Privacy Policy

At Hearken (“we”, “us”, “our”), we know that you care about how your information is handled, and we appreciate the trust you place in us to do so carefully and sensibly. This privacy policy (the “Policy”) describes how we collect, use and share information about you when you visit and use hearkenstudio.com and related domains (collectively, the “Services”). By using the Services, you acknowledge the practices described in this Policy.

How Do We Obtain Your Consent to the Collection of Your Personal Information?

When you provide us with personal information to complete a transaction, or return a purchase, we assume you consent to our collecting your personal information and using it for that specific reason.   

Express and Implied Consent

We may ask you to give your express consent, such as by submitting your email address to indicate your consent to receive marketing communications, or by providing your signature to indicate your acceptance of the use and disclosure terms presented on an application form.  Other times, we may obtain your consent implicitly when we can reasonably conclude that you’ve given consent by some action you have taken or an action you have decided not to take. Generally, this occurs where the purpose for use of your personal information would be reasonably apparent to you.

How to Change or Withdraw Your Consent

You may notify us at any time that you wish to withdraw or change your consent to our use and disclosure of your information. We will accommodate your request following receipt of such notice, subject to legal and contractual restrictions related to your transactions.

If you have "opted in" or subscribed to one of our newsletters or mailing lists, we will always provide you the opportunity to "opt out" or unsubscribe. For example, each e-newsletter we send to you will include a link or other method to unsubscribe or decline further e-newsletters.

When you choose to provide us with your personal information you consent to the use and disclosure of your personal information as identified in this Privacy Policy and as may be further identified at the time of collection. 

What Information Do We Collect About You?

We collect personal information and non-personal information. The types of information we collect depend on the nature of your interaction with us. You may choose not to provide us with your personal information. However, if you make this choice we may not be able to provide you with the product, service, or information that you requested.

Personal information

Personal information is information that can identify an individual or information about an identifiable individual. We may collect personal information including the following:

• contact information – your name, postal address, telephone number, and email address

• personal preferences –  opinions, interests, product wish lists, and marketing consent.

• financial information and transaction information – products purchased, method of payment, amount paid, and credit or debit card number.

Non-personal information

Non-personal information does not identify you as an individual. For example, we may collect certain non-personal data when you visit our websites, such as your Internet Protocol address, the type and version of browser you are using or the referring URL; or we may collect and summarize customer information in a non-personal, aggregate format for website analytics purposes.

How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

The primary reasons we collect personal information from you are:

• To complete a sales transaction with you

• To fulfill your requests for products, services or information

• To limit the possibility of fraud or error when we process your transactions, refunds and/or exchanges

• To conduct contests, promotions or surveys

• Customer service

• To measure and improve the effectiveness of our websites or our marketing endeavors

• For other purposes as described in this Privacy Policy

• As otherwise provided or required by law

Returns and Exchanges

In connection with any returns, refunds or exchanges, we ask for personal information such as your name, address, and telephone number for the purposes of detecting and preventing fraud. 

Purchase Follow-Up and Surveys

Following a purchase, we may send you a follow-up letter either thanking you for your business or inquiring as to whether you are satisfied with your new product.  We may use contact information collected from you to conduct occasional surveys and other customer research. These surveys are entirely voluntary.

Our Websites

You can browse our websites anonymously.  However, to order products and services from our websites, or to use special features or functions of our websites, you may be asked to provide personal information, such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, or credit or debit card information. We use this information to create your account, contact and correspond with you about your order, respond to your inquiries, and monitor functions or features of our websites that you may use.

Customer Reviews and Posted Content

We may provide you with the ability to rate or review products or services we sell, or otherwise post content on our websites.  Any comments or reviews that you provide are accessible to all visitors to our website. We have no responsibility if you do post personal information. 

Newsletters or Updates

We may offer you the opportunity to sign up for newsletters or other promotional communications.  If you decide to do so, we will collect your contact information, such as name and email address. This information will only be used to send you the newsletter and promotional announcements that you have requested. You may “unsubscribe” at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in the footer of the newsletter or by using the unsubscribe link included below under the heading “Unsubscribe”.  We do not rent our subscriber list or offer to sell it to other parties.

Contest and Other Promotions

From time to time, we may run contests or promotions. If you participate, you may be asked for contact information as well as additional optional survey information (for example, product preferences).

Our Websites

When you use our websites, we may collect the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer and of your Internet service provider, the date and time you access our websites, the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our website, the computer operating system you are using, the sections of our website you visit, the website pages read and images viewed, and the content you download from the website. This information is used for website and system administration purposes and to improve the websites.

Cookies

We may use cookies to store your individual preferences and system information.  “Cookies” are small electronic data files that websites can store on your computer for record keeping purposes.  For example, cookies will remember what you've placed in your shopping cart, and tell us that you have visited one of our websites before. Cookies also may be used on the website for other reasons, such as to limit the number of times you have to enter a password or enter your language preference, to offer personalized web page content and information for your use, and to track your activity at the website.  The use of cookies is standard in the Internet industry and many websites use them. In addition, you may modify your browser’s settings to notify you whenever a website is going to deposit a cookie on your computer’s hard drive or other storage media. The notification option generally gives you the opportunity to decide whether to accept or refuse a cookie in each instance. You can configure your browser to always disable cookies when cookies are being sent to your computer, although this may affect your ability to shop online.

Website Tracking Information

Web beacons are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of web users. We may use web beacons (sometimes called “clear gifs”, “web bugs” or “pixel tags”) to compile tracking information reports regarding website user demographics, website traffic patterns, and website purchases. We may then provide these reports to advertisers and others. None of the tracking information in these reports can be connected to the identities or other personal information of individual users. In addition, we may use web beacons in our HTML-based emails to let us know which emails have been opened by the recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. If you do not want to receive these emails, please see the “unsubscribe” section below.  For our own research purposes we may link tracking information with personal information voluntarily provided by website users. Once such a link is made, all of the linked information is treated as personal information and will be used and disclosed only in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links that permit you to link to other websites or Internet resources. When you click on one of those links you are connecting to another website or Internet resource. Hearken has no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other websites or Internet resources or their collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of those other websites before you submit any personal information to them.

How Can You Verify Your Information?

You may check your information to verify, update, or correct it, and to have any obsolete information removed. If you created an account on our websites, you can access and change your online account profile yourself. You can also ask to review any of the information that we have retained, how we have used it, and to whom we have disclosed it at any time by contacting us.

When is Your Information Removed?

We keep your information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes and to meet any legal requirements. We have retention standards that meet these parameters. We destroy your information when it is no longer needed, or we remove your personally identifiable information to render it anonymous.