our mobile application). If you provide personal information to us in relation to the Services, we will process that information based on your consent. Unless otherwise specified, we maintain your personal information as long as necessary to fulfill any associated business purposes.

2. Online Store Purchases

We collect personal information when you order products using the Services, which includes e-mail address, name and surname, billing and shipping address, postal code, your telephone number, and payment information. 

This information is collected from you to fulfill your online order, validate the information provided, process your payment, and process any warranty claims that may arise or assert any possible claims against you. 

We generally retain personal information from online store purchases for a maximum of 7 years, unless otherwise required by law.

3. Product Registration

We collect personal information when you register your product using our online web form or using registration cards, which includes your contact details and information related to the BISSELL products you own. When you purchase products from our website, your products are registered automatically.

We collect this information from you in order to provide you with product and customer service, warranty support, notifications of product recalls for safety and other related purposes.  

We retain this personal information for at least the duration of the product’s warranty. In most cases, the maximum length of time we will retain product registration information is 7 years. 

4. Connected Devices

Some of our products are internet connected and controlled by a supported mobile app (“connected device”) which allows the product to transmit data wirelessly to us. Connected device data is secured by encryption in transit and at rest.

When you register your connected device and use these products, BISSELL may collect certain personal information, including connected device and mobile app data (e.g. the device name and serial number, signal strength, battery life or device health) and cleaning and environmental data (e.g. level of dirt detected, supply levels, and information about the connected device’s movement throughout the environment to create a location “map” of the area and record the existence of objects or obstacles encountered).

This personal information is collected and processed to operate, maintain, and provide the features and functionality of your connected device. Additionally, we use this information to tailor our offerings, to develop new products and features, to detect and prevent fraud, and to provide end-user support.

Connected devices do not transmit personal information unless you register your connected device using a supported BISSELL mobile application and connect your device via Wi-Fi.  It is possible to use our connected devices without connecting via Wi-Fi data transmission, but you may be unable to access all features and functions of your connected device without an internet connection. For more information about using our connected devices without Wi-Fi connectivity, review the User Guide for your product.

We generally retain information collected from connected products for a maximum of 7 years, unless otherwise required by law.

5. Consumer Care

We may collect personal information when you contact our consumer care team. When you contact us, we may request your name, contact details, product information, and information related to your inquiry. We collect this information in order to offer you support for our products and to fulfill our warranty obligations. 

We retain this personal information for at least the duration of an ongoing consumer support inquiry. In most cases, the maximum length of time we will retain information related to consumer care is 7 years. 

6. Sweepstakes, Giveaways, and Other Promotions

From time to time, we may conduct sweepstakes, giveaways, or other promotions (“Sweepstakes”). During such Sweepstakes, you may be asked for certain personal information including your name and social media, and contact details. Providing this personal information for Sweepstakes is voluntary, but if you do not provide your personal information, you may be unable to participate. We collect this information in order to contact winning participants and verify eligibility. In some cases, there may be an option to enroll in marketing communications when providing personal information for Sweepstakes. 

We retain the personal information related to your entry for a maximum of 5 years after the Sweepstakes period has concluded, unless otherwise required by law. Review the official rules for the relevant Sweepstakes for more details.

7. BISSELL Pet Foundation 

BISSELL Pet Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to support animal welfare organizations and provide resources to underserved communities. This includes helping to reduce the number of animals in shelters and rescues through pet adoption, spay/neuter programs, vaccinations, microchipping, and crisis and disaster response. The personal information you provide when making a donation (regardless of whether the donation is made in-person, online, by phone, or by mail) will be used to send you a tax receipt (if requested) and may be used to send you periodic updates about BISSELL Pet Foundation. Additionally, unless otherwise requested, the names of all individual donors may be published in BISSELL Pet Foundation impact reports and other internal or external communications. BISSELL Pet Foundation will not publish the exact amount of a donor’s gift without the express written permission of the donor.

We may disclose personal information to third-parties, service providers, or processors, including hosting companies, payment processors, advertising networks, or analytics information companies. Information we share may include what you give to us and what we collect about you as noted above and may include Personal Information. If we hire any third-parties, service providers, or processors to perform services relating to the Services, we require them to protect your personal information in at least the same way that we do.

BISSELL may also disclose personal information in response to a lawful request from a law enforcement activity, to enforce its contracts or property rights, or when otherwise required by law. 

Information we collect may also be transferred in connection with the sale or merger of the company or any division or business line of the company to which the information relates.

Finally, we may compile or share anonymized, aggregated, or de-identified information to develop customer profiles, conduct similar analysis, or for marketing purposes. 

Your personal information will not be used for automated decision-making, scoring, or profiling.

We take our responsibility to protect your information seriously. We use commercially reasonable means to protect the confidentiality and integrity of personal information collected through our Services, including TLS/SSL for data-in-transit. You can verify this by looking for the 'Lock' (🔒) icon in your browser’s address bar.

Additionally, we appreciate the responsible disclosure of suspected cybersecurity vulnerabilities. If you are a cybersecurity researcher and believe you have discovered a vulnerability on our website or any other Services, please send your report to cybersecurity.reports@bissell.com. Although BISSELL does not currently offer a bounty program, we value your efforts in identifying potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Please include sufficient details in your report, such as the affected services, steps to reproduce the vulnerability, and any relevant proof of concept, screenshots, or logs.

We will acknowledge receipt of all vulnerability reports within 5 business days. In case our team requires additional information about your report, we will contact you. In our discretion, we will contact you and confirm remediation of the reported vulnerability. In most cases, legitimate vulnerabilities are remediated in less than 90 days.

In cases where the research was conducted in a responsible manner, it is our policy not to seek criminal or civil liability against cybersecurity researchers. For purposes of this section, “responsible” means:

1. Not exploiting the vulnerability beyond merely confirming and reporting on its existence;
2. Not affecting the confidentiality, availability, or integrity of the Services, or underlying data related to the Services, and;
3. Not further disclosing the method of exploiting the reported vulnerability without first seeking the express written consent of BISSELL.

BISSELL strives to maintain transparent data privacy practices. Regardless of where you live, we give you choices on how your personal information is collected and used.

a. Cookies, Trackers, Web Beacons, and Similar Technologies

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website - when visited by a user - asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies - which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting - for our advertising and marketing efforts.

You can configure your browser to block some or all cookies used by this website. We respect Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals sent by your browser ("browser signals"). 

To view or manage your preferences with regard to Cookies, Trackers, Web Beacons and Similar Technologies, click here: Cookie Settings.

b. Unsubscribe from Marketing Communications

You can opt-out of BISSELL notifications at any time by clicking “unsubscribe” at the bottom of each message, by visiting your profile on the Services (if applicable), or by contacting us as described at the end of this document. 

There are limitations in what we can stop or eliminate. You cannot opt-out of communications for things like account verification, purchase and billing, confirmations and reminders, changes and updates to features of the Services, or technical or security notices. 

c. Marketing Text Messages (SMS)

You may elect to receive text messages from us. When you sign-up to receive text messages, we will send you information about promotional offers and more. These messages may use information automatically collected based on your actions while using our Services and may prompt messaging such as cart abandon messages. When you choose to have text messages sent directly to your mobile phone, we receive and store the information you provide, including your telephone number, or when you read a text message.  You may opt out of receiving text messages at any time by texting “STOP” to our text messages. For more information about text messages, see our Terms and Conditions linked in the footer of this site.

d. How can I exercise my Individual Rights?

To exercise your individual rights (including your right to access and portability, deletion, correction, opt-out, and appeal), navigate to our individual rights web portal by clicking here or send an email to the email address indicated in the "How To Contact Us" section below. 

You may only make a verifiable consumer request twice within a 12-month period. A verifiable consumer request must:

1. Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative. For example:
   1. If you provide an email address for verification, we will send a verification email to the address you provided for confirmation;
   2. If you provide only a phone number for verification, we may call the number provided and ask you to confirm additional data that we have on file for verification.
   3. If you provide only a mailing address, we may send you a letter at the address you provided providing information on how to contact our response team for verification.
2. Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We will respond to your request within the legally required timeframe once we've validated your request. If we require additional time, you will be notified of the reason and extension period.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Also, we will not discriminate against you for exercising your individual rights. Unless otherwise permitted by regulation, we will not:

1. Deny you goods or services;
2. Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties;
3. Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services; or
4. Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

What personal information do we collect, from where, and how do we use it? We collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or device (“personal information”). We collect this personal information from various sources. We may use or disclose the personal information we collect for one or more business purposes. In particular, we have collected the following categories of personal information from consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without first providing you notice. 

Do we "sell" or "share" personal information? According to California law, a “sale” of personal information does not necessarily involve an exchange of money. Instead, the term also includes disclosures of personal information to third parties under circumstances where the third parties may use the information for their own purposes.  We do not have actual knowledge that we sell or share the personal information of consumers under sixteen (16) years of age. In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have "sold" or shared the following categories of personal information:

To opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, you can click here: Cookie Settings.  If you choose to use the browser signals described above, you will be opted out of online sales or sharing of personal information, and will need to turn the browser signal on for each browser you use. 

Do we disclose personal information? Any of the categories of personal information we collect may be disclosed for a business purpose relating to any of the purposes outlined in this privacy notice. When we disclose personal information for a business purpose, we enter a contract that describes the purpose and requires the recipient to both keep that personal information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract.

In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:

Category A:    Identifiers.

Category B:    Personal information categories.

Category C:    Protected classification characteristics.

Category D:    Commercial Information.

Category K:    Inferences drawn from other personal information.

We disclose the following personal information for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:

1. Service providers.
2. Third parties in connection with products or services we provide to you.

Nevada "Covered Information" Notice. Nevada law allows residents to opt out of the sale of certain personal information, called “covered information.” BISSELL does not sell covered information as defined under Nevada law, and we have no plans to change that practice. If you want to be notified if we begin selling Nevada covered information, please contact us as provided below. 

Virginia "Targeted Advertising" Disclosure. We may process your personal information for "targeted advertising" (as that term is defined in the Virginia Consumer Data Privacy Act). To opt out, you can adjust your cookie settings by clicking here: Cookie Settings.

California "Financial Incentive" Notice. We may offer you certain financial incentives permitted under applicable law that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. A financial incentive notice is either provided below for the particular program listed or will be provided in connection with the offer for the particular financial incentive. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt-in consent, which you may revoke at any time. We may add or change programs and their terms by posting notice on the program descriptions below or within the offer to participate, so please check them regularly.

The financial incentive we offer to consumers through each program is reasonably related to the value of the consumer’s data. BISSELL has made a good faith estimate of the value of the consumer’s data based on relevant expenses related to the collection and retention of personal information as part of each program.

Participants in a financial incentive program may make a personal information deletion request as set forth herein. Consumers that are part of a rewards program will then be sent an email requesting that they confirm that they want to delete their respective program data. You may also terminate program participation at any time, as explained in each program’s terms or by calling us at 800-237-7691 between 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. Monday - Friday, Eastern Time, Saturday 9:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and Sunday 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Upon a termination request, some program data associated with the terminated account may be retained for recordkeeping, tax reporting, and other legally permissible purposes. You can opt-out of non-program marketing emails or delete your personal information from our active marketing lists and retain your program account and benefits.

Virginia and Colorado "Right to Appeal" Notice. Sometimes we are unable to process requests relating to your personal information, in which case, your request will be denied. If your privacy rights request has previously been denied, and you believe we denied it in error, you may appeal for reconsideration of your request using our web portal by clicking here.

California "Shine the Light" Disclosure. A California resident with whom BISSELL has an established relationship has the right to request certain information with respect to any personal information we may have disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes. Alternatively, the law permits us to provide a cost-free means to opt out of such disclosures. You can opt out of the disclosure, sale, or sharing of personal information for direct marketing purposes by clicking here and submitting a "Do Not 'Sell' or 'Share' My Personal Information" request.

We reserve the right to update this Notice. We will not limit your rights under this Notice without your consent. If we do update this Notice, we will publish the updated version here. Reference the ‘last updated’ date above to ensure you are reviewing the current version of this Notice. We encourage you to regularly review this Notice.

BISSELL welcomes your questions, comments and concerns related to our privacy practices or any other aspect of our business.  You can contact us by emailing privacy@bissell.com or by writing to: 

Office of General Counsel - Privacy
Bissell Homecare, Inc.,
2345 Walker Avenue NW,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49544
United States of America