Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Last Updated October, 2024

Spruce Inc. (“Spruce,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects the privacy rights of our online visitors and mobile application users. This Privacy Policy explains how Spruce collects, uses, shares and protects information about you. This Privacy Policy also describes how you can access/change your information and make choices about how your information is used.

This Privacy Policy covers both our online, including websites and mobile sites and applications, and offline activities (“Services”) made available to you. This Privacy Policy also applies to your use of interactive features or downloads that:

we own or control
are available through the Services; or
interact with the Services and post or incorporate this Privacy Policy.

BY USING OUR SERVICES OR BY OTHERWISE GIVING US YOUR INFORMATION, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY. Please review this Privacy Policy carefully. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, do not use our Services. You should also review our Terms of Use, which may apply to your use of our websites and mobile applications. This Privacy Policy is incorporated by reference into the Terms of Use. We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our information practices. Any changes will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Privacy Policy. We will provide notice of changes by email (sent to the e-mail address specified in your account) or by means of a notice on the Services prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at service@getspruce.com.

Table of Contents

Information we Collect
1. User Provided Information
2. User Generated Content and Public Information
3. Information Collected Through Your Access and Use of the Services
4. Information Third Parties Provide About You
5. Information You Provide About a Third Party
6. Geolocation Data
7. Information Collected from Couriers and Other Applicants
Use of the Collected Information
Use of Photographic Documentation for Marketing and Advertising Purposes
Disclosure of Information to Third Parties
1. When You Agree to Receive Information from Third Parties
2. Third Parties Providing Services on Our Behalf
3. Contests and Promotions
4. Legal Reasons
5. Business Transfer
Behavioral Advertising and Opt-Out
Third Party Content and Links to Third Party Services
Social Media Features
Changing Your Information and Cancelling Your Account
No Children
Security
Your California Privacy Rights
Information Processed And Stored In The United States
Contact Us

Information we Collect
1. User Provided Information.Personal Information. We may ask you to provide us with certain categories of information such as personal information, which is information that could reasonably be used to identify you personally, such as your name, physical address, e-mail address, and mobile number (“Personal Information”). We may collect this information through forms in the Services, including account registration forms, contact us forms, or when you otherwise interact with us. When you sign up to use the Services, you will be required to create an account profile.If you choose to upload a photo when registering for our Services, the photo may be viewable by us and by the service providers so that they are able to verify your identity. You may remove or update the photo at any time by logging into your account.
2. User Generated Content and Public Information.The Services may offer publicly accessible blogs or community forums or other ways to permit you to submit ideas, photographs, user profiles, writings, music, video, audio recordings, computer graphics, pictures, data, questions, comments, suggestions or other content, including Personal Information (collectively, “User Content”). We or others may reproduce, publish, distribute or otherwise use User Content online or offline in any media or format (currently existing or hereafter developed). Others may have access to this User Content and may have the ability to share it with third parties across the Internet. You should be aware that any User Content you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others who access them. Thus, please think carefully before deciding what information you share, including Personal Information, in connection with your User Content. Please note that Company does not control who will have access to the information that you choose to make public, and cannot ensure that parties who have access to such publicly available information will respect your privacy or keep it secure. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any information that you disclose publicly, share with others or otherwise upload, whether through the Services or otherwise. We are not responsible for the accuracy, use or misuse of any content or information that you disclose or receive through the Services.We may also publish your name, voice, likeness and other Personal Information that is part of your User Content, and we may use the content, or any portion of the content, for advertising, marketing, publicity and promotional activities.To request removal of your User Content from our blog or community forum or similar features, contact us through customer support. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your User content, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.
3. Information Collected Through Your Access and Use of the Services.In addition to the information that you directly submit to us, we and our third-party service providers may use a variety of technologies that automatically collect information whenever you visit or interact with the Services (“Usage Information”). This Usage Information may include the browser that you are using, the URL that referred you to our Services, all of the areas within our Services that you visit, and the time of day, among other information. We may use Usage Information for a variety of purposes, including to enhance or otherwise improve the Services. In addition, we collect your IP address or other unique identifier (“Device Identifier”) for your computer, mobile or other device used to access the Services (“Device”). Usage Information may be non-identifying or may be associated with you. Whenever we associate Usage Information, a Device Identifier or Photographic Documentation (as defined below) with your Personal Information, we will treat it as Personal Information.We may also collect Usage Information using the following methods or technologies to name a few:
  1. Cookies: A cookie is a data file placed on a Device when it is used to access the Services. A Flash cookie is a data file placed on a Device via the Adobe Flash plug-in that may be built-in to or downloaded by you to your Device. Cookies and Flash Cookies may be used for many purposes, including, without limitation, remembering you and your preferences and tracking your visits to our web pages. Cookies work by assigning a number to the user that has no meaning outside of the assigning website.Your browser allows you to deny or accept the use of cookies. Cookies can be disabled or controlled by setting a preference within your web browser or on your Device. However, if you disable cookies or Flash cookies on your Device, some features of the Services may not function properly or may not be able to customize the delivery of information. The Company cannot control the use of cookies (or the resulting information) by third parties, and use of third-party cookies is not covered by this Privacy Policy.
  2. Web Beacons: Small graphic images or computer code called web beacons may be included in our web and mobile pages and messages. The web beacons are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored in a user’s computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on Web pages. Web beacons or similar technologies help us better manage content on our Services by informing us what content is effective, count users of the Services, monitor how users navigate the Services, count how many emails that we send were actually opened or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed. We do not tie the information gathered by web beacons to our customers’ personal information.
  3. Embedded Scripts: An embedded script is computer code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Services, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your Device from our web server or a third party service provider, is active only while you are connected to the Services, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.
  In addition, tracking information is collected as you use our Services, including, but not limited to geolocation. If you are receiving professional services via our Services, the service provider’s mobile Device will send your GPS coordinate, during the service, to our servers. Most GPS enabled mobile devices can define one’s location to within 50 feet. We collect this information for various purposes, including to determine the duration of the service, to provide customer support, to send promotions and offers, to enhance our Services, and for our internal business purposes.
  
  We will also collect photographs, as applicable, of your private residence or pet(s) (within and outside of your private residence) in connection with the provision of the Services (the “Photographic Documentation”). If you are receiving professional services via our Services, the service provider’s mobile Device will send the Photographic Documentation of your private residence or pet(s) during the Service, as applicable, to
  1. your mobile Device and
  2. to our mobile device. We collect this information for various purposes, including to update you as to the provision of the service, determine the duration and quality of the service, to provide customer support, to send promotions and offers, to enhance our Services, and for our internal business purposes.
4. Information Third Parties Provide About You.We may, from time to time, supplement the information we collect about you through our website or Mobile Application with outside records from third parties in order to enhance our ability to serve you, to tailor our content to you and to offer you opportunities to purchase products or services that we believe may be of interest to you. We may combine the information we receive from those sources with information we collect through the Services. In those cases, we will apply this Privacy Policy to any Personal Information received, unless we have disclosed otherwise.
5. Information You Provide About a Third Party.If you choose to refer a friend to our Services we will ask you for the recipient’s name, phone number, physical address and email address. We will send the recipient a one-time email inviting them to visit getspruce.com and provide promotions or an invitation to use the Services. We may store this information for the purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking use of our Services. We do not use this information for any other marketing purpose unless we obtain consent from that person or we explicitly say otherwise. Please be aware that when you enter the recipient’s email address through our Services, your name, e-mail address and physical address may be included in the communication sent to the recipient.
6. Geolocation Data.With respect to geolocation data we track through mobile Devices, we use that geolocation information for various purposes including for you to be able to set the location from which you wish you requested Services, to track progress of the requested services and provide that information to you and your service provider, to send you promotions and offers, and to allow you (if you choose through any features we may provide) to share this information with other people. Except as otherwise permitted in this Privacy Policy, we will not share this information with third parties for any purpose and will only use this information for the sole purpose of providing you with the Services. You may at any time no longer allow our Services to use your location by turning this feature off at the mobile Device level.We also provide some of your Personal Information (such as your first name, email address, phone number and physical address) to the service provider so that the service provider may contact and find you. We may associate your unique mobile Device Identifier or Service usage information with any Personal Information you provide, but we will treat the combined information as Personal Information.
7. Information Collected from Service Providers and Other Applicants.If you wish to apply for a job on our website, we will collect Personal Information such as your name, email address, phone number, insurance information, driver’s license, social security number and may collect additional information such as resume, gender, and your ethnicity. We use the information collected within this area of the website to determine your qualifications for the position in which you have applied and to contact you to set up an interview.
Use of the Collected Information.When you register for an account with us, we will send you welcome email and promotional emails inviting you to use the Services. We will also communicate with you in response to your inquiries, to provide the Services you request, and to manage your account. We will communicate with you by email, telephone, push notification, and SMS or text message.We use your information to understand which features of the Services are used most, to allow you to view your Services history, store your credit card information on a secure page, view any promotions we may currently be running, rate the Services, and to otherwise improve the Services. The credit card information you provide in your personal profile at sign-up is not stored by us, but is stored and used by our third party credit card processors in order for them to process payment that you owe third parties for transportation services received by you.We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our computer server, and to administer our website(s). Your IP address is used to help identify you, but contains no personal information about you.We will send you transactional-related communications in connection with the Services. These communications may include but are not limited to notification that Services have been or will be provided, transactional summaries, maintenance notifications or other Services disruption notifications. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature.In addition, we may use your Personal Information or Usage Information that we collect about you:
1. to provide you with information or services or process transactions that you have requested or agreed to receive including to send you electronic newsletters, or to provide you with special offers or promotional materials on behalf of us or third parties;
2. to process your registration with the Services, including verifying your information is active and valid;
3. to improve the Services or our services, to customize your experience with the Services, or to serve you specific content that is most relevant to you;
4. to enable you to participate in a variety of the Services’ features such as online or mobile entry sweepstakes, contests or other promotions;
5. to contact you with regard to your use of the Services and, in our discretion, changes to the Services and the Services’ policies;
6. for internal business purposes;
7. for inclusion in our data analytics; and
8. for purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information or as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy.
Please note that information submitted to the Services via a “Contact Us” or other similar function may not receive a response.
Use of Photographic Documentation for Marketing and Advertising Purposes. We may publish
1. your name, likeness, biographical material, correspondence, and/or endorsement;
2. your pet’s name and likeness and
3. the Photographic Documentation for advertising, marketing, publicity and promotional activities, including on our social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among others.
  If you do not wish to have your name, likeness, pet’s name, pet’s likeness or any other personally identifiable information contained in the Photographic Documentation published according to the Terms of Use, you may email us at service@getspruce.com to revoke your consent to publish personally identifiable information pursuant to this Section 3 and the Terms of Use.
Disclosure of Information to Third Parties.We may share non-personally identifiable information, such as aggregated user statistics and log data, with third parties for industry analysis, demographic profiling, to deliver targeted advertising about other products or services, or for other business purposes. We do not sell, share, rent or trade the information we have collected about you, including Personal Information, other than as disclosed within this Privacy Policy or at the time you provide your information. We do not share your Personal Information with third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes unless you consent to such sharing at the time you provide your Personal Information.
1. When You Agree to Receive Information from Third Parties.You may be presented with an opportunity to receive information and marketing offers directly from third parties. If you do agree to have your Personal Information shared, your Personal Information will be disclosed to such third parties and all information you disclose will be subject to the privacy policy and practices of such third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of such third parties and, therefore, you should review the privacy policies and practices of such third parties prior to agreeing to receive such information from them. If you later decide that you no longer want to receive communication from a third party, you will need to contact that third party directly.
2. Third Parties Providing Services on Our Behalf.We use third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Services, provide or perform certain aspects of the Services on our behalf, including processing credit card payments. We may provide vendors with access to user information, including Personal Information, this information sharing is limited to only the information needed by the vendor to carry out the services they are performing for you or for us. Each of these vendors are obligated not to disclose or use Personal Information for any other purpose.While we may use third party analytics service providers to evaluate and provide us with information about the use of the Services and viewing of our content, we do not share Personal Information with these analytics service providers, but they may set and access their own cookies, web beacons and embedded scripts on your Device and they may otherwise collect or have access to information about you, including non-personally identifiable information.We use a third party hosting provider who hosts our support section of our website. Information collected within this section of our website is governed by our Privacy Policy.
3. Contests and Promotions.We may offer sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions (any, a “Promotion”) through the Services that may require registration. By participating in a Promotion, you are agreeing to official rules that govern that Promotion, which may contain specific requirements of you, including, allowing the sponsor of the Promotion to use your name, voice and/or likeness in advertising or marketing associated with the Promotion. If you choose to enter a Promotion, Personal Information may be disclosed to third parties or the public in connection with the administration of such Promotion, including, in connection with winner selection, prize fulfillment, and as required by law or permitted by the Promotion’s official rules, such as on a winners list.
4. Legal Reasons. We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law. Thus, we may access, use, preserve, transfer and disclose your information (including Personal Information), including disclosure to third parties such as government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we reasonably determine is necessary and appropriate:
  1. to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, subpoenas, governmental requests or legal process;
  2. to protect and defend the Terms of Use for online and mobile Services or other policies applicable to any online and mobile Services, including investigation of potential violations thereof;
  3. to protect the safety, rights, property or security of Spruce, our Services or any third party;
  4. to protect the safety of the public for any reason;
  5. to detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues; or
  6. to prevent or stop activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, an illegal, unethical, or legally actionable activity.
  Further, we may use IP address or other Device Identifiers, to identify users, and may do so in cooperation with third parties such as copyright owners, internet service providers, wireless service providers or law enforcement agencies, including disclosing such information to third parties, all in our discretion. Such disclosures may be carried out without notice to you.
5. Business Transfer. We may share your information, including your Personal Information and Usage Information with our parent, subsidiaries and affiliates for internal reasons.
  We also reserve the right to disclose and transfer all such information:
  1. to a subsequent owner, co-owner or operator of the Services or applicable database; or
  2. in connection with a corporate merger, consolidation, restructuring, the sale of substantially all of our membership interests or assets or other corporate change, including, during the course of any due diligence process.
Behavioral Advertising and Opt-Out.Targeted advertising (also known as Behavioral Advertising) uses information collected on an individual’s web or mobile browsing behavior such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made. This information is then used to select which advertisements should be displayed to a particular individual on websites other than our website. For example, if you have shown a preference for football while visiting our website, you may be served an advertisement for football-related equipment when you visit a site other than our website. The information collected is only linked to an anonymous cookie identifier; it does not include any information that could be linked back to a particular person, such as their name, address or credit card number. The information used for targeted advertising either comes from us or through third party website publishers.If you would like to opt out of targeted advertising from us that occurs when visiting our third party advertising publishers, please click here to access the NAI Opt-Out Page. Please note that this will opt you out of targeted ads from us and any other participating advertisers. If you opt out, you may continue to receive online advertising from us; however, these ads may not be as relevant to you.In order for behavioral advertising opt-outs to work on your Device, your browser must be set to accept cookies. If you delete cookies, buy a new Device, access our Services from a different device, login under a different screen name, or change web browsers, you will need to opt-out again. If your browser has scripting disabled, you do not need to opt out, as online behavioral advertising technology does not work when scripting is disabled. Please check your browser’s security settings to validate whether scripting is active or disabled.Additionally, many network advertising programs allow you to view and manage the interest categories they have compiled from your online browsing activities. These interest categories help determine the types of targeted advertisements you may receive. The NAI Opt-Out Page provides a tool that identifies its member companies that have cookies on your browser and provides links to those companies.
Third Party Content and Links to Third Party Services.The Services may contain content that is supplied by a third party, and those third parties may collect website usage information and your Device Identifier when web pages from any online or mobile Services are served to your browser. In addition, when you are using the Services, you may be directed to other sites or applications that are operated and controlled by third parties that we do not control. We are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by any of these third parties. For example, if you click on a banner advertisement, the click may take you away from one of our websites onto a different website. These other websites may send their own cookies to you, independently collect data or solicit Personal Information and may or may not have their own published privacy policies. When you leave our website or Services, please be sure to read the privacy statements of all third party websites or applications before submitting any Personal Information to third parties.
Social Media Features. Our Services may include social media features, such as the Facebook Like button, and widgets such as a “Share This” button, or interactive mini-programs that run on our online and mobile Services. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our online or mobile Services, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our online Services. Your interactions with these features and widgets are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing them.
Changing Your Information and Cancelling Your Account. You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the information you submit to us, such as your contact information provided as part of account registration. If your Personal Information changes, or if you no longer desire our Services, you may correct, delete inaccuracies, or amend information by making the change on our member information page or by contacting us through customer support. We will make good faith efforts to make requested changes in our then active databases as soon as reasonably practicable.You may also cancel or modify your account or the communications that you have elected to receive from the Services by following the instructions contained within an e-mail or by logging into your user account and changing your communication preferences.We will retain your Personal Information and Usage Information (including geolocation) for as long as your account with the Services is active and as needed to provide you services. Even after your account is terminated, we will retain your Personal Information and Usage Information (including geolocation, service history, credit card information and transaction history) as needed to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, resolve disputes, conclude any activities related to cancellation of an account (such as addressing chargebacks from your credit card companies), investigate or prevent fraud and other inappropriate activity, to enforce our agreements, and for other business reason. After a period of time, your data may be anonymized and aggregated, and then may be held by us as long as necessary for us to provide our Services effectively, but our use of the anonymized data will be solely for analytic purposes.
No Children. Our Services are not directed toward minors; no one under the age of eighteen (18) (and certainly no child under the age of thirteen (13)) is allowed to register with or use the Services. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under the age of eighteen (18). If we discover that we have collected Personal Information from a person under the age of eighteen (18), we will delete as soon as reasonably possible. If you are a parent or guardian of a minor under the age of eighteen (18) and believe he or she has disclosed Personal Information to us, please contact us at service@getspruce.com.
Security. The Personal Information and Usage Information we collect is securely stored within our databases, and we use standard, industry-wide, commercially reasonable security practices such as encryption, firewalls and SSL (Secure Socket Layers) for protecting your information - such as any portions of your credit card number which we retain (we do not ourselves retain your entire credit card information), photographs and geolocation information. The Photographic Documentation is separately stored for less than one (1) year with our account with Twilio, Inc., which takes commercially reasonable security measures to protect its information. However, as effective as encryption technology is, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our databases, nor can we guarantee that information you supply won’t be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet or wireless communication, and any information you transmit to Spruce you do at your own risk. We recommend that you not disclose your password to anyone.
Your California Privacy Rights. California’s “Shine the Light” law, California Civil Code § 1798.83, requires certain businesses to respond to requests from California customers (those who have an established business relationship with us) asking about the business’ practices related to disclosing Personal Information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. Alternately, such businesses may have in place a policy not to disclose Personal Information of customers to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes unless the customer first affirmatively agrees to the disclosure (opt-in) or if the customer has exercised an option to opt-out of such information-sharing (opt-out).We have opted for this alternative approach, and we do not share Personal Information of customers information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes unless you provide us with permission at the time you provide such customer information.We may, however disclose personally identifiable information for our own marketing purposes. California residents are entitled to request and obtain certain information regarding our disclosure, if any, of personally identifiable information disclosed for our own marketing purposes and to request updates to such information or revocation of consent of use of such information. To make such a request, please send an e-mail to service@getspruce.com.
1. California Privacy Policy for Third-Party Communications
  
  Effective Date: October 5, 2024
  
  Introduction
  
  This California Privacy Policy (“Policy”) applies to California residents and describes how Spruce (“we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and shares personal information when you use our services, including our mobile app and website, and how we comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This Policy addresses explicitly third-party communications and our practices regarding sharing your personal information with third parties.
  
  By using our services, you consent to the practices described in this Policy. If you disagree with the terms of this Policy, please do not use our services.
  
  I. Personal Information We Collect
  
  When you interact with our app, website, or customer support, we collect personal information from you. This information includes:
  
  i. Identifiers include your name, email address, postal address, and account login details.
  
  ii. Commercial information, such as records of services requested, purchased, or considered.
  
  iii. Internet or other electronic network activity information, including your interactions with our website or app.
  
  iv. Geolocation data to provide localized services.
  
  II. How We Use Personal Information
  
  We use your personal information for the following purposes:
  
  i. To provide you with our residential cleaning services.
  
  ii. To communicate with you regarding your service requests and bookings.
  
  iii. To improve our services and the functionality of our app and website.
  
  iv. To comply with legal obligations and protect our rights.
  
  We also use your personal information for marketing purposes, including providing you with promotional offers and communications.
  
  III. Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties
  
  We may share your personal information with third parties for business purposes, including:
  
  i. Service Providers: We share your personal information with third-party service providers who assist in delivering our services, such as payment processors, scheduling software providers, and customer support services.
  
  ii. Marketing Partners: With your consent, we may share your personal information with third-party marketing partners to send you promotional offers or updates.
  
  iii. Analytics Providers: We work with third-party analytics companies to collect data on your use of our services to improve our performance and user experience.
  
  IV. Your Rights Under the CCPA
  
  As a California resident, you have certain rights under the CCPA regarding your personal information, including:
  
  i. Right to Know: You have the right to request that we disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
  
  ii. Right to Delete: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
  
  iii. Right to Opt-Out: You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information. We do not sell personal information to third parties, but we respect your right to opt out of data sharing for marketing purposes.
  
  iv. Right to Non-Discrimination: You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising your CCPA rights.
  
  V. How to Exercise Your Rights
  
  To exercise your CCPA rights, you can contact us via:
  
  i. Email: service@getspruce.com
  
  Please include your full name, email address, and specific request when contacting us.
  
  VI. Do Not Track (DNT) Signals
  
  Our app and website do not currently respond to “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals from web browsers. If we change our practices in response to DNT signals, we will update this Policy.
  
  VII. Updates to This Policy
  
  We may update this Policy occasionally to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this Policy. Please review this Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal information.
  
  VIII. Contact Us
  
  If you have any questions about this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
  
  i. Email: service@getspruce.com
  
  ii. Address: 1408 E 13th Street, Austin, TX 78702
Information Processed And Stored In The United States. Information we collect, including, Personal Information, will be processed and stored in the United States. Your Personal Information may be subject to access requests from governments, courts, or law enforcement in the United States according to laws of the United States. By using the Services or providing us with any information, you consent to the processing and storage of your information in the United States.
Contact Us:Email: service@getspruce.com