Privacy Policy

South Country Equipment Ltd.

Privacy and Data Policy

Last Updated: July 10, 2021

The following Privacy and Data Policy (“Policy”) discloses the Privacy and data use practices of South Country Equipment Ltd. (“us,” “we,” or “our”) for all data and information which we receive from you, either directly or through a third party, including, without limitation, in person or by phone at our retail locations or through our websites, applications, equipment, devices or the provision of services to you. We created this Policy to communicate our privacy and data policies to each of our customers (collectively a “Customer,” “you” or “your”) with respect to your information.

1.         What and How Information is Collected and Used

We collect, use, and share both your Customer Data and Machine Data (collectively “Data”) as described in this Policy.

You provide your consent to the collection, use, and sharing of Data by us when you provide your information to us or use our products or services. You can deny or withdraw your consent to our collection, use, and sharing of your Data at any time upon reasonable notice, subject to any legal or contractual requirements. However, if consent is denied or withdrawn, we may not be able to provide certain products or services. For greater certainty, we only collect, use, and disclose your Data as reasonably required to facilitate the provision of goods and services to you as further described below.

a.        Customer Data. To purchase, access, receive, download, upload or use goods or services from us, you may be required to create an account with us, John Deere or another equipment supplier and/or provide various information, which may include personally identifying information (collectively, “Customer Data”). Personally identifying information is information that can be used to identify, locate or contact you. If you have a user account with us then you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your user name and password and all uses of your account and password. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your account. If a Customer directly or indirectly communicates with us by e-mail, posts or uploads content or information to a website or application to which we are provided access or otherwise completes online forms, any information provided in such communication will also be collected by us as Customer Data (or Machine Data, as applicable). Data may be collected by us directly from you or your equipment or it may be delivered to us by third parties if you authorize such access be provided by the third party (such as through the JDLink™ Telematics system for John Deere Equipment). By granting us access to Customer Data from a third party, you grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual license to use such Customer Data in accordance with this Policy.

Customer Data may consist of the following types of information:

Personal Data. Personal Data includes your name, user name, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, postal code, and similar personal information. We use Personal Data to send Customers e-mail, written or other forms of communications regarding:

i.  Goods or services requested or purchased by Customers;

ii. Promotional or informational materials about our company, affiliates and/or third parties with whom we conduct business and the related goods and services provided by such businesses;

iii. Machine-specific information to participating Customers; andUpdates, advertisements, offers and announcements relating to the goods and services of our company, affiliates and/or third parties with whom we conduct business (in accordance with Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – see below).

For greater certainty, we may use Personal Data to inform you of current and/or new products or services or other developments that we or our affiliates or service partners believe will be of interest to you in accordance with applicable laws including Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation. You provide your consent to us and our affiliates and service partners contacting you in this manner when you use our products or services. You may opt-out of receiving such communications by contacting us at the following email address [email protected] or changing your account preferences, if applicable. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Policy, we may communicate with you by e-mail in certain circumstances allowed by law (for example to communicate warranty information, product recall information or safety or security information about a product). As a Customer, you agree that all communications, disclosures, and notices sent to you by e-mail satisfy any requirement that notice be provided in writing.

Transaction and Demographic Data. We collect transaction information about your purchases, inquiries and customer accounts to fulfill orders or for our general business needs, including maintenance and warranty services. We also may collect general demographic or preference data regarding your interests, goals or needs to understand who you are and what products and services may interest you or meet your needs.

Financial Data. We may collect financial information from you to complete purchases of goods or services, such as credit card information or your billing address. We may also assist you in applying for financing with certain third parties or engage in direct financing with you, and may require your Social Insurance Number to provide such services to you. We may report information about your account to collection agencies or credit bureaus. Late payments, missed payments, or other defaults on your account may be reflected in your credit report.

b.        Machine Data. Machine Data includes information that is generated by, collected by or stored on your equipment or any hardware or device interfacing with your equipment, and may be provided directly through such equipment, hardware or device or indirectly when reported to us through you or a third party (collectively, “Machine Data”). Machine Data includes the following data, which we may track, collect, receive and use in accordance with this Policy:

i.  Technical information including IP addresses, browser type, browser version, mobile device unique ID, mobile operating system, type of mobile internet browser used, the pages of our website that you visited, the time and date of the visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. We will not attempt to link or match any technical information with any personally-identifiable information unless we have your consent, we have detected or reasonably suspect any unlawful use of our services or a security breach, or we have the legal right or duty to do so. For greater certainty, we may use “cookies” on our website. “Cookies” are small text files placed on computers that can collect and store a variety of information. Permanent cookies are stored indefinitely on a user’s hard drive unless manually deleted, while temporary cookies are automatically deleted from the user’s browser upon logging out of a website. Web browsers typically allow users to disable permanent and/or temporary cookies. However, if you disable cookies, you may not be access some of our services.

ii. Equipment use history including fuel usage, number of engine hours, diagnostic data, software and hardware version numbers, geolocation data, and other equipment data; and

iii. Agronomic information including plant, chemical and fertilizer application rates, recorded yields, soil types and moisture levels, and similar crop or field-based information.

Machine Data may be collected by us directly from you or your equipment or it may be delivered to us by third parties if you authorize or allow such delivery or access from the third party (such as through the JDLink™ Telematics system for John Deere Equipment). By granting us access to Machine Data from a third party, you grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual license to use such Machine Data in accordance with this Policy.

You agree that you will clearly and conspicuously notify any affected personnel that the Machine Data is continuously monitored and delivered, including potentially personal and location data, and that you will obtain all necessary consents and approvals from your personnel as required by applicable law to collect and provide such data to us.

Except as described above, we do not collect Data for any other purposes unless we have the consent of the individual to whom the Data relates.

2.         Confidentiality, Security and Storage of Data

Except as otherwise provided in this Policy, we will keep all of your Data that personally identifies you (e.g., your name and address) as private and will not share it with third parties, unless such disclosure is necessary to:

i.  Comply with a law (or based upon our good-faith belief that disclosure is necessary to comply with a law);

ii. Protect our rights or property; or

iii. Enforce this Policy or any of our other policies and guidelines.

We may also share your Data as provided below, when required by a third party through whom you authorized or allowed Data to be transmitted to us or when otherwise authorized or requested by you.

We will not transfer your Data to third parties except in the case of a sale of substantially all of our business or assets or the business or assets of one or more of our locations or business divisions or as otherwise permitted below with respect to aggregate Data.  We will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place prior to the use or disclosure of personal information for such purposes, all in accordance with the requirements of applicable privacy laws. 

We have in place reasonable policies, procedures, and safeguards (including physical, technological and organizational measures) designed to protect the security of Data under our control. The protection of Data is of paramount concern to us, and we are prepared to take appropriate and timely steps in the event of any incidents involving Data in accordance with applicable privacy laws. In particular, if we become aware of or reasonably suspect that there has been any unauthorized or improper access to, use, or disclosure of your Data (a “Security Incident”), we agree that we will take reasonable steps to mitigate the Security Incident.

We will store your Data on our internal servers and/or with our service providers. Our service providers may store and/or process personal information outside of Canada (including in the United States of America). When information is stored or processed outside of Canada, it may be subject to the laws of and be accessible by legal authorities in such other jurisdictions. We have taken appropriate technical, organizational, and legal steps to secure this information.

We retain personal information only as long as is reasonable to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected, or for legal or business purposes. We may permanently delete or destroy any and all Data at any time as determined by us, acting reasonably, including within a reasonable time (no less than thirty (30) days) following termination of our services, as well as at any time upon your written request. We use a variety of commercially reasonable security technologies to help protect your Data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. However, the use of such security technologies is not, and should not be considered to be, any type of guarantee or warranty by us that your Data will not be accessed by third parties, or that we will use all available security technologies to prevent unauthorized access to, use, or disclosure of your personally identifying information.

3.         Sharing and Use of Information

We share your Data with our affiliates, suppliers, vendors, and/or their agents and employees as we deem necessary for the provision of goods and services to you. Specifically, we may share your Data: (i) with third parties assisting us in the provision, administration, and management of goods and services generally; (ii) with third parties that assist us in providing goods and services that you request; (iii) with third parties that support our business operations or provide marketing or advertising services on our behalf, including marketing, technical, accounting, legal or other professionals; and (iv) as otherwise permitted by law or approved by you.

We may use your Data for our general business operations and goods and services provided by us if it is in a form that is not capable of being personally identified with you or if it is combined with Data from no fewer than five (5) other customers in aggregate form that does not personally identify any particular customer. We may also share, license or otherwise provide such de-identified or aggregated data to third parties.

While we use commercially reasonable efforts to safeguard your Data when transmitted to third parties, we do not warrant that your Data will be transmitted without unauthorized interception or modification or that your Data will not be accessed or compromised by unauthorized third parties.

4.         Your Access to Your Data

We will provide you with access to the Data we hold about you in accordance with applicable laws. In some circumstances, your Data may not be retrievable in its original format. We reserve the right to require that any request for access to personal information be made in writing. Generally, there is no cost for such access. However, we reserve the right to charge such costs on a case by case basis in accordance with applicable laws. You will be notified in advance if charges apply.

We make every reasonable effort to ensure that your Data is accurate and complete. This may involve requesting further information or updates from you. We rely on you to notify us if there is a change to your Data that may affect your relationship with us. We will correct or amend the Data in our files where it can be shown that the Data is incorrect or incomplete.

5.         Collection of Your Information by Third-Party Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites. We may allow third-party advertisers to place ads on our website. These third-party advertisers may use cookies or similar technologies to help present the advertisements to you or to help measure the effectiveness of their advertisements. Some advertisers may use cookies to serve ads to our users or Customers based on their visits to our website and other websites on the Internet. The use of such technologies is subject to the privacy policies of the third-party advertisers and is not covered by this Policy. As a result, if you respond to any such third-party advertisers by clicking on the advertisements and/or visiting their websites or the websites of any other third party, be sure you evaluate their privacy policies before providing them any of your information. To opt-out of a third party’s use of cookies, you must visit such third party’s website and follow its specified opt-out procedures. You may opt-out of Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie by visiting the Google Advertising Policies and Principles page at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/.

You can opt out of some, but not all, of third-party advertiser cookies in one location at the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out website, located at www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp.

6.         Updates and Changes to Policy

We reserve the right, at any time and without notice, to add to, change, update, or modify this Policy by posting such addition, change, update, or modification on our website. We will make reasonable efforts to provide at least 30 days' notice prior to any changes to this Policy taking effect and to provide you with a summary of the applicable changes, provided however that any such addition, change, update, or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on our website.

7.         How to Contact Us

You always have the opportunity to request particulars of your personal information which we maintain and to correct any errors or omissions. To do so, or if you have any questions or concerns about this Policy, please contact Kevin Holmes, Privacy Officer, at [email protected] or 306.721.5050.