Privacy Policy

1. We respect your privacy

1.1. The Balance Institute Pty Ltd respects your right to privacy and is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our customers and website visitors. We adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This policy sets out how we collect and treat your personal information.

1.2. "Personal information" is information we hold which is identifiable as being about you.

2. Collection of personal information

2.1. The Balance Institute Pty Ltd will, from time to time, receive and store personal information you enter onto our website, provide to us directly, or give to us in other forms.

2.2. You may provide basic information such as your name, phone number, address and email address to enable us to send information, provide updates and process your product or service order. We may collect additional information at other times, including but not limited to when you provide feedback, provide information about your personal or business affairs, change your content or email preferences, respond to surveys or promotions, provide financial or credit card information, or communicate with our customer support.

2.3. Additionally, we may collect any other information you provide while interacting with us.

3. How we collect your personal information

3.1. The Balance Institute Pty Ltd collects personal information from you in a variety of ways, including when you interact with us electronically or in person, when you access our website, and when we provide our services to you. We may receive personal information from third parties. If we do, we will protect it as set out in this Privacy Policy.

4. Use of your personal information

4.1. The Balance Institute Pty Ltd may use personal information collected from you to provide you with information, updates and our services. We may also make you aware of new and additional products, services and opportunities available to you. We may use your personal information to improve our products and services and better understand your needs.

4.2. The Balance Institute Pty Ltd may contact you by a variety of measures including but not limited to telephone, email, SMS or mail.

5. Disclosure of your personal information

5.1. We may disclose your personal information to any of our employees, officers, insurers, professional advisers, agents, suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy. Personal information is only supplied to a third party when it is required for the delivery of our services.

5.1a. Mobile and SMS exclusion. Mobile phone numbers collected for SMS messaging, and the associated SMS opt-in and consent records, are excluded from the disclosures described in clause 5.1, except to vendors strictly required to deliver messaging services on our behalf.

5.2. We may from time to time need to disclose personal information to comply with a legal requirement, such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena or warrant, in the course of a legal proceeding, or in response to a law enforcement agency request.

5.3. We may also use your personal information to protect the copyright, trademarks, legal rights, property or safety of The Balance Institute Pty Ltd, www.balanceinstitute.com, its customers or third parties.

5.4. Information that we collect may from time to time be stored, processed in, or transferred between parties located in countries outside of Australia.

5.5. If there is a change of control in our business, or a sale or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer, to the extent permissible at law, our user databases together with any personal information and non-personal information contained in those databases. This information may be disclosed to a potential purchaser under an agreement to maintain confidentiality. Mobile phone numbers collected for SMS messaging, together with SMS opt-in and consent records, are excluded from any such transfer. We would seek to only disclose information in good faith and where required by any of the above circumstances.

5.6. By providing us with personal information, you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the types of disclosure covered by this Policy. Where we disclose your personal information to third parties, we will request that the third party follow this Policy regarding handling your personal information. This clause does not apply to mobile information or SMS consent data, which is governed exclusively by clause 11.

6. Security of your personal information

6.1. The Balance Institute Pty Ltd is committed to ensuring that the information you provide to us is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure information and protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

6.2. The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk. We cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us or receive from us. Although we take measures to safeguard against unauthorised disclosures of information, we cannot assure you that personal information that we collect will not be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

7. Access to your personal information

7.1. You may request details of personal information that we hold about you in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). A small administrative fee may be payable for the provision of information. If you would like a copy of the information we hold about you, or believe that any information we hold is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, please email us at [email protected].

7.2. We reserve the right to refuse to provide you with information that we hold about you, in certain circumstances set out in the Privacy Act.

8. Complaints about privacy

8.1. If you have any complaints about our privacy practices, please send details of your complaint to PO Box 274, Epping NSW 1710, or email [email protected]. We take complaints very seriously and will respond shortly after receiving written notice of your complaint.

9. Changes to this Privacy Policy

9.1. We may change this Privacy Policy in the future. We may modify this Policy at any time in our sole discretion, and all modifications will be effective immediately upon posting. Please check back from time to time to review our Privacy Policy.

10. Website

10.1. When you visit our website (www.balanceinstitute.com) we may collect certain information such as browser type, operating system, and the website visited immediately before coming to our site. This information is used in an aggregated manner to analyse how people use our site so that we can improve our service.

10.2. Cookies. We may from time to time use cookies on our website. Cookies are very small files which a website uses to identify you when you come back to the site and to store details about your use of the site. Cookies are not malicious programs that access or damage your computer. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can choose to reject cookies by changing your browser settings. However, this may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website. Cookies may also be used to serve relevant ads through third party services such as Google Ads.

10.3. Third party sites. Our site may from time to time have links to other websites not owned or controlled by us. These links are meant for your convenience only. Links to third party websites do not constitute sponsorship, endorsement or approval of these websites. The Balance Institute Pty Ltd is not responsible for the privacy practices of other such websites. We encourage users to read the privacy statements of every website that collects personally identifiable information.

11. SMS messaging and mobile information

11.1 Collection

The Balance Institute Pty Ltd may collect your mobile phone number when you opt in through a form on our website.

11.2 Two separate consents

We obtain your express consent before sending you any SMS messages, and we collect that consent through two separate, independent checkboxes. Ticking one does not tick the other. You may tick either, both, or neither.

Both checkboxes are optional and neither is ticked by default. Submitting your phone number alone does not constitute consent to receive SMS messages of any kind. Registration succeeds whether or not you tick either box. Consent to receive marketing SMS messages is not a condition of purchase.

11.3 Mobile information sharing

11.4 Legal basis for processing

Where the General Data Protection Regulation applies, the legal basis for processing your phone number is your consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw your consent at any time. See clause 11.6.

11.5 Data retention

We retain your mobile number and consent records for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this section, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

11.6 Opt out and help

You can opt out of receiving SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any message you receive from us. You can reply HELP for assistance at any time. You may also opt out by contacting us at [email protected]. Opting out of promotional messages does not opt you out of receiving transactional messages relating to a service you have requested.

11.7 Message frequency and rates

Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Contact your mobile service provider for details.

11.8 Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your information from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. However, no internet transmission or electronic storage is ever completely secure.

11.9 Changes

We may update this SMS section from time to time and will post any changes on this page.

12. Contact us

See also our Terms of Service.