Privacy policy
How we collect, use and protect personal information, including when the website helps understand what you need, shows relevant next steps or checks whether local onsite support may be available.
1. Who we are
Your IT and Tech Mates is operated by Chatsifieds.com Pty Ltd (ABN 51 620 592 403). We handle personal information in accordance with Australian privacy laws that apply to our activities and the information involved, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) where applicable and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) for relevant health information.
2. Information we may collect
- Your name, email address, mobile number, suburb and other contact details you choose to provide.
- Secure sign-in information needed to recognise your customer account, including the sign-in provider and account identifier. We do not receive your Google or Apple password.
- Request and service details, including problem descriptions, device information, appointments, messages, photos and files you choose to provide.
- Quotes, invoices, payment status and transaction references. We do not need your online banking password, card PIN or banking approval code.
- Information about an authorised representative, support person or NDIS arrangement where it is relevant to the service.
- Technical information such as browser, device, security and website-use information reasonably needed to operate and protect the site.
3. How we collect information
We collect information directly from you when you use Start request, the homepage request box, My Tech Help, an online form, a payment or service process, or communicate with us about a service. If you describe a problem in your own words, we may use that wording to prepare a short job summary and help category for you to review. Your final edited summary can become part of the request you choose to send.
We may also receive limited information from a person you authorise, a sign-in provider, payment provider or another service provider involved in your request.
4. Why we use information
- To understand, quote, deliver and support technology services.
- To securely recognise you and connect the right request to the right customer.
- To communicate service updates and provide secure access to My Tech Help.
- To issue quotes, invoices, receipts and warranty or complaint records.
- To protect customers, prevent fraud and investigate security concerns.
- To meet legal, accounting, insurance, safety and regulatory obligations.
- To improve our services using information that is appropriate for that purpose.
5. Data minimisation and sensitive information
Please only provide information reasonably needed for the technology service. Avoid sending passwords, financial secrets, identity documents or health information unless it is genuinely necessary for the agreed task.
If disability, health or NDIS information is relevant, we limit its use to the service, accessibility, safety, payment or legal purpose for which it is reasonably needed.
6. My Tech Help and request matching
My Tech Help may match current and earlier requests using verified account details, the request reference and contact details already connected with the request. If information does not safely match, we do not guess. We may ask you to confirm the original request details before linking or showing private information.
7. Website assistance
The website may help understand what you are asking for, suggest a help category, prepare a short summary, notice when an important detail is missing and show a relevant next step. It may also recognise common business problems such as repetitive administration, missed follow-up, customer-enquiry overload or file-sharing difficulties so that more useful guidance can be shown.
Where an Understanding percentage is shown, it reflects how clearly the website has understood the information available at that point. It is not a diagnosis, a promise that a repair will succeed, a price guarantee or a decision that paid work has been approved.
If the problem is already clear, the website may avoid asking you to repeat it and instead ask only for a useful missing detail. You can review or correct a prepared summary before sending a request.
Website assistance does not by itself approve paid work, accept a quote, authorise payment, decide a complaint or warranty outcome, determine legal rights or create a service request. A request is created only after you choose the clearly labelled action to send it and a request reference is confirmed.
7A. Keeping the website relevant during your visit
During your current visit, the website may remember a broad help topic and recent steps so you do not have to repeat yourself on every page. This can be used to keep guidance consistent, show an Understanding percentage or bring a relevant existing option to your attention.
This short-lived website context is designed not to contain your raw problem wording, contact details, request reference, IP address or a browser fingerprint, and it expires after about 30 minutes of inactivity.
For ordinary service enquiries, the website may also use broad actions such as viewing pricing, reading a relevant case study, opening request review or starting contact to decide which general next step may be most useful. These signals do not create a request or trigger contact from us by themselves. They are not used to add sales pressure to safety, scam, senior-support, NDIS/disability or other sensitive help journeys.
7B. Making returning visits less repetitive
The website may use first-party browser storage to remember one broad help topic and a safe return path for up to 24 hours. This can help offer a simple Continue where you left off option. It does not contain your raw problem wording, contact details or request reference and it cannot reopen a private request by itself.
Your browser may also remember up to three broad help topics for up to seven days so related public content can be ordered more usefully on a later visit. This information stays in that browser, gradually becomes less influential and is not uploaded to us as a personal profile. It is not linked across devices and does not use an advertising ID, IP address or browser fingerprint.
Security, scam, senior-support and other sensitive safety states are not remembered for this purpose. Where the feature is available, you can use Forget previous visit signals or Start over, or clear website storage through your browser.
7C. Learning from corrections and service-quality patterns
If you correct a suggested help category or prepared summary, we may keep a limited record showing that the suggestion changed and whether the correction improved the result. This quality record does not include the sentence you typed, your edited free text, contact details, request reference, IP address or browser fingerprint.
These limited quality records may be kept for up to 90 days so staff can review patterns and improve the website. A correction does not automatically retrain a live system, change prices, change booking rules or publish new content.
We may also review combined, non-identifying counts such as which broad help topics are common, where visitors stop in a request journey, or which public guides are useful. We use these patterns to improve services and information, not to identify individual visitors.
7D. Optional service-area check
If location matters for onsite support, you can type a suburb or postcode, or choose Use my location. The location button uses your browser's location permission. We do not ask for precise browser location in the background.
When you choose to use browser location, the coordinates are used temporarily in your browser to estimate a broad service area. The precise coordinates are not saved in browser storage, are not added to your request and are not sent to our website analytics. If a nearby suburb is suggested, you choose whether to confirm and use it.
The website may keep only a broad service-area result for the current journey, such as local onsite area, availability review or remote/travel review. You can always enter a suburb or postcode instead of sharing browser location.
8. Who we may share information with
We may disclose the minimum information reasonably needed to service providers that help us operate secure sign-in, website hosting, email delivery, payments, accounting, security, software, cloud services or technical support. We may also disclose information where required or authorised by law, or with your consent.
We do not sell customer personal information.
9. Overseas processing
Some service providers may process or store information outside Australia. Depending on the provider and service, overseas locations may include the United States and other countries used by global technology providers. Where Australian privacy law requires us to take steps before an overseas disclosure, we will do so.
10. Service messages and marketing
Service emails may be needed to provide secure access, request updates, quotes, bookings, invoices, safety information or other active-service information. Marketing is handled separately.
Where the Spam Act applies to a commercial electronic message, we will use the required consent basis, identify the sender and provide a working unsubscribe method. An unsubscribe request for marketing will not stop messages that are reasonably necessary to provide or secure an active service.
11. Security and data breaches
We use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to the information we hold. No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, so keep your email account and secure access links protected.
Where the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme or another law requires notification of an eligible data breach, we will notify the relevant regulator and affected individuals as required.
12. Retention
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably needed for service, warranty, complaint, accounting, insurance, security or legal purposes. Retention periods can differ depending on the type of record and any law that applies.
For the website features described above, short-lived visit context expires after about 30 minutes of inactivity; the simple return-to-where-you-left-off record expires within 24 hours; broad topics remembered in your browser expire within seven days; and limited records used to review correction patterns may be kept for up to 90 days. Browser-stored information can be cleared earlier using the website controls described above or your browser settings.
13. Access, correction and complaints
You may ask for access to personal information we hold about you or ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. We may need to verify your identity before providing access.
If you have a privacy concern, contact us using the details below. We will review the concern and respond within a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied and the Privacy Act applies, you may also be able to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Victorian health-information complaints may also fall within the jurisdiction of the Health Complaints Commissioner.
Contact us
For new help, use Start request. For an existing request, service question, complaint or warranty issue, use My Tech Help.
For privacy, legal or accessibility requests, email [email protected] or write to Chatsifieds.com Pty Ltd (ABN 51 620 592 403), 15 Evenglow Drive, Wollert VIC 3750.