ITMA®
email: contact@teamasters.org

 

 

At ITMA (International Tea Masters), we value your privacy.

This policy describes how we collect, use and secure your personal information. It also specifies the situations in which we may share this information, your rights in this respect, as well as some of the options available to you.

This policy applies whenever you visit our website, contact us, make a purchase from us, or use any of our services. It covers all personal information that we hold in this context. By providing us with your personal information after reading this policy, you are giving us your consent to use or share it in the ways described here.

We process this information with your consent to provide you with our services and to communicate with you.

When does this Privacy Policy apply?

This Privacy Policy describes our practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information in the course of our business activities. This applies in particular to our courses, website, social media, and any other form of interaction you may have with us.

The information we collect

The types of information we collect vary depending on the nature of your interaction with us. We may collect personal information such as

  • Contact information: your name, billing address, delivery address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
  • Account information: username.
  • Order history: including refunds.
  • Payment information: payment method, partial credit, and debit card details, amount paid.
  • Demographic data: age, language preferences, and other demographic information.
  • Interests and preferences: tasting log, list of favourites, marketing consent.
  • Device information: devices used for online purchases.
  • Browsing information: pages visited, IP address, browser information, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, browser type. Platform, date/time of visit, connection speed, reading time, display time, number of clicks, cookies, and other online identifiers.
  • Interactions on social media or via our electronic communications, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and newsletters.
  • Professional data: information contained in a CV, cover letter, or similar document if you are applying for a job with us, or any information relevant to pre-selection.

You may choose not to provide us with certain personal information. However, this choice may prevent us from providing you with the product, service or information you have requested.

In some cases, such as when you ask us to ship an order or purchase a gift or gift card, we may collect information about someone other than you, including the recipient’s name, address, telephone number, and email address. You represent and warrant that you have the necessary authorization or have obtained all consents required to provide ITMA with any information, including the personal information of another person.

How we collect your personal information

Here are some examples of how we collect your personal information in various contexts within our company:

  • When you create an account on our website;
  • When you order, purchase, exchange, return or cancel an order for our products or services, whether online or in-store;
  • If you contact us to ask a question about our products or services, or to request information or assistance;
  • When you contact our customer service department;
  • If you sign up to receive notifications about an online order or our new course dates, for example, to find out when your order will be scheduled.
  • By subscribing to our newsletters or emails containing information about new courses, limited editions, special offers, events, or other news;
  • If you give us feedback or comments;
  • When you enter a contest or other promotion;
  • By responding to a survey or giving your opinion on our products and services;
  • If you apply for a job at ITMA;
  • By interacting with us on social networks;
  • When you use certain features of our website, which may require information to function correctly, such as submitting information. User-generated content, as defined in our Terms of Use.

This information is collected to improve our services, meet your needs, and facilitate communication with you.

Use of your personal information

We use your personal information to provide you with our services and to support and improve our business. This includes the following:

Sales and Services: When you purchase products or return items to ITMA, we use your personal information to process those transactions. If you provide an email address for electronic receipts, it will only be used for this purpose. We may also consult your purchase history to facilitate returns.

Communications, newsletters, and other electronic communications: Your personal information may be used to contact you directly (by phone, e-mail, social media, etc.), respond to your questions or concerns, and manage our relationship with you. Where permitted, we may also send you advertising and marketing messages, including information about our contests, events, or newsletters.

In some cases, we may send you an email. For example, by registering or subscribing to our newsletter, you will receive email messages about our products, services, special offers, events, new website features, changes to our Privacy Policy or other terms and conditions, as well as updates on programs in which you participate, or other relevant information. Similarly, if you sign up to receive notifications related to an online purchase, we will send you emails to keep you informed of the status of your order. When you make an online purchase, we may also send you an email to let you know about a promotion or new product that might suit your taste profile.

If you no longer wish to receive our marketing e-mails, you can unsubscribe by simply clicking on the “Unsubscribe” link included in each e-mail. You can also change your communication options yourself in your online customer account settings.

Marketing and Advertising: We may use your information (such as your email address or telephone number) for marketing activities, including targeted advertising on third-party websites and platforms, utilizing technologies like cookies.

Service Improvement: Your information may be used to optimize our operations, personalize your online experience, and provide you with relevant product recommendations.

Data Analysis: We analyze the data associated with your information to evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns, track ad conversions, make forecasts, and understand your interactions with Tea Masters.

Affiliate Program: If you visit our site or make a purchase through an affiliate marketing program, your personal information will be used to process your purchase through that program.

Contests and Promotions: We use the information provided in connection with contests or promotions to contact winners, evaluate participation, understand your interests, and plan future offers.

Employment Applications: Information provided in an employment application is used to evaluate applicants’ qualifications and communicate about career opportunities. If you are hired, this information may be included in your employee file.

Events: We use your information to manage your participation in events organized by Tea Masters, process related payments, and communicate with you as needed.

Feedback: The opinions, comments and survey responses you provide may be used to improve our products and services.

Usage data

We may also collect information about how you access and use the service (“Usage Data”). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our service you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, device type and other data, all to understand and improve traffic on our website, as well as to tailor our marketing campaigns.

Location information: We may use your geolocation data to offer you services tailored to your region via our website.

Identity verification and fraud prevention: Your information is used to confirm your identity, detect and prevent fraud, investigate claims, and ensure the security of our stores, our employees, and our website.

Legal and Regulatory Requirements: Your information may be used to fulfill our legal and regulatory obligations.

We also use your personal information to provide you with the products and services you request or for other purposes, of which we will inform you at the time of collection.

Data transfer

Your information, including personal data, may be transferred to and stored on computers located outside your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.  If you reside outside the USA and choose to provide us with information, please note that we transfer data, including personal data, to the USA and process it there.  Your consent to this Privacy Policy, followed by your submission of such information, represents your agreement to such transfer.  By registering or subscribing to our newsletter, you will receive an email that will take all necessary steps to ensure the secure processing of your data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. No transfer of your personal data will be made to any organization or country unless adequate controls are in place, including those related to data security and privacy.

Disclosure Of Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity of our service and retain certain information.  Cookies are files containing a small amount of data that may include a unique, anonymous identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information, as well as to improve and analyze our service.

Data Disclosure

Legal Requirements

Tea Masters may disclose your personal data in good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • Comply with a legal obligation
  • Protect and defend the rights or property of Tea Masters
  • Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing related to the Service
  • Protect the personal safety of users of the service or the public
  • Protect against legal liability

Service Providers

We may use third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our service (“service providers”), provide the service on our behalf, or provide services related to the service or to help us analyze the use of our service. These third parties have access to your personal data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are required not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Analytics

We may use third-party service providers to monitor and analyze the use of our service. Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to monitor and control the use of our service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize ads in its own advertising network.

Links To Other Sites

Our service may contain links to other sites that we do not operate. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to the site of that third party. We strongly recommend that you consult the privacy policy of each site you visit. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

How long we keep your personal information

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as long as we have a business or legal reason to do so, or as permitted or required by law.

Even after our relationship with you has ended, it may be necessary to retain your personal information for a specified period to meet our legal obligations or in the event of exceptional circumstances, such as litigation. During this period, we continue to protect your personal information and maintain its confidentiality.

Your rights regarding your personal information

We ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up-to-date so that we can serve you better. You have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

Access: You have the right to consult and obtain a copy of the personal information we hold about you.

Rectification: You may request the correction of any inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete information we hold. You can update your membership information online by contacting our customer service department.

Deletion: You may request the deletion of outdated or unjustified information or provide written comments regarding your personal information.

Withdrawal of Consent: You may withdraw your consent to ITMA by registering or subscribing to our newsletter, you will receive email stating of your personal information at any time. You may also unsubscribe from our promotional emails by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email and following the instructions.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Privacy Officer claudiazarate@teamasters.org We may verify your identity and will respond within 30 days.

If we are unable to access, correct, or delete your personal information, we will provide an explanation for the reasons why.

Data Security

The security of your data is important to us, but please remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal data, but we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Children’s privacy

Our service is not intended for persons under the age of 18 (“children”). We do not voluntarily collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and are aware that your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from children without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to delete such information from our servers.

Changes to this privacy policy

We may update our privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new privacy policy on this page, and we will update the “Effective Date” at the top of this Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this statement or our handling of your personal information, you may contact the Tea Masters Privacy Officer, who is responsible for ensuring compliance with this statement.

Here’s how you can contact the Privacy Officer: