Privacy Policy
RaiseAComplaint.com is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal information.
Introduction
Welcome to RaiseAComplaint.com (the "Platform," "we," "us," or "our"). RaiseAComplaint.com is a U.S.-based online consumer complaint, review, and business feedback platform that enables consumers to share experiences, submit complaints, post reviews, and engage with businesses. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information in a responsible, transparent manner.
This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, store, disclose, and protect information about you when you access or use our Platform, including through our website, mobile applications, and related services. By using the Platform, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of third-party websites, services, or applications that may be linked to or from our Platform.
Scope of This Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all users of RaiseAComplaint.com, including:
- Consumers who create accounts, submit complaints, post reviews, upload supporting evidence, or interact with content on the Platform;
- Business representatives who claim or manage business profiles, respond to complaints, or otherwise interact with the Platform; and
- Visitors who browse the Platform without creating an account.
This Privacy Policy covers all personal information collected through the Platform, whether submitted directly by users, collected automatically, or obtained from third-party sources.
Information We Collect
We collect several categories of information depending on how you interact with our Platform.
3.1 Account Registration Information
When you create an account, we collect:
- Full name or display name;
- Email address;
- Password (stored in encrypted form);
- Username or profile identifier;
- Geographic location (city, state, and/or zip code), if voluntarily provided;
- Profile photograph or avatar, if voluntarily uploaded; and
- Phone number, if voluntarily provided or required for account verification.
3.2 Complaint and Review Information
When you submit a complaint, post a review, or assign a rating, we collect the full text of your submission, the business name, category, date of the incident, any comments or follow-up content, your rating assigned, and any other information you voluntarily include.
3.3 Uploaded Files and Attachments
When you upload screenshots, images, or supporting documents, we collect the files themselves including their content, file names, and metadata; the date and time of upload; and your account identifier.
3.4 Communications Data
We collect the content of communications you send to us or other users through the Platform, including messages submitted through contact forms, communications between users and businesses, email correspondence, and feedback or survey responses.
3.5 Payment Information
If we offer paid features or premium accounts, payment card data is processed by third-party payment processors and is not stored on our servers. We may retain transaction records for accounting and legal compliance purposes.
3.6 Device, Browser & Log Data
We automatically collect technical information including IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, referring URL, time zone settings, pages or content viewed, dates and times of access, and search queries submitted on the Platform.
How We Collect Information
We collect information in the following ways:
- Directly from you: when you register, submit a complaint or review, upload files, complete a contact form, or otherwise provide information voluntarily;
- Automatically: through cookies, tracking technologies, server logs, and analytics tools as you navigate and interact with the Platform;
- From other users: when other users reference, comment on, or interact with your content or account;
- From businesses: when business representatives submit profile information or respond to complaints; and
- From third-party sources: including social media platforms (if you connect social accounts), authentication providers, analytics services, and publicly available data sources, subject to applicable law.
How We Use Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- Account creation, authentication, and administration;
- Facilitating the submission, publication, and display of complaints, reviews, and ratings;
- Enabling communication between users and businesses;
- Responding to your inquiries, support requests, and feedback;
- Sending transactional communications, account notifications, and service-related emails;
- Sending marketing and promotional communications, where permitted by law and subject to your opt-out rights;
- Personalizing your experience on the Platform;
- Analyzing usage patterns and Platform performance to improve our services;
- Detecting, investigating, and preventing fraudulent activity and violations of our Terms of Service;
- Complying with applicable law, regulations, legal process, and governmental requests; and
- Protecting the rights, property, and safety of our users, the public, and our business.
Legal Bases and Business Purposes for Processing Data
We process personal information for legitimate business purposes, including providing and improving our services, performing contracts with users and businesses, complying with legal obligations, and pursuing our legitimate business interests. To the extent required by applicable law, we rely on lawful bases such as consent, contractual necessity, legal obligation, and legitimate interest.
We do not sell personal information to third parties for monetary compensation in the traditional sense, except as disclosed in Section 26 with respect to certain data-sharing practices that may constitute a "sale" or "sharing" under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Public Nature of Complaints, Reviews, and Ratings
You should not include in any submission any information that you do not wish to be publicly disclosed, including sensitive personal information about yourself or third parties. Once your content is published, it may be cached or indexed by third-party services outside our control.
RaiseAComplaint.com does not verify, endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of any user-generated content. The Platform acts solely as a host for user-generated content.
Information Visible to Other Users
Certain information may be visible to other Platform users. This includes your display name or username, the complaints and reviews you have submitted, ratings you have assigned, comments you have posted, your profile photograph or avatar (if provided), and other public-facing account information.
Account information such as your email address, full legal name, and password is not publicly displayed. However, information you choose to include in the body of a complaint or review may become publicly visible. Exercise caution when including personal contact information, financial details, or other sensitive data in your submissions.
Business Profile and Complaint Resolution Features
Businesses that are the subject of complaints or reviews may claim their business profile and respond publicly to user complaints and reviews. When a business representative registers, we may collect the representative's name, email address, business contact information, and other details necessary to administer the profile.
When businesses respond to complaints through the Platform, those responses may be publicly visible alongside the original complaint. We may facilitate dispute resolution processes between users and businesses, during which additional communications may be exchanged and stored by the Platform.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to operate, secure, and analyze the Platform. The categories we use include:
- Strictly Necessary Cookies: Required for basic Platform functionality, including user authentication and session management.
- Functional Cookies: Enable personalization and remember your preferences, such as language settings and display options.
- Analytics Cookies: Collect information about how visitors interact with the Platform to help us improve our services.
- Advertising and Marketing Cookies: Used to display relevant advertising and track ad campaign effectiveness. These may be placed by third-party advertising partners.
Most web browsers permit you to control cookies through your browser settings. You may choose to decline certain cookies; however, doing so may affect Platform functionality.
Analytics Services
We use third-party analytics services, which may include Google Analytics, to understand how users interact with the Platform. These services collect data such as page views, session duration, traffic sources, and demographic information through cookies and similar technologies.
You may opt out of Google Analytics data collection by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Advertising and Marketing Communications
We may display third-party advertisements on the Platform. Advertising partners may use cookies and tracking technologies to collect information about your visits in order to display targeted advertisements. These activities are conducted by third parties and are subject to their respective privacy policies.
We may send promotional and marketing communications to registered users. You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email or by updating your communication preferences in your account settings.
Email Communications and CAN-SPAM Compliance
We comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Our commercial email communications will accurately identify the sender, include a truthful subject line, include our valid physical mailing address, and include a clear mechanism to opt out of future commercial email communications. We will process opt-out requests within ten (10) business days.
How We Share Information
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to unaffiliated third parties for their own marketing purposes without your consent. We may share your information in the following circumstances:
- With Service Providers: Third-party vendors who perform services on our behalf, such as web hosting, data storage, payment processing, email delivery, analytics, and customer support.
- With Businesses: Certain information related to complaints or reviews you submit about a business may be shared with that business through public display or direct notification features.
- With Other Users: Information you submit publicly on the Platform is visible to other users as described in Sections 7 and 8.
- For Legal Compliance: We may disclose information to comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.
- For Safety and Security: We may disclose information to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users, our business, or the public.
- In Connection with Business Transactions: We may share or transfer information in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, or bankruptcy.
- With Your Consent: We may share information with third parties when you have provided your consent.
Service Providers and Third Parties
We engage the following categories of third-party service providers who may have access to personal information:
- Web hosting and cloud infrastructure providers;
- Database management and storage services;
- Email delivery and communication platforms;
- Payment processors;
- Analytics and audience measurement services;
- Advertising technology platforms;
- Fraud detection and security services;
- Customer support software providers; and
- Legal, accounting, and professional advisors.
These service providers are required to protect your personal information consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.
Law Enforcement and Legal Requests
We may disclose your personal information, including account information, complaint history, uploaded files, log data, and IP addresses, in response to lawfully issued subpoenas, court orders, requests from law enforcement agencies, requests from regulatory or governmental bodies, legal proceedings in which we are a party, and emergency situations where disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent harm to a person.
Where permitted by law, we will endeavor to notify you of such requests before complying.
Data Retention
We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Our general practices include:
- Account information is retained for the duration of your account and for a reasonable period thereafter;
- Complaint and review content may be retained indefinitely unless removed pursuant to a valid legal request or our internal content policies;
- Uploaded files are retained as part of the associated complaint or review record;
- Log data is typically retained for twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) months; and
- Communications and support records are retained as necessary to resolve your inquiry and for legal protection purposes.
If you delete your account, we will deactivate it and remove or anonymize your personal profile information within a commercially reasonable time. However, content you have publicly posted may remain on the Platform unless separately removed.
Data Security Measures
We implement commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal information. Our security measures include:
- Encryption of data in transit using Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols;
- Encryption of sensitive data stored in our databases;
- Access controls and authentication requirements limiting employee and vendor access to personal information;
- Regular security assessments and vulnerability monitoring; and
- Incident response procedures designed to address and mitigate data security events.
International Data Transfers
RaiseAComplaint.com is operated in the United States. If you access the Platform from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, processed, and stored in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction. By using the Platform, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your state of residence, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information. These rights may include the right to know what personal information we have collected, to access a copy of that information, to request deletion of your information, to correct inaccurate information, and to opt out of certain data practices.
To exercise your rights, please contact us as described in Section 32. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.
California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)
This Section applies to California residents and provides additional disclosures and rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA).
In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have collected the following categories of personal information from California residents: identifiers (such as name, email address, and IP address); commercial information (such as transaction records for paid services); internet or other electronic network activity information; and inferences drawn from the above to create a profile about you.
22. Right to Know
You have the right to request that we disclose: the categories of personal information we have collected about you; the categories of sources; the business or commercial purpose for collecting personal information; the categories of third parties with whom we share personal information; and the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
23. Right to Access
You have the right to request a copy of the specific personal information we have collected about you in the preceding twelve (12) months in a portable and readily usable format.
24. Right to Delete
You have the right to request that we delete personal information we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions. Upon receiving a verifiable deletion request, we will delete your personal information from our records and direct our service providers to do the same.
25. Right to Correct
You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you. You may also correct certain account information directly through your account settings.
26. Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing
We do not sell personal information in exchange for monetary compensation. However, we may share certain information with advertising partners through cookies in a manner that may constitute "sharing" for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes under the CCPA.
To opt out, you may: (a) click the "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link on our Platform; (b) use a browser-based opt-out signal such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC); or (c) contact us directly. We will respond to verifiable consumer requests within forty-five (45) days.
Do Not Track Signals
Some web browsers transmit "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals to websites. Because there is currently no uniform standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, our Platform does not currently alter its data collection or use practices in response to DNT signals. However, we do honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal where required by applicable law.
Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)
RaiseAComplaint.com is not directed to children under the age of thirteen (13), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under thirteen (13) years of age. The Platform is intended for use by adults and minors who are at least thirteen (13) years of age.
If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe that your child under the age of thirteen (13) has provided personal information to us, please contact us immediately. We comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and applicable FTC regulations.
Third-Party Websites and Links
The Platform may contain links to third-party websites, services, or applications that are not owned or controlled by RaiseAComplaint.com. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by our Platform. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party website you visit.
User Responsibilities Regarding Public Content
By submitting complaints, reviews, ratings, comments, or other content to the Platform, you acknowledge and agree that:
- The content you submit may be publicly visible to all Platform visitors and may be indexed by third-party search engines;
- You are solely responsible for the content you submit, including its accuracy, legality, and appropriateness;
- You should not include sensitive personal information of third parties in your submissions without appropriate authorization;
- RaiseAComplaint.com does not verify the accuracy of user-submitted content and does not guarantee the truthfulness of any complaint or review; and
- Removing content from the Platform does not guarantee its removal from third-party caches, search engines, or other external repositories.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. When we make material changes, we will provide notice by updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy and, where appropriate, by providing additional notice through Platform notifications or email to registered users.
Your continued use of the Platform after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. If we make changes that materially affect your rights, we will provide at least thirty (30) days' advance notice where required by applicable law.
Contact Information
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us: