SMS Privacy Statement

SMS Privacy Policy – September 1, 2024

HAVENSAFE is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) governs how we treat the Personal Information that we collect and receive from you in connection with your use of the SMS Service (“Service”).

By using the Service, you agree to the terms of this Policy. HAVENSAFE reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify or change this Policy at any time with or without prior notice to you. The date of the last update will be posted at the top of this Policy for your convenience. This Policy, and any changes, are effective as soon as posted. Your continued use of the Service following the posting of any changes to the Policy constitutes your full acceptance of those changes.

“Personal Information” is information that individually identifies you, such as your mobile phone number or user/screen name, as well as the any Personal Information that you choose to include in messages you send through the Service.

What Personal Information is collected about you

Through the use of the Service, HAVENSAFE will receive whatever information you send via text message.

How HAVENSAFE uses Personal Information about you

We use Personal Information to (a) provide you with the Service, (b) process and respond to inquiries, (c) improve the Service, (d) if necessary, contact you with important information relevant to your case, and (e) conduct research.

Disclosure of your information

We will not rent or sell your Personal Information to other companies or individuals, unless we have your consent. We may use or disclose such information in any of the following limited circumstances:

We have your consent.

We need to enforce our Terms of Service.

We provide such information to third parties who have entered into non-disclosure agreements with us.

We provide such information to a company controlled by, or under common control with, HAVENSAFE for any purpose permitted by this Policy.

We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights, or the legal rights of others, or defend against legal claims.

We believe it is necessary to share Personal Information to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of HAVENSAFE’s Terms of Service, or as otherwise required by law.

We transfer Personal Information about you if HAVENSAFE is, or its assets are, acquired by or merged with another company.

We may share aggregated information with others without further notice. An example of this would be the number of people who used the Service in a given month or the total number of texts sent in a given week.

Security

HAVENSAFE takes precautions to ensure the security of your Personal Information. However, we cannot guarantee that hackers or unauthorized personnel will not gain access to your Personal Information despite our efforts. You should note that in using the Service, your information will travel through third party infrastructures which are not under our control (such as a third party SMS delivery platform or your carrier network).

We cannot protect, nor does this Policy apply to, any information that you transmit to other users. You should never transmit personal or identifying information to other users.

Opting in

A mobile user might opt-in by:

Verbally providing permission for us to text message you, or

Filling out a form that includes your phone number.

Opting out

HAVENSAFE gives you the ability to opt out of the Service for any reason. You can opt out by texting “STOP” to 650-674-2836.

Children

The Service is not intended for children under 13, and HAVENSAFE does not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.

Children aged 13 or older should not submit any Personal Information without the permission of their parents or guardians. By using the Service, you are representing that you are at least 18, or that you are at least 13 years old and have your parents’ permission to use the service.

Questions or concerns?

If you have any additional questions regarding this Policy, please email info@havensafe.org.

SMS Terms of Service

Use of the HAVENSAFE text message-based services (the “Service”) is subject to the following Terms of Service. These terms constitute a legal agreement (the “Agreement”). Please read them carefully.

HAVENSAFE will allow several different opportunities, such as a entering a phone number online or verbally sharing the phone number during client intake, to opt-in to SMS services. 

The types of messages consumers can expect to receive are personal in nature; we never send mass text messages. The messages pertain to case management, such as checking on the status of document submissions in an effort to apply for financial assistance. Messaging frequency will depend on you; if you ask 10 questions in a week, we might send 10 answers. Overall, our preference is to communicate by email, but some clients prefer to interact via text message. Since we have a real person talking directly to you via text message on the other end, and none of our texting is automated, if you text "HELP" for help, the person will reply with a customized response or call you to help you through the situation.

You can cancel the Service at any time. Just text "STOP" to 650-674-2836. After you send the SMS message "STOP" to us, we will send you an SMS message to confirm that you have been unsubscribed. After this, you will no longer receive SMS messages from us. If you want to join again, just sign up as you did the first time, and we will start sending SMS messages to you again.

As always, message and data rates may apply for any messages sent to you from us and to us from you, and HAVENSAFE is not liable for the cost of any such messages. If you have any questions about your text plan or data plan, it is best to contact your wireless provider.

You understand that anyone with access to your mobile phone may be able to view the messages you receive when using the Service, and you agree that HAVENSAFE will not be liable to you if this occurs.

You understand that you are not required to consent to the Service to receive any other services from HAVENSAFE.

By agreeing to these Terms of Service and providing us with your mobile phone number when you opt in to the Service, you authorize HAVENSAFE to contact you by text message at your mobile phone number.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

If you have any questions regarding privacy, please read our Privacy Policy.